Promoting Social Sustainability for Minority Populations through Understanding their Challenges in Professional Engineering Certification
Conference
Rivera, EJ, Elzomor, M, Pradhananga, P. (2023). Promoting Social Sustainability for Minority Populations through Understanding their Challenges in Professional Engineering Certification
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Rivera, EJ, Elzomor, M, Pradhananga, P. (2023). Promoting Social Sustainability for Minority Populations through Understanding their Challenges in Professional Engineering Certification
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As the population of the United States of America continues to be more diverse, educational pedagogies must embrace the different components of diversity so that the workforce represents a diverse society. Construction and engineering education must foster the social sustainability components of increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion to better position our future workforce. In the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) profession, minorities, females, and underserved communities are yet staggering in representation within the engineering and construction industry. In the United States, approximately five million residents are of Puerto Rican descent, accounting for 1.8 percent of the overall population in 2019, where 20.3 percent of that population have an education of Bachelor's Degree or Higher. In the 2021's Professional Engineering Examination performed in Puerto Rico, only 24 percent of the professionals that participated in the examination passed the test, while the national average for passing the Professional Engineering examination was 58 percent. This study aims to address the problem of the current shortage of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Engineering and Construction industry, focusing on the Puerto Rican minority group and their challenges. This study will focus on determining the obstacles Puerto Rican engineering students and graduates have that limit their possibilities of excelling in the Professional Engineering Examination and improvements to the curriculum to increase the likelihood of success in the P.E. exam and address the poor passing rate. The research analyzes large-scale perishable historical data provided by the Puerto Rico examination board and Universities. This study will have two theoretical and methodological contributions to the literature. It will: (1) advance our understanding to address diversity, equity, and inclusion issues related to our workforce and their success in the engineering and construction industry; (2) inform the literature on how to reform our education curriculum to accommodate the necessary tools needed to prepare minority students to succeed in the Professional Engineering Certification. This study will focus on the obstacles Puerto Rican engineering students and graduates have that limit their possibilities of excelling in the Professional Engineering Examination and improvements to the curriculum to increase the likelihood of success in the P.E. exam.
