Smart Technology to Improve Cultural and Gender Diversity in Engineering Education

Women, people from non-academic families, single parents and those with a migration background represent an underutilized pool of potential future professionals in engineering disciplines. Many potential candidates from these underrepresented groups may not even consider a career in engineering due to language, bureaucratic and financial hurdles as well as a lack of identification with traditional role models. The requirements engineering, prototypical development and initial testing of a smart technology chat bot to recruit engineering students from underrepresented groups is presented.