Dina Verdín
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Phone: 727-3739
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Mail code: 2180Campus: Poly
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Dina Verdín received a PhD in Engineering Education and MS in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and a BS in Industrial Systems Engineering from San José State University. Dr. Verdín has won several awards including the 2018 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference Best Diversity Paper Award, 2019 College of Engineering Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award and the Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Distinguished Scholar Award. Dr. Verdín dissertation proposal was selected as part of the top 3 in the 2018 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division D In-Progress Research Gala. As a graduate student, Dr. Verdín was a National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship and an Honorable Mention for the Ford Foundation Fellowship Program.
MY RESEARCH PROGRAM is focused on broadening participation in engineering by critically interrogating issues pertaining to access and persistence for first-generation college students, minoritized students, and women at the intersection of multiple social identities. To achieve this objective, my work is organized around two key research strands: access and persistence. In the access strand, I focus on high school students, aiming to understand and mitigate barriers to entry into engineering fields. In the persistence strand, I focus on undergraduate students, exploring factors that influence their continued engagement and success within engineering programs.
Strand 1: Systemic barriers disenfranchise minoritized students throughout their educational pathway. There are experiences that expose high school students to engineering that are not equitably available to all. One of my research goals is to support the development of an engineering identity specifically by understanding how students’ interest in engineering is initiated and sustained over time, enhancing their self-efficacy, and fostering engineering agency beliefs. How does an initiated and sustained interest differ based on students’ social position (i.e., the intersection of race/ethnicity, gender, and family background)? How do culturally responsive engineering activities promote interest, self-efficacy, and begin fostering adolescents’ early identity development?
Strand 2: Authoring an engineering identity and persisting toward degree completion needs to consider the backdrop of institutional structures, students’ social positions, and historical legacies of what it means to be an engineer; these structures facilitate or constrain the identities available to students. My goal in this strand is to 1) critically interrogate the structural, societal, and political meanings of what and who counts as an engineer and 2) reshape the discourse of what it means to identify as an engineer and how students can take on this identity. How do we ensure that they develop an engineering identity, establish (or negotiate) belongingness, and persist to degree completion? When we change the environment, how does that change students’ perceptions of themselves as engineers and their attitudes, beliefs, and mindsets about what is acceptable engineering practice?"
Ph.D., Engineering Education, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
M.S., Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
B.S., Industrial & Systems Engineering, San José State University, San José, CA
Selected Journal Publications
Verdín, D., Smith, J. M., & Lucena, J. C. (2024). First-generation college students' funds of knowledge support the development of an engineering role identity. Journal of Engineering Education, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20591
Verdín, D. & Castillo, A.L (2024). Validating Practices and Messages that Promote Minoritized Women’s Engineering Classroom Belongingness: An Intersectional Approach. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering DOI: 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2023048084
Perez Leon, C. & Verdín, D. (2023). A Systematic Literature Review of Mastery Learning in Undergraduate Engineering Courses. International Journal of Engineering Education 39(6), pp. 1358–1385
Verdín, D., (2021) The Power of Interest: Minoritized Women’s Interest in Engineering Fosters Persistence Beliefs Beyond Belongingness and Engineering Identity. International Journal of STEM Education, 8(5) https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-021-00292-1
Verdín, D., Smith, J., & Lucena, J. (2021). First-Year Engineering Students' Funds of Knowledge Supports their Confidence in the Classroom and Certainty of Majoring in Engineering. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research—Special Issue on Asset-Based Pre-College Engineering Education to Promote Equity 11(1) Article 1 https://doi.org/10.7771/2157-9288.1281
Verdín, D., Smith, J., & Lucena, J. (2021). Recognizing the funds of knowledge of first-generation college students in engineering: An instrument development. Journal of Engineering Education, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20410
*Verdín, D., Godwin, A., & Benedict, B. (2020). Exploring First-Year Engineering Students Innovation Self-Efficacy Beliefs. Journal of Civil Engineering Education, 146(4), 1-14. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)EI.2643-9115.0000020 *Honorable Mention for 2020 Best Paper Award
Verdín, D., Godwin, A., Kirn, A., Benson, L., & Potvin, G. (2019). Engineering role identity fosters grit differently for women first-generation and continuing-generation college students. International Journal of Engineering Education, 35(4), 1037-1051.
Verdín, D., Godwin, A., & Ross, M. (2018). STEM roles: How students’ ontological perspectives facilitate STEM identities. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER), 8(2), Article 4, 1-39. doi: 10.7771/2157-9288.1167
Verdín, D. & Godwin, A. (2018). Exploring first-generation Latinas’ identities, self-efficacy and institutional integration to inform achievement in engineering. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 24(3), 261–290. doi: 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2018018667
Verdín, D., Godwin, A., & Klotz, L. (2018). Exploring the sustainability-related career outcome expectations of community college students interested in science and engineering careers. Community College Journal of Research and Practice. 1-16. doi: 10.1080/10668926.2018.1558133
Godwin, A., Verdín, D., Kirn, A., & Satterfield, D. (2017). The intersection of gender and race: Exploring chemical engineering students’ attitudes. Chemical Engineering Education—Special Issue on Diversity in Chemical Engineering, 52(2), 89-97.
Book Chapter
Verdín, D., Examining the Funds of Knowledge that Support Latinx Students Engineering Identity Development and Career Certainty. In L. C. Perez-Felkner, S. Rodriguez, C. Fluker. (Ed.) Latinx Students in Engineering (in press)
Verdín, D. (2020). “I learned how to divide at 25”: A counter-narrative of how one Latina reclaims her agency and begins to see herself as someone that can do engineering. In E. González, F. Fernandez, M. Wilson. (Ed.) Latinas Studying and Researching in STEM: An Asset-Based Approach to Increasing Resilience and Retention (Release date: November 2020)
Selected Conference Proceedings
Verdín, D., & Perez, C., (2024) Classroom Goal Structures Impact Mindsets: A Study of Undergraduate Engineering Students at a Hispanic Serving Institution. 2024 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (accepted)
Trujillo Garcia, U., & Verdín, D., (2024). Examining Engineering Migratory Students’ Funds of Knowledge: Uncovering Interpersonal Skills Needed in Engineering American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (accepted)
Verdín, D., (2024). Latinx Students’ Funds of Knowledge: Cultivating Engineering Identity Development and Career Certainty. Symposium. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (accepted)
Verdín, D., Perez Leon, C., Krinsky, S., & Allen, E. (2023). Shift in Mindsets: Examining How and Why Engineering Students’ Mindsets Shifted Over the Course of a Semester. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition https://peer.asee.org/43477
Verdín, D. (2022). Developing Migratory High School Students’ Critical Engineering Agency: Preliminary Results from a Culturally Responsive Virtual Activity. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA
Verdín, D. (2022). Examining how Math and Science Identities Support Migratory High School Students’ Engineering Career Aspirations. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. DOI https://doi.org/10.3102/1888002
Verdín, D., Sonnert, G., & Sadler, P. M. (2021) Out-of-School Experiences that Support Latinx Students’ Interest in Pursuing an Engineering Career. American Educational Research Association Virtual Meeting April 8-12
Verdín, D., Smith. J., & Lucena, J. (2020) The Influence of Interest and Performance/Competence Beliefs on Graduation and Career Success for Latinx Students in Engineering. Association for the Study of Higher Education
*Verdín, D., Smith. J.M., & Lucena, J. C. (2020, June), The Influence of Connecting Funds of Knowledge to Beliefs about Performance, Classroom Belonging, and Graduation Certainty for First-generation College Students Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Experience, Virtual Online. https://peer.asee.org/35343 *ERM Best Paper Finalist
Verdín, D., Smith, J. M., & Lucena, J. C. (2020). Exploring how First-Generation College Students’ Funds of Knowledge Supports the Formation of an Engineering Identity. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA April 17-21
Verdín, D. & Godwin, A. (2019). Acknowledging first-generation college students’ personal agency: Scale validation. Proceedings of the 126th American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, Tampa, FL.
Verdín, D., Smith. J. M., & Lucena, J. C. (2019). (2019, June), Recognizing Engineering Students’ Funds of Knowledge: Creating and Validating Survey Measures Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Tampa, Florida. https://peer.asee.org/33226
*Verdín, D., Godwin, A., Sonnert, G., & Sadler, P. M. (2018). How first-generation college students’ out-of-school experiences predict engineering possible selves and certainty of career path. 2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), San Jose, CA, USA, 2018, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.1109/FIE.2018.8658878. *Best Diversity Paper Award
*Benedict, B., Verdín, D., Baker, R. A., Godwin, A., Milton, T. (2018, June), Uncovering Latent Diversity: Steps Towards Understanding 'What Counts' and 'Who Belongs' in Engineering Culture Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Salt Lake City, Utah. https://peer.asee.org/31164 *Best Diversity Papers Finalist
Verdín, D., & Godwin, A. (2018). First-generation college students identifying as future engineers. Proceedings of the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New York, NY.
Verdín, D., Godwin, A., & Capobianco, B. (2016, June), Systematic Review of the Funds of Knowledge Framework in STEM Education Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.25999.
National Science Foundation EEC #2411936 (#2411933, 2411934, 2411935)
Collaborative Research: A Student Asset-based Approach to the Formation of Equitable Teams (SAFE Teams); Grant Duration: August 2024-2029
Co-PI, $4,940,731; Verdín Share $692,778
National Science Foundation EEC #2422009 (# 2422010)
Collaborative Research: Reconceptualizing Community Cultural Wealth in an engineering design context: Efforts towards curricular integration; Grant Duration: August 2024-2027
Lead PI, $428,613; Verdín Share $249,442
National Science Foundation IUSE: BCSER #2225306
BCSER: Empowering Children of Migratory/Seasonal Farmworkers with Gamification and Culturally-Responsive Engineering Design Instruction; Grant Duration: October, 2022-2025
Single PI- $349,994
National Science Foundation EEC: EDA-Eng Diversity Activities #2139096
Addressing Demographic Disparities in Students’ Choice of Engineering Disciplines (ADDS-CoED); Grant Duration: July, 2022-2025
Co-PI, $454,335; Verdín Share $77,000
National Science Foundation IUSE: HSI #2122941
HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Commitment to Learning Instilled by Mastery-Based Undergraduate Program (CLIMB-UP); Grant Duration October, 2021- 2024
Senior Personnel, $699,894, Verdín Share $204,747
Courses
2025 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 280 | Engineering Statistics |
2024 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 572 | Quant Meth in Eng Ed Res |
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
EGR 280 | Engineering Statistics |
EGR 792 | Research |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
2023 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 792 | Research |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 280 | Engineering Statistics |
EGR 792 | Research |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 572 | Quant Meth in Eng Ed Res |
EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 792 | Research |
2022 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 792 | Research |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 280 | Engineering Statistics |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 572 | Quant Meth in Eng Ed Res |
EGR 792 | Research |
2021 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 792 | Research |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 101 | Found of Eng Design Proj I |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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EGR 792 | Research |
Graduate Awards
National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship 2016-2019
IEEE Frontiers in Education Best Diversity Paper Award 2019
College of Engineering Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award 2019
Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Distinguished Scholar 2019
AERA Division D In-Progress Research Gala Top 3 Research Proposals 2018
Ford Foundation Honorable Mention 2016
National Association of Research in Science Teaching, Jhumki Basu Scholar Award 2016
Undergraduate Honors
Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
Order of Omega Greek Honor Society
Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc. National New Sister of the Year Award 2010-2011
Instructor of Record for ENGR 131: Transforming Ideas to Innovation I. (Fall 2019)
Purdue University
Students learn data analytics, mathematical modeling, design process to develop innovative solutions to engineering challenges, team-work, communication skills, and project management. The course was structured as a flipped classroom, students were given online modules to watch before each class session, in class the material covered in the online modules were discussed and elaborated on, and a corresponding engineering project was associated with the concepts learned.
Instructor on Record for ENGR 132: Transforming Ideas to Innovation II. (Spring 2020)
Purdue University
Students will learn basic programming concepts using MATLAB including relational operators, logical operators, user-defined functions, selected structures, while loops, for loops, and complex loops, linear and non-linear regression.