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1. Non-Academic Careers for STS Graduate Students: Hopping off the Tenure Track

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-018-9360-6  

   Woodson, Thomas S.; Harsh, Matthew; Foley, Rider (January 2018, Minerva)

   Science, Technology & Society (STS) graduate programs primarily train graduate students to work in tenure track academic jobs. However, there are not enough tenure track academic jobs to match the supply of STS graduate students, nor does every STS graduate student want to become an academic. As a start to addressing these challenges, we hosted workshops before the 2017 Society for the Annual Meeting of the Society Studies of Science and the 2018 ST Global conference. In those workshops, panelists with PhDs in STS and related fields and working in non-academic faculty careers such as government agencies, non-profit foundations, and industry emphasized that students must showcase how their skills are useful to non-academic organizations. The panelists offered a wealth of stories on how their STS perspective supported their careers, yet most had faced implicit and explicit mentoring from STS faculty that ran counter to their career aspirations. The conversations centered on reframing research and conveying to potential employers how their STS training would support their future careers. A takeaway point that resonated with many participants was the need for STS graduate programs to rethink how they market themselves, recruit students, and critically reflect upon the measures of success. By implicitly steering graduate students solely towards an academic career, STS graduate training will miss an opportunity to make a positive impact on society 

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2. The Socialization and Retention of Low-Income College Students: The Impact of a Wrap-Around Intervention

   https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v8n6p249  

   Ceyhan, Gaye D.; Thompson, Alia N.; Sloane, Jeremy D.; Wiles, Jason R.; Tillotson, John W. (September 2019, International Journal of Higher Education)

   The Strategic Undergraduate STEM Talent Acceleration INitiative (SUSTAIN) provided a coherent ecosystem of academic, social, and career support services designed for a diverse cohort of high-achieving, low-income STEM students during their first year of undergraduate study. Findings are discussed in terms of the efficacy of the program interventions to enhance students’ socialization and retention within the STEM community. Results indicate that participants perceived the interventions to have helped them adjust to college life and develop skills in understanding science and the scientific process. Which in turn, participants reported, helped them to succeed in their STEM courses and visualize themselves as part of the larger STEM community. The participants rated STEM faculty mentoring, research experience and community building as more helpful than other interventions. Our findings will aid researchers to better understand how SUSTAIN interventions influence students’ socialization into the STEM community and provide valuable insight to guide policymakers in shaping future programs that are successful in retaining diverse students in STEM fields. 

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3. Future Career Pathway Perceptions of Lower-Income Computing Students Through the Lens of Capital Exchange

   Bond, B.; Kumar, N.; Secules, S.; Solis, T. (June 2022, American Society for Engineering Education Annual Meeting, Computing Education Division)

   Prior scholarship on broadening participation in undergraduate computing education has made important contributions to supporting underrepresented students’ identity development and persistence. However, the specific experiences of low-income students are underexplored, and the critical juncture between undergraduate education and career or graduate school pathways are as well. For scholarship support programs to make a further impact on broadening participation in computing, it is critical to know low-income students’ viewpoints on the barriers, risks, and opportunities associated with different career pathways that influence their post-graduation plans. Our research seeks to better understand the future career pathway perceptions of low-income undergraduate computing students. We explore students’ perceptions of three specific pathways: pursuing a graduate degree, working for a large company, and becoming an entrepreneur. This study utilizes Bourdieu’s conception of economic capital, cultural capital, and social capital to understand low-income students’ perceptions of their future career pathways. This study is a part of a National Science Foundation-funded program that provides need-based scholarships, internship connections, research opportunities, and entrepreneurial education to low-income students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, cybersecurity, or computer engineering. The program includes three large, public universities in the Southeast United States and was launched in September 2021. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 participants from one of the participating universities to gather information about their perceptions of professional, graduate school, and entrepreneurial career pathways. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic coding. We found that the majority of our low-income participants plan to work for a large technology-focused company immediately after graduation. However, some participants indicated that the program’s scholarship, which covers up to two years of graduate education in a computing field, gives them the ability to consider pursuing a master’s degree between completing their bachelor’s degree and entering the workforce. Additionally, though many participants expressed that the idea of becoming an entrepreneur is appealing, the financial risks associated with entrepreneurship deter them from considering this career pathway themselves. Ultimately, our findings suggest that financial stability is a crucial consideration for low-income computing students as they contemplate their future goals. The participants’ responses demonstrate the importance of need-based financial aid and internship connections for low-income computing students. Furthermore, our findings indicate that intervention programs that aim to support low-income students’ career development should be more sensitive to the unique perspectives and financial concerns of low-income students when they promote graduate school and entrepreneurial pathways. 

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4. Future Career Pathway Perceptions of Lower-Income Computing Students Through the Lens of Capital Exchange

   Bond-Trittipo, B.; Kumar, N.; Secules, S.; Solis, T (July 2022, The 2022 Annual Conference and Exposition)

   Prior scholarship on broadening participation in undergraduate computing education has made important contributions to supporting underrepresented students’ identity development and persistence. However, the specific experiences of low-income students are underexplored, and the critical juncture between undergraduate education and career or graduate school pathways are as well. For scholarship support programs to make a further impact on broadening participation in computing, it is critical to know low-income students’ viewpoints on the barriers, risks, and opportunities associated with different career pathways that influence their post-graduation plans. Our research seeks to better understand the future career pathway perceptions of low-income undergraduate computing students. We explore students’ perceptions of three specific pathways: pursuing a graduate degree, working for a large company, and becoming an entrepreneur. This study utilizes Bourdieu’s conception of economic capital, cultural capital, and social capital to understand low-income students’ perceptions of their future career pathways. This study is a part of a National Science Foundation-funded program that provides need-based scholarships, internship connections, research opportunities, and entrepreneurial education to low-income students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, cybersecurity, or computer engineering. The program includes three large, public universities in the Southeast United States and was launched in September 2021. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 participants from one of the participating universities to gather information about their perceptions of professional, graduate school, and entrepreneurial career pathways. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic coding. We found that the majority of our low-income participants plan to work for a large technology-focused company immediately after graduation. However, some participants indicated that the program’s scholarship, which covers up to two years of graduate education in a computing field, gives them the ability to consider pursuing a master’s degree between completing their bachelor’s degree and entering the workforce. Additionally, though many participants expressed that the idea of becoming an entrepreneur is appealing, the financial risks associated with entrepreneurship deter them from considering this career pathway themselves. Ultimately, our findings suggest that financial stability is a crucial consideration for low-income computing students as they contemplate their future goals. The participants’ responses demonstrate the importance of need-based financial aid and internship connections for low-income computing students. Furthermore, our findings indicate that intervention programs that aim to support low-income students’ career development should be more sensitive to the unique perspectives and financial concerns of low-income students when they promote graduate school and entrepreneurial pathways. 

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5. Future Career Pathway Perceptions of Lower-Income Computing Students Through the Lens of Capital Exchange

   Bond, B.; Kumar, N.; Secules, S.; Solis, T. (April 2022, American Society for Engineering Education Annual Meeting, Computing Education Division)

   Prior scholarship on broadening participation in undergraduate computing education has made important contributions to supporting underrepresented students’ identity development and persistence. However, the specific experiences of low-income students are underexplored, and the critical juncture between undergraduate education and career or graduate school pathways are as well. For scholarship support programs to make a further impact on broadening participation in computing, it is critical to know low-income students’ viewpoints on the barriers, risks, and opportunities associated with different career pathways that influence their post-graduation plans. Our research seeks to better understand the future career pathway perceptions of low-income undergraduate computing students. We explore students’ perceptions of three specific pathways: pursuing a graduate degree, working for a large company, and becoming an entrepreneur. This study utilizes Bourdieu’s conception of economic capital, cultural capital, and social capital to understand low-income students’ perceptions of their future career pathways. This study is a part of a National Science Foundation-funded program that provides need-based scholarships, internship connections, research opportunities, and entrepreneurial education to low-income students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, cybersecurity, or computer engineering. The program includes three large, public universities in the Southeast United States and was launched in September 2021. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 participants from one of the participating universities to gather information about their perceptions of professional, graduate school, and entrepreneurial career pathways. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic coding. We found that the majority of our low-income participants plan to work for a large technology-focused company immediately after graduation. However, some participants indicated that the program’s scholarship, which covers up to two years of graduate education in a computing field, gives them the ability to consider pursuing a master’s degree between completing their bachelor’s degree and entering the workforce. Additionally, though many participants expressed that the idea of becoming an entrepreneur is appealing, the financial risks associated with entrepreneurship deter them from considering this career pathway themselves. Ultimately, our findings suggest that financial stability is a crucial consideration for low-income computing students as they contemplate their future goals. The participants’ responses demonstrate the importance of need-based financial aid and internship connections for low-income computing students. Furthermore, our findings indicate that intervention programs that aim to support low-income students’ career development should be more sensitive to the unique perspectives and financial concerns of low-income students when they promote graduate school and entrepreneurial pathways. 

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