Understanding and addressing the diversity gap in engineering is of critical importance to the current and rapidly growing U.S. workforce needs. This is particularly true within Biomedical Engineering (BME), a field that is amid a 10-year estimated 23% employment growth (2014-2024). Gender and ethnic diversity in particular have been studied to develop interventions aimed to support, graduate, and retain a larger and more diverse population into the engineering workforce. Despite these efforts, diversity in both the biomedical and the general engineering workforce as a whole has remained low. This paper aims to further the knowledge of the diversity gap by exploring the relationship between diversity and career outcomes for undergraduate engineering students upon graduation. More specifically, we aims to gain insight on the extent of the impact gender or ethnic identity have on the career outcomes of Biomedical Engineering undergraduate students at a large Midwestern research university, compared to three other engineering majors. Identifying potential diversity- and major-based inequities could provide further insight for how to improve retention and maintain appropriate pathways into the growing engineering workforce.
Alexis Ortiz-Rosario is an associate professor of practice in the department of biomedical engineering at The Ohio State University. He holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from The Ohio State University.
Amena Shermadou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University. Her research agenda focuses on exploring hidden curriculum through the lens of Muslim experiences in engineering. Prior to her current role at Ohio State, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue. Amena earned her PhD in Engineering Education at The Ohio State University and received her B.S. and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Wright State University.
Dr. David A. Delaine is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University Department of Engineering Education. Within this newly formed department he strives to creatively impact engineering education and society through investigating community-based le
Tanya M. Nocera, PhD earned a BS in Physics from Allegheny College and a MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering (BME) from The Ohio State University (OSU), before joining the OSU BME Department as an Assistant Professor of Practice in 2014. Her roles include designing and teaching undergraduate BME laboratory courses, and mentoring multidisciplinary senior capstone teams on rehabilitation engineering and medical device design projects. She also leads K-12 engineering outreach events, and is pursuing scholarship in student technical communication skills and preparing BME students for careers in industry.
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