2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work in Progress: Empowering Women in STEM through Mentoring and Community

Presented at Women in Engineering Division (WIED) Poster Session

Persistent gender disparities in STEM emphasize the importance of institutional strategies that intentionally support women’s academic and professional growth. This paper introduces WSTEM-Comunidad, an ongoing initiative at a Latin American university that empowers women faculty and doctoral students in STEM through a structured mentoring program and the development of a supportive academic community. The main goal is to enhance participants’ leadership, communication, and self-management skills while fostering a sense of belonging, professional identity, and academic confidence. WSTEM-Comunidad combines personalized mentoring, leadership development, and intergenerational networking among faculty members and doctoral students. The model is carried out in four progressive stages: (1) leadership and self-development workshops; (2) one-on-one mentoring among women faculty members; (3) community-building activities and ongoing professional training; and (4) intergenerational mentoring that involves doctoral students. A mixed-methods evaluation will assess the program’s results through pre- and post-intervention surveys and focus groups, measuring changes in self-efficacy, professional identity, and sense of belonging. The anticipated outcomes include establishing a sustainable network of women in STEM, boosting participants' confidence and leadership abilities, and increasing institutional awareness of gender equity as a key strategic aim. This practice-based research paper presents WSTEM-Comunidad as an innovative, contextually relevant approach that combines mentoring, training, and community-building to promote equity at a Latin American private university. It also explains how this framework can be adapted and replicated in other institutions seeking to improve the retention, advancement, and well-being of women in academia. The study adds to the ongoing conversation on gender equity in STEM by offering a framework for how mentoring and community-building initiatives can serve as transformative mechanisms for institutional change.

Authors

Dr. Monica Quezada-Espinoza http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0383-0179 Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile [biography]

Monica Quezada-Espinoza is a professor and researcher at the School of Engineering at Universidad Andrés Bello in Santiago, Chile, where she collaborates with the Educational and Academic Innovation Unit (UNIDA) as an instructor in active learning methodologies and mentors engineering faculty in educational research. She is the Secretary of the Women in Engineering Division (WIED) of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and an associate researcher in the STEM Latin America Network, specifically in the STEM + Gender group. Her research interests are diverse and focus on university education in STEM fields, faculty and professional development, research-based methodologies, and the use of evaluation tools and technology for education. She is also passionate about investigating conceptual learning in abstract physics topics, developing strategies to improve the retention of first-year engineering students, and enhancing skills and competencies in higher education. Additionally, Monica is dedicated to exploring gender issues in STEM education, with a particular emphasis on studying and proposing improvements for the inclusion of women in highly male-dominated fields. For more information on her work, visit her ORCID profile.
Prof. Maria Elena Truyol http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1153-4967 Universidad Andres Bello [biography]

María Elena Truyol, Ph.D., is full professor and researcher of the Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB). She graduated as a physics teacher (for middle and high school), physics (M.Sc.), and a Ph.D. in Physics at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. In 2013, she obtained a three-year postdoctoral position at the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. She focuses on educational research, physics education, problem solving, instructional material design, teacher training, and gender studies. She teaches undergraduate courses in environmental management, energy, and the fundamentals of industrial processes at the School of Engineering, UNAB. She currently coordinates the Educational and Academic Innovation Unit at the School of Engineering (UNAB). She is engaged in continuing teacher training in active learning methodologies at the three campuses of the School of Engineering (Concepción, Viña del Mar, and Santiago, Chile). She authored several manuscripts in the science education area, joined several research projects, participated in international conferences with oral presentations and keynote lectures, and served as a referee for journals, funding institutions, and associations.
Prof. Genaro Zavala http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-5880-1124 Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico; Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile [biography]

Genaro Zavala is the leader of the Socially Oriented Interdisciplinary STEM Education Research Group of the Institute for the Future of Education at Tecnologico de Monterrey. He collaborates with the Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Andres Bello in Chile. He is National Researcher Level 2 in Mexico. His research lines are interdisciplinary STEM education, social oriented education, conceptual understanding, active learning, assessment tools, and faculty development. Dr. Zavala was appointed to the editorial board of the PRPER (2015-18). In the AAPT, he was a vice-presidential candidate, member of the Committee on Research in Physics Education, member and chair of the International Education Committee, and elected member of Leadership Organizing Physics Education Research Council .
Prof. Angeles Dominguez http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6066-355X Universidad Andres Bello, Chile; Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico [biography]

Angeles Dominguez is an adjunct researcher at the Institute for the Future of Education at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico. She also collaborates with the School of Engineering at the Universidad Andres Bello in Santiago, Chile. Angeles holds a bachelor's degree in Physics Engineering from Tecnologico de Monterrey and a doctoral degree in Mathematics Education from Syracuse University, NY. Dr. Dominguez is a member of the Researchers’ National System in Mexico (SNI-2) and has been a visiting researcher at Syracuse University, UT-Austin, and Universidad Andres Bello. Her main research areas are interdisciplinary education, teaching methods, faculty development, and gender issues in STEM education. She actively participates in several national and international mathematics, engineering, and science education projects.

Download paper (558 KB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

» Download paper

« View session