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1. Re-framing and Reimagining the Doctoral Student Narrative: Black Women’s Experiences in Engineering and Computer Science

   Artis, S.; Shavers, M.; LeSure, S; Spencer, B.; Joshi, A. (June 2018, American Society of Engineering Education)

   Recent data reveal that a higher percentage of Black women (9.7%) are enrolled in college than any other group, topping Asian women (8.7%), White women (7.1%) and White men (6.1%). Despite these gains in college attendance, Black women are often underrepresented in the fields of engineering and computer science. This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study that investigated the identity and experiences of Black women who are pursuing doctoral degrees in engineering and computer science. This research is grounded on the tenet that one cannot effectively serve or impact a community until he/she genuinely understands the issues and challenges facing the people who are its members. This work explores how Black female doctoral students persist in environments where they are grossly underrepresented. Content analysis is used to examine interview data obtained from 13 Black women who are pursing doctoral degrees in engineering and computer science. This paper concludes with some of the key challenges these women face in their programs on a daily basis. The goal of this research is to bring awareness to not only the challenges, but also potential strategies to increase the retention and persistence of Black women in engineering and computer science across all academic levels. 

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2. Students’ Perceptions of an REU Summer Internship Program and their Engineering Identity Development: An Equity-Centered Analysis

   Fluker, Ciera; Perez-Felkner, Lara; McCoy, Kiara (August 2022, ASEE annual conference exposition proceedings)

   In this research paper, we explore the relationship between undergraduate students’ engineering identity development and their experiences before and during a materials science REU summer internship program. Insufficient diversity in engineering—and STEM fields overall—may impede scientific advancement and stifle innovation [1]. Yet, people of color and women remain highly underrepresented in engineering. According to the National Center for Education Statistics [2], there have been slight increases between 1998 and 2018 in the percentage of engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded to women (from 18.6% to 22.2%) and to Latino citizens and permanent residents (from 6.8% to 10.9%). Meanwhile, the percentage of engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded to Black U.S. citizens and permanent residents decreased from 5% in 1998 to 3.9% in 2018. This entrenched underrepresentation suggests a persistent and systemic problem remains in engineering, as demonstrated in other recent studies [3], [4]. Accordingly, our research examines the experiences of students participating in a broadening participation intervention while attending to their prior experiences in engineering and how their postsecondary experiences in and beyond the intervention shape their engineering identity development. 

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3. Circle of success—An interpretative phenomenological analysis of how Black engineering students experience success

   https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20509  

   Henderson, Jerrod A.; Junqueira, Waldemiro; Benjamin, Le Shorn S.; Hines, Erik M.; Alarcón, Jeannette D.; Davis, Jared L.; Cavazos, Sebastian (March 2023, Journal of Engineering Education)

   Abstract BackgroundThough minoritized undergraduate engineering students earn less than 25% of engineering bachelor's degrees, minority‐serving institutions (MSIs) are leading the way in producing a large percentage of those underrepresented engineering bachelor's degree holders. However, much of the published research about the experiences of underrepresented engineering students occurs within the context of predominantly White institutions. Upon deeper inspection into the apparent success of some MSIs, graduation rates of specific minoritized populations (e.g., Black students) remain critically low. This suggests that there is more to be learned about how to better support Black engineering students' success. PurposeWe explored the experiences of Black undergraduate engineering students at a large public doctoral university with very high research activity. Design/MethodWe used interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand the experiences of eight participants. FindingsWe inductively developed two themes to describe how Black engineering students experience success at a Hispanic‐serving institution, which include building success networks and implementing rules of engagement. ConclusionParticipants enacted their cultural capital to construct their circles of success through the intentional engagement of others, resources, and themselves to realize success. This work sheds light on how Black students describe what it means to be successful in their engineering environment. 

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4. Black Women Speak: Examining Power, Privilege, and Identity in CS Education

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3451344  

   Rankin, Yolanda A.; Thomas, Jakita O.; Erete, Sheena (December 2021, ACM Transactions on Computing Education)

   Despite the increasing number of women receiving bachelor’s degrees in computing (i.e., Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, etc.), a closer look reveals that the percentage of Black women in computing has significantly dropped in recent years, highlighting the underrepresentation of Black women and its negative impact on broadening participation in the field of computing. The literature reveals that several K-16 interventions have been designed to increase the representation of Black women and girls in computing. Despite these best efforts, the needle seems to have barely moved in increasing the representation or the retention of Black women in computing. Instead, the primary goals have been to recruit and retain women in the CS pipeline using gender-focused efforts intended to increase the number of women who also identify as members of racialized groups. However, these gender-focused efforts have fallen short of increasing the number of Black women in computing because they fail to acknowledge or appreciate how intersectionality (the overlapping social constructs of gender, race, ethnicity, class, etc.) has shaped the lived experiences of Black women navigating the computing pipeline. Without honest dialogue about how power operates in the field of computing, the push for racial equality and social justice in CS education remains an elusive goal. Leveraging intersectionality as a critical framework to address systemic oppression (i.e., racism, gender discrimination, power, and privilege), we interview 24 Black women in different phases of the computing pipeline about their experiences navigating the field of computing. An intersectional analysis of Black women’s experiences reveals that CS education consists of saturated sites of violence in which interconnected systems of power converge to enact oppression. Findings reveal three primary saturated sites of violence within CS education: (1) traditional K-12 classrooms; (2) predominantly White institutions; and (3) internships as supplementary learning experiences. We conclude the article with implications for how the field of CS education can begin to address racial inequality that negatively impacts Black girls and women, thus contributing to a more equitable and socially just field of study that benefits all students. 

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5. Then and Now: Women Engineers' Perspectives on Changes and Challenges in the Field Since the 1970s

   Ettinger, Laura; Conroy, Nicole; Barr, William II. (March 2018, SWE)

   Our research assesses a pivotal generation of pioneering American women engineers who graduated from college in the 1970s. In that decade, young women, encouraged in part by the women’s movement and changing social expectations, flocked into higher education and, to a much lesser extent, engineering. These female students, although not the very first women to enter engineering, were the beneficiaries of new affirmative action laws, and unlike their predecessors, they were part of a small but growing cohort of women engineers. The percentage of women earning undergraduate degrees in engineering grew at a rapid rate from less than 1 percent in 1970 to 9 percent in 1979. Understanding the career trajectories of these women may help institutions to develop better means of supporting female engineers. (Article published In the annual research issue on the state of women in engineering.) 

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