Postdoctoral Fellowship: STEMEdIPRF: Advancing Engineering Education in Universities on Labor and Unions

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

Labor unions are designed to function as mechanisms for workers to come together to alter structures in ways designed to improve living and working conditions, including in STEM fields. In an era in which there is increasing attention given to factors at the organizational or structural levels that contribute to attrition in STEM fields, labor unions have been underrepresented in research. The proposed project is focused on the field of Engineering. It is designed to conduct research that is important because it has the potential to further enable engineering instructors to prepare an engineering workforce capable of co-creating solutions to persistent challenges. This project aims to gather and synthesize information about labor unions, labor organization, and education related to engineering work. The proposed project has two research goals including a systematized review of extant literature and semi-structured interviews. The literature review is designed to focus on the intersections between engineering and labor, which is anticipated to exist primarily outside of the engineering fields. Two sets of interviews would be conducted with 1) undergraduate engineering students about ways they learn about labor unions and labor organizing, and 2) labor organizers who organize engineering workers about labor education they see as beneficial for engineers. The interviews would be analyzed through a multi-stage coding process. The analyses will be published in engineering education research journals, conference papers, and leveraged in talks in engineering education and academic labor venues. The project responds to the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.