The National Science Foundation is spending roughly $600,000 on a study to address "intersectionality" in college engineering programs.

Arizona State University is conducting the study, which will investigate the rise of "makerspaces" at engineering schools to see if large breakout rooms for group work represent just "another institution of privilege, exclusion, and inequity."

"Recently, the creation of university-affiliated makerspaces has begun to gain momentum," a grant for the study reads. "Engineering education researchers have developed an understanding of the extent to which experiences in engineering impact student identity formation. However, little is known about how engaging in makerspaces impacts the identity formation of undergraduate engineering students, specifically, women and those from underrepresented groups (URGs) (e.g., Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Hawaiians, persons with disabilities, veterans, LGBT)."

The researchers argue that "URGs" have been "isolated" from engineering, and hope to change large breakout rooms for engineering students.

"The institution of engineering has been resistant to change, but the latest developments of university-affiliated makerspaces present an opportunity to innovatively address such change," the grant said.

Many universities now offer makerspaces to their students. For instance, the University of Massachusetts Lowell has an 8,500-square-foot makerspace equipped with 3D printers and other engineering tools available to students 24 hours a day.

The National Science Foundation project wants to prevent these workshops from perpetuating "normative cultures."

"Makerspace cultures could perpetuate the normative cultures that have persisted in engineering environments," the grant said. "By looking at makerspaces while in their infancy, we can potentially influence the shaping of future makerspace infrastructure and aspects that contribute to the perpetuation of an exclusionary culture."

"This study seeks to uncover whether investments in makerspaces are supporting the development of another institution of privilege, exclusion, and inequity," the grant said.

The project began Aug. 1 and will continue through 2019. Researchers have received $599,905 so far.

Researchers will also investigate "intersectionality" within makerspaces and the "identity formation" of engineering students.

"This study will give voices to these participants through disaggregation of gender and race/ethnicity and by addressing intersectionality," the grant said. "The primary data from this study are in-depth, biographical interviews where participants are encouraged to share rich accounts of their experiences becoming a maker and becoming an engineering student. Through their stories, the research team is developing an understanding of how students form their sense of self and their identity as they experience an engineering undergraduate program and engage in makerspaces."

Goals of the study include understanding the "lived experiences and" and "personal growth and identity" of engineering students. The study will also consider what stories about race, gender, and ethnicity "reveal about the culture of makerspaces."

The researchers hope to change college engineering programs throughout the United States.

"By questioning the impact of cultures in making, this project could potentially impact engineering programs across the country," the grant said. "Enhancing opportunities for engineering students from URGs to develop full identities is one way to potentially impact their persistence and success as engineers."