ENGINEERING TEAM DYNAMICS: CONNECTING FRIENDSHIP NETWORKS AND ACADEMIC TRAJECTORIES

Women are under-represented in STEM careers, especially engineering, as women are both less likely to enter engineering majors [1] and more likely to exit prematurely [2].  Women who leave engineering before achieving a career are then often underemployed [3]. We used an integrated research strategy to study how undergraduate classroom experiences might impact these gendered career trajectories, simultaneously modelling intrapersonal cognitions and interpersonal dynamics of students. Specifically, we studied cross-disciplinary engineering undergraduate teams over their first term in university. Importantly, this course was designed to have significant team interaction, and teams were assigned with the intention of reducing gendered barriers to participation and achievement. Our results revealed widespread gender equity (and the few observed inequities tending to shrink over the term). Further, we demonstrate specific intrapersonal and interpersonal factors that are linked to stronger academic trajectories (here operationalized as better final grades). Potential future interventions are also discussed.