Award
2020 NSF CAREER Award Winner
Department
Department of Engineering Education
Awarded Project
Walter Lee aims to advance the extent to which the engineering education community understands how marginalized students navigate undergraduate engineering programs and make decisions with respect to seeking help in the course of pursuing their degrees.
Colleges and universities provide numerous forms of student support intended to increase the retention and graduation rates of its undergraduate engineering students, but Lee believes that based on student outcomes and previous research, there’s a need for more responsive student support tailored to individual students’ needs. Lee believes that by understanding the experiences and decision-making of marginalized students, colleges and universities can support educational environments that are more responsive to the potential diversity of the student populations. His research will provide information directly to student support services.
What path did you take to get to this point in your career and research?
After completing my B.S. in industrial engineering at Clemson University, I came to Virginia Tech to pursue a Ph.D. in engineering education and an M.S. in industrial and systems engineering. After completing my Ph.D., I was fortunate enough to get a tenure-track position in the Department of Engineering Education and was able to continue working with the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity, which I began working with as a graduate student.
What impact do you hope your research will have?
I hope that I can uncover information that will better inform university efforts to support undergraduate engineering students, particularly students of color.
What do you find most interesting about your field of engineering?
The ability to merge my interest in the social sciences and engineering.
If you had one piece of advice to give students that aspire to pursue research and are just starting their journey, what would you share with them?
Follow your interests, and do not shy away from asking or attempting to answer the difficult questions.