(61e) Development of the Chemical Engineering Identity from the Freshman to the Sophomore Year

The development of a STEM identity in students has been a topic that has received a growing amount of interest for more than a decade. The successful development of a STEM identity has been positively linked to success and persistence within a discipline and ultimately the attainment of a degree. While the majority of studies on identity development has treated STEM identity, particularly engineering identity, as common among all disciplines, more recent studies have begun to show that there are significant differences in the development of identity between the engineering disciplines. One of the well-studied student populations within engineering are those within Chemical Engineering where it has been initially shown that the development of a Chemical Engineering identity across different dimensions is not only different from that of other engineering disciplines, but is also different from that of chemistry. In this work, we will build on the idea of the development of the Chemical Engineering identity from the start of the student’s freshman year through their completion of the first chemical engineering courses in the beginning of their sophomore year. We find that many Chemical Engineering students begin their academic careers with a somewhat developed sense of identity that is different from that of the general engineering student body. Additionally, certain aspects of their identity, including their career aspirations and ability to speak with content experts, develop quickly through the beginning of their Chemical Engineering curriculum.