The Impact of Personal Interactions on the Experience of African American Males on Multiracial Student Teams

Abstract

Virginia Tech and involved with multiple educational research projects with faculty and graduate students. Her research interests include diversity and inclusion, teamwork and communication skills, assessment, and identity construction.Dr. Marie C Paretti, Virginia Tech Marie C. Paretti is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, where she codirects the Virginia Tech Engineering Communications Center (VTECC). Her research focuses on communication in engineering design, interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, design education, and gender in engineering. She was awarded a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to study expert teaching in capstone design courses, and is co-PI on numerous NSF grants exploring communication, design, and identity in engineering. Drawing on theories of situated learning and identity development, her work includes studies on the teaching and learning of communication, effective teaching practices in design education, the effects of differing design pedagogies on retention and motivation, the dynamics of cross-disciplinary collaboration in both academic and industry design environments, and gender and identity in engineering. The Impact of Personal Interactions on the Experience of African-American Males on Multiracial Student Engineering Teams AbstractTeam projects in undergraduate engineering programs are critical sites for professional skills development. Team projects allow students to try on professional roles as they interact with peers and faculty on projects designed to simulate engineering work. Also, engaging in engineering activities such as team projects can help students establish a sense of identity within their field, which in turn influences their persistence through college and into a career. Moreover, team projects intersect personal and professional identities and can be a source of conflict for students from populations that are traditionally underrepresented in engineering, such as women and ethnic minorities. While substantial research has identified challenges that women face on mixed-gender teams, few researchers have focused on the experiences of African-Americans on multiracial teams and this study aims to fill that gap.This qualitative study employs a phenomenological approach, using a three-interview sequence with eight African-American male engineering students across academic levels (average age = 19) as they worked on team projects at a large research-intensive, predominantly white institution (PWI). The project durations ranged from two weeks to two full semesters. The semistructured interviews 1) gathered background information about participants, 2) explored participant descriptions of the team functionality during the project, and 3) asked participants to reflect on the experience in the context of their engineering education and identities. Following the practices of phenomenology, all three interviews for each participant were grouped for analysis to holistically describe the "essence" of each participan...

A Narrative of the Community Cultural Wealth of a Black Male Engineering Undergraduate Student

“…Social networks, such as peers (Dickerson & Zephirin, 2017;Fleming et al, 2013;Litzler & Samuelson, 2013) and mentors Revelo & Baber, 2018), have also been highlighted as essential for the success of Black men in engineering and other students of color. Meaningful engagement of peers through student organizations, such as the National Society of Black Engineers, NSBE (Dickson & Zephirin, 2017;Litzler & Samuelson, 2013) and teams (Cross & Paretti, 2015), are integral to forming a sense of belonging and success. Mentors (Burt et al, 2019;Revelo & Baber, 2018;Slack et al, 2024), especially mentors acquired during undergraduate years, remained sources of motivation as Black men navigated both undergraduate and graduate studies (Burt et al, 2019).…”

Educating Engineering Students to Address Bias and Discrimination Within Their Project Teams

“…Stereotypes and prejudices have been shown to negatively affect the experience of groups underrepresented in engineering education programs (Fouad et al, 2017;Jackson et al, 2014). The negative impacts include exclusion, loneliness, health problems, and discrimination in team projects (Cech & Rothwell, 2018;Cross & Paretti, 2015;Dee & Gershenson, 2017). For example, encounters with hegemonic masculinity before and during engineering programs negatively affected the experiences of both openly gay and female engineering students (Hughes, 2017).…”

Advisor Perspectives on Diversity in Student Design Competition Teams

“…In a study of African-American male experiences on multiracial student engineering teams, Cross and colleagues found that the social norms of the engineering community decreased African-American students' sense of belonging. 18 Contributing factors included but were not limited to indifferent faculty interactions. The authors recommended that multiracial team projects should be monitored carefully by faculty to ensure positive experiences of all team members.…”