An Examination of How the Lived Experiences of African American Undergraduates Affect their Persistence in their Engineering Programs

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators

Abstract

Despite efforts to broaden their participation in STEM, African Americans continue to be underrepresented in the STEM disciplines. Even after enrolling to major in STEM degrees, African Americans are more likely to switch to non-STEM majors or leave college compared to other ethnic groups. The purpose of this project through the University of Connecticut is to examine the lived experiences of African American engineering undergraduates at three predominately white institutions (PWI). The investigators specifically focus on how students’ encounters with racism, stereotyping, discrimination, and gender biases may increase their isolation and contribute to their decisions to switch to non-engineering degrees during the first two years in their programs. They also investigate the strategies of African American students who persist in their engineering programs, such as joining engineering professional organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) or establishing a supportive social network (includes peer and faculty mentors) that provide cultural familiarity to reduce their isolation and likelihood to switch to non-engineering majors. To make large-scale, long-term change in the culture of engineering programs, the investigators will use their research findings to develop evidence-based materials that target the ongoing problem of racial and gender-based microaggressions (i.e., intended or unintended insults and disparaging comments that demean African Americans and other marginalized populations). This project is supported by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. While this project is primarily funded by the ECR program, additional support has been provided by the Directorate for Engineering's Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) program. Theoretically-driven, this project’s research uses racism, intersectionality, and social capital theories to examine the racial and gender dynamics and practices that African American students experience, in addition to how their supportive social networks and other experiences influence their persistence in engineering. Uniquely, in this mixed-methods study, the investigators will use: 1) experience sampling method (ESM), which allows the collection of both real-time qualitative and quantitative data from participants about their experiences in their engineering programs as they occur and 2) oral stories that show how participants construct their realities within their engineering program cultures and harness their agency in the face of often disempowering circumstances. Students will also complete a baseline survey and a baseline interview about their academic, socioeconomic, and engineering backgrounds. Quantitative and qualitative data will be analyzed and these research findings will add to the growing literature on intersectionality and women of color in STEM higher education. This study adds a critical anthropological perspective to the ongoing theory-driven research and debate on race, intersectionality, and social capital within STEM education research. The findings will have broad impacts on the efforts of engineering and other STEM programs to diversify their student body. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.