2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

DRL: Empowering High School Counselors to Advance Career Counseling in Engineering

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session I

School counselors play a critical yet often overlooked role in shaping students' academic and career pathways, particularly in STEM fields like engineering. However, most pre-service counseling education coursework and in-service professional learning (PL) opportunities lack content focused on engineering pathways and career counseling strategies. To address this gap, our project designed and implemented a year-long PL program specifically for high school counselors. Drawing from counseling, education, and engineering disciplines, the program aimed to enhance counselors’ efficacy, dispositions, and practices of engineering career counseling. The proposed poster will address the following research question: How does participation in a year-long professional learning experience influence counselors’ beliefs and behaviors related to engineering career advising?

A cohort of ten school counselors participated in the first year of the program, bringing a wide range of backgrounds, professional experiences, and representing varied cultural and geographic school settings. The PL experience began with a 1.5-day, hands-on engineering workshop followed by monthly virtual professional learning community (PLC) sessions centered on identity, prevalent notions about who can be an engineer, and counselor agency. Research data sets included focus groups, workshop artifacts, and monthly PLC discussions, which were analyzed using open coding and constant comparison methods to uncover emergent themes.

Three major themes emerged from the first year of implementation. First, counselors reported a growing understanding of engineering and its accessibility. They described how the program helped them reframe their previous beliefs about who can become an engineer and what engineering entails. Second, counselors highlighted significant professional and personal growth through community. Finally, the program cultivated counselor agency and advocacy, with participants beginning to take intentional steps to expand engineering advising and navigate system-level challenges in their schools.

This work identifies an important gap in the engineering pipeline: high school counselors. Counselors can be critical levers in expanding the future engineering workforce. They need to be empowered to spur meaningful change at the practice level. The extended paper will include additional insights into program structure, implementation strategies, and implications for future engineering-focused professional learning initiatives.

Authors

Dr. Medha Dalal http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5705-1800 Arizona State University [biography]

Dr. Medha Dalal is an assistant research professor and associate director of scholarly initiatives in the Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. Her research seeks to transform engineering education by exploring ways of thinking, identifying effective professional development approaches, and uncovering pedagogical techniques that enhance students’ engineering curiosity, engagement, and learning.
Dr. Lydia Ross Arizona State University [biography]

Dr. Lydia Ross is a clinical assistant professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. She also serves as the executive director of the Association for Education Finance & Policy. She holds a PhD in Educational Policy and Evaluation from Arizona St
Dr. Adam R Carberry http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0041-7060 The Ohio State University [biography]

Dr. Adam R. Carberry is Professor and Chair in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University (OSU). He earned a B.S. in Materials Science Engineering from Alfred University, and received his M.S. and Ph.D., both from Tufts University, in Chemistry and Engineering Education respectively. He recently joined OSU after having served as an Associate Professor in The Polytechnic School within Arizona State University’s Fulton Schools of Engineering (FSE) where he was the Graduate Program Chair for the Engineering Education Systems & Design (EESD) Ph.D. Program. He is currently a Deputy Editor for the Journal of Engineering Education and co-maintains the Engineering Education Community Resource wiki. Additional career highlights include serving as Chair of the Research in Engineering Education Network (REEN), visiting École Nationale Supérieure des Mines in Rabat, Morocco as a Fulbright Specialist, receiving an FSE Top 5% Teaching Award, receiving an ASEE Educational Research and Methods Division Apprentice Faculty Award, receiving a Frontiers in Education New Faculty Award, and being named an ASEE Fellow.
Dr. Renae D Mayes http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7999-456X University of Arizona [biography]

Renae D. Mayes PhD, NCC, is the Smith Endowed Chair in Prevention and Education and Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Arizona. She is a licensed school counselor and national certified counselor with experience in K-12 schools along with specialized educational settings. She completed her Ph.D. in Counselor Education at The Ohio State University, where she was a Todd Anthony Bell Fellow. Dr. Mayes completed degrees at the University of Maryland, College Park (M.Ed. in School Counseling) and the University of Missouri (B.S. in Middle School Math and Social Studies Education)where she was a McNair Scholar. Dr. Mayes was also Gates Millennium Scholar as an undergraduate and graduate student. Her research agenda centers around the creation of Black joy and homeplace for Black students, including Black boys, girls, and gifted Black students with dis/abilities. Her research details the experience of students and families navigating schools, while also providing recommendations for dismantling systems of oppression through policy and abolitionist practice.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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For those interested in:

Advocacy and Policy
Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology
engineering
engineering technology
Pre-College