Women Engineering Graduate Students Changing Professional Interests in Academia

The disproportionately low number of women in engineering faculty roles is concerning to academic administrators, faculty, and students. Prior studies have focused on engineering identity but not on how the interests of women engineering graduate students may change throughout their program progression. The research reported here focuses on the differences in the professional plans of women engineering graduate students early in their Ph.D. programs as compared to those near completion of their graduate studies. A mixed method study was conducted using survey and focus groups at a medium-sized, Midwestern, private institution during the summer 2021. A survey was sent to about 600 engineering PhD students (both male and female) with analysis primarily utilizing Kruskal-Wallis H tests. Additionally, focus groups of four to six students were conducted based on program progression and gender to better understand the quantitative findings. Survey responses were analyzed by program progression, gender, and international status. Results show that women engineering Ph.D. students' interest in an academic career decreases as they progress through their graduate studies. There are also differences between domestic and international Ph.D. students in terms of their professional interests which is entangled with their legal and immigration status. It is recommended that engineering graduate programs offer formal professional discernment opportunities for 2nd year Ph.D. students, both male and female, to help them to recognize the opportunities available to them upon program completion. And additionally, for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts be expanded to consider the needs of graduate students in retention.