Lesley Berhan
University of Toledo, OH·Education Research
Engineering technology (ET) graduates often work alongside engineers in similar entry-level jobs. Yet their degree can limit later advancement in the field's hierarchy.
- Fields
Education Research
Engineering
Social Science
- Topics
engineering education
engineering technology
Black students
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Examine how high school counselors, college counselors and recruiters, and faculty influence Black students' choice of engineering technology versus engineering, using focus group interviews and surveys.
- Identify the academic and structural barriers affecting Black students' admission to engineering, and those that enable or prevent transfer between engineering technology and engineering programs.
- Assess how Black engineering technology students view their career prospects and how their identification with the field relates to stereotype threat and belonging.
- Compare engineering and engineering technology programs at collaborating institutions to test whether some majors are less accessible and whether Black students cluster in particular ET majors.
More about the research
Black students are disproportionately concentrated in some ET programs rather than engineering programs. This affects how many Black graduates later hold the credentials needed for engineering faculty, research and industry leadership roles. This project asks why Black students choose ET or engineering and what that choice means for their careers.
Why it matters
Black students who enter engineering technology rather than engineering may face limits on promotion, research careers and faculty positions. By identifying the advising practices, admissions barriers and transfer obstacles behind this pattern, the findings could inform interventions and policy changes at universities. This may help widen Black students' access to engineering degrees and a more diverse engineering workforce.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Andrew Watkins
Case Western Reserve University, OH·Education Research
Develop a shared curriculum for the first two years of computer science across 15 Ohio colleges, and use it to create formal articulation agreements so community college credits transfer cleanly.
Jennifer Detlor
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Education Research
Identify which factors lead engineering students to self-identify as rural, and how strongly they hold that identity, using a survey in which students define rurality in their own terms.
Madhura Kulkarni
Northern Kentucky University, KY·Education Research
Create and assess a "4C" fellowship for underrepresented and transfer STEM students that combines scholarships with co-mentoring, community building, career development, and research experiences.
The school
University of Toledo: 10 labs on PI Pages, $73M a year on research, 120 research doctorates a year.
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