2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

EAGER: Passed Down Strains and Belonging: How Traditional and Chosen Family Support Networks Shape the Experiences of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Engineering Students

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session I

This NSF-funded EAGER (Award #2438112) explores how the strains experienced by socioeconomically disadvantaged students’ (SDS) traditional and chosen families are “passed down” to SDS and shape their sense of belonging in engineering. Belonging, or students' sense of fit, support, and comfort in engineering, is well established and a pivotal factor for SDS’ persistence and success. Yet, little is known about how the struggles of family and supporters that SDS rely on are passed through students’ ecosystems to influence that belonging.
We are using a qualitative case study narrative approach with 15 S-STEM SDS scholars as focal cases. After narrative interviewing involved each SDS, each nominates up to ten traditional or chosen family and support persons. We then interview those individuals as well. Data collection also includes member-checking and triangulation across multiple voices to create rich case narratives that map (1) the strains faced by supporters, (2) how those strains are passed on to students, and (3) the ways these passed-down strains shape engineering belonging over time.
Preliminary findings from student and supporter interviews indicate that different supporter types face different burdens. Traditional family members often carry long-term financial pressures, heavy labor demands, or personal traumas that limit the emotional and material support they can provide. Yet, that emotional support is integral to belonging development. Chosen family members such as mentors, coaches, advisors, or professors tend to confront institutional bureaucracy and use their system knowledge to help students navigate requirements, funding hurdles, or campus processes, sometimes without realizing the positive extent of their influence. Across both groups, empathy emerges as a key factor: professors and mentors who talk openly about mental health, treat students as whole people rather than just academic performers, and show themselves as real human beings play an outsized role in sustaining students’ belonging. These findings highlight that both the material strains of traditional families and the institutional navigation taken on by chosen families shape students’ experiences, underscoring the importance of considering the broader support ecosystem rather than the student alone.
By centering the experiences of SDS and their supporters, this project contributes to theory on belonging and offers practical guidance for programs like S-STEM to design interventions that account for both students and the networks they rely on. At present, we have interviewed students and we are currently in the process of conducting interviews with students’ traditional and chosen family members to deeper our understanding of how supporter strains shape students’ experiences. Future work will mix these familial perspectives with that of students into case narratives, compare patterns between different types of supporters, and identify intervention points where institutions can strengthen the capacity of both families and chosen networks to sustain students’ belonging in engineering.

Authors

Narjes Khorsandi Koujel Rowan University [biography]

Narjes is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Rowan University. She earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in Iran and subsequently worked as an industrial engineer in the food industry for over 10 years. Narjes’ research and activism focuses on women in the Middle East. Particularly, she is focused on how resources, culture, and gendered norms impact their engineering identity development.
Erukana Wambi Rowan University [biography]

Erukana Wambi recently graduated from Rowan University with a degree in Computing and Informatics, a Certificate of Undergraduate Studies (CUGS) in Social Change and Social Justice, and a CUGS in Management Information Systems. They will begin a Master’s in Higher Education with a focus on Administration this fall at Rowan University. Erukana’s work centers on the intersection of technology, belonging and community impact with a strong commitment to creating inclusive, student-centered spaces. They have held leadership roles across campus, including serving as President of Rowan University's Shades of Unified Love (SOUL) and President of It’s On Us. In these roles, they have led initiatives focused on community building, advocacy, consent education, and overall support for marginalized students. Their interests include higher education, leadership development, student belonging and using technology as a tool for social impact.
Abigail Renée Rhodes Rowan University [biography]

Abigail Renée Rhodes is an Undergraduate Research Assistant in Engineering Education at Rowan University. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and expects to graduate in May 2029. Her work focuses on developing first-person narratives that highlight the experiences of low-income engineering students, with broader interests in the impact of mental health and childhood experiences on student success.
Michael Galicia Sandre Rowan University [biography]

Michael Galicia Sandre is an Undergraduate Research Assistant at Rowan University, working in a faculty-led research group supervised by Dr. Major. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a minor in Physics within the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering and is expected to graduate in 2028. He is currently exploring various disciplines within electrical and computer engineering to define his specific research focus. Alongside his academic and research commitments, Michael works at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Resource Center and serves as the Treasurer for Rowan University's Society for Low-Income and First-Generation Engineers (SLIFE).
Sowmya Panuganti Purdue Engineering Education [biography]

Sowmya Panuganti is a graduate student at Purdue University in the Engineering Education department. She is passionate about understanding engineering culture and the effects it has on engineers' mental health and well-being.
Dr. Justin Charles Major http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3111-8509 Rowan University [biography]

Dr. Justin C. Major (they/them) is an Assistant Professor of Experiential Engineering Education at Rowan University where they leads ASPIRE Lab (Advancing Student Pathways through Inequality Research in Engineering). Justin’s research focuses on low-income students, engineering belonging and marginalization mechanisms, adverse childhood experiences, and feminist approaches to EER, and connects these topics to broader understandings of student success in engineering. Justin completed their Ph.D. in Engineering Education (’22) and M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics (’21) at Purdue University, and two B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Secondary Mathematics Education at the University of Nevada, Reno (’17). Atop their education, Justin is a previous NSF Graduate Research Fellow and has won over a dozen awards for research, service, and activism related to marginalized communities, including the 2020 ASEE ERM Division Best Diversity Paper for their work on test anxiety. As a previous homeless and food-insecure student, Justin is eager to challenge and change engineering engineering education to be a pathway for socioeconomic mobility and broader systemic improvement rather than an additional barrier.

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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