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The hoped-for “just recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic has not occurred. This chapter examines socioeconomic disparities laid bare by the pandemic in the United States. They have left a marked impression, suggesting that the concept of “American exceptionalism” has negative as well as positive connotations especially when compared with other high-income countries. Strikingly, democracy is not delivering for many Americans, and yet that is not a new situation, as much scholarship shows. These findings challenge received wisdom about how this country is in the aggregate labeled “developed” when many Americans live in conditions similar to or worse than those the World Bank categorizes as “developing.” Against this background, the chapter assesses experiential learning models for engaging students on the SDGs to assess these disparities. While researching social justice gaps in Pittsburgh and Atlanta with Carnegie Mellon students, however, the lack of disaggregated data emerged as a human rights issue and major barrier to fulfilling the SDG principle to “leave no one behind” (LNOB). These findings suggest a paradigm shift is needed, using the SDGs to advance human rights, elevating socioeconomic rights, localizing issues, generating disaggregated data to drive policy recommendations, and scaling up the community of practice that is engaged in this paradigm shift. Field building these aspects of sustainable development has the possibility to positively shape policies, outcomes, and help this democracy actually deliver for all, not just for some. For the United States to lead and bolster human rights and democracy around the world, inequalities at home must be addressed.

In this study, students’ perceptions of the effective practices of their research mentors were examined. The research mentors implemented the practices informed by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER) mentorship competencies to mentor underrepresented students in engineering education research in a virtual environment.

This research experience for undergraduates (REU) program, situated in the United States of America, consisted of undergraduate students (i.e. mentees), graduate students and faculty mentors who all had at least one underrepresented identity in engineering (i.e. Black, Latiné/x, and/or women). Using qualitative methods, we used data from reflection surveys and follow-up interviews with REU mentees to understand the outcomes of the mentorship strategies employed by the mentors in the program. The data were analyzed thematically using CIMER model constructs and social capital theory as guiding frameworks.

The results indicated the identified strategies students perceived as the most impactful for mentorship throughout the program. Students in the REU gained knowledge on how to activate social capital in mentorship relationships and how to better mentor others.

The findings provide insight on how to operationalize the CIMER mentorship competencies to skillfully mentor underrepresented students in engineering. Given the size of the REU and the nature of qualitative research, the sample size was limited.

The results help inform mentorship practices for underrepresented individuals in engineering education and the workforce. Further, they add to the practical knowledge of implementing CIMER best practices virtually, at a time when the world has transitioned to more hybrid and virtual working and learning environments.

This study identifies impactful strategies for operationalizing mentorship strategies informed by theory- and evidence-based CIMER mentorship competencies. In addition, this study extends knowledge about how to implement mentoring best practices and engage mentorship in a virtual environment.