Summary

We challenge Engineering Student Organizations to make engineering education more inclusive.

Engineering and engineering technology (E&ET) student organizations offer opportunities for students to develop peer networks, gain valuable co-curricular experiences, apply knowledge acquired in the classroom to real-world challenges, and prepare for future success in the workplace. Participation in engineering student organizations can offer students access to career opportunities including mentoring, internships/co-ops, job opportunities. The access and experiences that these opportunities afford are valuable and formative for an engineering student’s success and persistence. But the question we should ask ourselves is: are all students able to take advantage of, and benefit from, these opportunities?

In this 90-day Equity Challenge, we challenge the leaders of student organizations to identify and address barriers that exist within the local chapter of your organization which may prevent equitable and inclusive engagement by all students.

At the end of the 90-day challenge, fifteen (15) teams will be selected to win a $1,000 prize for your organization, have their work highlighted on a national platform, and be featured in multiple press releases.

Team of designers during discussion

Your solution should address an existing diversity, equity, or inclusion-related challenge related to one of the following areas:

• Recruitment or retention of members within your organization
• Leadership within your student organization
• Culture of inclusion and sense of belonging felt among members
• Community/outreach activities led by your organization supporting students in the community surrounding your college/university
• In-reach efforts focused on supporting other students/peers on campus that are not members of your organization

Using the engineering design process, your team should:

• Define/understand the problem by asking yourself the following questions:
  • Why does the problem exist?
  • Who is directly and indirectly impacted by it?
  • How does the problem manifest within our organization?
  • Why is this a problem worth solving?
• Brainstorm possible solutions and/or initiatives.
• Implement and test your solution.
• Document your progress and impact.
• Iterate as necessary.

General Guidelines

1. Student teams can consist of 3 or more students from either a single engineering student organization or students representing multiple engineering student organizations can collaborate to address a shared problem on their campus.
2. Engineering student organizations may include:

• discipline-specific chapters of a professional society/organization (e.g., a university chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers)
• organizations affiliated with a professional society, but not discipline-specific (e.g., the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Baja Club)
• identity-based and affinity-based engineering student groups (e.g., a student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers)
• other student organizations affiliated with your engineering college (e.g. engineering student council, engineering honors societies, engineering social organizations, etc)

3. The solution or initiative should address an existing diversity, equity, or inclusion-related challenge or barrier related to one of the following areas:

• Recruitment or retention of members within your organization
• Leadership within your student organization
• Culture of inclusion and sense of belonging felt among members
• Community/outreach activities led by your organization supporting students in the community surrounding your college/university
• In-reach efforts focused on supporting other students/peers on campus that are not members of your organization

Timeline of Events

How to Participate

Optional: Attend Information Session – Dec. 3, 2021

Do you think you might participate, but are still unsure?
Do you have a question about which category your challenge fits into?
Or perhaps your student org is intrigued by this 90-day challenge, but you’re unsure whether it has a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) problem worth solving.

Join the virtual info sessions to ask questions, hear what challenges other students plan to address, and get inspired to get involved! RSVP by sending an email to cdeichairs@asee.org and you’ll receive a response with the Zoom link and event time.

Step 1: Submit Problem Description – DUE Jan 3, 2022

One member of each team should fill out this Google Form to submit their brief problem-description outlining the challenge/barrier they have identified. The form requests the following information:

• Team members’ names and email addresses
• Name of student organization(s) participating
• University Name
• Name and email address of at least one faculty advisor
• Specify which of the five areas best describe your challenge: Recruitment/Retention, Leadership, Culture, Outreach, or In-reach
• Brief description of the current challenge or barrier to participation (500-750 words on an uploaded file):
  • What is the challenge and why is it problematic?
  • Who is impacted by it–either directly or indirectly?
  • How will you use the engineering design process to address the challenge you have identified?
  • What will be the benefit to the student organization if the problem is addressed?
  • How will you know if you have made any progress toward addressing it?
• Once the form has been submitted, the team members will receive an email inviting them to complete a short survey about the organizational climate

Step 2: Plan to Attend 1-hr Virtual Kickoff Event – Jan 17, 2022 (MLK Day)

At least one member of each team must join the virtual kickoff event. Get inspired by the keynote speaker and other teams embarking on the 90-day Equity Challenge! Once your team submits the information in the Google form. you will receive an email from cdeichairs@asee.org with the Zoom link and event time.

Step 3: Plan to Attend the 1-hr Wrap up event – April 18, 2021

At least one member of each team must join the virtual wrap-up event. Together we’ll celebrate our impact and progress to date, and discuss next steps regarding the digital stories. Anyone who attends the kickoff event will automatically be invited to join the wrap-up event. An email will come from jslondon@vt.edu with the Zoom link and event time.

Step 4: Share your Progress via Digital Story – DUE May 1, 2022

Teams should describe the approach, solution, initiative or plans that they have developed to address their challenge. Using digital storytelling, teams can share their 90-day journey through a YouTube video and/or a narrated slide presentation video using this Google Form. Your digital story should be less than 5-7 minutes, and include the following information:

• Summary of the problem or challenge
  • Who is impacted and why? Said differently, why does it seem like this problem exists, and does it seem like people from certain groups are more affected by this problem, but not others?
• Steps you took to get further insight into the problem (this might include research, interviews, meetings, surveys, observations, etc)
• Solutions or approach:
  • Briefly, what solutions did you consider?
  • Description of solution/approach selected
  • What was the reason for choosing the selected approach?
• Lessons learned:
  • If a solution has already been implemented:
    • What was the result? Do you consider this a success?
    • If applicable, how are you defining success and how are you measuring it?
    • Will you continue using this solution in the future? What will you change?
  • If a solution is planned or in development:
    • What is the timeline?
    • What do you anticipate will be the outcome?
    • If applicable, how will you define and measure success?
  • What did you learn?
  • How might other student organizations benefit from what your team has learned?

Winning teams will be notified by May 15th about prizes and next steps!

Judging Criteria & Prizes

• Understanding the Problem – What did the team do to understand the problem? In what ways did the team learn from current solutions/approaches?
• Design Process – How well did the team use an engineering design process to ideate, develop and consider various solutions?
• Benefit to Student Organization(s) – How well does the solution or initiative address the problem? How did the team measure or assess the impact of the solution?
• Broader Impact – Is the solution one that can benefit other student organizations, either on the team’s own campus or elsewhere? What plans does the team have to share its solution more broadly, and help other student organizations address similar challenges?

The best entries will be those that describe innovative solutions that can someday benefit other engineering student organizations facing similar challenges.

At the end of the 90-day challenge, fifteen (15) teams will be selected to win a $1,000 prize for your organization, have their work highlighted on a national platform, and be featured in multiple press releases.

FAQs

Can we focus on a challenge that exists as a result of the pandemic?

Absolutely. We know that the pandemic has had a significant impact on students, and that the impact and long-term effects of the pandemic are amplifying existing inequities. Diversity, equity, or inclusion-related challenges or barriers that arose from the pandemic are certainly appropriate for this 90-day Equity Challenge. We would love to learn about how you are approaching this challenge, and we’re sure other student organizations will benefit from your creative ideas, as well.

What is the difference between these two challenge categories: Outreach activities led by your organization and Student or peer support?

Outreach activities led by your organization: these are activities related to work in the community or in collaboration with K-12 schools.

Student or peer support: these activities relate to work done to support classmates, peers, or other students on your campus. Humanitarian needs among your peers should be the focus.

What’s an example of what you mean by the challenge category called: leadership within your student organization?

We welcome a variety of ideas associated with this. Examples could include ways to increase the racial/ethnic make-up of the leadership team, and/or improving the inclusivity during the onboarding processes for leaders and members of your organization.

We have identified a problem that we’d like to solve, but we aren’t sure if we can implement a solution within the 90 day timeframe. Should we still participate?

Absolutely. We recognize that 90 days may not be sufficient for student organizations to plan, implement, and evaluate whether a new approach or solution is addressing a problem! The judges want to see that your team has taken time to understand the existing problem, has considered different approaches to solve it, and has developed a feasible plan to implement a solution. Don’t worry if your plan hasn’t been tested yet. Or perhaps the challenge you are addressing only occurs during a “member drive” period in the Fall semester – that’s ok. Share the plan you have developed, describe your plans to implement and test it, and keep us posted in the future!

I’m a faculty member or the advisor of a student org. How can I get involved?

As a faculty member or student org advisor, we encourage you to reach out to the student leaders of your engineering student organizations and ask them to consider participating in this 90-day challenge. This challenge is a great opportunity for student organizations to take some time to reflect upon their practices, their membership, and the activities they organize, and consider whether there are ways to reduce the barriers to active participation or to increase a sense of belonging for all members.