Collaborative Research: Windows of Opportunity-Understanding Black Male Engineers in the Pursuit of Advanced Degrees

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Producing graduates with science, technology, engineering and mathematics competencies continues to be a national concern and priority. Research has suggested the United States workforce may suffer a deficit of one million STEM graduates over the next decade. Annually, less than half of the three million students who enter U.S. colleges intending to major in a STEM field persist in STEM until graduation. The situation is worse among groups (i.e., African American, Hispanic, and Native American) traditionally underrepresented in STEM. For example, in engineering, underrepresented groups account for just 16% of all undergraduate students; those who decided to major in engineering switch to non-STEM fields before graduation twice as often as White students. The representation of Black males particularly continues to be a challenge. Each year, about 64% of White males earn a bachelor's degree in engineering, compared to about 5% of African American males. At the graduate level, Black males only account for 3% and 1.7% of STEM master's and doctoral degrees, respectively. Moreover, Black males account for 3.6% of the engineering workforce and a dismal 2.5% of engineering faculty. This collaborative research focuses on understanding the factors that influence the decisions of Black males to pursue advanced engineering degrees, uncovering the assets/strengths that Black males possess who persist or plan to continue in engineering beyond the baccalaureate degree, and determining the role of academic self-concept and engineering identity in the intent to pursue advanced engineering degrees. This study includes Black male engineering students, advanced degree holders and faculty from a Predominantly White Institution (University of Connecticut), a Hispanic-serving institution (University of Houston), a Historically Black University (Prairie View Agricultural & Mechanical University) and from members of the National Society of Black Engineers. This project pursues three research questions: 1) What factors influenced Black males to pursue graduate degrees in engineering? 2) What assets/strengths do Black males possess who persist or plan to continue in engineering beyond undergraduate studies? 3) What role does academic self-concept and engineering identity play in the intent to pursue advanced degrees among Black males? To answer these questions, the project employs a mixed-method approach. Data sources include formal semi-structured interviews and surveys. This project uniquely contributes to research literature on cultural capital, anti-deficit achievement, and engineering identity work. The evaluation uses a values-engaged, educative approach. This work stands to influence the recruitment and retention of engineering graduate students and give insight into creating a pipeline for Black male engineering faculty. This work will be leveraged to create a national Black male engineering colloquium devoted to sharing relevant research along with career development and graduate school opportunities.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.