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

尽管努力扩大他们在STEM的参与，非洲裔美国人继续在STEM学科的代表性不足。即使在注册STEM学位专业之后，与其他族裔相比，非洲裔美国人更有可能转向非STEM专业或离开大学。这个项目的目的是通过康涅狄格大学的非裔美国人工程本科生在三个占主导地位的白色机构（PWI）的生活经历。调查人员特别关注学生如何遭遇种族主义，陈规定型观念，歧视和性别偏见可能会增加他们的孤立，并有助于他们在课程的前两年决定转向非工程学位。他们还调查了坚持工程项目的非裔美国学生的策略，例如加入全国黑人工程师协会（NSBE）等工程专业组织，或建立一个支持性的社交网络（包括同行和教师导师），提供文化熟悉度，以减少他们的孤立和转向非工程专业的可能性。为了对工程项目的文化进行大规模的长期改变，研究人员将利用他们的研究结果来开发基于证据的材料，这些材料针对的是持续存在的基于种族和性别的微攻击问题（即，有意或无意的侮辱和贬低非裔美国人和其他边缘化群体的侮辱性评论）。该项目得到了EHR核心研究（ECR）计划的支持，该计划支持推进STEM学习和学习环境的基础研究，扩大STEM参与和STEM劳动力发展。虽然这个项目主要由ECR计划资助，但工程局的扩大参与工程（BPE）计划提供了额外的支持。理论驱动，这个项目的研究使用种族主义，交叉性和社会资本理论来研究非裔美国学生经历的种族和性别动态和实践，以及他们的支持性社交网络和其他经历如何影响他们对工程的坚持。独特的是，在这项混合方法研究中，研究者将使用：用途：1）经验抽样法（ESM），它允许从参与者那里收集关于他们在工程项目中的经历的实时定性和定量数据，以及2）口头故事，展示参与者如何在他们的工程项目文化中构建他们的现实，并在面对经常丧失权力的情况下利用他们的代理情节学生还将完成一个基线调查和基线采访他们的学术，社会经济和工程背景。定量和定性数据将进行分析，这些研究结果将添加到STEM高等教育中的交叉性和有色人种女性的文献中。这项研究为STEM教育研究中正在进行的关于种族，交叉性和社会资本的理论驱动的研究和辩论增加了一个批判性的人类学视角。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.