(207b) Regional, Institutional, and Departmental Factors Associated with Gender Diversity Among Chemical and Electrical Engineering Graduates

Engineering remains the least gender diverse discipline within the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Chemical engineering (ChE) and electrical engineering (EE) are exemplars of relatively high and relatively low gender diversity, respectively. Here, we investigate the departmental, institutional, and regional factors associated with gender diversity among ChE and EE BS graduates at 95 institutions within the US, 2010 – 2016. For both ChE and EE, gender diversity was significantly higher at private institutions and at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), but did not show a significant association with the gender composition of tenure-track faculty. The number and type of other engineering majors, as well as variations in the EE departmental name, also showed a significant association with gender diversity. States with a highly gender-diverse pool of full-time ChE and EE workers tended to have a more gender-diverse pool of BS graduates, suggesting a contribution from regional variation in gender stereotypes. State financial support of K-12 education significantly impacted gender diversity among both ChE and EE BS graduates, with spending on “support services” have more of an impact than spending towards instructional services. State-specific gender pay disparity did not show a significant association with gender diversity among graduates. Nationwide, gender diversity among EE BS graduates appears to be increasing, while ChE diversity appears stagnant. Some regional variation in trends was also observed. This identification of factors associated with increased gender diversity may enable increased participation of all under-represented groups in a variety of STEM, and non-STEM fields.