Project to Assess Climate in Engineering

PACE Results

Results Overview

We are continually analyzing our quantitative and qualitative data and preparing publications and conference presentations for the public. This page describes the different ways PACE has been shared with the public.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  1. Samuelson, C.C. & Litzler, E. (2016).  Community Cultural Wealth: An Assets-Based Approach to Persistence of Engineering Students of Color. Journal of Engineering Education,105(1): 93-117.  DOI 10.1002/jee.20110 [This paper was awarded an Honorable Mention for the William Elgin Wickenden Award for ASEE in March 2017.]
  2. Litzler, E., Samuelson, C.C., & Lorah, J.A. (2014). Breaking it Down:  Engineering Student STEM Confidence at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Gender. Research in Higher Education. DOI: 10.1007/s11162-014-9333-z
  3. Young, J. & Litzler, E. (September, 2013). “Investigating the Factor Structure and Invariance of Transfer Student Adjustment to College using Confirmatory Factor Analysis.” Community College Journal of Research and Practice.
  4. Litzler, E. & Young, J. (April, 2012) “Understanding the Risk of Attrition in Undergraduate Engineering: Results from the Project to Assess Climate in Engineering.” Journal of Engineering Education. 101(2): 319-345.
  5. Litzler, E. (June, 2010). “Sex Segregation in Undergraduate Engineering Majors.” Dissertation, University of Washington. ISBN: 9781124227849.

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Presentations & Conference Proceedings

  1. Samuelson, C.C., Litzler, E., Staples, C. L., Smith, P. E., & Amelink, C. T. (2014).  Living, learning, and staying: The impact of a women in engineering living and learning community.  Presented at the 2014 American Society for Engineering Education Conference
  2. Samuelson, C.C., Litzler, E., & Lorah, J.A. (2014). Collaboration between researchers and practitioners for mutual benefit.  Presented at the AERA Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
  3. Litzler, E. & Samuelson, C.C. (2013). Deciding to stay: The intersection of sex and race/ethnicity. Paper accepted for the 2013 Frontiers in Education Conference.
  4. Litzler, E. & Lorah, J.A.  (2013). The Intersection of Gender and Race/Ethnicity with Educational Aspirations of Undergraduate Engineering Students. Presented at the 2013 American Educational Research Association Conference.
  5. Litzler, E. & Samuelson, C.C. (2013). Deciding to stay: The intersection of sex and race/ethnicity. Presented at the the 2013 Frontiers in Education Conference, Oklahoma City, OK.
  6. Litzler, E. & Lorah, J.A.  (2013). The Intersection of Gender and Race/Ethnicity with Educational Aspirations of Undergraduate Engineering Students. Presented at the 2013 American Educational Research Association Conference, San Francisco, CA.
  7. Litzler, E. & Lorah, J.A.  (2013). A Natural Experiment: NAE’s Changing the Conversation Report and Students’ Changing Perceptions of Engineering. Presented at the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Conference, Atlanta, GA.
  8. Litzler, E. & Samuelson, C.C. (2013). How Underrepresented Minority Engineering Students Derive a Sense of Belonging from Engineering. Presented at the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Conference, Atlanta, GA.
  9. Samuelson, C.C. & Litzler, E. (2013). Seeing the Big Picture: The Role that Undergraduate Work Experiences Can Play in the Persistence of Female Engineering Undergraduates. Presented at the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Conference, Atlanta, GA.
  10. Litzler, E. & Samuelson, C.C. (2013). Potential Strategies for Persistence: How Minority Engineering Undergraduates Navigate Challenges. 2013 Women in Engineering Proactive Network National Conference Proceedings, Atlanta, GA.
  11. Litzler, E. (2013, June). Project to Assess Climate in Engineering (PACE). In Are we there yet? Increasing Student Persistence and Retention in STEM. Panel Presentation at the 2013 Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) National Conference, Atlanta, GA.
  12. Litzler, E. (2012, February). Using School Climate Data to Understand Engineering Retention and Promote Change. In S.G. Brainard (Organizer), Connecting Education and Research on Retention in Engineering. 180 minute Symposium at AAAS Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC.
  13. The STEM Equity Pipeline webinar series featured PACE results in Elizabeth Litzler’s webinarRace Matters When Recruiting and Retaining Undergraduate Women Engineers in October 2011.
  14. Litzler, E. (2011, May). A New Analysis of the Risk of Attrition in Undergraduate Engineering. Paper presented at the Understanding Interventions meeting.
  15. Litzler, E., Mody-Pan, P., & Brainard, S.G. (2011). Intersections of Gender and Race in Engineering Education. Presented at the 2011 ASEE Conference in Vancouver, BC. [Received an Honorable Mention for Best Paper Award from the ASEE Women in Engineering Division (WIED)]
  16. Litzler, E. (2011). “How do gender and race/ethnicity intersect to impact students’ perceptions of experiences in engineering?” The Global Marathon For, By and About Women in Engineering and Technology, March 7, 2011.[Slides]
  17. Litzler, E., Jaros, S., Metz, S., & Brainard, S.G. (2010). “Gender and Race/Ethnicity in Engineering: Preliminary Findings from the Project to Assess Climate in Engineering.” 2010 ASEE conference: Louisville, KY.
    [Paper] | [Slides]
  18. Metz, S., Brainard, S.G. & Litzler, E. (2010). “Extending Research into Practice: Results from the Project to Assess Climate in Engineering (PACE).” 2010 ASEE conference: Louisville, KY.[Paper] | [Slides]
  19. Metz, S. and Litzler, E.. (2010). “Retention of Undergraduate Engineering Students: Extending Research into Practice.” A panel discussion. 2010 WEPAN/NAMEPA conference, Baltimore, MD.
    [Slide Deck #1] | [Slide Deck #2]
  20. Litzler, E. (2010). “PACE Findings and Discussion.” A presentation at the PACE Workshop on Organizational Transformation, hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, March 17-18, 2010.[Slides]

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Non-Peer Reviewed Publications

  1. In the April 2013 issue of Mechanical Engineering magazine (Vol. 135(4)) an article focused on the ENGAGE project mentions PACE, what it is, and includes the PACE website. (p. 37)
  2. ASEE’s Prism magazine (September 2012) featured a summary from the PACE article in the April 2012 issue of Journal of Engineering Education.View summary article.
  3. The AAAS wrote astory about PACE that was featured on their homepage.
  4. The AAAS also included information about PACE and the PACE Conference in theirMay 2010 E-Newsletter to all their members AAAS Advances.
  5. The University of Washington wrote a story about PACE featured in the UW Today Newsletter:Race Matters When Recruiting and Retaining Undergraduate Women Engineers.
  6. PACE was featured in an article by Woman Engineer Magazine addressing whyRace Matters When Recruiting Women.

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PACE Participants

Over 10,000 undergraduate engineering students participated in each of the 2008 and 2012 online PACE surveys. The table below summarizes the demographic distribution of students who provided responses for both the sex and race questions for the 2008 and the 2012 surveys.

Demographic Distribution of 2008/2012 Survey Participants Who Responded to Sex and Race Questions

African American/ Black Amer. Indian/ Alaska Native Hispanic/ Latino Asian American/ Asian Hawaiian/Pacific Islander White/ Caucasian TOTAL
2008 Survey
Female 164 53 389 409 18 2994 4027
Male 209 86 851 429 17 3221 4813
Total 373 139 1240 838 35 6215 8840
2012 Survey
Female 132 46 387 483 20 2694 3762
Male 208 77 737 511 33 3491 5057
Total 340 123 1124 994 53 6185 8819

In addition, 179 students participated in one-on-one interviews with a member of the PACE research team in 2008 and 2009. Of these, 124 interviews were with current engineering students (climate interviews) and 55 were with former engineering students (leaver interviews) The table below summarizes the demographic distribution of students whose interviews were audio recorded and coded.

Demographic Distribution of Analyzed Student Interviews

Afr. Amer./ Black Amer. Indian/ Alaska Native Hispanic/ Latino Asian Amer./ Asian Asian Indian White/ Caucasian Other TOTAL
Climate
Female 5 1 8 8 4 35 2 63
Male 6 2 12 5 2 26 0 53
Total 11 3 20 13 6 61 2 116
Leavers
Female 1 0 1 2 0 15 0 19
Male 1 0 1 3 2 24 0 31
Total 2 0 2 5 2 39 0 50

The research team conducted focus groups at a total of twelve PACE schools with a total of 307 engineering undergraduates. Each school chose an intervention of particular interest, and focus groups were divided between intervention students and non-intervention students. In some cases, focus groups included women only, and in others they included only underrepresented minority students. See the table below for the breakdown of student participants in intervention and non-intervention groups by race/ethnicity and gender.

Table 1. PACE Focus Group Participants at Twelve Schools (March – November 2013)

 

Afr. Amer./ Black Amer. Indian/ Alaska Native Hispanic/ Latino Asian Amer./ Asian Asian Indian White/ Caucasian Other TOTAL
Intervention Groups
Female 8 1 21 3 10 83 1 127
Male 6 2 5 1 21 33 1 69
Total 14 3 26 4 31 116 2 196
Non-intervention Groups
Female 3 1 4 0 6 23 0 37
Male 9 0 7 1 12 25 1 55
Total 12 1 11 1 18 48 1 92
Mixed Groups
Female 2 0 2 1 0 8 0 13
Male 1 0 0 2 1 2 0 6
Total 3 0 2 3 1 10 0 19