Phase 2 of the Engineering CAReS Study

 by Denise Wilson and Jennifer VanAntwerp, February 8, 2025

Much of what human beings do is done in the service of belongingness.

(Baumeister & Leary, 1995)

A square peg in a round hole. 

Most of us have felt like that square peg at some point. In a college class. In a high school club. Meeting up again with that group of friends who has stayed close over the past years while you have drifted away. The oldest person in the room. The youngest. We tried to enter that space but discovered that we were not going to make it in through that round hole unless someone whacked us very hard on top of our square peg head to cram us inside. If we do make it inside, we will be a bit bruised – or maybe even find that some of our edges have been shaved off.  And so, we debate…how much do we really want to be in that room? Is it worth it?  

Engineering can be one of these round hole places. But we want to see a greater diversity of people working in engineering – diverse in thinking patterns, leadership styles, vision, perspective.  True diversity of thought and perspective is not only good for employees and individuals.  It's good for business and global competitiveness.  

To support more productive and more nourishing engineering workplaces in the future, we want to know more about how that sense of belonging comes alongside feelings of being competent and having some say-so in our daily work lives (autonomy). Hence the name of our study, Engineering CAReS: Engineering Competence Autonomy Relatedness (a.k.a. Belonging) Study.

The U.S. has spent decades trying to increase the diversity of people in engineering. Of course, most of those efforts focus on the pegs - how engineering can do a better job of shaving those square pegs into round ones. Our research team wants to flip that question around. How can we carve out engineering fields so that they form a new shape, one that allows more people to enter – and to stay – without needing to change their own shape?

We think this question is important. Every person fundamentally wants to feel that they belong. Belonging matters. Psychology researchers report a laundry list of problems linked to unmet needs for belonging. 

So, then, what about engineering? Do engineers feel a sense of belonging within their workplaces? Do those that work with engineers enjoy a sense of belonging as well? What aspects of the workplace best support – or hinder – an engineer’s ability to feel like they belong?

We are excited to be in the second phase of our Engineering CAReS study. With a shorter and more focused survey emerging from Phase 1 of our study, we hope to gather a truly broad range of perspectives from those who are engineers or computer scientists and those who work with them, whether in corporate, government, academic, or nonprofit positions.   

Thanks for joining us in this journey to a new, and better, engineering future.

Here is the link to your Phase 2 online research survey:  Engineering CAReS Survey