Preliminary Results of a RIGEE-Funded Study: Pre-College Interactions, Early Expectations, and Perceived Barriers Among Entering Engineering Students

Dr. Miguel A. Pando is currently an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), and was previously an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM). In addition to his research in Geotechnical Engineering on the topics of soil-structure interaction and engineering characterization of geomaterials, Dr. Pando has been actively involved in teaching and mentoring students at both UPRM and UNCC, including 14 undergraduate civil engineering students through the NSF Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program. Examples of his recent and ongoing engineering education research projects include the development of a Bridge to the Doctoral Program to attract Latinos to geotechnical earthquake engineering (NSF-NEES), use of a multi-institutional classroom learning environment for remote geotechnical engineering education (NSF-TUES), as well as a mixed methods study of the role of student–faculty relationships in the persistence and retention of underrepresented minority students in engineering (NSF-RIGEE). For the past three years, he has co-led (with co-author Dr. Tempest) the ”Engineering for Development Workers” summer study abroad course at UNCC, focused on undertaking Civil Engineering projects in rural communities in Andean Peru.