More Like this

1. Exploring Students’ Perceived Values, Cost, and Barriers for Inclusive and Diverse Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

   https://doi.org/10.1177/25151274241263070  

   Kulturel-Konak, Sadan; Konak, Abdullah; Leung, Ada (June 2024, Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy)

   Student innovation competitions and programs (ICPs), including hackathons, start-up competitions, and customer discovery labs, have had a transformative impact on the higher education entrepreneurial ecosystem. They have also facilitated students’ experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). However, there is a disparity in the number of underrepresented students and dominant student groups participating in STEM fields. While research supports the benefits of ICP participation, literature discussing students’ perceptions of these programs remains limited. This study addresses three research questions about participation motivation (perceived values and associated costs), participation barriers, and differing perceptions among groups. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 38 students (25 females/13 males, 17 participants/21 non-participants). The analysis focused on the Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The research findings contribute to fostering diversity and inclusion within educational or professional environments by uncovering values (e.g., acquiring professional skills) and costs (e.g., opportunity costs) that students associate with motivation to engage in ICPs. Institutional and individual barriers were identified, including limited program awareness, lack of diversity, and identity mismatch. Therefore, the study intends to inform STEM educators and ICP organizers, foster inclusivity and diversity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and offer guidance for interventions. 

   more » « less
2. An Exploratory Study of Intentionality Toward Diversity in STEM Faculty Hiring

   Boyle, Samara R; Pearson, Yvette E; Phillips, Canek M; Mattingly, Steven P; DesRoches, R.; Li, W.; Nordberg, A.; Rifai, H.; Sharma, P. (January 2020, American Society of Engineering Education)

   Despite efforts over the past few decades to promote diversity and foster inclusive campus climates, there is still underrepresentation of Blacks/ African Americans, Latinx/Hispanics, and Native Americans (including Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives) within the STEM professoriate nationwide. For students who are members of these groups, the culturally isolating experience this deficit creates can weaken one's academic self-perception, and hinder performance in STEM disciplines. This paper explores the relationship between intentionality towards diversity and inclusion in faculty job postings and corresponding faculty demographics at a variety of US postsecondary institutions. The research questions we are investigating are: •In what ways are diversity and inclusion implicitly and explicitly addressed in the evaluated job postings? •Does intentionality towards diversity and inclusion in job postings vary based on the type of position advertised (i.e., tenured/tenure track versus non-tenure-track) or institution type (i.e., Basic Carnegie Classification)? Using HigherEdJobs.com, we conducted an advanced search of all open science and engineering faculty positions containing the keywords "data science", "data engineering", "data analysis", or "data analytics." Each result posted in September 2019 that advertised a full-time tenured/tenure-track or non-tenure track faculty appointment for at least one academic year at a US college or university was recorded. All qualifying job postings were qualitatively analyzed for active, intentional recruitment of URM candidates. Intentionality towards diversity and inclusion varied significantly across job postings. While some had no reference to diversity beyond a required one-sentence equal employment opportunity (EEO) statement, others explicitly addressed inclusion within the announcements, and still others required a standalone diversity statement as part of a complete application. The results will help to inform strategies for recruiting URM faculty in STEM disciplines, which may lead to improved opportunities to create cultures of inclusion and support for diverse students (undergraduate and graduate) and postdoctoral fellows. 

   more » « less
3. Success and retention model for biology and computer science majors in Two-year

   Ovueraye, Oberhiri Loretta (April 2019, Southeastern biology)

   STEM-Mia (“my STEM”) is a National Science Foundation funded project that provides scholarships and supports to academically talented, low-income STEM students at MDC InterAmerican Campus. Over a five-year period, the NSF - S-STEM funds will support 45 MDC students with scholarships and wrap around services toward preparing them for Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering (STEM) careers, which are in high-demand and critical to building a competitive workforce that will help grow America’s economy. The grant project will target two primary populations – biology and computer science majors. This presentation will discuss the impact of embedding faculty mentoring, discipline immersions, self-analysis, financial support, toward fostering and shaping student perceptions of their personal agency and empowering them to achieve their STEM-related academic and professional goals by helping them connect with the sources of their STEM self-efficacy and identity. What we are accomplishing in MDC serves as a model for two-year colleges seeking to incorporate curricular changes focused on success and retention in biology and computer science majors for populations who are underrepresented in STEM fields in general. 

   more » « less
4. Understanding the Experiences that Contribute to the Inclusion of Underrepresented Groups in Computing

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9274113  

   Kargarmoakhar, Maral; Lunn, Stephanie; Zahedi, Leila; Ross, Monique; Hazari, Zahra; Weiss, Mark Allen; Georgiopoulos, Michael; Christensen, Ken; Solis, Tiana (October 2020, 2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE))

   null (Ed.)

   The lack of diversity in computing fields in the United States is a known issue. Students enter the computing fields with the intention of graduating; however, a large number leave and do not persist after enrolling, due to discrimination and biases. This particularly concerns groups already underrepresented in computing fields, such as women, Black/African American students, and Hispanic/Latinx students. However, there are various experiences that can make students feel more included or excluded in the field. Some of these experiences include internships, undergraduate research, capstone courses, and projects, etc. Drawing on Astin's I-E-O model and applying a random forest algorithm, we measure the feature importance of 14 distinct experiences on 1650 students' feelings of inclusivity in the computing field. We observe that there are gender and racial differences in terms of the opinions of computing fields' inclusivity. For example, tutoring experience, job offers, and job experience are considered some of the most important factors for female's perceived inclusiveness of women. However, men perceived women's inclusivity differently, based on the experiences they engaged in. We also looked at the perceived inclusiveness of computing fields for ethnically and racially underrepresented groups, such as Hispanic/Latinx students. Understanding the effect of different experiences on students of both genders with different races and ethnicities on the perceived inclusion could assist the computing community to provide more cohesive experiences that benefits all students and helps them to feel more welcome. 

   more » « less
5. Understanding the Experiences that Contribute to the Inclusion of Underrepresented Groups in Computing

   Maral Kargarmoakhar, Stephanie Lunn (October 2020, 2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE))

   null (Ed.)

   The lack of diversity in computing fields in the United States is a known issue. Students enter the computing fields with the intention of graduating; however, a large number leave and do not persist after enrolling, due to discrimination and biases. This particularly concerns groups already underrepresented in computing fields, such as women, Black/African American students, and Hispanic/Latinx students. However, there are various experiences that can make students feel more included or excluded in the field. Some of these experiences include internships, undergraduate research, capstone courses, and projects, etc. Drawing on Astin's I-E-O model and applying a random forest algorithm, we measure the feature importance of 14 distinct experiences on 1650 students' feelings of inclusivity in the computing field. We observe that there are gender and racial differences in terms of the opinions of computing fields' inclusivity. For example, tutoring experience, job offers, and job experience are considered some of the most important factors for female's perceived inclusiveness of women. However, men perceived women's inclusivity differently, based on the experiences they engaged in. We also looked at the perceived inclusiveness of computing fields for ethnically and racially underrepresented groups, such as Hispanic/Latinx students. Understanding the effect of different experiences on students of both genders with different races and ethnicities on the perceived inclusion could assist the computing community to provide more cohesive experiences that benefits all students and helps them to feel more welcome. 

   more » « less