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amanda participants

Meet Amanda

Amanda is a white woman from a European country attending a school in the southeastern U.S. and majoring in mechanical engineering. She came to the U.S. primarily to play soccer, but has found herself increasingly drawn to engineering and is looking forward to her time in the field after her soccer career is finished. In engineering, she is drawn to the design aspects and has started a small design company with some fellow students. Her transition to the U.S. educational system required some adjustment:

From going from our high school where you have learned that you need to be self independent and professors don’t give you homework and then you come here and it feels like you’re in elementary school again, because they’re giving you homework for everything in class … I didn’t really like it in the beginning because it felt like, just let me start it the way I want to start it and when I want to do it and I will do well on the exam…. After being here three years I still don’t like the thousand homework courses. But I’ve learned to accept it and I don’t waste my energy on it, like it’s a good way to be prepared for next time instead of having to do everything on your own.

From Amanda’s first interview

The image below is a journey map that Amanda created summarizing some of the highs and lows from her first year as an engineering student.

Amanda’s second-semester, first-year journey map

Want to learn more about Amanda’s journey? Check out her tag here (or by clicking the ‘Amanda’ tag below) to see quotes from his interviews over the years.

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josh participants

Meet Josh

Josh is a white man attending a Canadian university and majoring in mechanical engineering. He was originally interested in programming and game design, but during high school switched his interest to mechanical engineering due to its focus on problem-solving and design. During Josh’s first year, his classes combined aspects of mechanical and electrical engineering. He was able to spend time buildings things like robots and catapults, and enjoyed the opportunity to combine theoretical problem solving with hands-on building. During the fall, he found that he was faltering a bit as he begin to struggle in his classes:

I started to question whether or not I should be here if I’m not able to succeed in this class…. One professor actually told me, “I wouldn’t care if you got a 2.5 in this class and just passed it barely because as long as you get the concept and applied them later, it’s not about whether you can pass it with flying colors.” So, I realized a high grade isn’t the only grade you can get. I also realized it’s a culmination of concepts, but as long as I get the ones that I’m there to master, that’s what the program was focused on teaching me at that time.

From Josh’s first interview

The image below is a journey map that Josh created summarizing some of the highs and lows from his first year as an engineering student.

Josh’s second-semester, first-year journey map

Want to learn more about Josh’s journey? Check out his tag here (or by clicking the ‘Josh’ tag below) to see quotes from his interviews over the years.

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joy participants

Meet Joy

Joy is a white woman attending a midwestern university. Her major combines computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering, and her ideal career will include elements of biomedical engineering. Although she was homeschooled from kindergarten to high school, she was very involved in her local robotics team and made it to the world competition, experiences she links to her later success as an engineering student. She also became interested in prosthetic design from a friend, and through multiple internships has gotten hands-on experiences in a variety of design challenges:

One of the other students there has a family friend who mentioned that their parents had gotten in a car accident and were going through the process of getting prosthetics because they had to be amputated. And I was like, “Wow, that’s crazy.” But also, like, “Can you tell me a little bit more about the prosthetics that they’re getting?” …During my job shadow, he was able to fix something on his patients’ leg and put it back on their leg and they were able to walk out…. They said that they’re looking for interns, so I’m hoping that I will be able to work there this summer.

From Joy’s first interview

The image below is a journey map that Joy created summarizing some of the highs and lows from her second year as an engineering student.

Joy’s second-semester, second-year journey map.

Want to learn more about Joy’s journey? Check out her tag here (or by clicking the ‘Joy’ tag below) to see quotes from her interviews over the years.

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lauren participants

Meet Lauren

Lauren is a white woman attending a southern university and majoring in mechanical engineering. She took four years of engineering as a high school student, where she studied 3D modeling and mechanics. As part of these classes, she completed a senior thesis and designed a cleaning device for the hand rims of wheelchairs:

We chose to design a cleaning device for wheelchairs because one of my best friends in ‘southern region’ is wheelchair-bound. So, I’d been out at dinner with him and he went to go wash his hands before food. When he came out of the restroom, his hands were dirty again [because] there had been something on the floor that got onto him, so I mentioned it to my ‘team partner’ when we were brainstorming ideas for our project and we were like, “Wow, let’s see if we can do something to help that.”

From Lauren’s first interview

During Lauren’s second year, one of her professors reached out to her about working as a researcher in his lab. As part of her work as a research assistant, Lauren has studied magnetic nanoparticles and has been an author on multiple papers and is tentatively planning to attend graduate school. The image below is a journey map that Lauren created summarizing some of the highs and lows from her third year as an engineering student.

Lauren’s second-semester, third-year journey map.

Want to learn more about Lauren’s journey? Check out her tag here (or by clicking the ‘Lauren’ tag below) to see quotes from her interviews over the years.

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participants tchuck

Meet Tchuck

Tchuck is a white man attending a east coast university and majoring in biomedical engineering. Always a good student, Tchuck attended a STEM academy for high school and took an engineering class in his senior year. Although the focus was on mechanical engineering, he was interested in what he saw and was drawn to his chosen university’s research on blindness and robotic limbs. Tchuck is looking forward to his junior and senior research projects in which he’ll have the opportunity to steer his own projects and designs. As the oldest of four children and the son of an engineer, Tchuck describes his desire to succeed and his enjoyment in knowing how things work as the forces that led to his interest in engineering.

My dad is an engineer, so I was from that young age I had that influence over me, I still do. So that was a big part. So I’m the oldest of four, so I have three other siblings. So I felt like there’s always that pressure to succeed, do well in school and all that stuff. […] I like knowing how things work and all that generic stuff. So yeah I’d say it’s a mix between. I do want to do it and I do like it, but I think also a big part of it was also my dad.

From Tchuck’s first interview.

The image below is a journey map that Tchuck created summarizing some of the highs and lows from his second year as an engineering student.

Tchuck’s second-semester, second-year journey map.

Want to learn more about Tchuck’s journey? Check out his tag here (or by clicking the ‘Tchuck’ tag below) to see quotes from his interviews over the years.

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anna participants

Meet Anna

Anna is a white woman studying electrical engineering at a northeastern institution. She attended alternative primary and middle schools that did not expose her much to science, math, or engineering as a child, but for high school, she switched enrollment into a competitive science and technology high school. In addition to exposing her to a number of high-level science classes, Anna participated in novel design and research projects and was particularly interested in systems engineering. As a college student, Anna spent her freshman year focused mainly on her general courses, but did have time for an engineering design class where she helped build Rube Goldberg machines and robots. After looking at the curriculum for each major and reading descriptions of the classes, she was drawn to the electromagnetism, computer architecture, and digital logic design classes, and decided to major in electrical engineering.

I saw classes like electricity and magnetism in my college curriculum was like, I want to study engineering because that’s where science and design and math and technology all meet up. I feel like it’s such a varied field you can do whatever you want with it.

From Anna’s first interview.

The image below is a journey map that Anna created summarizing some of the highs and lows from her second year as an engineering student.

Anna’s second-semester, second-year journey map.

Want to learn more about Anna’s journey? Check out her tag here (or by clicking the ‘Anna’ tag below) to see quotes from her interviews over the years.

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john participants

Meet John

John is a Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander man attending a midwestern university and majoring in mechanical engineering. Although John has an enduring interest in the visual and performing arts, he also describes himself as a ‘tinkerer’ who has always enjoyed taking things apart. Despite his lifelong good grades in all his classes, he wasn’t interested in science or engineering careers until coming to college. He decided to pursue engineering because of its design aspects and strong career prospects, which led him to major in mechanical engineering. John has also struggled with his mental health and potential symptoms of ADHD, such as low motivation and executive dysfunction, since middle school.

Right now, getting motivation at all is a struggle, it is very difficult for me to start something and finish something. But, I’ve been going to therapy since the semester began, and I skipped over this summer, but yeah. I think as of now it’s been a  year since I’ve been in therapy.

From John’s first interview.

The image below is a journey map that John created summarizing some of the highs and lows from his second year as an engineering student.

John’s second-semester, second-year journey map.

Want to learn more about John’s journey? Check out his tag here (or by clicking the ‘John’ tag below) to see quotes from his interviews over the years.

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