Gals and Pals in Engineering: A First-Year Learning Community’s Impact on Women’s Engineering Identity

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Identity Formation: Underrepresented Learners' Experiences in the Professons

Abstract

Women remain underrepresented in engineering, a historical inequity sustained by a "chilly climate" that challenges their professional identity development. This study examines a first-year learning community (FYLC) designed to narrate this history and construct more equitable futures by fostering engineering identity in women students. Grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory and identity frameworks, the intervention incorporated a seminar, events, and peer mentoring. A pre-post survey with 10 students and paired t-tests assessed changes in identity and belonging. Results show significant or near-significant increases across measures, with a large effect size for performance/competence identity (d=1.34). These findings offer a promising model for how targeted, affinity-based interventions can help construct new possibilities for the persistence of women in engineering.

Authors

• David J Melnichuk, University of California - Davis

• Angelika Aldea Tamura, University of California - Davis

• Tiffany Marie Chan, University of California - Davis

• Ahva Melodie Razavian, University of California - Davis

• Carrissah Calvin, University of California - Davis

• Xianglong Wang, University of California - Davis