While there is research on team formation in engineering and computer science, less is known about diverse team members’ experiences of safety and closeness, which are prerequisites to innovation; the positive impact diversity can have on innovation depends on members feeling safe enough to contribute. We surveyed students enrolled in upper division undergraduate engineering and computer science courses about their experiences of safety and closeness with their teammates and used social network analysis to investigate differences across teams and across courses. While the engineering course used stable teams for a semester-long project, the computer science course used a sequence of teams for multiple small projects. Shifting teams may provide greater opportunities for diverse team members to locate allies.
Authors
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Tracy Wenzl is a doctoral student in the Organization, Information and Learning Sciences department at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and the Senior Program Manager for UNM’s Grand Challenges program. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from New Mexico State University and a Master of Education in Information Science and Learning Technologies with a focus on educational technology from the University of Missouri. She aims to facilitate effective and inclusive collaborative learning experiences via her own research and in her professional role supporting interdisciplinary research teams. She uses social network analysis and qualitative methods to understand relationships between team members and plans to develop interventions to build closeness and belonging in teams.
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Ruben D. Lopez-Parra is an Assistant Professor in the Instituto de Estudios en Educación (Institute for Educational Studies) at the Universidad del Norte in Colombia. His Ph.D. is in Engineering Education from Purdue University, and he has worked as a K-16 STEM instructor and curriculum designer using various evidence-based learning strategies. In 2015, Ruben earned an M.S. in Chemical Engineering at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, where he also received the title of Chemical Engineer in 2012. His research interests are grounded in the learning sciences and include how K-16 students develop engineering thinking and professional skills when addressing complex socio-technical problems. He aims to apply his research to the design of better educational experiences.
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Dr. Vanessa Svihla is a Professor in Organization, Information & Learning Sciences and in Chemical & Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Svihla received the National Academy of Education / Spencer Postdoctoral Scholarship and the NSF CAREER Award, which President Biden also recognized with a PECASE. Their scholarship has been recognized for its contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion by the American Society for Engineering Education and the Professional and Organizational Development Network. Dr. Svihla, a disabled and chronically-ill scholar, studies how people learn as they frame problems in power-laden systems and how these activities relate to identity, agency, creativity, equity, and organizational change.
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Tito Busani is an assistant professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of New Mexico. He actively works on renewable energy and fabrication technologies toward quantum computing and heterogenous integration. His teaching research is directed toward group work and peer-to-peer teaching enabling K-16 and K-12 interaction.
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Note
The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on
June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025
