My Research Experience
Preparing Engineering Faculty to Make Academic Change Happen
One of my current projects is a research and implementation project that UW CERSE is collaborating on with Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. This collaborative research project focuses on faculty change agents who are engaged in making change on their campuses through the NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) Program. The grant recipients are disciplinary experts, but they have not been equipped with the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) that research suggests are essential for effective change management. The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is providing the opportunity to learn and develop these skills through a customized change curriculum that will be delivered during the annual meetings of RED recipients along with monthly training calls. UW CERSE will follow the work of these agents, capturing their reflections on their efforts during focus group discussions, interviews, and observations. From qualitative data gathered during this NSF EAGER and now RFE project, we will develop useful tip sheets and academic papers that highlight the KSAs required to promote change in STEM; these documents will serve as models for faculty and administrators who wish to make significant change on their campuses.
One of my current projects is a research and implementation project that UW CERSE is collaborating on with Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. This collaborative research project focuses on faculty change agents who are engaged in making change on their campuses through the NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) Program. The grant recipients are disciplinary experts, but they have not been equipped with the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) that research suggests are essential for effective change management. The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is providing the opportunity to learn and develop these skills through a customized change curriculum that will be delivered during the annual meetings of RED recipients along with monthly training calls. UW CERSE will follow the work of these agents, capturing their reflections on their efforts during focus group discussions, interviews, and observations. From qualitative data gathered during this NSF EAGER and now RFE project, we will develop useful tip sheets and academic papers that highlight the KSAs required to promote change in STEM; these documents will serve as models for faculty and administrators who wish to make significant change on their campuses.
Sex Segregation in Undergraduate Engineering Majors
My dissertation used data from the Project to Assess Climate in Engineering and the Engineering Workforce Commission to assess and understand the varying degrees of sex segregation among engineering fields of study.
Project to Assess Climate in Engineering (PACE)
The Project to Assess Climate in Engineering is a study of climate and retention in undergraduate engineering majors funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. PACE started in 2006, and I directed the research with the PI, Suzanne G. Brainard, PhD, and Co-PI, Susan S. Metz. A total of 22 schools were active in PACE, implementing a national climate survey, and 16 schools had students participate in one-on-one in-depth interviews. Each school received an extensive final report with recommendations specific to their situation. CWD was recently re-funded by the Sloan Foundation to re-run the climate survey which was accomplished in spring 2012, and to conduct focus groups at the participating schools in Spring 2013.
Undergraduate Retention and Career Outcomes Study
I worked on this National Science Foundation study while I was a Research Assistant at the Center for Workforce Development.
Graduate Student Climate
CWD conducted multiple studies of the climate for graduate students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. These were conducted at the University of Washington and the results were shared with the dean and interested departments. I worked on these studies while I was a Research Assistant.
Discourses of Disruptive Technologies
I worked on this small study while supervising the research CWD conducted on Social and Ethical Issues in Nanotechnology as part of the NSF Funded National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network.
Gender and the Organizational Determinants of Training
I conducted this study with a colleague from the University of Washington Department of Sociology.
Role Specialization, Perceptions of Fairness, Gender Ideology and Marital Stability
My UW Sociology Master's thesis was called "Do Those who Labor Together Stay Together? The Influence of Specialization, Perceptions of Fairness and Gender Ideology on Marital Stability."