2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Purpose: This research was conducted to understand how engineering faculty describe the process to improve one’s self-awareness. This study is part of a larger study that aims to establish foundational knowledge about self-awareness and its related aspects in the context of engineering research mentoring relationships. For roughly the past 50 years, the construct of self-awareness and its processes were defined and described within the field of psychology. According to the literature from the field of psychology, self-awareness is the ability to see ourselves by making ourselves the “object” of our attention, meaning our attention is focused on how we see ourselves. This definition has been continuously redefined over the years to account for the inter- and intrapersonal aspects of self-awareness. However, there is still a lack of consistency in how self-awareness is defined, and how the process to improve one’s self-awareness is described. Our conceptual framework to describe a simplified process in which self-awareness can be improved in the context of engineering research mentoring relationships suggests the process to improve one’s self-awareness includes the following: recognition of a moment, situation, or experience, followed by self-reflection of that recognized experience, and the subsequent insight or new knowledge and understanding gained resulting from self-reflection. According to literature it is believed that once insight is gained, a person’s level of self-awareness has improved. This current work purposes to understand how science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) research mentoring relationships. Faculty perspectives on the steps taken to improve self-awareness were also explored.

Method: This qualitative study used a phenomenological method of inquiry to explore the perspectives of STEMM faculty regarding how they describe the process to becoming self-aware compared to previous literature established in psychology. This study was conducted at a university in the southeast. Solicitations for participation were sent out via email to faculty mentors involved in the 1) Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Mentoring Academy, 2) Biomedical Engineering Department, and 3) Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) Mentoring Program. Of the 15 respondents, 7 took part in a 45 minute – 1-hour long one-on-one interview. The study participants’ races consisted of White (n = 4), African American/Black (n = 2), and Asian (n = 1). Their faculty statuses ranged from assistant professor (n = 3), and associate professor (n = 2), to full professor (n = 2).

Results: Prior to the data collection for the study, a priori codes were identified based on the conceptual framework that drives this work. These codes included 1) Recognition, 2) Self-reflection, 3) Insight, and 4) Self-awareness. Additional themes related to the emergent codes identified during the analysis include 5) Tailored Mentoring, 6) Communication, and 7) Self-regulation.

Conclusions: Self-awareness is an aspect of the psychosocial support that occurs in STEMM mentoring relationships. However, it is also an aspect that is not easily understood due to its many intricacies. This work aimed to determine the way in which STEMM faculty, especially engineering faculty, describe this process. Future work will aim to establish a working definition for self-awareness and examine the perspectives of engineering graduate student research mentors to assess how they understand and define self-awareness in the context of their STEMM mentoring relationships.