2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A study is proposed to (1) examine whether engineering students’ sense of belonging, motivation, persistence and achievement are influenced by their exposure to–and participation in–leadership and mentoring opportunities, (2) investigate how these influences may differ across curricular, co-curricular, and pre-professional contexts, and (3) determine whether these patterns vary significantly for students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Within engineering curricula, project-based design courses are employed to mature students’ critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and ability to function within teams. Such courses inspire collaboration and innovation, increase self-efficacy, and promote students’ sense of belonging to the engineering profession by enhancing their motivation and persistence. Some co-curricular and pre-professional activities, including engineering competition teams (ECTs), laboratory research and internships, provide further opportunities for students to enhance their academic engagement and develop professional competencies.
Furthermore, such co-curricular and pre-professional activities present opportunities for students to experience leadership and mentoring within non-peer engineering networks, which often provide sustained psychological and emotional support, positive role models, and positive career development outcomes. Comparatively, project-based coursework is less likely to provide such support mechanisms, since student relationships are typically peer-level, and demands for institutional knowledge transfer (sociological pattern maintenance) are much lower than in ECTs, laboratories and internships.
Some students will not have access to or engage in ECTs, laboratory research and internships due to institutional and academic factors. Socioeconomically disadvantaged students are less likely to participate in ECTs and research labs, as they are more likely to seek employment–often unrelated to their future profession–to fund educational expenses. A sense of belonging, sustained support and positive role models have been found particularly important to such students. Thus, there is a need to understand how socioeconomically disadvantaged students encounter leadership and mentoring experiences which support belonging.
This work-in-progress paper will summarize a review of three lines of literature that inform the study: (1) experiential learning and the development of student engineering and professional competencies, as well as student engagement and sense of belonging, (2) the influence of leadership and mentoring upon students’ sense of belonging and achievement, and (3) socioeconomic differences in participation, leadership/mentoring exposure, and belonging. This review is important because leadership and mentoring are core features of several co-curricular and pre-professional activities that foster students’ connection to their college and profession. These activities provide opportunities for engagement across experience levels with an emphasis on institutional knowledge transfer; these elements are often not present in curricular activities like project-based capstone courses. As a result, socioeconomically disadvantaged students may have fewer opportunities to access leadership and mentoring, thereby affecting their sense of belonging, motivation, persistence and achievement.