Efforts dedicated towards broadening participation for Black and other underrepresented groups in engineering at post-secondary institutions has intensified in recent decades. However, Black women have not yet reached parity in undergraduate engineering degree attainment. To elucidate this trend, data from the U.S. Department of Education was analyzed to investigate postsecondary completion for Black women in engineering. Results indicate that the percentage of degrees awarded to Black women has slightly decreased during the last five years when compared to women of all races. However, the percentage of Black women obtaining engineering degrees has increased when compared to the general Black engineering population, with a larger percentage of Black women obtaining engineering degrees compared to their male counterparts than any other ethnicity. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide recommendations for research avenues that may strengthen knowledge around the enrollment and retention of Black women in engineering at post-secondary institutions.
Background: COVID-19 has spurred a global crisis that has disrupted everyday lives and impacted the traditional methods, experiences, and abilities of higher education institutions' students, faculty, and staff, especially at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).Purpose/Hypothesis: Given the pressing need demonstrated by the National Academies to advance the utilization of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at HBCUs, this study aimed to explore the abrupt transition to remote teaching and learning at HBCUs guided by the following research question: How has COVID-19 impacted the success and persistence of engineering students, faculty, and staff at HBCUs? Design/Methods: Three surveys were developed, tested, piloted, and sent to HBCU stakeholders using a snowball sampling approach via email and social media outreach. Results: Of the 171 student respondents (126 engineering majors), 79% agreed that not being able to access faculty in person affected their academic performance. Additionally, across all HBCU stakeholders' surveys, students had a statistically significant higher response when asked if the transition to virtual learning increased their overall levels of stress and anxiety. Conclusions: During a global pandemic, HBCUs continue to provide a culture of support and inclusion for students, faculty, and staff in engineering. Increased stress levels experienced by students indicate that a safe and adequate transition back to campus is essential for their social and academic persistence. Due to the well-documented inequities HBCUs faced before the pandemic, the impact of this unprecedented on their continued contributions toward broadening participation in engineering for students should be further explored.
Trina Fletcher is currently a doctoral candidate within the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her research focus includes informal STEM education, professional development, African Americans in STEM and single-sex versus coeducation learning environments. Prior to Purdue and NSBE, she spent time in industry holding technical and operations-based roles and has experience with outreach projects focused on STEM education and mentoring. Dr. Monique S Ross, Florida International UniversityMonique Ross holds a doctoral degree in Engineering Education from Purdue University. She has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Elizabethtown College, a Master's degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering from Auburn University, eleven years of experience in industry as a software engineer, and three years as a full-time faculty in the departments of computer science and engineering. Her interests focus on broadening participation in engineering through the exploration of: 1) race, gender, and identity in the engineering workplace; 2) discipline-based education research (with a focus on computer science and computer engineering courses) in order to inform pedagogical practices that garner interest and retain women and minorities in computer-related engineering fields. Mr. Christopher Alexander Carr, National Society of Black EngineersChristopher Carr is the Director, Collegiate & Professional Programs at the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). He is the World Headquarters representative for the 232 NSBE collegiate chapters and 63 professional chapters around the world at conferences, workshops, panels, and webinars. Christopher mainly works in the area of STEM education and policy, with a particular passion for access to opportunity, diversity in STEM, and education retention. During the summer of 2015, instructor surveys and student pre and post assessments were distributed, collected and analyzed by the external evaluator. The instructor survey data was analyzed and findings were shared within one of the three reports provided to NSBE by the external evaluator including the overall, all-sites report, site-specific reports and an internal report. However, several of the 34 questions within the instructor post-program survey, a mix of open-ended and likert scale, were not analyzed by the external evaluator. A quantitative analysis will be conducted using raw data from questions related to classroom instructors' feedback on site leadership performance including areas of management, supervision, their ability to give feedback, professionalism, work ethic and problem solving skills. These results will then be compared to the classroom instructors interest outcomes on the SEEK program. The implications of this research include better understanding the role of leadership during short-term, out-ofschool (OST) engineering programs such as training and professional development and other potential best practices. INTRODUCTIONOut-of-school time (OST) programs including after-school, before-s...
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