Documenting Experiences and Resources Supporting the Community College Transfer, Persistence, and Graduation of Black Engineering Students

虽然学者们经常关注K-12学校和四年制学院和大学在培养未来的黑人工程师方面的作用，但对于社区大学在支持这一代表性不足的人口方面的影响，人们知之甚少。考虑到大量黑人学生在过渡到四年制工程课程之前就进入了这些学校，了解社区大学的作用尤为重要。此外，有证据表明，在社区大学开始大专职业生涯的相当数量的黑人工程学学生实际上可能是来自撒哈拉以南非洲国家的第一代美国人。这项研究将阐明来自马里兰州社区学院的不同的黑人工程学准学生和当前转学学生所引用的因素，认为这些因素对他们坚持专业的能力至关重要。研究团队将领导一项为期三年的研究，研究对象是美国黑人和非洲黑人本科生，他们计划或已经从马里兰州的一所社区大学转到马里兰大学A·詹姆斯·克拉克工程学院。在该项目的整个过程中，该团队不仅将询问研究参与者是什么原因导致他们有能力继续自己的专业，而且还将揭示在美国出生和接受教育的学生与在其他国家接受教育的学生在学业道路上的差异。在最近宣布共同建设活动的背景下，该活动向马里兰大学提供了该校历史上最大的捐赠，其中包括对工程转学学生的具体支持，该项目与该州克拉克学校和社区学院特别相关。此外，该项目利用了马里兰州在为未来的转学学生制定支持计划和政策方面已经拥有的强大历史。通过这项研究，该大学和马里兰州立大学将在确定导致不同工科转学学生产生的因素方面处于全国领先地位。这项研究建立在越来越多的工程教育研究和高等教育文献的基础上，这些研究突出了社区大学体验对STEM学生的中心地位。该项目还利用了教育和社会科学学术领域的最新研究成果，这些成果揭示了记录被广泛归类为黑人或非裔美国人的学生群体内部差异的重要性。总体而言，这些作品揭示了代表非洲侨民不同领域的学生在K-12和学院/大学经历方面的显著差异。在这些研究的基础上，本项目的研究团队将考察不同的黑人大学生在从马里兰两年制大学转到马里兰大学A·詹姆斯·克拉克工程学院之前、期间和之后所提到的对他们成功至关重要的因素。该团队将采用纵向设计，使他们能够在工程管道沿线的多个点研究三组学生。主要使用包括焦点小组和采访在内的定性方法，研究人员将使用系统和归纳编码方法分析成绩单，以确定在整个研究过程中持续出现的突出主题。为了阐明两个不同黑人群体--在美国出生和接受教育的黑人以及在撒哈拉以南非洲出生和接受教育的黑人--的学术经历，该团队将制定单独的访谈和焦点小组协议，以反映这两个群体之间潜在的趋同和分歧领域。项目成果的广泛传播将通过网站、宣传册和一个或多个网络研讨会，以及与代表国家不同地区的主要利益相关者的参与来实现。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

While scholars have often focused on the role of K-12 schools and four-year colleges and universities in the production of future Black engineers, far less is known about the impact of community colleges in regard to their ability to support this underrepresented population. Understanding the role of community colleges is particularly important, given the large numbers of Black students that enroll in these schools prior to transitioning to four-year engineering programs. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that a substantial number of Black engineering students who start their postsecondary careers at community colleges may in fact be first-generation Americans from sub-Saharan African countries. This study will illuminate factors that are cited by diverse Black engineering prospective and current transfer students from Maryland community colleges as critical to their ability to persist in their majors. The research team will lead a three-year study of cohorts of Black American and Black African undergraduates who plan to or have already transferred from a Maryland community college to the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. Over the duration of the project, the team will not only query the study participants about what has led to their ability to continue in their majors, but will also reveal differences between the academic paths of students born and educated in the U.S., compared to those who were educated in another country. In the context of the recent announcement of the Building Together campaign, which afforded the University of Maryland the largest gift in the history of the campus and which includes specific support for engineering transfer students, this project is especially relevant for the Clark School and community colleges in the state. Furthermore, the project leverages the already strong history that the state of Maryland has with regard to developing support programs and policies for prospective transfer students. Through this study, the University and state of Maryland will be poised to become national leaders in identifying factors that lead to the production of diverse engineering transfer students. This research study builds upon the growing number of studies in engineering education and higher education literature that highlight the centrality of the community college experience to STEM students. The project also leverages recent works in education and social science scholarship that reveal the importance of documenting within-group differences among students broadly classified as Black or African American. Collectively, these works reveal noteworthy differences in the K-12 and college/university experiences of students who represent various areas of the African diaspora. Foregrounded by these studies, the research team in this project will examine factors cited by diverse Black collegians as crucial to their success before, during, and after transfer from a Maryland two-year college to the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. The team will employ a longitudinal design that will enable them to study three cohorts of students at multiple points along the engineering pipeline. Using primarily qualitative methods that include focus groups and interviews, researchers will analyze transcripts using systematic and inductive coding methods to identify prominent themes that consistently appear throughout the study. In order to explicate the academic experiences of two distinct Black populations - Blacks born and educated in the U.S. and Blacks born and educated in sub-Saharan African contexts - the team will develop separate interview and focus group protocols that reflect potential areas of convergence and divergence between the two populations. Broad dissemination of project results will be accomplished through a website, brochure, and one or more webinars, as well as engagement with key stakeholders representing diverse regions of the country.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.