Project Grant 2306830

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BPE TRACK 2: DISABILITY DCL - CAPTURING NARRATIVES THAT CHARACTERIZE NEURODIVERGENT STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES -NEURODIVERGENT (E.G., ADHD, AUTISTIC, BIPOLAR) STUDENTS BRING DESIRED CHARACTERISTICS SUCH AS ATTENTION TO DETAIL, CREATIVITY, AND UNIQUE SPATIAL SKILLS TO ENGINEERING, YET THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO DROP OUT OF COLLEGE DUE TO DIFFERENT BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES. EMPOWERING NEURODIVERGENT PARTICIPATION IN ENGINEERING BY UNDERSTANDING BOTH THE STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES FACED WILL SIGNIFICANTLY BENEFIT THE GENERATION OF CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS NEEDED TO SOLVE COMPLEX GLOBAL AND SOCIETAL PROBLEMS. THIS NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION?S BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN ENGINEERING COLLABORATIVE PROJECT AT UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY AND MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY WILL APPROACH NEURODIVERSITY IN ENGINEERING BY ENGAGING WITH THE NEURODIVERGENT COMMUNITY ON SOCIAL MEDIA (E.G., INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK) TO UNDERSTAND THEIR STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES. SOCIAL MEDIA IS A VAST INFORMATION SOURCE WHERE COMMUNITIES SHARE THEIR LIVED EXPERIENCES AND BUILD COMMUNITY, AND MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE NEURODIVERGENT PRESENCE ONLINE EXPANDED AFTER THE COVID-19 QUARANTINE. NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE SHARE THEIR LIVED EXPERIENCES AND INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER TO GENERATE SHARED MEANING RESULTING IN NEW EMANCIPATORY LANGUAGE THAT DESCRIBE THEIR EXPERIENCES AND EMANCIPATE THEMSELVES FROM DEFICIT-BASED FRAMING AND STEREOTYPES. SUCH LANGUAGE EMBRACES BOTH STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES FACED BY NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE WHICH CAN BE LEVERAGED IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION TO SUPPORT NEURODIVERGENT STUDENTS. BY ENGAGING WITH NEURODIVERGENT COMMUNITIES, TRUST CAN BE BUILT BETWEEN RESEARCHERS AND NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE TO WORK TOGETHER TO DEVELOP BETTER LEARNING ACCOMMODATIONS AND RESOURCES. FURTHER, THIS LANGUAGE CAN BE INFORMATIVE TO HIGHER EDUCATION, FOR EXAMPLE, TO WRITE POLICY AND DEVELOP LEARNING ACCOMMODATIONS THAT REPRESENT AND POTENTIALLY INCREASE PARTICIPATION AND DEGREE COMPLETION OF NEURODIVERGENT STUDENTS. IN ENGINEERING, NEURODIVERGENT STUDENTS WILL SHARE THEIR STORIES IN ENGINEERING TO SHARE THEIR LIVED EXPERIENCES SUCH AS SUCCESSES AND OFFER COPING MECHANISMS TO MANAGE CHALLENGES. THESE STORIES WILL BE SHARED PUBLICLY TO ENCOURAGE OTHER NEURODIVERGENT STUDENTS IN THEIR STUDIES AND INFORM PEERS AND FACULTY ABOUT NEURODIVERGENCE IN ENGINEERING. THIS MIXED-METHODS, COLLABORATIVE PROJECT WILL IDENTIFY EMANCIPATORY LANGUAGE THAT DESCRIBE THE STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES OF NEURODIVERGENT STUDENTS IN ENGINEERING (NEURODIVERGENT REFERS TO PEOPLE WHO THINK, FUNCTION, AND BEHAVE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FROM SOCIETAL ?NORMS,? E.G., ADHD, AUTISM, SCHIZOPHRENIA). THIS PROJECT WILL FIRST IMPLEMENT SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS TO ENGAGE WITH AND IDENTIFY EMANCIPATORY LANGUAGE IN THE PUBLIC NEURODIVERGENT COMMUNITY. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS (E.G., TIKTOK, INSTAGRAM, TWITTER) WILL BE SCRAPED FOR NEURODIVERGENT RELATED CONTENT AND ANALYZED USING NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES (LATENT DIRICHLET ALLOCATION AND SENTIMENT ANALYSIS). THIS METHOD WILL REVEAL COMMON LANGUAGE ASSOCIATED WITH NEURODIVERGENT STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES. FINDINGS WILL THEN BE USED TO DEVELOP A STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES INTERVIEW PROTOCOL FOR THE NEXT PHASE. THE NEXT PHASE WILL CONSIST OF TWO NARRATIVE INQUIRIES. THE FIRST INQUIRY WILL BE LONGITUDINAL WHERE 24 NEURODIVERGENT ENGINEERING STUDENTS AT UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY WILL BE INTERVIEWED OVER A SEMESTER TO DEVELOP SEMESTER LONG NARRATIVES. THE SECOND INQUIRY WILL LEVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA TO RECRUIT NEURODIVERGENT ENGINEERING STUDENTS ACROSS THE NATION TO DEVELOP A VARIETY OF NARRATIVES. EXPECTED OUTCOMES WILL INCLUDE BUILDING TRUST BETWEEN NEURODIVERGENT AND RESEARCH COMMUNITIES, DEVELOPING A LEXICON OF WORDS TO DESCRIBE AND CONCEPTUALIZE NEURODIVERGENCE IN ENGINEERING, DEMONSTRATING SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS AND NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING METHODS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION RESEARCH, AND DEVELOPING A RESOURCE AND NARRATIVE DEPOSITORY FOR NEURODIVERGENT ENGINEERING STUDENTS AND ENGINEERING FACULTY. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.