2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Abstract

The college aims to increase access to and improve diversity in, engineering education through targeted outreach and programmatic initiatives. Programmatic initiatives include summer camps that focus on students in grades 6 through 12 and a dual enrollment introductory course targeted towards high school juniors and seniors. Outreach efforts are implemented to gain relationships with community partners, engage students from diverse backgrounds, and support middle and high school students with interests in STEM. Collaboration with the local community college has provided funding opportunities for disadvantaged youth to attend summer camp. Partnerships with industry connections support local and nationwide participants. Summer camp programs have undergone notable adaptations, including adaptations to the programs in 2021 and 2022 resulting from pandemic-related restrictions leading to long-term changes. Since the cancellation of summer camp in 2020, programming transitioned from an exclusively virtual program to a mixed-modality program, and most recently, to an exclusively in-person program. Overnight programs, reintroduced in 2024, provide opportunities for participants to engage in, and create a like-minded community. Thirty percent of overnight program seats are reserved to address our DEI goal of serving underrepresented participants from across the city, state, and nation. These participants attend camp at little to no cost through partnerships and sponsorships. Furthering efforts to increase access to engineering, the college’s dual enrollment program offers high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to earn college credit while participating in an introductory engineering course on their high school campus led by a qualified high school instructor. These environments provide a space conducive to the students’ exploration of engineering disciplines. Their established connection to faculty, environment, and peers provides a safer space in which students can build a stronger engineering identity and transition to college. Tuition for these students is reduced and need-based tuition grants are available. In contrast, summer camp participants engage in engineering concepts and are introduced to corresponding careers through hands-on exploration led by faculty and graduate students. For both groups, participation fosters interest, self-efficacy, and individual engineering identity. As a result of the high school summer program’s success, the college was asked to collaborate on a middle school camp with a local engineering firm. Through this camp, middle school students engage in a weeklong robotics exploration program. Participants of the middle school program attend schools considered to have a high population of students from low-income households. For many of the students, it is their first exposure to the opportunities afforded by attending college. The program is free, and students are provided with meals and snacks. This paper highlights the impact of these programs on broadening participation in engineering, particularly among underrepresented groups, and considers their effectiveness in enhancing students’ self-efficacy as engineers