2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Currently, participation of key student populations in the engineering workforce is limited, in large part due to student financial need1. Students from historically underrepresented groups (URGs) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) including Latino/a/x, African Americans, and first-generation college students disproportionately experience financial need2, 3, higher levels of stress and anxiety4, and longer times to graduation5. To compound the problem, URGs, through no fault of their own, face additional challenges that decrease their persistence in engineering including inadequate mentoring and absence of a sense of belonging6. In a step towards addressing these challenges, this project provides financial scholarships to talented, domestic Biomedical and Chemical Engineering (BECE) students with documented financial need at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), to relieve some financial pressure and enable scholars to academically thrive and pursue successful careers as engineers. UTSA enrolls approximately 45% first-generation college-attendees and 49% of undergraduates come from low-income communities. Because of inadequate structural support in students’ educational pathways, an education debt7 prevents us from properly identifying students’ academic talents8. Current systems often identify academic talent with grades or test scores earned, but these methods may fail to acknowledge the lack of opportunity rather than the lack of achievement9. Additionally, traditional methods of instruction are still used in most engineering courses even in high poverty and low-income areas. Scholarships will be coupled with evidence-based, culturally-relevant and culturally-responsive (CR2) curricular and co-curricular activities informed by BCE specific needs. Using the theory of identity development and by implementing student-centered CR2 curriculum in core Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering courses, all BECE students will benefit from curricular and pedagogical course improvements. This paper will present the considerations, challenges, and decisions made in the initial stages of recruitment, selection, faculty CR2 professional development, research progress, and the ways used to leverage university resources to help identify and support students with financial need in the BECE Department. Additionally, the paper will provide lessons learned to inform the ways in which to tailor educational experiences to students with unmet financial need. Lessons learned are intended to inform other institutions and academic departments considering a need-based approach coupled with academic talent to provide financial assistance and new pedagogies in courses to students from low-income backgrounds. NSF #2322770