Intellectual Merit: Women are less likely than men in similar bachelor's degree cohorts to be retained in engineering (Frehill 2007a). This study will analyze existing, nationally-representative data to answer several questions about this gender difference in post-bachelor's retention in engineering. Are women less likely to stay in engineering because of work/family issues? Gendered reactions to the increasing uncertainty of engineering workplaces? Gender-based discrimination? Or do women have better success than men in moving from technical to managerial work in engineering? Researchers will analyze data from the NSF?s Science and Engineering Statistical Analysis System (SESTAT) for 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, and 2006, a compilation of three constituent surveys that provide the most comprehensive data about the U.S. STEM workforce. A second dataset includes the National Center for Education Statistics' Bachelors and Beyond panel study for the 1992/93 and 1999/2000 degree cohorts (base year plus three follow-ups for the 1992/93 degree cohort covering the 1993-2003 period), which will provide a closer examination of how individual engineering careers progress throughout the 1990s and early part of the 21st century. Finally, these nationally-representative data will be supplemented by information from two studies of U.S. engineers sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers. These latter two studies, one completed in 1993 and the other in 2005, provide data focused explicitly on career issues for engineers. This study is interested in understanding retention within the engineering workforce, which has been the subject of little systematic research.
Broader Impacts: The proposed research will examine the extent to which women and under-represented minorities--especially the often-overlooked intersection of these groups (women of color)--are retained in engineering after earning bachelor's degrees. The research will enable engineering educators, employers, and policy makers to develop strategies for enabling retention in engineering after graduation. Retention is important because the best ambassadors of jobs are often incumbents (Hira 2007): such role models are essential to conveying to young people that they can have long-term, meaningful careers within a particular discipline.
The outreach strategy for the findings includes presentations at conferences and papers in traditional academic journals. In addition, the researchers will reach a wider audience through articles in relevant engineering disciplinary magazines, read by millions of engineers and other practitioners that will benefit from an understanding of how to make the engineering workplace a more welcoming place for diverse people.
