TY - JOUR
T1 - Gendered interests in electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering
T2 - Intersections with career outcome expectations
AU - Potvin, Geoff
AU - McGough, Catherine
AU - Benson, Lisa
AU - Boone, Hank J.
AU - Doyle, Jacqueline
AU - Godwin, Allison
AU - Kirn, Adam
AU - Ma, Beverly
AU - Rohde, Jacqueline
AU - Ross, Monique
AU - Verdin, Dina
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received May 31, 2017; revised September 25, 2017 and March 31, 2018; accepted June 11, 2018. Date of publication August 13, 2018; date of current version October 29, 2018. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Award EEC-1428523 and Award EEC-1428689. (Corresponding author: Geoff Potvin.) G. Potvin is with the Department of Physics, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199 USA, and also with the STEM Transformation Institute, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199 USA (e-mail: gpotvin@fiu.edu).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 IEEE.
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - Contribution: The current study finds that female-identified students report stronger associations between 'helping others' and interest in bioengineering/biomedical engineering than non-females, while they report less interest in electrical and computer engineering overall, with similar associations to factors such as 'inventing/designing things' than non-females. Background: While women have made gains in STEM, electrical and computer engineering programs award 13% of their Bachelor's degrees to women while bioengineering/biomedical engineering programs award over 40%. Prior work suggests that women's persistent under-representation in electrical and computer engingeering may be due to them being drawn into other disciplines. Women persist in engineering at similar rates as men, so a better understanding of early college attitudes is needed. Research Questions: 1) How are career outcome expectations associated to electrical engineering, computer engineering, and bioengineering/biomedical engineering? 2) What are females' interests in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and bioengineering/biomedical engineering? 3) Are outcome expectations and major interests distinct for female-identified students? Methodology: Regression analyses were conducted on multiply-imputed data of introductory engineering students at four public universities in the U.S. Findings: Students associate inventing/designing things and 'developing new knowledge and skills' to electrical engineering, and associate inventing/designing things and 'working with people' (negative) to computer engineering. Students associate helping others and 'supervising others' (negative) to bioengineering/biomedical engineering. Female-identified students are less interested in electrical and computer engineering, more interested in bioengineering/biomedical engineering, and associate helping others to bioengineering/biomedical engineering more strongly.
AB - Contribution: The current study finds that female-identified students report stronger associations between 'helping others' and interest in bioengineering/biomedical engineering than non-females, while they report less interest in electrical and computer engineering overall, with similar associations to factors such as 'inventing/designing things' than non-females. Background: While women have made gains in STEM, electrical and computer engineering programs award 13% of their Bachelor's degrees to women while bioengineering/biomedical engineering programs award over 40%. Prior work suggests that women's persistent under-representation in electrical and computer engingeering may be due to them being drawn into other disciplines. Women persist in engineering at similar rates as men, so a better understanding of early college attitudes is needed. Research Questions: 1) How are career outcome expectations associated to electrical engineering, computer engineering, and bioengineering/biomedical engineering? 2) What are females' interests in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and bioengineering/biomedical engineering? 3) Are outcome expectations and major interests distinct for female-identified students? Methodology: Regression analyses were conducted on multiply-imputed data of introductory engineering students at four public universities in the U.S. Findings: Students associate inventing/designing things and 'developing new knowledge and skills' to electrical engineering, and associate inventing/designing things and 'working with people' (negative) to computer engineering. Students associate helping others and 'supervising others' (negative) to bioengineering/biomedical engineering. Female-identified students are less interested in electrical and computer engineering, more interested in bioengineering/biomedical engineering, and associate helping others to bioengineering/biomedical engineering more strongly.
KW - Biomedical engineering
KW - computer engineering electrical engineering
KW - gender
KW - recruitment
KW - undergraduate
KW - underrepresentation
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U2 - 10.1109/TE.2018.2859825
DO - 10.1109/TE.2018.2859825
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85051645524
VL - 61
SP - 298
EP - 304
JO - IRE Transactions on Education
JF - IRE Transactions on Education
SN - 0018-9359
IS - 4
M1 - 8434267
ER -