Engineering Graduate Education: An Overwhelming Journey of First-Generation Immigrants

Engineering graduate programs in the United States are usually diverse. Students with different nationalities, races, ethnicities, genders, and religions work and collaborate with each other in classes, labs, and research projects. Graduate education often is called a transformative experience, in which students will have the opportunity to grow both professionally and personally. However, for many students, given their diverse backgrounds, the status quo culture in academia, and the long-term pressure, graduate education may become extremely overwhelming and frustrating. In order to support and help the transformation of students, it is important to explore the challenges that students face, and the potential support they can receive accordingly. In this paper, we aim to share the experiences of engineering graduate students who are first-generation immigrants. To reach this aim, we utilize a cooperative inquiry in which multiple people share and explore a topic from their own perspectives. The exploration happens through collective conversation and reflection of the authors as well as over ten other graduate students. The students and us share the same nationality, religion, and language. We are at different levels of our doctoral program in different engineering majors. The findings we share in this paper are the accumulation of all stories we heard, reflections on the stories, and our own experiences. This cooperative inquiry process can serve as a guide for other graduate students in discovering their personal journey during their graduate years. In addition, the findings can provide insights for university administrations and policymakers to ease this transformation process, especially for immigrant students.