Abstract
Engineering programs include far fewer African American students than engineering technology students enrolled in four-year programs at universities offering both ABET accredited programs. Several studies show this contrast, suggesting that further research in this area is warranted. The rationale for the higher population of students consistently in one program over the other is generally unknown. While researchers study the engineering population, the engineering technology population goes relatively unnoticed. The effects of a student’s past and current environments in engineering technology are relatively unknown. Researchers developed a survey to gather data from underrepresented populations in universities that meet the noted criteria. While the premise for this survey was to learn more about these students, their demographics, community and school support and preparation for the university experience, as well as their plans for the future, due to the demographics of this population most of the respondents were white. Research shows that learning in the informal community and family environments influences and supports student choices, and success. Originally it was anticipated that students meeting similar demographic criteria in the engineering and engineering technology programs would be compared within each of the universities studied with both ABET programs. Considering the responses obtained using the survey, the focus of this work is intended to learn more about this student population, their path to engineering technology, and to better understand the impact of differing institutions.
Date of this Version
6-2018
DOI
10.18260/1-2--30418
Published in:
Lucietto, A. M., & Berhan, L. M. (2018, June), Engineering Technology and Engineering Program Comparison of Underrepresented Students in the Same Institution Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30418
Link to original published article:
https://peer.asee.org/30418
Comments
© 2018 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference.