Intersection of Diversity, Out-of-Class Engagement, and Engineer of 2020 Outcomes for Civil Engineering Students

Abstract

The accelerating pace of technological innovation, coupled with social, cultural, political, and economic forces, have rapidly transformed the practice of engineering with unique implications for civil engineers in 2020 and beyond. Envisioning this momentum, the National Academy of Engineering in 2004 proposed ten key attributes that engineers by the year 2020 must possess to embrace the transformations. Although previous research found engineering undergraduates accruing The Engineer of 2020 (E2020) attributes from various pathways, including learning activities taking place outside of the college classroom, fewer studies have examined disciplinary outcomes and underrepresented populations. This paper explores how civil engineering undergraduates accrued E2020 attributes from out-of-class activities and examined the findings through the lens of diversity by disaggregating by gender, race/ethnicity, first-generation college status, disability status, and sexual orientation. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze a sample of 320 US civil engineering undergraduates who are graduating in the year 2020 and beyond. The results indicated that students from underrepresented groups (female; African American, Hispanic, American Indian, and multiracial; and first-generation college) indicated stronger agreement that they accrued E2020 attributes in out-of-class activities than students from overrepresented groups (male; White and Asian; and continuing generation in college). Students in overrepresented populations accrued most outcomes from their participation in jobs and sports. In addition to jobs, female and first-generation college students indicated that the design competition team was the setting in which they perceived the most outcomes. Professional experience and music/dance were frequently cited as impactful by subsamples of African American, Hispanic, American Indian, multiracial, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ)+ students, respectively. The results highlight the importance of out-of-class activities for undergraduates in civil engineering, especially for students belonging to underrepresented populations. This paper contributes to workforce diversity by illuminating learning pathways and outcomes that can broaden the quantity and quality of future civil engineers.