Helping newcomers feel "at home": Reflections on the start of careers in engineering education research and implications for broadening participation.

Broadening participation of students and faculty is a goal of many engineering programs. In order for participation to be broadened, newcomers who are outsiders must be welcomed into an existing community and it is vital to welcome these new members. But little is known about behaviors that help newcomers feel at home. This study shares insights gained from the reflections of now-established members of the engineering education research (EER) community as they look back at the beginning of their EER career. The data comes from semi-structured interviews with participants of a series of NSF-funded summer workshops held in the mid-2000s designed to introduce participants to the emerging field of engineering education research. The interviews were conducted 10 – 11 years after they participated in the workshops and sought to capture their career and research trajectories since the workshops. Looking back at the start of their EER career trajectory, participants stressed the importance of the relationships that they formed with other participants, workshop facilitators, and other EER members. Thematic analysis of the transcripts revealed three themes which we are calling contributor, approachable, and sharing. The paper details specific, meaningful actions that resulted in the newcomers feeling welcome and provides recommendations for those interested in broadening participation.