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Abstract
By 2031, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematic (STEM) fields are projected to grow by almost 11% (Krutsch & Roderick, 2022). To meet this demand the enrollment and retention in STEM degree programs must be increased, particularly among student populations that are underrepresented in these fields. Despite growing identification with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersexual, asexual, and/or aromantic (QT) identities these students are still underrepresented in STEM disciplines (Hughes, 2017) and their experiences are largely missing from research on STEM environments (Cech & Waidzunas, 2011; Hughes, 2018; Strayhorn, 2019). Existing literature highlights the barriers that underrepresented students experience in STEM environments (Baumeister & Leary, 2005; Linley et al., 2018; Rainey et al., 2018). The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine the relationship between collegiate experiences of perceptions of departmental sense of belonging, planned involvement, STEM identity, and perceived campus and engineering climates among undergraduate QT engineering majors. The data for this study was collected via an online survey. Participant perceptions of departmental sense of belonging, involvement, climate, and STEM identity were measured through previously created instruments, the Departmental Sense of Belonging & Involvement Scale (Knekta et al., 2020), the LGBTQ College Campus Climate Scale (Syzmanski & Bissonette, 2020), a modified LGBTQ College Campus Climate Scale to assess engineering climate, and the STEM Professional Identity Overlap (McDonald et al., 2019). Demographic information was also collected. Significant predictors of departmental sense of belonging were found to be engineering climate, involvement, and STEM identity. Additionally, significant between-group differences were found in the perceptions of departmental sense of belonging and engineering climate and rates of involvement reported in this study. This study contributes to the growing body of research on the experiences of QT undergraduate engineers and highlights the saliency of QT identity to the experiences of undergraduate students who navigate engineering environments.