CHE Fall Seminar Series

Details

Speaker: Jerrod A. Henderson, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
University of Houston

Title: Visualizing Engineering Student Experiences through Photovoice

Abstract: Researchers have shown that students are most likely to leave engineering undergraduate programs during their first two years. Justifiably, several studies have investigated first-year student persistence, which has informed the development of interventions to address challenges. While those interventions have improved first-year retention in some institutions, there has been less published on the impact of these interventions on the sophomore student experience. In this study, we examined the experiences of sophomore engineering students and explored how these experiences relate to their identities as engineers. We conducted this study using photovoice, a participatory action-based research methodology in which participants submit photographs to describe their experiences and provide recommendations for improving them and resolving their concerns. Four participants submitted three sets of pictures and participated in focus groups. We inductively developed three themes: on the frame, out of focus, and prefigures. We gained insight into what interest, competence, and recognition as engineers meant to students. Participants grappled with the tension between their personal, social, and engineering identities. Photovoice gave them the agency to claim a space of belonging on their own terms. This work has the potential to yield solutions that institutional stakeholders can implement, such as creating cultures of well-being, self-reflection, and belonging.

Bio:Dr. Jerrod A. Henderson (“Dr. J”) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Houston.
He began his higher education pursuits at Morehouse College and North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, where he earned dual degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. Henderson has dedicated his career to increasing the number of students who are on pathways to pursue STEM careers. He co-founded the St. Elmo Brady STEM Academy, an after-school educational intervention that introduces fourth and fifth-grade students and their families to hands-on STEM experiences. This program has served hundreds of students in Illinois and Texas.
His research group aims to understand student engineering identity trajectories and success mechanisms, using interpretive qualitative, and action-based participatory research methods.
He was most recently recognized by INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine as an Inspiring STEM Leader, by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) Outstanding Young Alumni Award, and with a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2023 to advance his work that centers engineering identities of Black men in engineering.