An Intersectional Approach to Exploring Engineering Graduate Students’ Identities and Academic Relationships

Authors

  • Heather L Perkins North Carolina State University http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8757-0545
  • Matthew Bahnson North Carolina State University
  • Marissa A. Tsugawa-Nieves University of Nevada, Reno
  • Derrick J. Satterfield University of Nevada, Reno
  • Mackenzie Parker University of Nevada, Reno
  • Cheryl Cass SAS Institute, Cary, NC
  • Adam Kirn University of Nevada, Reno

Keywords:

engineering identity, intersectionality, peer relationships, advisor relationships, peer attitudes, advisor attitudes, graduate students

Abstract

This study explores graduate engineering identity and the influence of peer and academic advisor relationships using an intersectional lens. A survey collected 1,754 U.S. engineering graduate students’ reports of their experiences, identities, and motivation and explored two research questions using a combination of MANOVAs and moderated regressions. Peer and academic advisor attitudes are positively related to all aspects of graduate engineering identity. Students’ identities significantly predicted mean differences across scientist, engineer, and researcher identities and their sub-constructs. Male and female Asian students scored lower than their peers in self-assessments of their scientist recognition and performance/competence, while other groups showed more variability. Advisor relationship scores were similar for all students, but peer relationship scores were lower for Students of Color. Students’ social identities also led to differences in the relationships between advisor/peer relationship scores and engineering identity. Men and Women of Color often reported significantly different effects of peer relationships on identity, with men reporting positive effect and women reporting no effect. Asian women and Underrepresented Women of Color differed from White women, where Women of Color reported stronger benefits from positive academic advisor relationships. This paper explores these results and the implications for researchers and educators working with graduate populations.

Author Biography

  • Heather L Perkins, North Carolina State University
    Heather Perkins is a graduate student studying at North Carolina State University in the Applied Social and Community Psychology program. She entered the program in the fall of 2014, after completing her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. She has participated in various research projects examining the role of engineering identity on graduate student success, how to counter scientist stereotypes in the classroom, and how to measure science identity and interest. Her primary research interest is identity and identity processes, as applied to STEM education and online communities.
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Published

31-01-2020

Issue

Section

Special Issue: Re-imagining who does STEM

How to Cite

An Intersectional Approach to Exploring Engineering Graduate Students’ Identities and Academic Relationships. (2020). International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 11(3), 440-465. https://genderandset.open.ac.uk/index.php/genderandset/article/view/679