2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Mechanical engineering “gateway” courses (e.g. thermodynamics) often define not only students’ academic progress but also their emerging sense of identity, belonging, and motivation within the discipline. This study examines how those formative experiences shape long-term persistence and professional identity among students who have successfully completed the mechanical engineering curriculum. Using a convergent mixed-methods design, quantitative measures of belonging, motivation, and engineering identity were combined with qualitative reflections from 28 senior students at a medium-sized engineering college.

Quantitative results indicate strong overall belonging (M = 4.19, SD = 0.40) and identity (M = 4.22, SD ≈ 0.68). Perceived faculty support was the single strongest correlate of belonging (r = .44, p < .05), followed by peer collaboration during “weeder” courses (r ≈ .45). Identity was positively associated with GPA (r = .47, p < .05) and belonging (r = .44, p < .05). First-generation students reported slightly higher belonging (M = 4.20) than non–first-generation peers (M = 4.15; d ≈ 0.6). Motivation data revealed that extrinsic–career motives (M = 4.44) were strongest, while intrinsic–knowledge motives were moderate (M = 3.81) and amotivation was minimal (M = 1.05).

Qualitative findings reinforce these quantitative patterns. Students consistently identified Thermodynamics I as a “community catalyst,” describing collaborative study groups and shared struggle as pivotal in forming both competence and confidence. These results, grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory and Situated Learning, highlight how relational teaching practices and intentional community-building within high-challenge courses can produce enduring effects on motivation and professional identity. Future phases will extend this work longitudinally, tracking how early gateway-course experiences influence persistence and professional identity development across the engineering pathway.