This is a supplemental section accompanying Dr. Anderson-Rowland’s profile.

Dissemination for replication

Over the years, I’ve written a lot of articles to share the impact of my programs with the broader engineering education community. Someone who read my papers described my main contributions like this: “You try out things, and then you publish them and spread the word right away, and then other people pick up and do it.” For example, I have studied the profiles of the transfer students who participate in the S-STEM programs (NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). I have tracked the following: (1) when the students first decided to go to a four-year school; (2) their initial decision to attend a two-year school and then a four-year school; and (3) when they decided on a major. I immediately share my findings with the broader community.

Starting in 2008, engineering faculty from Arizona State University (ASU) began working with three non-metropolitan community colleges. This meant driving three to four hours each way. We were the first engineering faculty to set foot on the campuses of these community colleges. We talked to students in mathematics and science classes about opportunities in engineering. I’ve written several papers and presented at conferences to share these experiences. I’ve collected and shared answers to the following questions: (1) What do community college students think about math and engineering? (2) Are they interested in pursuing engineering degrees? Why or why not? (3) What are their expectations when they transfer from the community college to a four-year university? (4) What’s the reality once they transfer? and (5) Does the reality match their expectations?

From the data I’ve gathered, we’ve discovered that one third of the transfer students entering ASU decided on a major only after they started at the community college. I have also tracked the progress of women versus men and examined the success of minority students relative to Caucasians. I have presented most of my findings at American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Frontiers in Education (FIE), and Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) conferences, publishing over 200 papers on my work. People who attend these conferences are leaders in engineering education. They are looking for innovative and effective programs to implement at their colleges. I also share my best practices at NSF poster sessions. Willingness to share my findings has made my grant proposals more competitive. When I started the Guaranteed 4.0 Plan in my classes, I talked about it at the conferences. Within a year, a lot of people were putting in their proposals that they were going to use the Guaranteed 4.0 Plan. I talked about the METS (Motivated Engineering Transfer Students) centers, and now people are getting METS centers.