Work in progress — Shifting contexts: Investigating identity transformation in undergraduate engineering students

To inform curricular change in accordance with accreditation criteria, interviews were conducted with engineering students currently active in Engineers Without Borders to ascertain why some engineering students are more interested in the social context of engineering than others. A thematic content analysis of interview transcripts revealed two sets of results: common personal characteristics among interviewees that led to the development of a capacity for empathy and recommendations for curricular change. A critical discourse analysis adds a third set of results that focus on interviewee references to “the self” and “the other.” Preliminary findings indicate that engineering students require co-/curricular opportunities that enable them to identify with “the other” facilitated by shifts in social context. It is argued that student engagement with shifting contexts contributes to identity transformation from technical problem-solver to “global engineer.”