Track 1: Co-Designing Transformative Rural Pathways to Engineering with Idaho EPSCoR Communities

The project intends to expand K-12 and college-age student participation in engineering for all Idahoans. Not all Idaho classrooms have access to robust STEM programming. The project represents an opportunity to partner with K-12 and rural community stakeholders to learn where pathways to engineering education and workforce can be strategically built in EPSCoR states. The engineering and computer science supply and demand within the Idaho workforce is incongruent – with a shortage of educated and skilled engineers. Not only does Idaho need more engineers, but the state also needs more students from a variety of geographic locations, urban and rural, to solve engineering and security problems. The broader impact of this project, if successful, is on all Idaho students and regions in a state where not all students have opportunities to learn about engineering and computer science. This research project extends the Design Thinking Framework theory. A gap in the literature is the lack of studies and examples of collaborative projects using the framework. Though there is extensive research in various pedagogies around respect and self-reflection, which is the foundation to this framework, few published studies have shared the outcomes of using this community engagement process. This project develops co-designed engineering pathways through the integration of Design Thinking and collaborative research activity. This project is intended to 1) co-create and engage participants in pathways to engineering state-wide, and 2) co-design research activity toward the creation of a Center for Pathways to Engineering at the University of Idaho. To drive strategies and pathways for engineering education and the future STEM workforce, there is a need to understand the learning gap for rural students. Participants from all regions of Idaho will be encouraged to collaborate in research activities. 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.