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1. Leveraging Social Capital to Broaden Participation in STEM

   https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732219895997  

   Saw, Guan K. (March 2020, Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences)

   Broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is critical to the nation’s economic growth and national security. In K–12 and higher education, researchers and educators increasingly employ the concept of social capital to develop programs for improving STEM learning, motivation, and participation of young students. STEM social capital in education comprises STEM-oriented resources—whether instrumental, informational, or emotional—that students access through their social networks. Major theoretical perspectives, research evidence, and promising practices are associated with the concepts of social capital in STEM education. Students’ social capital in STEM education (derived from families, peers, teachers, and professional networks) demonstrably promotes their STEM educational outcomes and career paths. Inclusive STEM schools, mentoring, and after-school programs are some promising approaches that can enhance STEM social capital and outcomes of underrepresented students, particularly women, Blacks/Hispanics/Native Americans, youth with low socioeconomic status, and persons with disabilities. 

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2. Literature Review: Research in the career preparation of Native American engineers

   Colston, Nicole; Johnson, Sarah; Jacobs, Sue C.; Turner, Sherri; Mason-Chagil, Gale (October 2018, School Science and Mathematics Association Conference)

   Despite increased efforts to stimulate diverse participation in STEM education, Native Americans (NA) continue to be underrepresented in the field of engineering as students (0.6%; N=1853) and faculty (0.2%; N=68) and at a rate disproportionate to their representation in the population (Yoder, 2016). While many systemic factors contribute to the low participation of NA in STEM fields, professional and social support may increase engagement as they pursue college degrees and consider careers in higher education. This presentation offers an overview of contemporary approaches to the career preparation of Native Americans in the field of engineering. This literature review informs an NSF-funded project to explore the factors that influence Native American interests and aspirations for engineer faculty positions (EEC 1743329/1743572). We completed a thorough search using select keywords in three databases for refereed journal articles between 1990-2017. Although there are various STEM education programs for Native Americans, there are some similarities between their specific objectives. Thematic analyses focused on (a) pre-college STEM career awareness and preparation, (b) entry and retention in engineering degrees, and (c) indigenous/native identity and cross-cultural approaches to STEM education. We make recommendations for future research and practice based on trends and gaps in the literature. More research is needed about what constitutes effective NA career mentoring. Additionally, few researchers address the implications of Native Science on engineering education and career preparation. 

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3. From Lack of Time to Stigma: Barriers Facing Faculty at Minority Serving Institutions Pursuing Federally Funded Research

   Wilson, Carolyn; Chavela Guerra, Rocio (July 2021, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) serve a high proportion of students from underrepresented minority groups, particularly within STEM fields. MSIs make up approximately 14 percent of all degree-granting, Title IV-eligible institutions for higher education, and they enroll approximately 30 percent of all undergraduates in the United States. However, in 2018, only 3 percent of all federal obligations for science and engineering research and development provided to institutions of higher education was distributed to MSIs. Federal funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), have recognized the need to diversify their funding portfolios to increase the engagement of under-participating institutions, including MSIs. With this in mind, a conference was held in February 2020, funded by NSF, with the goal to increase the number and competitiveness of proposals from MSI faculty to core programs within NSF’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). While informative, the conference, along with the interest survey sent to potential participants, revealed multiple challenges and barriers MSI faculty face as they attempt to secure and conduct research funding. This work-in-progress paper focuses on the responses to an open-ended question of the conference interest survey focusing on barriers to securing research funding. 

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4. Indicators of Participation: A Critical Review of Publicly-available STEM Data Sources

   Pee, C.M.; Lee, W.C.; London, J.S.; Gew, G.; Holloman, T.K.; Hawkins Ash, C.D.; Watford, B.A. (January 2019, The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity)

   Several national reports convey the need for better data on the participation of underrepresented groups in engineering. The purpose of this paper is to 1) catalogue data sources that collect STEM-related information at a national level, and 2) critique their usefulness as it relates to informing efforts aimed at broadening participation of underrepresented racial/ethnic groups in engineering. To this end, we identified and reviewed multiple STEM-related data sources published by Child Trends, American Society of Engineering Education, National Center for Education Statistics, and the National Science Foundation. A critical look across these data sources revealed important themes related to reporting practices. While data at the compulsory education level related to preparedness via math and science performance indicators, data focused on higher education and workforce segments related to participation via overall numbers (e.g., degrees award). Data on gender and race intersections were largely missing. The implications of this study highlight the ways that publicly available data sources can be improved through more thorough, systematic collection, publication, and disaggregation of data. 

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5. Accessible Computer Science for K-12 Students with Hearing Impairments

   https://doi.org/978-3-030-49108-6_13  

   Meenakshi Das, Daniela Marghitu (July 2020, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2007.08476.pdf (Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Applications and Practice))

   An inclusive science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce is needed to maintain America’s leadership in the scientific enterprise. Increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM, including persons with disabilities, requires national attention to fully engage the nation’s citizens in transforming its STEM enterprise. To address this need, a number of initiatives, such as AccessCSforALL, Bootstrap, and CSforAll, are making efforts to make Computer Science inclusive to the 7.4 million K-12 students with disabilities in the U.S. Of special interest to our project are those K-12 students with hearing impairments. American Sign Language (ASL) is the primary means of communication for an estimated 500,000 people in the United States, yet there are limited online resources providing Computer Science instruction in ASL. This paper introduces a new project designed to support Deaf/Hard of Hearing (D/HH) K-12 students and sign interpreters in acquiring knowledge of complex Computer Science concepts. We discuss the motivation for the project and an early design of the accessible block-based Computer Science curriculum to engage D/HH students in hands-on computing education. 

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