2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The retention of students from historically underrepresented groups in engineering is too often examined through a deficit lens, overlooking the rich sociocultural resources these students bring to their institutions. Utilizing Yosso’s community cultural wealth (CCW) framework, this qualitative study explores how undergraduate engineering students leverage familial and navigational capital to persist through their rigorous degree programs. Drawing on data from 65 students across six cohorts (2018–2023) within a mentored undergraduate research intervention based at a Historically Black University, this study investigates family influence beyond early STEM interest. Findings demonstrate that family members serve as key mentors irrespective of their own engineering or STEM background. Furthermore, the study reveals a complex financial motivations, whereby students navigate their engineering pathways while driven by a dual desire to "pay back" current relatives and "pay forward" to aspirational future families. Ultimately, this work provides actionable implications for contemporary engineering programs to move beyond "one-size-fits-all" advising to build holistic mentorship practices that holistic mentorship models that actively validate and integrate students’ evolving familial networks.

Keywords
Community Cultural Wealth, Engineering Education, Familial Support, Engineering Identity, Mixed-Methods Research, Diversity and Inclusion