This IUSE (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education) NSF (National Science Foundation) grantee poster describes our work deploying a national survey (the SUCCESS survey—Studying Underlying Characteristics of Computing and Engineering Student Success) to collect data on students’ non-cognitive and affective (NCA) factors. This survey, which is the first of its kind to be launched on a national scale, measures 28 NCA factors that may contribute to student success including personality, grit, identity, mindset, motivation, stress, gratitude, mindfulness, and belongingness. Many engineering and computing students have strong incoming academic records and standardized test scores that indicate potential for success in their programs; nonetheless, many struggle when they reach university. Cognitive measures like SAT/ACT are weak predictors of academic success, and NCA measures may form the constellation of characteristics that offer further predictive power. In this paper, we present construct validity evidence from a confirmatory factor analysis for the SUCCESS survey using a national sample of n = 2672 students, as well as findings from our think-aloud interviews to support face validity. Through confirmatory factor analysis, we removed several items from our survey that did not load onto factors as expected thus improving the measurements and reducing survey length. In addition, the think-aloud interviews allowed us to adjust the wording of questions and to add further demographic options to the survey. Our future work includes using cluster analysis to develop non-cognitive profiles of our participants. We will also use our national dataset to develop predictive models for student success, defined in both academic (e.g., GPA, etc.) and non-academic terms.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6779-1992
Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
[biography]
Matthew Scheidt is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Purdue University. He graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and The Ohio State University with a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a focus in Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing. Matt is currently part of Dr. Allison Godwin’s STRIDE (Shaping Transformative Research on Identity and Diversity in Engineering) research group at Purdue. His research interests include survey development, narrative methodologies, and supporting military veteran student success.
Allison Godwin, Ph.D. is the Dr. G. Stephen Irwin '67, '68 Professor in Engineering Education Research (Associate Professor) in the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University. She is also the Associate Director of the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility and a McCormick Teaching Excellence Institute Research Fellow. Her research focuses on how identity, among other affective factors, influences diverse groups of students to choose engineering and persist in engineering. She also studies how different experiences within the practice and culture of engineering foster or hinder belonging, motivation, and identity development. Dr. Godwin graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education. Her research earned her a National Science Foundation CAREER Award focused on characterizing latent diversity, which includes diverse attitudes, mindsets, and approaches to learning to understand engineering students’ identity development. She has won several awards for her research including the 2021 Chemical Engineering Education William H. Corcoran Award, 2022 American Educational Research Association Education in the Professions (Division I) 2021-2022 Outstanding Research Publication Award, and the 2023 AIChE Excellence in Engineering Education Research Award.
John Chen is a professor of mechanical engineering. His interests in engineering education include conceptual learning, conceptual change, student autonomy and motivation, lifelong learning skills and behaviors and, most recently, non-cognitive factors that contribute to student success.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0084-951X
Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
[biography]
Julianna Ge is a Ph.D. student in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. At Purdue, she created and currently teaches a novel course for undergraduate engineering students to explore the intersections of wellbeing, leadership, diversity and inclusion. As an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, her research interests intersect the fields of engineering education, positive psychology, and human development to understand diversity, inclusion, and success for undergraduate engineering students. Prior to Purdue, she received dual bachelor’s degrees in Industrial Engineering and Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her prior work experiences include product management, consulting, tutoring, marketing, and information technology.
Brian Self obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech, and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Utah. He worked in the Air Force Research Laboratories before teaching at the U.S. Air Force Academy for sev
Jim Widmann is a professor and chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He received his Ph.D. in 1994 from Stanford University and has served as a Fulbright Scholar at Kathmandu University
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3111-8509
Purdue University-Main Campus, West Lafayette (College of Engineering)
[biography]
Justin C. Major is a third-year Engineering Education Ph.D student and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Purdue University. Prior to graduate school, he completed Bachelor's degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Secondary Mathematics Education at the University of Nevada, Reno with a focus on K-12 Engineering Education. Justin's current research focuses on the storied experiences of socioeconomically disadvantaged students at intersections of race/ethnicity, class, and gender in engineering education.
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0337-7607
Purdue University at West Lafayette (PWL) (COE)
[biography]
Edward Berger is a Professor of Engineering Education and Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, joining Purdue in August 2014. He has been teaching mechanics for over 20 years, and has worked extensively on the integration and assessment.
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