LGBTQ+ Inclusion, Identity Negotiation, and Belonging in U.S. Engineering Programs: A Systematized Review

Engineering education remains one of the least examined domains within sexuality and gender research, despite mounting evidence that heteronormative academic cultures push queer students toward concealment, psychological distress, and attrition. The absence of an integrated synthesis of these experiences has hindered both scholarly understanding and the development of inclusive educational practices. This systematic review addresses that critical gap by consolidating and analyzing the fragmented empirical evidence on queer students’ identity negotiation, belonging, and inclusion within U.S. engineering programs. It synthesizes nine empirical studies on queer students in U.S. engineering education to identify how identity negotiation, belonging, and institutional climate shape their experiences and outcomes. By critically integrating these findings, the review aims to clarify recurring patterns and propose evidence-based directions for future inclusion research and practice. Drawing on Foucauldian and queer theoretical frameworks of power, heterotopia, and identity assemblage, it maps how queer students navigate visibility and marginalization across spaces historically structured by masculine and heteronormativity. Nine empirical studies were identified through comprehensive database searches and examined using thematic synthesis. Data extraction emphasized participants’ lived experiences, contextualized within institutional and sociocultural forces shaping inclusion and exclusion. Across studies, queer students engaged in adaptive strategies of covering or selective disclosure to manage stigma which are coping mechanisms that safeguarded social survival but eroded authenticity and well-being. Persistent isolation and a heightened intent to leave the discipline were common. Yet, heterotopic spaces such as peer networks, affirming mentors, and visibly allied faculty, emerged as sites of resistance and belonging that redefined the cultural boundaries of engineering. These findings underscore the pressing need to move inclusion efforts beyond recruitment metrics toward structural and cultural transformation. To fully realize diversity in engineering, queer identities must be recognized not as peripheral but as integral to the discipline’s intellectual and social fabric.