NCID-1305
Lorelle Meadows
Dean of the Pavlis Honors College
Michigan Technological University
Education/Degree:
1 Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences (University of Michigan)
About
Dr. Lorelle Meadows joined Michigan Technological University in 2014 where she is leading the creation of a new honors college uniquely committed to inclusion and equity, and eliminating barriers to high impact educational practices. Dr. Meadows received her BS, MS, and PhD in oceanic science from the University of Michigan College of Engineering in 1983, 1985, and 2002, respectively. Her primary area of research focused on natural and anthropogenic influences on marine coastal processes. Prior to joining Michigan Tech, Dr. Meadows was assistant dean of academic programs in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. Her primary responsibility in that role was to assure the delivery of a curriculum that addressed college-wide educational objectives in order to prepare students for the careers of the 21st century. In this role, Dr. Meadows led the design, planning, implementation, and assessment of the College of Engineering first year program and undertook targeted curriculum development projects in areas such as service-learning, ethics education, and sustainable engineering. This engagement led to her development as an educational researcher and she now conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of social psychology and engineering education, with specific emphasis on the influence of stereotypes, subtle bias, and microagressions in student teams.
Current Work
Dr. Meadows' current research focuses on the deleterious effects on learning performance and persistence of microaggressions in engineering student teams. Because engineering is cast as a masculine field, female engineering students can experience subtle yet pervasive stereotypic messages in their learning environments that can negatively influence their experiences. This project identifies specific behavioral manifestations of gender stereotypes — microaggressions — and their cumulative effect on learning, performance, and persistence in introductory engineering course teamwork. Dr. Meadows' team proposes that these microaggressions may cause the climate of the team to become less welcoming to women. The goal of the project is to identify and reliably measure microaggressions in both lab-based and classroom-based engineering student project teams, and , whether exposure to microaggressions increases perceived stereotype threat and diminishes a sense of belonging in engineering for women compared to men, leading to a gender gap favoring men in the important engineering outcomes of learning, performance, and persistence. The research program builds on prior work of the investigators (funded through an NSF RIGEE grant) and includes five research activities.The goal of Study One is to identify the specific types of microaggressions (e.g., ignoring women's contributions or assigning women to less important tasks) occurring in videotaped laboratory-based engineering teams. Dr. Meadows' team will develop a reliable microaggressions assessment procedure, and analyze effects on engineering outcomes (learning, performance, and persistence). In Study Two, Dr. Meadows' team supplements the lab-based data of Study One with qualitative data reported by students who previously participated in an engineering student group project, via student focus groups. This will provide information on microaggressions occurring in classroom-based engineering teams. Study Three is a longitudinal study in which Dr. Meadows' team examines the influence of microaggressions occurring in class-based teams on engineering outcomes over time. Introductory engineering student teams will be tracked and observed at three time points in one semester to measure microaggressions and their influence on academic and psychological outcomes. Studies Four and Five are designed to experimentally manipulate exposure to microaggressions in a student team and , its causal influence on outcomes (learning, performance, and persistence).
Research Area Keyword(s)
bias, Microaggressions, Stereotyping