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1. Academic Trajectories of Black Men and Women in Electrical, Computer, and Mechanical Engineering

   Orr, Marisa; Brawner, Catherine; Mobley, Catherine; Brent, Rebecca; Layton, Richard (June 2019, American Society for Engineering Education)

   Abstract We present a visual, quantitative analysis of the academic pathways of Black men and women who enroll in Electrical Engineering (EE) or Mechanical Engineering (ME) at any point during their undergraduate experience (N=4816). Our research provides evidence that more Black students choose EE than ME, in contrast to national data for all races that show that more students major in ME than EE. While more Black students initially enroll in EE overall, ME attracts a larger proportion of its Black students from other majors and retains a larger fraction. Black women are particularly persistent in ME (58%). Most Black students who leave EE or ME leave the institution without a degree. Seventy-eight percent of Black men and 65% of Black women who leave ME leave the institution without a degree. Of those leaving EE, 74% of Black men and 64% of Black women leave the institution without a degree. This examination of quantitative differences between disciplines lays a foundation for qualitative study through in depth student interviews of Black students in these majors. 

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2. “Explaining Choice, Persistence, and Attrition of Black Students in Electrical, Computer, and Mechanical Engineering: Year 1.”

   Mobley, Catherine; Orr, Marisa; Brawner, Catherine; Brent, Rebecca (June 2019, American Society for Engineering Education)

   The objective of this project is to identify policies and practices that influence choice, persistence, and attrition of Black students in Electrical Engineering (EE), Computer Engineering (CpE), and Mechanical Engineering (ME) and to make actionable recommendations for policy makers regarding best practices. Building on prior work that demonstrated the impacts of gender and race on academic trajectories for engineering as a whole and EE, CpE, and ME in particular, our transformative mixed-methods project responds to calls for more cross-institutional qualitative and longitudinal studies of minorities in engineering education. The study will investigate the following overarching research questions: 1. Why do Black men and women choose and persist in, or leave, EE, CpE, and ME? 2. What are the academic trajectories of Black men and women in EE, CpE, and ME? 3. In what ways do these pathways vary by gender or institution? 4. What institutional policies and practices promote greater retention of Black engineering students? Our mixed-methods approach combines the quantitative power of large sample sizes available from the Multi-Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) and the qualitative richness of 80 in-depth interviews and detailed content analysis of institutional policies and contexts at four institutions. This approach allows for the development of the thematic rigor necessary to advance theoretical understanding of engineering education for underrepresented minorities (URMs). We will draw on the theoretical frameworks of intersectionality, critical race theory, and community cultural wealth to guide our research and interpret our findings. 

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3. Experiences of Black Persisters and Switchers in Computer, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering in the USA

   Brawner, Catherine; Orr, Marisa; Brent, Rebecca; Mobley, Catherine (October 2020, Proceedings of the IEEE/FIE Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   In this Research Full Paper we examine the reported experiences of Black students who are majoring in or switched from electrical (EE), computer (CPE), or mechanical (ME) engineering. Prior work has shown different persistence trajectories for Black students in these majors relative to White students, as well as differences between Black men and Black women. We surveyed 79 students at four institutions in the USA, three Predominantly White Institutions and 1 Historically Black University. In all, 33 students who had ever majored in ME, 27 in CPE, and 19 in EE completed a pre-interview survey that asked about aspects of the learning environment, faculty and peer relationships, and perception of belonging. Fifty-six students persisted in these majors while 23 switched to other majors. Compared to switchers, persisters are more likely to feel that the quality of instruction is higher, feel more encouraged by professors and peers to continue, and feel a greater sense of belonging in their departments. ME students are much more likely to experience group learning in their classes than either EE or CPE students and their ME peers are more likely to encourage them to persist. The difference in persistence between EE and CPE may be explained in part by the attraction of the computer science major as an alternative option for computer engineering majors; half of our CPE switchers switched to computer science. However, teaching quality may be an additional factor as CPE students perceived teaching quality to be lower than EE students did. Future research will explore these findings in the context of our in-depth interviews with these students. Keywords—Black Students, Persistence, Classroom Experiences, Faculty-Student Interaction, MIDFIELD 

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4. Do I Stay or Do I Go? Examining Attraction, Selection and Attrition of Black Men in Computer Engineering at Predominantly White Institutions

   https://doi.org/10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2023043053  

   Brawner, Catherine E.; Brent, Rebecca; Manning, Jessica; Orr, Marisa K.; Mobley, Catherine; Horne, Kensley (January 2024, Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering)

   Black men are underrepresented in engineering in general and computer engineering (CPE) in particular. Using two unique datasets, (1) the Multiple Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) and (2) 10 interviews with Black men who persisted in or switched away from CPE at two predominantly White institutions, we contextualize the outcomes ofBlack men in CPE at predominantly White institutions and highlight these students' narratives about their educational experiences. We use Schneider's attraction, selection, and attrition framework tobetter understand how institutions shape the educational experiences of Black men in CPE. Our quantitativeresults show that Black men switch majors away from CPE at similar rates to men of otherethnicities, but they have a slightly lower rate of persistence through eight semesters. Black men wholeave CPE do so earlier than they leave other majors. In our qualitative interviews, we find that early,hands-on experiences in CPE during the first year served to select students into it. Persisters betterunderstood what the CPE major entailed than switchers when selecting the major. Attrition was associatedwith poor experiences in foundational courses, lack of caring faculty, and students' reconsiderationof their reasons for choosing the CPE major initially. Our findings have implications for electrical and computer engineering faculty and advisors regarding how they teach and interact with their students, particularly those who are historically minoritized. Should the departments make the changes we suggest, the students would be the ultimate beneficiary of an improved environment for learning. 

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5. Explaining Choice, Persistence, and Attrition of Black Students in Electrical, Computer, and Mechanical Engineering: Year 3

   Mobley, Catherine; Orr, Marisa; Brawner, Catherine E.; Brent, Rebecca (July 2021, Proceedings of the 2021 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference)

   Our transformative mixed-methods project, funded by the Division of Engineering Education and Centers, responds to calls for more cross-institutional qualitative and longitudinal studies of minorities in engineering education. We seek to identify the factors that promote persistence and graduation as well as attrition for Black students in Electrical Engineering (EE), Computer Engineering (CpE), and Mechanical Engineering (ME). Our work combines quantitative exploration and qualitative interviews to better understand the nuanced and complex nature of retention and attrition in these fields. We are investigating the following overarching research questions: 1. Why do Black men and women choose and persist in, or leave, EE, CpE, and ME? 2. What are the academic trajectories of Black men and women in EE, CpE, and ME? 3. In what ways do these pathways vary by gender or institution? 4. What institutional policies and practices promote greater retention of Black engineering students? In this paper, we report on the results from 79 in-depth interviews with students at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and a Historically Black University (HBCU [or HBU]). We describe emergent findings during Year 3 of our project, with a focus on four papers-in-progress: • Paper # 1: Our project utilized several innovative strategies for collecting narratives from our 79 interviewees. In particular, we developed a card-sorting activity to learn more about students’ reasons for choosing their engineering major. We have explored a variety of ways to analyze the data that illustrate the value of this type of data collection strategy and which will be of value to other researchers interested in decision making where there is a potentially complex set of factors, such as those found in deciding on a major. • Paper # 2: We summarized student responses to a pre-interview climate survey about three domains – Teaching and Learning, Faculty and Peer Interactions, and Belonging and Commitment. We investigated two questions: Are there differences between persisters and switchers? And, are there differences by study major? Results indicate substantial differences between persisters and switchers and some differences between ME and ECE students. • Paper # 3: Preliminary analysis of interviews of 10 HBCU Black students and 10 PWI Black students revealed that students enact several different types of community cultural wealth, particularly family, navigational, aspirational, social and resistant capital. Early results suggest that the HBCU students enacted a different form of family capital that resided in their “HBCU family” and the opportunities that their college-based networks afforded them to succeed in the major. PWI students described various forms of navigational capital and assets that were enacted in order to succeed at their study institutions. Our paper concludes with implications for university policies and practices aimed toward underrepresented students. 

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