An Autoethnographic Account of a Female Undergraduate Engineering Student.

This work explores formative experiences and various aspects of one female undergraduate student's Kayla's time in university, from her first to last year of school. Studies have shown that normative engineering culture can make women feel "visible as a woman, yet invisible as engineers" [1]. Some women who persist in the field of engineering have been shown to have an "engineering identity" [2]. This study focuses on how various aspects of one student's lived experiences formed her engineering identity and assisted in her ability to feel authentic in the field of engineering. The work presented in this paper examined Kayla's experiences with multiple internships, the importance of peer relationships, and the role of extracurricular activities in identity development. The concept of in/authenticity by Faulkner [3] and the engineering identity framework by Godwin & Lee [2] were used to explore her experiences. This autoethnographic account used a co-constructed approach [4] between the student Kayla and her mentor Gretchen and followed autoethnographic steps outlined by Chang [5]. This work demonstrated how various aspects of a female undergraduate student's experiences, including internships, involvement on campus, and peer relationships, can build an engineering identity and create a feeling of authenticity in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]