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1. Intersectional Engineers: The Diversity of Gender and Race Microaggressions and Their Effects in Engineering Education

   https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000889  

   True-Funk, A.; Poleacovschi, C.; Jones-Johnson, G.; Feinstein, S.; Smith, K.; Luster-Teasley, S. (January 2020, Journal of management in engineering)

   Abstract: Underrepresented minorities in engineering regularly experience subtle behaviors or statements that denigrate them on account of their race, ethnicity, gender, or other identity. Engineering students cite these behaviors, known as microaggressions, as reasons for having considered changing majors or leaving college altogether. Despite the recent research trend to foster a more racially, ethnically, and genderinclusive engineering education and profession, previous research does not examine microaggressions in engineering using an intersectional lens. Without an intersectional perspective, intragroup diversity is overlooked, increasing the potential to reinforce broad racial and gender stereotypes. To measure the effects of microaggressions among engineering undergraduate students, the current study used an intersectional approach and collected data from a predominantly white institution (PWI) and from a historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The authors conducted individual semistructured interviews to examine the effects of microaggressions among 42 engineering undergraduate students, who can be categorized into seven intersectional identities—White women, African American men, African American women, Asian men, Asian women, Latino men, and Latina women. Results showed five macroeffects and two microeffects—(1) reduced self-belief (reduced self-efficacy and reduced self-esteem), (2) otherness, (3) racial/gender isolation, (4) stereotype threat, and (5) and empowered sense of self. Also, in this work, we make comparisons across intersectional identities. The data provide support for further study of microaggressions and their effects on intersectional identities. This research extends the intersectional approach to focus on engineering departments and colleges and provides information to engineering departments and university administrators concerning the experiences of minority undergraduates and offers academic leaders further information regarding issues surrounding minority student retention and persistence. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000889. © 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers. 

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2. Finding Meaning in Makerspaces: Exploring How Gender Influences Makerspace Definition Among First-Year Engineering Students

   Bushra, J.; Budinoff, H.D.; Shivers-McNair, A.; Berger, E. (June 2024, ASEE annual conference exposition)

   Makerspaces, intended for open and collaborative learning, often struggle to attract a diverse group of users, particularly concerning gender diversity. These issues include makerspaces becoming associated primarily with white male students, gendered connotations of machines and materials, and women’s perceived lack of self-efficacy in using makerspace tools. As a result, women may view makerspaces as unwelcoming, and societal stereotypes can affect their engagement in these spaces. Efforts to create more inclusive makerspaces are essential to fully realize the potential of makerspaces, encourage and boost confidence in marginalized groups to pursue careers in different engineering areas, and promote a diverse and collaborative maker culture. Moreover, defining makerspaces is challenging due to conflicting perceptions, the uniqueness of spaces, and the abstract elements in these environments, revealing a gap between academic definitions and the diverse voices of people interested in utilizing makerspaces. Our goal is to see if there are differences in the fundamental academic makerspace definition and makerspace definition by different genders, providing insights into how inclusive our makerspace is. We focus on gender because our interviewees focused more on gender than other identity markers in our conversations, but we also report additional demographic data that likely impacted participants’ experiences, namely, their racial and ethnic identities. Our corpus is drawn from semi-structured interviews with students enrolled in an introductory first-year engineering course. Out of 28 students interviewed, 10 identified as women, 16 as men, one as both women and questioning or unsure, and one as women and nonbinary and transgender. In terms of racial/ethnic identifications, nine participants identified as White or Caucasian; six identified as Latinx or Hispanic; five identified as Latinx or Hispanic, White or Caucasian; three identified as Black or African American; two identified as Asian, Desi, or Asian American; one identified as Latinx or Hispanic, Native American or Alaska Native; one identified as Southwest Asian, Middle Eastern, or North African, White or Caucasian; and one identified as Native African. In this ongoing study, from interview transcripts, we extracted participant responses to questions regarding their definitions of and impressions of makerspaces to identify commonalities and differences. Specifically, we use natural language processing techniques to extract word frequency and centrality and synthesize commonalities into a shared definition of a makerspace. We also separated responses from participants by gender identities to evaluate how definitions varied with gender. These emergent definitions are compared with commonly accepted definitions derived from research papers. Additionally, we conduct a complementary discourse analysis of students’ definitions and impressions of makerspaces, qualitatively examining how diverse students characterize ways of being and doing in the makerspace. 

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3. Who is a typical woman? Exploring variation in how race biases representations of gender across development

   https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13175  

   Leshin, Rachel A.; Lei, Ryan F.; Byrne, Magnolia; Rhodes, Marjorie (September 2021, Developmental Science)

   Abstract From early in development, race biases how children think about gender—often in a manner that treats Black women as less typical and representative ofwomen in generalthan White or Asian women. The present study (N = 89, ages 7–11; predominately Hispanic, White, and multi‐racial children) examined the generalizability of this phenomenon across middle childhood and the mechanisms underlying variability in its development. Replicating prior work, children were slower and less accurate to categorize the gender of Black women compared to Asian or White women, as well as compared to Black men, suggesting that children perceived Black women as less representative of their gender. These effects were robust across age within a racially and ethnically diverse sample of children. Children's tendencies to view their own racial identities as expansive and flexible, however, attenuated these effects: Children with more flexible racial identities also had gender concepts that were more inclusive of Black women. In contrast, the tendency for race to bias children's gender representations was unrelated to children's multiple classification skill and racial essentialism. These findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying variation in how race biases gender across development, with critical implications for how children's own identities shape the development of intergroup cognition and behavior. 

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4. Development of a Femalized Kinesthetic Learning Model to Increase Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Career Interests in African American Middle School Girls

   Fash, M F (December 2024, ProQuest LLC)

   Although an increase in their participation could reduce workforce shortages and diversify innovations in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, African American women remain significantly underrepresented in male-dominated AEC careers. Furthermore, partly due to the lack of early and meaningful AEC exposure, African American girls tend to have low interests in AEC careers. AEC infused out-of-school time (OST) programs have been successful in increasing middle-school girls’ AEC career self-efficacy and interests. However, there is limited understanding on how salient identities interact with learning experiences in AEC-infused OST learning environments to impact AEC career interests. The purpose of this research is to investigate how the salient identities of African American middle-school girls interact with learning experiences within a developed femalized AEC Kinesthetic Learning Model (fAEC-KLM) to impact AEC career interests. Adopting Lent’s social cognitive career theory, the gender and culturally responsive fAEC-KLM is a five-day AEC-infused OST program that engaged 14 African American middle-school girls in bridge-building projects, a panel session with female and African American AEC undergraduates, interactions with female and African American AEC professionals, and success stories featuring female and African American AEC professionals. Using a mixed method approach, data from interviews, surveys, tests, and observations are analyzed to assess changes in AEC career knowledge, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interests. Results show that the most effective fAEC-KLM components were lectures, bridge construction project, and peer interactions which improved AEC career knowledge, self-efficacy, and sense of belonging respectively. These in turn increased AEC career interests and three interest categories (active, passive, and null) are utilized to explain how varying fAEC-KLM interactions contributed to three different levels of AEC career interests. The findings align with prior career development and intersectionality frameworks. Findings also fill a critical gap in career development literature by providing insights into AEC career interest development processes in African American middle school girls through OST programs while highlighting how gender and culturally responsive approaches foster interests. Insights and recommendations contribute to ongoing literature to support interventions and policies that foster more equitable representation in AEC careers, increase diversity in AEC innovations, and reduce workforce shortages. 

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5. Comparative Study of the Effect of Numerical Majority and Non-majority Status on the Intersection of Professional and Cultural Identity of African American Engineering Students

   Berhan, L.; Kumar, R.; Adams, A.; Goodloe, M.; Jones, J.; McKether, W. (April 2018, 2018 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference)

   Low enrollment, retention, and graduation rates of African American engineering students in the United States are a cause for concern [1]. Consequently, over the last decade there has been an upsurge of research identifying factors that have contributed to the problems encountered by African American students in higher education institutions in general, and in STEM fields in particular [2, 3]. The key factors identified as contributing to the attrition of minority African American students include perceptions of racism on campus, internalization of stereotypes, feelings of alienation and rejection, and inadequate support systems [4, 5]. In this context, considerations of institutional demographic characteristics, including the ethnic makeup of the student body is essential. Studies demonstrate that African American students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) experience lower levels of isolation and overt racism, and higher levels of retention compared to African American students in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) [6, 7]. While some studies suggest that African American students experience lower levels of stereotype threat in HBCUs [8, 9], other studies indicate that there is little significant difference between students attending PWIs and HBCUs in their perceptions of stereotype threat. Based on qualitative and quantitative data from a national sample of engineering students, Brown, Morning, and Watkins report that students enrolled in HBCUs had more favorable perceptions of their college experience and that the higher graduation rate of African American students in HBCUs compared to their PWI counterparts could be attributed to lower perceptions of racism and discrimination [10]. It may be that the levels of stereotype threat experienced in the two types of institutions are different [11]. Based on the literature reviewed, the purpose of this study is to examine whether African American engineering students’ numerical majority status in HBCUs enhances the compatibility between their racial and professional identities and facilitates their integration; while their numerical minority status in PWIs diminishes the compatibility of the two social identities and stymies their integration. We examine this issue within the Social Identity and the Identity-focused Cultural Ecological Perspective theories. Before we turn to the two theoretical frameworks we describe the multiple context-dependent representations of majority-minority status with particular focus on African American college students in the United States. 

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