2011 WEPAN National Conference Advancing Women: Transforming Engineering Education June 21-23, 2011 Seattle, Washington

2011 WEPAN National Conference

Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

Developing Interest in E ngineering among H igh School G irls from Diverse Backgrounds A Longitudinal V iew
A bstract U.S. engineering professions urgently need more women and people of color to achieve diversity of thought in#engineering#practice#and#to#improve#U.S.#competitiveness#in#todays#global# economy. Identifying the societal and cultural pressures7including social factors that encourage or dissuade academically strong high school girls from studying engineering7could change the way young women learn about or are encouraged to consider these non-traditional careers. Significant increases in the numbers of women and underrepresented minorities are likely by improving the appeal of engineering work and support for it among academically talented high school girls who are not already considering engineering in college and beyond. The purpose of this paper is to describe and provide findings from a collaborative four-year (2006-2010) longitudinal research project, Female Recruits Explore Engineering (FREE), which was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). FREE was a career exploration program for 131 mostly low-income, mostly minority high school girls in Colorado, Iowa, and Ohio. While all the girls in the program were high achievers in science and math, they knew little about engineering at the onset of the project. The goals of the project were to facilitate explorations#of#these#fields,#track#the#course#of#the#girls#explorations#and#considerations#during# their three years of high school and the year after they graduated, identify and map the influences that shaped their sense of the profession, and analyze their views and feelings about their career options in engineering at the conclusion of the study. The findings from the study suggest potentially significant differences within and across groups. These differences may be attributed to family backgrounds, previous experiences, competence with technology, context, and the social capital the young women had or gained during high school and used in their college years. The findings lead us to reject claims in the media that young#women#choose#not#to#pursue#engineering#because#they#dont#want#to#or#choose#not#to# and that federal policies to support and protect their participation are no longer necessary and even harmful. We will suggest that even interested young women are unlikely to pursue engineering in the United States because their college and career choices are deeply affected by overlapping educational, economic and social factors that ignore or discourage their pursuit of engineering, thereby making real choice moot. Policies that address this problem are indeed necessary to encourage women in engineering. Introduction There is widespread agreement in the United States that something needs to be done about the low numbers and the limited diversity of young Americans who are interested in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) fields. Failure to raise numbers and increase diversity in STEM is seen as an equity problem (benefits of differing perspectives are lost; good jobs are not well-distributed), a workforce problem (global competitiveness is compromised and retirement numbers are significant), and a national security problem (domestic innovations are crucial).

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2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

This problem has been perceived to exist in one form or another for decades, with various reasons and remedies proposed. Attention to these reasons has waxed and waned over the years, generally following the course and plight of other equity issues. Since the late 1990s, the dominant view has been that old barriers to participation have been removed: discrimination has ended, incentives have been offered, climates have improved, stereotypes have diminished and academic preparedness has been addressed. The problems now are said to be programs that promise results but do not work, and career preferences of individuals, particularly women and members of ethnic minority groups7who stand to gain and offer much7but are not interested. However, recent research shows otherwise: discrimination is more subtle, climates remain chilly especially in the STEM fields (e.g., Etkowitz, Kemelgor, and Uzzi 2000; Bystydzienski and Bird 2006; Burger, Creamer, and Meszaros 2007; Hanson 2009), and stereotypes continue to be used (Valian 2006). Educational preparedness and attainment have improved; yet significant disparities still exist for girls (and boys) from low socioeconomic and underserved race/ethnic families (AAUW 2008; Margolis 2008). We assert that increases in the numbers of women and minorities in engineering are possible by improving the appeal of engineering work and support for it among academically talented high school girls who are not already considering engineering in college and beyond. However,#increasing#high#school#girls#interest#in#and knowledge of engineering are not sufficient as long as structural barriers to their pursuit of engineering persist. Data from the FREE project underscore this point. T he F R E E Project FREE was a career exploration and research project with 131 mostly low-income, mostly minority high school girls in Colorado, Iowa, and Ohio. While all the girls in the project were high-achievers in science and math, they knew little about engineering at the onset of the project. The focus of the project was to facilitate young#womens#explorations#of#these#fields,#track#the# course of their explorations and considerations during their three years of high school (and first year in college), identify and map the influences that shaped their sense of the profession, and analyze their views and feelings about their career options in engineering at the conclusion of the study. The FREE project traces its history to a pilot study conducted in early 2000 by one of the authors (Bruning 2003). The pilot study was inspired by the work of another of the authors of this paper, Margaret Eisenhart ( Educated in Romance, 1990). The pilot study and the book both sought to understand why academically talented young women were not pursuing or persisting in science and engineering fields. The pilot study was designed to contextualize and document the career exploration through the lived experiences of the participants. The methodology of participatory action research (PAR) and theoretical framework of feminist standpoint theory served#to#give#voice#to#young#women#as#they#explored#engineering.#Through#the#voices#of#the# participants and their data collection approaches, perceptions of otherness and gendering quickly developed as the young women#came#to#know#engineering. The extensive and opportunistic nature of the profession was appealing; however, the messages about the demanding work and lack of work/life balance were alienating. Personal choices of the young women evolved around

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lifestyle#and#fit.#The#engineering#profession#they#came#to#know#had#little#in#common#with#their# world or future. In 2006, the National Science Foundation funded a scaled up version of the pilot study to better understand whether talent expansion was possible among academically talented high school girls7who were not already considering engineering7and to document their experiences and decisions. To this end, researchers and educators from the University of Colorado-Boulder, Iowa State University, and Ohio State University developed FREE. The 10-person research team had expertise#in#educational#research,#engineering,#womens#studies,#sociology,#higher# education, computer science, and bilingual education. Beginning in Fall 2006 and continuing through June 2009, FREE brought together talented high school girls in small groups to focus on career exploration and factors known to affect the appeal of engineering, including: (1) exposing high-schoolers to up-to-date engineering content and activities that intrigued and challenged them; (2) building close networks of peers who could support these interests; and (3) acknowledging and documenting the attitudes and conditions that discouraged girls from engineering. The research team subsequently followed the young women for a year after they graduated from high school using a private group Facebook site where participants responded to posted questions about their transition to college, academic experiences and satisfaction with their major. Research Methodology The FREE research design can be described broadly as a multi-site, primarily qualitative study informed by principles of participatory action and case study research. The research questions framing this study sought to understand the following: 1. What are the effects of engineering career exploration on high-achieving, mostly minority high school girls who are not already interested in engineering? 2. For these girls, what is important to know about engineering? 3. How#do#the#girls#interest#and#engagement#in#engineering#change#over#time? 4. How do racial/ethnic, socio-economic, and rural/urban differences affect the engagement in engineering? Research questions for Year 4 (after the girls graduated from high school) were: 1. What obstacles and supports exist for young women who pursue engineering in college? 2. What is the role of significant others, especially peers and family, in influencing persistence in engineering? We met monthly with the girls to explore engineering, meet practicing engineers, visit engineering workplaces, discuss the pros and cons of engineering, and conduct hands-on engineering projects,#all#in#an#effort#to#increase#the#girls#knowledge#of#and#interest#in# engineering. We developed a secure website for the girls to share their explorations, and we gave each girl a Blackberry smartphone to communicate with other FREE participants to capture their in-the-moment#thinking.#In#fall 2008 the intervention portion of FREE ended, but we continued to follow the participants through summer 2009, when they graduated from high school. We also selected 24 girls for case studies and interviewed them bi-monthly. From fall of 2009 until spring 2010, we followed the participants via postings on a Facebook group site, conducted personal interviews biannually, and administered surveys. 3
2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

We used multiple methods of data collection: participant observation to record what happened during monthly meetings; questions posted on the website (and later on Facebook) about#the#girls#developing#ideas#of#engineering;#surveys#about#the#girls#previous#experiences# with engineering and technologies, school performance, future plans, and social networks they used for career advice. We captured girls#website#postings#and#electronic#messages from their Blackberries and conducted in-depth interviews with a sub-group of the participants over the course of their senior year as well as in the year after they graduated from high school. Fieldnotes, interview responses, website postings, and Blackberry messages were analyzed using a coding scheme developed from the research questions (a priori codes) and a review of the accumulated data from each of the three states (in situ codes). The coding scheme was applied to the data in ATLAS.ti, a software program for qualitative data analysis. The data were coded by girls#interests,#knowledge#of#engineering,#knowledge#of#information#technology,# use of engineering (or IT) language, position-taking viz. engineering, constructions of engineering as gendered, future plans, fit with lives, work values, environmental and social factors, social capital, and representations of ethnic, class, gender, and rural/urban location, and experiential learning. These coded categories were also sorted into two-month segments from November 2006 through August 2009 to capture changes over time. F indings The findings below represent the combined results of primarily qualitative analyses of data from the high-achieving girls who participated in FREE from 10 high schools in three states (CO, IA, and OH) during the period 2006-2010. We summarize general patterns in Tables and provide selected excerpts from the data to illustrate the general patterns. These findings correspond to our six research questions listed on page 4.

General Patterns Years 1-3 T he high school sophomores in F R E E began the project with little or no interest 1 in or knowledge of engineering. As Table 1 below indicates, only 18% (24 of 131) of the girls who started in the FREE program as high school sophomores were even considering engineering as a possible career. Seventy-two percent of the girls7high-achievers in math and science and recommended by their teachers7said at that time that they knew little or nothing about engineering, had never met an engineer, had no idea what an engineer does, and had never considered it as a field of study or a career possibility for themselves. In an initial survey and on the first FREE web site postings, comments like these were common:
I#have#no#idea#if#I#want#to#go#into#engineering#or#not.#I#cant#say#I#know#what#it#is.#(Chelsea,# OH) Engineering#is#not#something#I#think#about#doing.#(Naomi,#OH) I#have#absolutely#no#idea#of#some#of#the#engineering#things#there#are.#(Lizbeth,#CO)

Interest#in#this#context#was#defined#as#expressions#of#curiosity,#desire#to#learn,#enjoyment,#and#engagement#in# activities related to engineering.!

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2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

Table 1: Retention in FREE and Engineering

Started Jan 07 Considered Engineering at Start
16 (23%) 3 ( 7%)

Retained in FREE Aug 08 (after 18 mons)

38 (55%) 21 (30%)

To College in Engineering Aug 09 (after 28 mons)

3 ( 4%) 5 (11%)

CO IA

69 46

OH

20
131

5 (25%)
24 (18%)

16 (80%)
75 (57%)

6 (30%)
14 ( 11%)

H igh school was not too late to spar k interest in engineering among these talented girls. After initial exploration of engineering through career fairs, web sites, meetings with women engineers, and visits to engineering schools and companies, FREE participants became more interested and somewhat more knowledgeable, although their knowledge was still very limited and their language rather general. Over time, FREE participants came to realize that engineering was all around them, and they started to think about how it was manifested in their everyday lives. They had a desire to learn more about how engineering might be involved in a field or job in which they had a pre-existing interest. The responses below were typical a few months into the project. I#learned#theres#a#lot#more#to#engineering#than#I#thought#there#was.#Like,#you#can#work#with# animals and agriculture. I thought it was just math and machines all the time. But, you really get to#work#with#people.#And#it#was#pretty#fun. (Chloe, IA) I#thought#it#was#very#interesting#that#there#were#so#many#different#parts#within#civil#engineering.# I never knew about all the things that civil engineers do that impact our daily lives. I would like to learn more about the environmental part of engineering because I think that it is neat how engineers deal with everything around us like the water we drink and#the#roads#we#drive#on.# (Lucy, OH) F R E E participants became curious about engineering as a field of employment and career development. Meetings with practicing engineers were invaluable for that purpose. Of concern to many, particularly the low-income participants in CO and IA, were the long hours that engineering as a job demanded and how to balance engineering work and family. For example: 5
2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

I#learned#that#most#engineers#work#10-12 hours a day, when I grow up I want to spend a lot of time#with#my#family,#if#I#work#that#much#I#would#not#have#much#time#to#do#that.#(Jayde,#CO) SI#realizedT#how#much#time#and#devotion#I#need#for#a#career#in#engineering.#I#dont#mean#that#in# a#lazy#way,#I#would#just#like#to#see#if#Im#cut#out#for#a#job#such#as#engineering.##(Rose,#IA). As their interest grew, F R E E participants began to question why there were so few women in engineering. My#thought about the career fair was that it was an experience that helped me understand that many#women#are#not#into#engineering#according#to#the#info#I#received#by#the#interviews.# (Janele, IA) My#view#of#engineering#has#changed#over#the#past#year,#based#on the number of women involved. The main disadvantage to me is the fact that the field lacks numbers of women. The advantages to becoming an engineer are countless, because of the demand. I think that my generation has many more women who are interested in the field of engineering; [so] the number of#women#should#increase.#(Remy,#CO) Analysis of the online postings indicates anevolutioninyoungwomensthoughts about engineering. Starting with superficial knowledge of engineering (e.g., engineers build bridges, and use heavy machinery; there are many fields within engineering like civil, biomedical, and environmental engineering); the girls progressed to questions of ethics, gender bias, social value, and community service in engineering. It was not uncommon for participants to acknowledge after a year in the project that the FREE exploration led them to broaden the scope of possible careers related to the sciences. For example, an Ohio participant posted the following on the FREE website: I#had#never really considered engineering as a potential career possibility until FREE came along.#Id#always#enjoyed#science#and#most#of#math#and#had#thought#mostly#about#using#that# interest to pursue a career in the sciences. Although I enjoy solving puzzles, both cardboard and real-life,#building#wasnt#a#special#interest#of#mineX#which#is#what#I#previously#considered# engineering#to#be.#I#used#to#think#that#I#knew#what#I#wanted#to#pursue#in#college,#but#lately#the# decision has begun to seem more infinite as more#options#show#themselves.#(Samantha,#OH) T he girls further extended their interest in and knowledge of engineering through the small-scale engineering projects they identified and car ried out in year two of the program. These engineering projects involved small groups (3-5 participants) working on a project of choice with a mentor engineer and fell into two main categories: personally enhancing and socially enhancing. Personally-enhancing projects included: adjustable high heeled shoes for women (a concept later named by Time as one of 100 best innovations of 2007); flavored pen and pencil tops; attractive thermal clothing; glow-in-the-dark clothing; solar jewelry; and cameras-as-jewelry. Socially-enhancing projects included: a money reader for the blind; an assistive robot; a rain garden; and a playground for disabled children. A few projects, such as creating a Rube Goldberg machine, building a music box or a robot that danced, were primarily for#fun#and#the#challenge#to#see#if#we#can#do#it.#By the end of the year, as the projects were 6
2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

completed#and#presented,#the#girls#engagement#with#engineering#had#taken#a#new#form.#The way the participants began to talk about engineering now entailed the use of scientific language and comprehension of complex processes. Here are two representative examples: We#met#with#SmentorT#today#in#order#to#look#deeper#into#the#things#we#wanted#to#do#for#the# projectShe#was#able#to#help#us#understand#more#about#the#questions#we#needed#to#answer#in# order to narrow down [the scope of the project]. We talked about how there are standards for packaging and the ASTM: the American Standards of Testing Materials. We need to pick an electronic#device#that#we#want#to#packageWe#are#going#to#be#applying#different#methods#of# reduce-reuse-recycle#(Robie,#OH)# Im#working#on#where#my#electrical#source#is#coming#from# probably from the side of the house#from#the#basement.#Ill#need#a#new#shovelalong#with#a#laser#leveling#system.#Ill#also# need to figure out my landscape blueprints and plant selection soon. I think I might just get my fish#privately.#(Wren,#IA) In reflections at the end of the Year 2, after the girls made their project presentations, many commented on how much more interested they were in pursuing engineering and how much more they knew about engineering after doing the projects. In#designing#the#playground,#we#incorporated#different#types of engineering7computer, mechanical and civil engineering. It was especially interesting to do the computer 3D design that Sthe#mentorT#helped#us#with.The#project#helped#me#to#realize#that#I#really#could#be#an#engineer# and#now#I#really#want#to#major#in#it#in#college.#(Chelsea,#OH) The#best#part#about#our#project#was#when#we#actually#began#making#it.#When#we#started# working on our shirts and putting the lights together it brought all the pieces of our research together and it wasn't just a design on paper anymore, we actually made something we could feel,#use,#and#actually#see#it#work.Im#a#lot#more#interested#in#engineering now than I was a year#ago#because#I#got#to#see#how#many#different#things#you#can#do.#(Sophia,#CO) When#I#first#heard#the#word#engineer,#I#was#not#exactly#sure#what#they#did.##I#now#understand# that engineers work in almost every part of anything that has to be made; this is really exciting because#it#means#that#as#an#aspiring#engineer#there#will#be#countless#opportunities.#(Remy, CO) AtendofFREEssecondyear,themajorityofgirls(57%75of131) who started in the project were still participating. A ll of them were interested in learning more about engineering, and the majority of them (57% ; 43 of 75) were considering a career in an engineering field at that time. Twenty percent (15 of 75) of those who stayed in FREE had been interested in engineering from the start; 31% (23 of 75) remained committed to a nonSTEM career; 11% (8 of 75) switched away from engineering as their career choice during FREE, while 32% (24 of 75) switched to it (see Table 2). Considering#engineering#means#that it was at least one possibility mentioned.

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2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

Table 2: For Girls Who Stayed in FREE-Trajectories of Interest in Engineering

Retained in FREE Aug 08 Still Considerin g Engineerin g Aug 08 15 (39%) 12 (57%) 16 (100%) 43 (57%) Stayed in Engineerg as of Aug 08 Stayed in Non Engineerg as of Aug 08 19 (50%) 1 ( 5%) 3 (15%) 23 (31%) Switched Engineerg ! NonEngg# as of Aug 08 4 (11%) 2 ( 9%) 2 (10%) 8 (11%) Switched NonEngg ! Engg# as of Aug 08 9 (24%) 5 (24%) 10 (50%) 24 (32%) To College in Engineering Aug 09

C 38 O I 21 A O 16 H 75

6 (16%) 7 (33%) 2 (10%) 15 (20%)

3 ( 8%) 5 (24%) 6 (37%) 14 (19%)

In interviews with the case study girls in Year 3, those who expressed interest in pursuing engineering as a career attributed this in large part to their participation in F R E E. In response to the question: Do#you#think#youre#more#likely#to#become#an#engineer#now# than before you started the FREE project? The participants stated: I#didnt#consider#engineering#whatsoever#before#this#programI#thought#engineering#was#like,# a#car#mechanic.##Ive#researched#a#lot,#trying#to,#like#figure#out#differences#between#different# engineeringI#started#robotics#last#year#partly#so#I#could#get#a#feel#for#different#types#of# engineering.#And#Ive#been#trying#to#talk#to#more#people#who#are#engineers so I can get a better idea#of#whats#going#on.#(Naomi,#OH) My#view#of#engineering#really#changed#big#time.#I#used#to#see#engineering#as#a#boring#career-having to do a lot of math papers and etc. It turns out that engineering is much more than that. Now I see it as a career of exploring with your ideas, using your brains, your skills, and everything#else#to#create#invent#and#discover#many#things.#(Angel,#CO) It#SFREET#just#opened#that#field#up#so#I#could#actually#consider#it#SengineeringT,#because I wouldnt#have#otherwise.#Id#still#be#in#equine#science#otherwise,#Id#just#think#it#was#a#maledominated#thing,#you#know,#women#couldnt#do#it.#(Belle,#IA) Thus, as the girls progressed through the FREE project, their interest in engineering increased as did their knowledge of engineering as evidenced by their progressively better recognition of engineering fields and greater use of engineering/scientific terminology. They expressed more personal interest in engineering, began to identify more fields of engineering, came to position themselves in engineering, and began to recognize how engineering can be 8
2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

applied#to#many#aspects#of#peoples#lives.#They#were#pleasantly#surprised#that#it#has#everyday# life applications. They also wanted to know how engineering could be related to their prior interests, what engineering workplaces were like, and how women fared in them. Female role models were noticed by many of the girls, and they clearly enjoyed learning about engineering from female engineers. While concerns were expressed in the first year of the project about balancing#work#and#family#and#the#gendered#aspects#of#engineering,#as#the#participants#interest# in and knowledge of engineering increased, these concerns were expressed less frequently. At the end of the second year, after the girls had completed their projects, no one brought up these issues in written or verbal reflections on their participation in FREE. By the end of the third year, after completing their projects and having had an additional year of exploration, most of the girls expressed confidence that they understood many aspects of engineering and hoped to learn and do more in the future.

Year 4
TheFREEparticipants interest in pursuing engineering held relatively steady until the spring of their senior year then fell offrather dramatically in some casesby the time they started college. Of those who stayed in FREE, only 19% (14 of 75) entered college intending to major in engineering. Fall-off in interest and engagement in engineering was associated with differences in economic and social capital across research sites.

Table 3: FREE Retention after 1 Year of College

Still in FREE CO IA* OH 26 22 15 63 Still in Engineering 3 (12%) 5 (23%) 6 (40%) 14 (22%) In NonEngineering STEM 9 (35%) 7 (32%) 7 (47%) 23 (37%) Non-STEM 12 (46%) 7 (32%) 2 (13%) 21 (33%)

*Some IA girls remained undecided. Among the girls who stayed in FREE and enrolled in college (Fall 2009), 19% chose an engineering major; 35% chose another STEM major; and 33% chose a non-STEM major (see Table 3). What turned out to be a barrier for many of the girls was not the prospect of doing 9
2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

engineering itself but the challenges of getting into a college with an engineering program and actually (physically) getting to a college with an engineering program. The challenges seemed to come, in large part, from a lack of economic, social, and cultural capital (access to economic, social, and cultural resources) to make the transition from high school to college engineering. The CO group, with the least access to capital, had the most trouble (only 4% of the original group actually chose an engineering major); the IA group, with somewhat more access to capital, did better (11%); and the OH group, with the most access to capital, did best (30%). Some consequential differences in social and cultural capital were produced in schools. Differences specifically relevant to engineering futures (and probably to STEM fields in general) were produced by differences in high school graduation policies; availability of advanced and high quality coursework; opportunities to use technology in and outside school; channels of communication for information about college and scholarships; and access to college counseling and career planning. When the girls graduated from high school and began seriously preparing for college, disparities in social and cultural capital created by high school differences seemed to interact with differences in family economic capital, socialization patterns, and legal status to bring#into#being#realistic#choices#for#college#and#a#major.#For#many#of#the#minority#and# working-class girls, a decision to choose a less selective, less costly, less demanding, and less risky college or major than they had recently planned, and even been accepted to, became the reasonable thing to do. There were some girls who faced this situation and pursued engineering, science, or math at selective colleges anyway. More commonly, those who had more economic capital or had attended high schools that gave them more social and cultural capital (or both) were the ones who headed to selective colleges in STEM majors. By the end of their first year in college, 22% of those who continued to participate in F R E E (14 of 63) were still majoring in engineering, while 37% (23 of 63) were majoring in a non-engineering ST E M field and 33% (21 of 63) were majoring in a non-ST E M field (Table 3). For the girls in FREE, the choice of major by category (Engineering, Other STEM, NonSTEM, Undecided) fluctuated over time. The number interested in engineering increased by 81% (from 21 to 38) in Year 2, when the girls were juniors and working on their own engineering projects. Most of the increase came from girls who chose Other STEM fields in Year 1. The number choosing engineering then decreased by 61% in Year 3, when the girls were seniors and engineering per se was not emphasized in FREE. The number choosing engineering held steady in Year 4 (Tables 2 and 3). In Year 4, we collected data on the obstacles, supports, and significant others that the participants encountered in their first year of college. We found that the major obstacles during the first year of college were financial costs (made worse for students without legal status), minimal relationships with professors, restrictive and difficult coursework particularly in engineering (mathematics was often cited), and the inability to identify what one really wants to do. The cost of education was a major obstacle for many of the study participants, especially those from low-income families. During the first year of college, participants had quite different experiences with professors. Some interacted quite a bit while others never did. School size did

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2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

not seem to be a major factor. Those who reported less interaction tended to be less satisfied with academic life. First year engineering was especially difficult for the participants. Few women in classes sometimes resulted in males dominating discussion, stifling female participation, and creating an unwelcoming climate for women. Participants reported that engineering courses and programs were confining and did not allow for exploration of other areas of interest, and getting less than excellent grades in freshman engineering or math courses was upsetting and sometimes perceived as a sign that pursuing engineering was a mistake. The#young#womens#support#systems#consisted largely of two sets of significant others: peers (new friends made in college) and parents (with whom they stayed in frequent contact). Close friends at college were very important sources of advice and social support, as were parents with whom most participants communicated regularly. Financial aid that covered all or most college expenses was a significant support for a majority of the participants, even those from higher SES families. Young women from low SES families with full or almost full financial support continued at four-year colleges, and some continued in STEM, while those without full support were returning to live at home and attend community colleges. Given that only 18% of girls who started in FREE were interested in engineering at that time, and that only 19% of girls who started in FREE went to college intending to major in engineering (see Table 2), the FREE project was quite successful at keeping girls interested enough in engineering to continue in the program. Forty-eight percent (48%) of the girls who started in FREE continued to participate after four years. C aucasian, high income students, and suburban and rural residents were the most likely to persist in F R E E . But even in the other groups, the FREE girls were retained at higher levels than seen in most studies of minority and low-income girls in engineering. Forty-eight percent of the academically talented girls who started the FREE program as high school sophomores were still involved after four years (as college freshmen). Of this group, 58% were White, followed by Asians (46%), Hispanics (37%), African-Americans (31%) and Native Americans (25%). When comparing ethnic percentages of those who started FREE with those who continued for 4 years (Year 1 = 12% African-American; 10% Asian; 38% White; 37% Hispanic; and 3% Native American; Year 4 = 8% African-American; 9% Asian; 45% White; 28% Hispanic; and 2% Native American), it is clear that percentage gains in persistence in FREE occurred for Caucasian, but not for the other racial/ethnic groups. Nonetheless, the percentages among the other groups, given their proportions in the initial sample, are healthy (although in some cases the Ns are very small).

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2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

T able 4: Persistence in F R E E by Demographic Indicators, Y ear 1-4 E thnic* A frican A merican Native A merican M ulti-Racial $0 - $19,999 TOTAL # Income Income Unknown $20 K -49,999 $50 K -79,999 U rbanicity Suburban 18 16 15 15 83

H ispanic

$80,000+

U rban

W hite

# YEAR 1

16

13

50

49

132

22

40

15

23 32 21 13 20 10 16 17 70

91 47 35 33 36

10 5 28 27 3 8* 81 14 19 12 # YEAR 2 8 5 23 25 3 5 67 10 19 8 # YEAR 3 # YEAR 5 6 29 18 1 5 64 8 18 5 4** % W ho 31 46 58 37 25 48 36 45 33 Persist *Some designations changed after we got to know the girls better. ** Some girls returned to participate in the Facebook Groups.

By income level, for those still involved in FREE after four years, 36% of the lowest income group (below $20,000), 45% of the next highest group ($20K-$49,999), 33% of second to highest group ($50K-$79,999), and 70% of the highest group ($80,000 or more) remained in the study. Comparing income level percentages of those who started FREE with those who continued for 4 years (Year 1 = 17% below $20,000; 30% at $20K-$49,999; 11% at $50K$79,999, and 17% above $80K; Year 4 = 13% below $20,000; 28% at $20K-$49,999; 8% at $50K-$79,999, and 25% above $80K), percentage gains in persistence in FREE occurred for the highest income group, although lower income - including a majority of first generation college students - was respectable. For those still involved in FREE after four years, 36% of urban residents, 83% of suburban residents, and 70% of rural residents remained. Comparing on the urban/rural dimension those who started FREE with those who remained for four years (Year 1 = 69% urban; 14% suburban; 17% rural; Year 4 = 52% urban; 23% suburban; 25% rural), percentage gains in persistence in FREE occurred for suburban and rural residents but not for urban residents. Expectations to pursue a college education differed by ethnic and income groups. For Caucasian, Asian, and high income girls, higher education was the next step after high school in an assumed progression in their lives. As a Caucasian participant from a high income family in Ohio stated,

Rural 23 17 16 16 70 12

2011 WEPAN National Conference

Asian

Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

I#always#knew#Id be going to college. My parents both went, and so there was never a question that#not#going#to#college#is#an#option.My#parents#would#be#very#happy#if#I#went#into# engineering.#(Naomi) For Hispanics, Blacks, and lower income girls, a college education was a highly desired but uncertain goal. Financial concerns contributed to the uncertainty. Parents of Hispanic and Native American girls, in particular, encouraged their daughters to pursue pathways that would make#them#happy.#But,#at#18,#the girls struggled to figure out what that meant. [I]n the way that I have been raised, college is something elusive. It's#not#something#thats#real, that you think is attainable. Once you get to this point, here, you really have to push forward, onward, to the education that you want to have, if you want to have it. And that's the most important#thing.#(Megan,#Latina, IA) My#parents#just#want#me#to,#whatever#Im#happy#with,#even#if#I#dont#go#to#collegetheyll#be# happy#with#whatever#I#do.#And#right#now,#its like a need a little push, you know. But, they just dont#give#itBut#I#need#to#get#stuff#done.#(Ju#JuB, American Indian, IA) Our findings thus indicate that race/ethnicity, family income, and urban/suburban/rural location is related to persistence in engineering and STEM fields more generally. Summary and Conclusion The#FREE#project#demonstrates#that#it#is#not#difficult#to#engage#girls#interest#in# engineering. Our findings indicate that the young women who participated in the study became increasingly interested in and knowledgeable about engineering fields and many genuinely wanted to pursue engineering careers. However, while it may be possible to develop high school females#interest#in#pursuing#engineering,#it#is#a#different#matter#to#translate that interest into a college major. As our study shows, even interested and informed young women are unlikely to pursue engineering in the United States because their college and career choices are affected by economic and social inequities that discourage them from it. Thus, while many high school girls may wish to study engineering and would like to pursue engineering careers, they encounter obstacles that make the pursuit of engineering not a realistic option. People and policies that address this problem are necessary to remove these barriers so that more women from diverse backgrounds are able to become engineers.

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2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart

References Corbett, C., Hill, C., & St. Rose, A.. (2008). Where the girls Are: The facts about gender equity in education. Washington, DC: American Association of University Women Bruning, M. (2003). How young women come to know the engineering profession. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Dissertations & Theses. AAT 3090084 Burger, C., Creamer, E. G., & Meszaros. P. S. (Eds.). (2007). Reconfiguring the fire wall: Recruiting women to information technology across cultures and continents. Wellesley, MA: AK Peters. Bystydzienski, J. M., & Bird, S. R. (2006). Removing barriers: Women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Etkowitz, H., Kemelgor, C., & Uzzi, B. (2000). Athena unbound: The advancement of women in science and technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hanson, S. (2009). Swi mming against the tide: African American girls and science education. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Holland, D. C., & Eisenhart, M. A. (1990). Educated in romance: women, achievement, and college culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Margolis, J. (2008). Stuck in the shallow end. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Rosser, S. (2006).#Using#POWRE#to#ADVANCE:#Institutional#barriers identified by women scientists and engineers.#In#J. M. Bystydzienski & S. R. Bird, (Eds.), Removing barriers: Women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (pp. 69-92). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Valian, V. (2006).#Beyond gender schemas: Improving the advancement of women in academia.##In J. M. Bystydzienski & S. R. Bird, (Eds.), Removing barriers: Women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (pp. 320-332). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

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2011 WEPAN National Conference Authors: M.Bruning, J.Bystydzienski, M. Eisenhart