2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work-in-Progress: Meme-ing Engineering: Exploring Student Perceptions of Engineering Culture through Memes

Presented at Motivation and Engagement in Engineering Students

This work-in-progress paper examines student perceptions of the undergraduate engineering subculture through memes, which are visual artifacts that provide a unique lens into the shared experiences, values, and norms associated with the undergraduate engineering community. Despite efforts to diversify the engineering workforce, representation of minoritized groups has remained largely unchanged. While research has underscored the role of engineering culture in fostering belonging and professional identity among students, its complexity – encompassing diverse and sometimes contradictory norms, values, and power dynamics – make it elusive and its components challenging to articulate. We address this challenge by conducting a content analysis of over 400 memes submitted by engineering students in a foundational undergraduate engineering course at a large land-grant university in the Mountain West. Preliminary findings highlight themes such as perceptions of rigor, stereotypes, and shared struggles that will be used to inform future interview protocols for further exploring meme interpretation and transferability. Ultimately, these findings will articulate cultural components that serve as leverage points for promoting inclusion in engineering for students from all groups.

Authors

Julien Yllanes
Logan Soderborg Utah State University
Vanessa Tran Utah State University [biography]

Vanessa Tran holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Architecture and a Master’s in Global Production Engineering and Management from the Vietnamese-German University, Vietnam. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Engineering Education at the College of Engineering, Utah State University. Her research focuses on promoting mental health and fostering creativity in engineering education to help students succeed academically and personally.
Dr. Cassandra McCall http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-0240-432X Utah State University [biography]

Dr. Cassandra McCall is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Education Department at Utah State University (USU). Her research focuses on the intersections of disability, identity formation, and culture and uses anti-ableist approaches to enhance universal access for students with disabilities in STEM, particularly in engineering. At USU, she serves as the Co-Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Transition Services. In 2024, Dr. McCall received a National Science Foundation CAREER grant to identify systemic opportunities for increasing the participation of people with disabilities in engineering. Her award-winning publications have been recognized by leading engineering education research journals at both national and international levels. Dr. McCall has led several workshops promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities and other minoritized groups in STEM. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering with a structural engineering emphasis.

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

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