"Engineering the Self: Identity Formation Among Disabled Engineering St" by Darby Rose Riley

Date Approved

6-23-2025

Embargo Period

6-23-2027

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. Engineering Education

Department

Experiential Engineering Education

College

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering

Advisor

Kaitlin Mallouk, Ph.D.

Committee Member 1

Cheryl Bodnar, Ph.D.

Committee Member 2

Justin Major, PhD

Committee Member 3

Sarah Ferguson, PhD

Committee Member 4

Rachel Kajfez, Ph.D.

Keywords

DIsability;Identity;Narrative;Social Network Analysis

Disciplines

Engineering

Abstract

A persistent challenge in the field of engineering education is attracting and maintaining a diverse population of students. A large body of research is dedicated to characterizing the unique obstacles faced by marginalized and minoritized students and developing interventions to overcome these obstacles. However, throughout these efforts, one population has remained underrepresented and under-investigated: disabled students. This dissertation serves as an exploratory investigation into this population using three approaches: resource usage, social connections, and narratives. The first study in this work surveys the resources disabled engineering students use to support themselves and the effect of the resources on the students' engineering identity. The second study explores the students' social resources—the people they consider supporters, the types of support these people offer, and the overall structure of the students' social networks. The third study follows the engineering journeys of four disabled engineering students, striving to understand their perception of their time in school and the coping mechanisms they developed to succeed. This dissertation found that the experience of disabled engineering students is diverse; there is no "one size fits all" solution available to support all disabled students. Rather, the work emphasizes the importance of understanding students' individual needs, raising awareness of effective yet underutilized resources, and encouraging students to pursue these resources.

Available for download on Wednesday, June 23, 2027

Included in

Engineering Commons

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