Graduate Engineering Students Changing Labs Due to Experiences of Bias

Abstract

This WIP research paper describes the experiences of engineering graduate students (EGSs) who changed labs following experiences of bias in graduate engineering education. Experiences of bias may contribute to EGS leaving the field of engineering. As part of a larger multiphase research project to explore the influence of bias on EGS engineering identity (EI), qualitative interviews (n = 30) were conducted exploring EGSs’ experiences of bias. These interviews engaged participants in discussions about their social and personal identities (e.g., sex, race/ethnicity) and explored their perceptions of and experiences with bias. This study focuses on four participants who discussed changing research labs in response to experiences of bias. This paper describes data from these participants as it relates to their experiences of bias, lab change, and differences in their new labs, highlighting the nature of bias experiences and their pervasive effects. Participants described experiences of bias leading them to change their research lab. They reported experiences with advisors, peers, and other faculty that made them feel unwelcome in engineering as a field due to their race or gender. Feelings of not belonging in a lab led this sample of EGS to change labs in an attempt to remain in engineering while removing themselves from negative experiences. We argue that institutions should provide opportunities, understanding, and guidance for students to change labs, and briefly discuss how this might be accomplished. Overall, we offer a perspective that has not been explored in the engineering education literature – specifically, changing labs as an alternative to dropping out or leaving the field in response to experiences of bias.