Allison Godwin, a 2014 graduate of the ESED PhD program and assistant professor of engineering education at Purdue University, was named a recipient of the Early Career Development (CAREER) grant from the National Science Foundation. Allison’s research “Realizing Latent Diversity: Building Innovation through Engineering Students’ Identity Development” will use mixed methods to discover “the diversity of thought, innovation mindsets, and attitudes are present in engineering students,” the formation of engineering identities by engineering students within an engineering community of practice, and the types of support necessary “to promote inclusion of students with latent diversity in engineering.” Outcomes will include workshops for engineering educators, co-curricular support staff, administrators, and policy-makers who can adopt practices that will result in development of “innovative, rather than homogeneous, engineers.” While at Clemson, Allison was awarded a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship that supported her research on engineering identity as a doctoral student in ESED. Allison discovered practices that would enhance the sense of belonging for women in engineering (Godwin and Potvin, 2015). She also explored how sustainability can enhance participation in engineering (Klotz, Cribbs, Godwin, Lock, Potvin, & Hazari, 2014). Her PhD research won the 2015 Outstanding Doctoral Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. Allison was also recognized with an Apprentice Faculty Grant from the Education Research and Methods Division of the American Society of Engineering Education in 2015.
