For the last two academic years, data has been collected to illustrate the enculturation process to engineering during the first year engineering program at a Southwestern Institution. Enculturation understood as the process of acquiring knowledge, practices and values to the profession is a new perspective, closely related to identity development. During the Academic Years of 2016, 2017, almost two thousand students in the first engineering program were asked about their understanding of engineering and enculturation to engineering via an online survey. The specific questions in the survey were:
1. Why do you want to be an engineer?
2. What is your understanding of being an engineer?
3. Define in your own words Engineering Culture.
In addition, approximately 50 students have participated in focus groups attempting to triangulate results.
Preliminary results show that students' first understanding of engineering as a culture aligns to the way the question is presented (same terms and concepts) but change over time. They look similar to the engineering taxonomies concept of Identities. ‘Identities’ however does not capture the perceptions of students of engineering as a culture (external to them) neither it approaches the engineering college program as the process of assimilation to such culture. This poster shows the results of the process of engineering education theory building for the specific case of enculturation in the first year program.
Dr. Mendoza Diaz is Assistant Professor with the Technology Management Program now moving to the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. She obtained her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in Educational Administration and Human Resource Development and worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning-INSPIRE at the School of Engineering Education-Purdue University. She was a recipient of the Apprentice Faculty Grant from the Educational Research Methods ASEE Division in 2009. She also has been an Electrical Engineering Professor for two Mexican universities. Dr. Mendoza has obtained funds from the National Science Foundation to investigate Enculturation to Engineering and Computational Thinking in the Formation of Engineers. She is Co-Advisor of the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers at Texas A&M (largest in the country) and is interested in Computing Engineering Education, Engineering Entrepreneurship, and Latinx Studies in Engineering
So Yoon Yoon, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Education, College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) at the University of Cincinnati. She received her Ph.D. in Gifted Education, and an M.S.Ed. in Research Methods and Measurement with a specialization in Educational Psychology, both from Purdue University. Her work centers on engineering education research as a psychometrician, program evaluator, and data analyst, with research interests in spatial ability, creativity, engineering-integrated STEM education, and research synthesis. As a psychometrician, she has revised, developed, and validated more than 10 instruments beneficial for STEM education practice and research. She has authored/co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings and served as a journal reviewer in engineering education, STEM education, and educational psychology. She has also served as a co-PI, an external evaluator, or an advisory board member on several NSF-funded projects.
Dr. Richard got his Ph. D. at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1989 and a B. S. at Boston University, 1984. He was at NASA Glenn, 1989-1995, worked at Argonne National Lab, 1996-1997, taught at Chicago State University, 1997-2002. Dr. Richard is an Instructional Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineer and NSF REU Program Director at Texas A&M since 1/03. His research focuses on computational plasma modeling using particle methods with spectral methods on Maxwell and Boltzmann equations. He has applied the lattice Boltzmann method to study plasma turbulence and plasma jets. He also studies engineering enculturation to better quantify and understand what in a classroom develops the engineering student into an engineer, building critical, computational and algorithmic thinking, with respect to cultural, ethnic, racial, gender, sexual, nationality, socioeconomic diversity.
Past research includes modeling ocean-air interaction; reacting flow systems; modeling jet engine turbomachinery going unstable (received NASA Performance Cash awards). Dr. Richard is involved in many outreach activities: tutoring, mentoring, directing related grants (e.g., a grant for an NSF REU site). Dr, Richard is active in professional societies (American Physical Society (APS), American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), ASEE, ASME). Dr. Richard has authored or co-authored about 35 technical articles (about 30 of which are refereed publications). Dr. Richard teaches courses ranging from first-year engineering design, fluid mechanics, to space plasma propulsion.
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