Background: Louisiana State University's (LSU) STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP) was established to increase students' persistence in first-year, declared engineering majors (a project priority), in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors (an NSF goal), and in all majors at LSU (an institutional goal). Over 8 years, 3,097 (27%)…

Spearman concluded that performance on any test of mental ability could be explained by several cognitive factors organized hierarchically as one general factor and several subordinate specific factors (Spearman, 1904, 1927). The general factor accounted for the significant amount of inter-correlation between all ability tests for any one…

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics student success is an important topic in higher education research. Recently, the use of data analytics in higher education administration has gain popularity. However, very few studies have examined how data analytics may influence Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics student success.…

This paper uses administrative North Carolina data linked from high school to college and national surveys to characterize the largest contributor to the STEM gender gap: engineering. Disparities are the result of differential entry during high school or earlier rather than postsecondary exit. Differences in pre-college academic preparation…

Historically, women have been underrepresented in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields both as college majors and in the professional community. This disturbing trend, observed in many countries, is more serious and evident in American universities and is reflected in the U.S. workforce statistics. In this article, we…

This longitudinal study investigated development in expectancy for success (perceived competence), 3 types of task value (utility, interest, attainment), and 3 types of perceived cost (opportunity, effort, psychological) for engineering students during their first 2 years of college. Latent growth curve models indicated declines in expectancy and…

The Big Five Inventory (BFI) measuring the 5-factor personality model was given to 440 science and engineering students in introductory physics classes at a large US university. Science and engineering students showed similar personality characteristics as would be expected from measurements of the general population, with women scoring…

At the University of Louisville, a large, urban institution in the south-east United States, undergraduate engineering students take their mathematics courses from the school of engineering. In the fall of their freshman year, engineering students take "Engineering Analysis I," a calculus-based engineering analysis course. After the…

Critical to many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career paths is mathematical modeling--specifically, the creation and adaptation of mathematical models to solve problems in complex settings. Conventional standardized measures of mathematics achievement are not structured to directly assess this type of mathematical…

The demand for STEM graduates has increased, but the number of incoming freshmen who declare a STEM major has remained stagnant. High school courses, such as calculus, can open or close the gate for students interested in careers in STEM. The purpose of this study was to determine if high school mathematics preparation was a significant…

Self-control has been related to positive student outcomes including academic performance of college students. Because of the critical nature of the first semester academic performance for engineering students in terms of retention and persistence in pursuing an engineering degree, this study investigated the relationship between freshmen…

This study examined the role of academic performance factors, and personality traits as measured by the "Hogan Personality Inventory" (Hogan & Hogan, 2007), in the academic success and retention of undergraduate engineering majors. With regard to academic performance, the academic measures of ACT score and high school GPA were…

ACT has been a leader in measuring college and career readiness trends for years. Each August, they release "The Condition of College & Career Readiness" (www.act.org/ newsroom/data/2013), their annual report on the progress of the ACT-tested graduating class relative to college readiness. Nationally, 54.3% of the 2013 graduating…

The validity of a spatial visualization test for selecting candidate engineering students was assessed. The test was administered to 300 out of the 318 students enrolled during the winter quarter of 1989 in the Engineering Graphics 110 course at a major state university. Developmental steps undertaken to enhance the theoretical basis and validity…

Investigated whether the emphasis on ACT scores for admission to engineering school is justified. Using stepwise regression procedures, multiple regression equations were derived using data from 328 students. Results indicated that ACT scores plus college transfer credits and advanced placement credits do aid in predicting academic performance.…