Retention of Undergraduate Engineering Students: Extending Research Into Practice

This session will discuss findings of a multi-site research study that contributed to a multi-site implementation project focused on issues pertaining to retention of undergraduate engineering students. Speakers will address the recommendations and subsequent implementation strategy made to engineering schools through two short presentations. Participants will be asked to respond to questions related to the challenges and ideas of implementing specific recommendations made to engineering schools resulting from these initiatives. PACE, Project to Assess Climate in Engineering is a multi-site research project funded by The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation intended to identify issues that affect persistence among engineering undergraduates while paying specific attention to the intersection of race, gender and academic experience. PACE had three main data collection components: an online student survey; interviews with current undergraduate engineering students; and interviews with undergraduate students who changed majors. All 21 PACE schools received a final report including recommendations based on data from the survey and interviews. This session will discuss the prevalence of certain recommendations that appeared across many institutions. Presenter: Elizabeth Litzler, Research Manager, PACE Director for Research, Center for Workforce Development, University of Washington Facilitator: Suzanne Brainard, Principal Investigator, PACE Executive Director, Center for Workforce Development, University of Washington Facilitator: Susan Staffin Metz, Co-Principal Investigator, PACE Senior Advisor, Center for Innovation in Engineering & Science Education, Stevens Institute of Technology ENGAGE, Engaging Students in Engineering, is a five year Extension Services project funded by the National Science Foundation's Gender in Science and Engineering program. The overarching goal of ENGAGE is to increase the capacity of 30 engineering schools to retain undergraduate students by facilitating the implementation of three research-based strategies to improve student day-to-day classroom and educational experience. The three strategies were selected because there is research evidence that implementing the strategies increases retention of undergraduate engineering students, particularly women. Presenter: Susan Staffin Metz, Principal Investigator, ENGAGE Senior Advisor, Center for Innovation in Engineering & Science Education, Stevens Institute of Technology Facilitator : C. Diane Matt, Co-Principal Investigator ENGAGE, Executive Director, WEPAN Facilitator: Patricia Campbell, Co-Principal Investigator, ENGAGE, President, Campbell-Kibler Associates