First-Generation College Students Identifying as Future Engineers

• In Event: Exploring Issues of Diversity and Underrepresentation in Engineering Education Research

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand factors that influence how first-generation college students (i.e., students’ whose parents have not obtained a post-secondary education) identify as future engineers, a significant predictor of students’ engineering persistence, using data from four U.S. institutions. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to determine how measures of belongingness, identity (e.g., interest, recognition, performance/competence), and career outcome expectations predicted students’ beliefs that they will identify as an engineer in the future. Feelings of belonging in engineering accounted for the most variance (34.6%) following measures of interest in engineering (17.5%). This work illustrates which factors are important for first-generation college students’ future identification as engineers and can help broaden the pathways for more first-generation college students to become engineers.

Authors

• Dina Verdin, Purdue University

• Allison Godwin, Purdue University