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Abstract Motivated by the high socio-economic impact of innovations in science and technology, entrepreneurship in STEM disciplines is gaining increasing attention. As a result, entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) have been introduced and designed to train STEM faculty and expose them to entrepreneurial practice. This study examines factors influencing women STEM faculty's perspectives on their participation in EEPs within the broader socio-cultural context of academia. The study addresses the under-researched and undertheorized area of women academics in STEM entrepreneurship by drawing on adult participation literature and key theoretical works in entrepreneurship education to formulate the conceptual grounding. Using qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews with 32 women STEM faculty, the findings identify internal and external influences and unpacks their complex interactions across the programmatic and systemic dimensions. Internal factors include perceptions of entrepreneurship, STEM academic identity, entrepreneurial identity, and self-efficacy, while external factors included professional mentors, personal role models, socioemotional support, and financial resources. The study conceptually synthesizes these factors and elucidates a nuanced understanding of women STEM faculty’s perspectives on their participation in EEPs, offering insights for future research and program development to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusivity in STEM entrepreneurship education. 

Recognizing the socioeconomic importance of STEM-based entrepreneurial initiatives, several entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) have been initiated to foster and incentivize the translational of academic scientific and technological research into commercially offered products. However, STEM-focused entrepreneurship continues to be challenged by diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, with limited research examining women STEM faculty’s perspectives in regard with EEPs. We argue that to develop EEPs that are inclusive to women, one of the foremost needs is to better understand their intentions behind engagement in EEPs. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate women STEM faculty’s intentions to engage in entrepreneurship education programs. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 self-identified women STEM faculty who have (n = 13), and have not participated (n = 19) in EEPs. The participants represented different STEM fields and were situated across multiple institutions in the USA. Five core themes emerged from analyzing the qualitative interviews using first and second cycle coding methods. These themes identify different intentions behind women STEM faculty’s engagement in entrepreneurship programming—translation intent, innovation intent, intent to engage students, personal intent, and entrepreneurial intent. Overall, the findings suggest that the singular “venture-creation” focus in EEPs does not sufficiently capture the varied intentions that inform women STEM faculty’s engagement in EEPs. Implications of the findings in regard with improving inclusivity in entrepreneurship program development and implementation, and entrepreneurship education research are discussed. We call for further research that examines how women STEM faculty navigate academic entrepreneurial pathways that include broader issues within the mainstream entrepreneurial ecosystems. We anticipate that continued research efforts paired with administrative implementations will assist in addressing systemic issues and contribute to the broadening participation of STEM women faculty in EEPs. 

Contribution: This study aimed to improve understanding of context-based affordances and barriers to adoption of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs) among faculty in electrical and computer engineering (ECE). Context-based influences, including motives, constraints, and feedback mechanisms impacting EBIP adoption across six ECE faculty participants were documented using qualitative analysis. Background: Recent engineering education literature notes that the adoption of EBIPs by engineering faculty is lagging despite increased faculty awareness of EBIPs, belief in their effectiveness, and interest in integrating them. While researchers continue to investigate barriers to faculty adoption of EBIPs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education settings, few studies have dedicated examinations within a specific disciplinary context, particularly among ECE faculty members. Research Question: What context-based barriers and affordances influence adoption of EBIPs by ECE faculty members? Methodology: This study qualitatively analyzed data from in-depth interviews with six ECE faculty members from engineering programs throughout the United States. The study applied an iterative combination of case study and thematic analysis techniques to identify context-relevant and unique factors relevant to each individual participant and synthesize the process of decision making when incorporating EBIPs using a systems perspective. Findings: Overall, the approach identified drivers, constraints, and feedback mechanisms in regard to four emergent categories of EBIP adoption cases: 1) no use; 2) discontinued use; 3) in development; and 4) continued use. The study reports examples of context-based influences among the six participants in relation to their level of EBIP adoption, highlighting the substantial variation in faculty experiences with incorporating EBIPs 

Although several entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) have been created for faculty, research examining women faculty experiences participating in EEPs is minimal and particularly negligible in the context of their academic research. To address this gap, we examine women faculty’s perceptions and experiences toward EEPs in the context of biomedical (BM) research. The research question examined is as follows: how do women faculty with a BM research focus experience and/or perceive EEPs? Eight identified women faculty who pursue B.M. research participated in in-depth interviews for this study. The data analysis drew on phenomenological experience-based qualitative research methodologies. Three key themes emerged with respect to participant experiences with and perceptions of EEPs: (1) engaging in customer discovery, (2) navigating the entrepreneurial program, and (3) facing BM specific research challenges. Customer discovery was identified as the most impactful outcome, and it pushed the faculty to explore the impact of their innovations beyond their laboratory spaces; however, the customer discovery process was challenging due to the complexity of the BM environment. Furthermore, several challenges were noted when navigating the program concerning feedback delivery and students' roles. Lastly, several specific challenges were raised, specific to the lack of disciplinary diversity and post-EEP guidance on regulatory approvals and funding. We anticipate that these research-based findings will inform the continued development of EEPs that are inclusive of women STEM faculty, particularly those who are engaged in BM research. Implications for research and practice are presented in the context of the emergent findings. 

Despite recent STEM diversity initiatives, there still exists structural barriers on who can pursue their STEM aspirations. The lack of diversity in STEM fields hinders individual selfactualization and economic advancement as well as STEM innovation efforts. Notably, Black women remain underrepresented in STEM higher education and academic entrepreneurship. The goal of this project is to increase the understanding of the entrepreneurship-related experiences of Black women in STEM higher education. Specifically, we examine how the erasure and marginalization of Black women in STEM academic entrepreneurship contributes to their minoritization in STEM. In doing so, we seek to identify ways to improve their experiences in STEM higher education and entrepreneurial spaces. Relying on Collins’ (1990) domains of power framework, the following question guides the study: To what extent do everyday encounters and practices of marginalization in STEM higher education and entrepreneurial education spaces shape Black women’s engagement in STEM entrepreneurial education programming? To answer this question, we conducted semi-structured interviews (n=7) of Black women faculty in STEM higher education who have engaged or not engaged in entrepreneurship education programming. These conversations reveal the various ways Black women navigate in and outside of entrepreneurship education programming to innovate their fields. 

The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) has had a transformative effect on our society and has inspired educators to develop innovative approaches to educate the next generation of Computer Science (CS) professionals. This paper presents the design and development of an introductory IoT course suitable for grades 9-12 Computer Science classes. Information about the course content, intended outcomes, and evaluation techniques are presented. The course was introduced in 2 high schools in the US. The course includes a capstone project where the students identified a real-world problem and developed an IoT-based solution to address it. Formative and summative technical evaluation results are presented and suggest that the course provided an effective learning experience for students. The information presented here provides guiding principles for developing an IoT-based curriculum geared towards 9-12 education while also exposing the students to CS fundamental. 

This Work-In-Progress paper summarizes insights from early research activities related to a National Science Foundation (NSF) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) project investigating faculty adoption of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs) in engineering classrooms. We are investigating EBIPs in engineering classrooms because, although instructors are interested and willing to adopt them, uptake by engineering faculty is lagging. To understand what is driving limited incorporation of EBIPs, our research objectives are anchored in our overlying goal of examining the lived experience of engineering faculty as they seek out and try innovative teaching practices (i.e., EBIPs) in their courses. This paper reports insights from early exploratory interviews with engineering faculty around their experiences with trying EBIPs. We report on general patterns observed during the early stages of our analysis of the interview transcripts with three engineering faculty (n = 3). We discuss how our analysis informs the next steps of our overarching investigation and briefly discuss the broader significance related to the context of faculty approaches for implementing EBIPs into their engineering courses.