Digital Commons Network^™

Moving Towards The Electrification Of Medium- And Heavy-Duty Vehicles In The Inland Empire, Kimberly Collins, Raffi Der Wartanian, Francisca Beer, Yunfei Hou

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report investigates the transition to zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MDHD) within California’s Inland Empire (IE), emphasizing the significance of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and opportunity charging strategies in facilitating sustainable transportation. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach that combines a systematic literature review, geospatial and big data analytics, and thematic analysis of expert interviews, the study explores the multifaceted challenges and opportunities of electrification. The literature review assesses policies at various governance levels, while geospatial analysis identifies regional traffic patterns and infrastructure needs. Big data analytics examine vehicle movements, complemented by insights from interviews with 16 regional experts, offering a …

Hands-On For Whom?, Isabella Stuopis, Avneet Hira

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Hands-on technology-enhanced pedagogies have been hailed as a panacea for engaging K–12 students in engineering. We unpack how the entanglement of the sociopolitical with the educational, namely how factors pertaining to resources and individual characteristics, impact engagement with such pedagogies. In particular, we expand upon how school funding, teacher preparation and support, access to out-of- school resources, and family background impact the in-and out-of- school resources students have access to. Further, we explain how characteristics such as a sense of belonging, pedagogical approaches, and assumptions and gatekeeping by adults impact students’ ability to engage with hands-on engineering education. In doing …

Political Prioritization For Digital Health And Health Equity Through Global Health Diplomacy, Vijay Kumar Chattu, Sujatha Alla, Bawa Singh

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

[Introduction] We have found the article "Digital health and health equity: How digital health can address healthcare disparities and improve access to quality care in Africa" published in the recent issue to be very relevant and interesting.¹ Qoseem et al have highlighted that there is a great need for continuous advocacy for strengthening the health systems through telehealth promotion and increasing access to healthcare services to achieve health equity.

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Trends In Representation Of Women Professionals In The Aviation Industry, Caroline K. Marete Ph.D., Cheng Wang Ph.D.

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) stands as an integral component of any successful organization. Historically, society has overlooked and underplayed DEI matters, resulting in the underrepresentation of minority groups, including women and people of color. In the past decade, underrepresentation of women and other minority groups in the aviation workforce has received attention and raised concerns among industry stakeholders. To gain insight into the status of women in aviation, the authors analyzed the participation of females in aviation professions between 2016 and 2021. Data used in this study were retrieved from the 2023 U.S. Civil Airmen Statistics published by the …

Centering Equity In Stem Teaching: Stem Ideas That Change The World, Ileana Vasu

Feminist Pedagogy

No discussion on equity/inequity makes sense without bringing power into that discussion. As instructors we need to ask questions such as “who decides and controls what knowledge is”, “whose identities are empowered and whose are erased”, “who has access and opportunity and who doesn’t”. Traditional teaching in STEM, including mathematics, assumes knowledge is objective, transmittable, repeatable to everyone. When educators follow a traditional curriculum, just like their teachers before them, they do so thinking their methods ensure equality and objectivity. These practices not only deny the role that Western patriarchal cultures have played in creating these so-called equitable practices, but …

Feminist Pedagogy In Stem: The Intersection Of Stem Pedagogy And Feminist Theory, Lesley-Ann Giddings, Candice R. Price

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Socially Engaged Engineering: A Framework For K-8 Education, Christine M. Cunningham, Gregory J. Kelly, Ashwin Mohan

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Socially engaged engineering provides for student learning of the design, analysis, and practices of engineering as well as the ways that engineering is situated in sociocultural contexts. This paper provides a conceptual framework regarding socially engaged engineering for K-8 educators, researchers, and curriculum designers. The framework identifies ways to support youth learning of engineering and considerations of technical, social, environmental, and ethical dimensions of engineering. As engineering enters K-8 educational settings, it is important to introduce the discipline in equity-oriented ways. We draw from the field of engineering for social justice to build this framework for examining engineering at the …

Inclusive Engineering Classrooms: Student Teaching Assistants’ Perspectives, Joelyn De Lima, Siara Isaac, Helena Kovacs

Research Papers

Inclusive teaching is the intentional practice of recognising biases, working to mitigate their impact, and ensuring that students have equitable learning opportunities. In addition to improving students' sense of belonging and self efficacy, inclusive teaching improves retention, improves academic performance, and reduces achievement gaps. In many large enrollment introductory classrooms, student teaching assistants (TAs) contribute to the classroom climate in addition to the teachers and the students. In this qualitative study, 262 TAs were asked about their teaching strengths, areas that need improvement, obstacles, and ideas about their role in reducing incidents of discrimination or harassment. We coded their open-ended …

Disruptions To The “Modeled Minority” In Engineering: Why Do Some Asian American Students Leave Engineering?, Michelle Choi Ausman, Qin Zhu

Research Papers

Asian American students are the largest non-White racial group in US undergraduate engineering, but they are often labeled as the "model minority." This stereotype confines them to STEM majors, limiting their access to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Little attention has been given to why some Asian American students leave engineering. To address this gap, a pilot study using semi-structured interviews aims to explore the reasons behind their decision to leave the field or change their major. The study seeks to contribute to engineering education scholarship by promoting more inclusive learning environments for Asian American students and providing recommendations …

Questioning Implicit Assumptions – Proactively Fostering Inclusion In Engineering Activity Design, Ashlee Pearson, Jessica Deters

Workshops

Within discussions of inclusion work in engineering education, calls have been made to shift to a shared responsibility model where all are responsible for proactively fostering inclusive environments. In an academic setting, it is through pro-active design of learning activities that academics can pre-emptively meet the needs of diverse students such that they may feel included. This design work often relies on academics being educated or aware of what is inclusive or exclusive for different groups that have traditionally underrepresented identities and lived experiences. However, academics do not always possess this information. This workshop proposes an approach that asks academics …

Research Development & Early-Career Faculty: Catalysts Of Change For Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Stem, Monica Castañeda-Kessel, Idalis Villanueva Alarcón, Ryan Berke

Office of Research Faculty and Staff Publications

Problem Statement: Early-career science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) faculty members are often challenged when identifying authentic diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, objectives, and tasks for their research grant proposals. Advancing DEI has not been one person’s job but rather the responsibility of a highly organized network within a system. Research development professionals have been and will continue to be critical resources for developing DEI plans and broadening participation. Their value is partly due to relationship-oriented processes that research professionals cultivate and shepherd as well as the inherently cross-disciplinary nature of the day-to-day work. Observation: In FY 19, 53% …

The Real Energy Burden: Exploring The Intersection Of Equity And Home Energy Efficiency In Vermont, Nathaniel G. Roe

ENGS 88 Honors Thesis (AB Students)

This thesis quantifies the financial burden induced by a home energy efficiency and electrification project through a new metric, the real energy burden (REB). REB captures the percentage of income allocated to the annualized capital cost and the annual energy expenditure of an energy efficiency project. To characterize and demonstrate the use of REB, I draw data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory ResStock Housing Stock tool to simulate a 2023 energy efficiency and electrification project for three Vermont household archetypes: low, moderate, and high incomes. I find that the REB for the low income archetype is above the energy …

Investigating Disparities And Safety Equity In Pedestrian Nighttime Crashes In Michigan, Sia Isaria Mwende

Masters Theses

For the past eleven years (2011 - 2021) in Michigan, 76 percent of all fatal pedestrian crashes occurred at night. Over the same period, about 36 percent of pedestrian nighttime crashes were fatal or incapacitating (KA), while only 25 percent of daytime pedestrian crashes were fatal or incapacitating (KA). Previous studies suggest that, overall, poor neighborhoods and racial minorities are associated with more pedestrian crashes. With more fatal and incapacitating pedestrian crashes occurring at night, it is imperative to examine how these crashes are distributed by economic status and racial makeup. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the racial and …

Advancing The Engineering Workforce By Enhancing Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The Engineering Classroom, Phoneia Hughes Myers

Theses and Dissertations

Society’s dependence on engineered products is steadily increasing. This dependence requires the engineering workforce to continually innovate and design new advancements. In pursuit of this, engineering employers are implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to attract prime candidates and retain employees. For employers to achieve the goals of their initiatives, engineering colleges and universities must produce a diverse pool of graduates. The purpose of this thesis report is to investigate how the diversity, equity, and inclusion concept can be implemented into engineering education to assist with producing diverse graduating classes. A universal methodology is proposed to provide a roadmap on …

The Role Of Information And Education On Modifying Support For Gas Tax Alternatives Using An Informed Choice Questionnaire, Clare Nelson, Gregory Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

In the United States, transportation fuel excise taxes commonly referred to as the “gas tax” provide a large share of funding to state agencies for transportation maintenance and construction projects. The revenue generating capacity of the gas tax is threatened by increasing vehicle fuel efficiency, electric vehicles adoption and inflation. Alternative funding schemes are necessary, but public acceptance of tax changes is low. We surveyed residents of Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire to gauge understanding of and support for a mileage-based user fee and a flat fee as potential replacements for the current gas tax and the potential to modify …

Assessment Of Regional Bike And Pedestrian Equity In Transportation Plans, Drew Reiter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

While community involvement is legally required as a crucial part of the planning process, historically the traditional state-centric approaches to transportation planning have led to the underrepresentation of transportation-disadvantaged individuals in the process and, thus, to automobile-oriented regions. Planning practices for small urban and rural areas especially, which often lack funding and other resources, have generally overlooked accessible pedestrian, bicycling, and multimodal infrastructure and facilities, resulting in underdeveloped and poorly connected networks. I conducted a social equity evaluation of the regional planning, investment prioritization, and programming processes for pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure using the case study of Monongalia County, West …

A Model For Equity-Oriented Prek-12 Engineering, Christine M. Cunningham, Gregory J. Kelly

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

In this paper, we address the societally important issue of developing a more equitable approach to preK-12 engineering education. Our primary emphasis is on K-8 grades—a time when first impressions of engineering may be developed. Calls for increased participation by all students, including those who have been historically marginalized, motivate the need for theoretically grounded ways of developing and assessing educational programs. This paper draws from sociocultural learning theory and applies four theoretical and empirical analyses to derive design principles for equity that can inform curriculum, instruction, and assessment of preK-12 engineering education programs. We present a model for equity-oriented …

Construction Management Outreach Event With The Pedrozzi Foundation, Jennifer Padilla

Construction Management

The construction industry today continues to be a male-dominated field, often lacking diversity. The lack of diversity and inclusion is attributed to the lack of equitable access to the industry. As a result of continued efforts promoting diversity and inclusion, in August 2022, the construction industry reached an all-time high, with 14% of all construction workers in the U.S. being women. This construction management outreach event, in partnership with the Pedrozzi Foundation, was created to expose young scholars to the topic of construction management. At the event, students and their parents were exposed to the topic of construction management, learning …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

Our Streets: Increasing Equity In Active Transportation Planning Through Community Outreach, Jordan Hoy

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT Significant research has demonstrated that active transportation infrastructure is essential for the growth and livability of San Francisco: it increases access to economic opportunities, promotes overall improved public health, encourages mobility without contributing to roadway congestion, prevents traffic injuries and fatalities, and supports the sustainability goals of the city. Despite the fact that communities of color will benefit the most from active transportation infrastructure development, historical disenfranchisement in tandem with a lack of diverse representation within public participation contributes to an inequitable distribution of walking and biking investments throughout the city of San Francisco. While research shows that Black …

Data-Driven Analysis Of Rural Equity And Cost Concerns For Mileage-Based User Fees In Vermont, Clare Nelson, Gregory Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

Examining substitutes to the current state and federal gasoline and diesel fuel excise taxes has become a pressing issue, exacerbated by the rise of high efficiency and alternative fuel vehicles threatening the revenue generating capacity of these taxes. A mileage-based user fee has been frequently proposed in the literature as an alternative which would offer greater benefits to rural and low-income populations than to urban and higher income populations. However, most prior analyses relied on small data sets and aggregated data. This study examined the impact of replacing the Vermont state fuels tax with a revenue-neutral mileage-based user fee using …

Stem For All Showcase Report, Bruce G. Bukiet, James M. Lipuma

STEM Month

This article and the associated STEM for all showcase submission video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clps427rdDc) was presented at the NSF 2021 STEM FOR ALL COVID, Equity & Social Justice Conference, May 11-18.

This article provides a description of the development of the STEM in your Home project in the STEM for Success initiative.

Online Grocery Shopping: A Staple Of The Present -- And Maybe The Future?, Henry B. Chao

altREU Projects

This project aims to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected people's food shopping tendencies, specifically focusing on the use of online grocers. It uses data collected by a team of researchers led out of Portland State University. This data consists of roughly 8000 surveys distributed starting in September of 2020. The survey asks respondents to discuss their demographics, household resources, and shopping tendencies.

In particular, this project wants to understand how inclined a respondent is to use online grocers based on their personal experience with COVID-19. To do this, the project uses a Latent Class Model (LCM) to classify …

The Importance Of Strategic Communication For Building Employee Resource Groups In Aviation, Lynnette Darnell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In this qualitative case study, the research explores the importance of strategic communication for building employee resource groups in aviation, specifically at a regional airline. To expand and develop knowledge regarding employee resource groups, the researcher looks at a widely distributed workforce to understand how the lack of strategically planned communication can impact employee resource group development and employee engagement. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a focus group of the employee resource group members, which provided insight on their experience engaging with the employee resource groups, preferred communication methods and tools, and their perception of leadership involvement. …

Promoting Diversity In Academic Research Communities Through Multivariate Expert Recommendation, Omar Salman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Expert recommendation is the process of identifying individuals who have the appropriate knowledge and skills to achieve a specific task. It has been widely used in the educational environment mainly in the hiring process, paper-reviewer assignment, and assembling conference program committees. In this research, we highlight the problem of diversity and fair representation of underrepresented groups in expertise recommendation, factors that current expertise recommendation systems rarely consider. We introduce a novel way to model experts in academia by considering demographic attributes in addition to skills. We use the h-index score to quantify skills for a researcher and we identify five …

More Than Mechanisms: Shifting Ideologies For Asset-Based Learning In Engineering Education, Brian E. Gravel, Eli Tucker-Raymond, Aditi Wagh, Susan Klimczak, Naeem Wilson

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Learning spaces, the practices in which people engage, and the representations they use are ideological. Ideologies are coherent constellations of values, beliefs, and practices that impose order on how disciplines like engineering operate. Historically, engineering spaces have been dominated by a relatively technocratic, rationalistic, and exclusionary ideology, but more recent attention to asset-based approaches to engineering education offers transformative promise. Asset-based ideologies can reshape images of legitimized engineering practice, recasting engineering education to disrupt dominant exclusionary ideologies. This paper describes an assets-based learning space, SETC, that recaptures the imagination of engineering for technological and social change. Drawing from extensive ethnographic …

The Production Of Epistemic Culture And Agency During A First-Grade Engineering Design Unit In An Urban Emergent School, Heidi B. Carlone, Alison K. Mercier, Salem R. Metzger

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Primary school practices are often bound by traditions that perpetuate compliance and skills-based, decontextualized, rote memorization activities. These histories of practice, prevalent in schools serving mostly Black and Brown children, make it inordinately difficult for students to author themselves as knowledge builders (i.e., with epistemic agency), which is a form of injustice. Engineering is a potentially fertile context to support the creation of epistemic culture, whereby young students’ assets are recognized, named, and leveraged as they create and shape the group’s disciplinary knowledge. The authors investigated this potential. The primary research question was: How do first-grade students in an urban …

Equitable Pre-College Engineering Education: Teaching With Racism In Mind, James Holly Jr

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Engineering educators must consider how the cultural backgrounds of students coincide (or diverge) with the epistemological and ontological formation of an engineer. Hence, this work is presented as an exhortation to engineering educators, particularly in a pre-college context, to critically evaluate how race-conscious pedagogies can be exerted in this field. In this autoethnographic study, I convey my attempt to teach engineering with explicit consideration of the sociopolitical context of the Black male youth I taught. As a Black male, I have an insider perspective into the realities that must be navigated to succeed in a racialized society, where Black males …

Transnational Latinx Youths’ Workplace Funds Of Knowledge And Implications For Assets-Based, Equity-Oriented Engineering Education, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Jorge Acosta-Feliz

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Due to economic inequality in society, millions of Latinx high school youth work after-school jobs and summer jobs in order to provide additional income for their families. The purpose of this qualitative study, conducted with transnational Latinx youth, was to identify the engineering-related skills and bodies of knowledge they developed and applied while in different workplaces. This study is framed in complementary theories of funds of knowledge, Vygotskian theories of mediated action, and theories of resistant capital. Specifically, this study is based in the premise that youth can develop engineering-related funds of knowledge through tool-mediated, goal-directed activities jointly conducted with …

The Ingenuity Of Everyday Practice: A Framework For Justice-Centered Identity Work In Engineering In The Middle Grades, Angela M. Calabrese Barton, Kathleen Schenkel, Edna Tan

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Inequities in opportunities to learn and become in engineering, especially for minoritized youth, are enduring and systemic. How students experience engineering education, through curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher/student interactions, all shape opportunities for identity development. In this paper we draw upon cultural studies and critical ethnography to explore how and why students engage in engineering for sustainable communities and its relationship to their identity work. We ground our work in a justice-centered asset-based stance that centers how people’s lived lives and community wisdom yield powerful forms of cultural knowledge/practice relevant to learning and engaging in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We …