2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The intersection of neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ identities, referred to as “neuroqueer” in this work, is an emerging field of study within engineering programs at North American universities. The broader impact of this research is to find how to best support students with this intersectional identity in the context of engineering education. The intent is to determine what efforts have been made thus far in how neuroqueer students can be better served by their engineering schools, and where these programs currently fall short. Throughout the literature search process, it has been shown that individuals who are a part of underrepresented and/or marginalized communities face intersectional prejudices and experience more stress than those without marginalized identities. Making changes to learning environments that would benefit these students, would also be beneficial to students who do not hold these identities as well as those who are not yet identified to be a part of these communities. Determining how one specific group of students can be supported in a way that helps them to be more successful will help other groups of students and will make these programs better as a whole. The systematic literature search conducted on this topic is presented to illustrate where the current state of research is in engineering education that serves LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent communities. The final results of this research are key determinations of gaps within current research efforts to chart paths forward for new research to serve neuroqueer students. Future ideas for the continuation for this research include designing pedagogy for engineering instructors and developing recommendations for how instructors can better support neuroqueer students.