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Engineers and computer scientists with advanced degrees play a critical role in addressing complex societal challenges while serving as role models for undergraduate students pursuing degrees in these areas. However, the results of a literature map, conducted as a part of a larger study, suggest that we tend to focus on undergraduate education when discussing how to diversify the talent pool. This paper presents the findings from a systematic literature review on the barriers to graduate-level participation in engineering as experienced by African Americans, one of the most underrepresented groups. Twenty-two articles resulted from the search, 11 passing the quality check. The analysis focused on synthesizing themes surrounding how researchers study the problem, barriers to participation, and recommendations for addressing them. Results highlight that investigators tend to focus on three topic areas: (1) Student Identity, (2) Recruitment and Persistence, and (3) Students’ Perceptions of Graduate School. This synthesis presents the current state of the literature on broadening participation of African American engineering graduate students and highlights opportunities for future inquiries. 

The overarching goal of this project is to critically evaluate the research-to-practice cycle as it relates to broadening participation of African Americans in engineering and computer science, and develop a national agenda grounded in existing literature and subject-matter experts’ perspectives. To address this purpose, our research team is carrying out a three-phased project that includes systematically reviewing the literature, interviewing subject-matter experts, and conducting a Delphi study, aiming to reach consensus on the key issues and gaps in our understanding. Combined, these efforts will reveal significant questions and areas of opportunity to enhance the relationship between research and practice in this area. We are currently in Year 2 of the project. In addition to providing an overview of the project to date, this paper presents salient findings that emerged from a systematic literature review nineteen articles on barriers to African American’s participation in the engineering and CS workforce (i.e., academia, industry, and government). Although the barriers manifest in unique ways based on the workplace context, they can be organized by the three major paradigms that usually shape broadening participation literature as either pipeline barriers, ecosystem barriers, and/or pathway barriers. Most of the studies in this review revealed barriers experiences by individuals within the work environment (i.e., ecosystem barriers). This paper concludes with possible directions for future research that stem from gaps in the literature, and recommendations for addressing existing challenges. 

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. 

This “work in progress” showcases the methodological processes underway in Phase II of a three-part study. In its entirety, the study aims to (1) critically assess and evaluate the current research-to-practice cycle as it relates to participation and success of African Americans in engineering and computer science, and (2) set a national agenda for broadening the participation of African Americans in these two fields. Phase II of this study consists of semi-structured interviews with approximately 60 subject-matter experts from the fields of K-12 education, undergraduate education, graduate education, and the engineering and computing workforce. This paper discusses the following processes: a) participant recruitment, screening, and selection, as well as, b) protocol development and piloting. Insights about our methodological approaches might be useful to others developing research designs intended to capture the perspectives of various stakeholders associated with similarly complex and multifaceted issues. 

While broadening participation is a national problem, to date, efforts tend to respond with local solutions. Though valuable, such efforts are insufficient and have only led to incremental progress. If the goal is wide-scale improvements, we argue that there is a need to take a step back and re-examine what has been done in terms of research and practice. Accordingly, the proposed work engages multiples sources to present a nationwide solution to a national problem and, hopefully, spark a change in the demographic trends of engineers and computer scientists—an area where progress has been stagnant. The purpose of this study is to (1) critically evaluate the research-to-practice cycle as it relates to broadening participation; and (2) set a national agenda for broadening the participation of African Americans in engineering and computer science that is informed by existing literature and subject matter experts. To address this purpose, our three-phase project entails the following: (1) a systematic review of the literature on barriers to participation and proposed solutions for each juncture of the education-to-workforce pathway; (2) interviews with subject-matter experts to discuss their professional experiences regarding broadening the participation of African Americans, and what can be done to gain momentum in this regard; and (3) a Delphi study to reach consensus on the key issues, gaps in our understanding, significant questions, and breakdowns in the Innovation Cycle of Educational Practice and Research. This project started in January 2017 and is well underway. Our poster will present a summary of the results from Phase 1, our progress in Phase 2, and plans for Phase 3. 

Over the last 40 years, more than 25 national reports have been published focused on broadening participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Although scholarly literature oftentimes serves as one source of information on how to move forward, national reports—produced by organizations, such as the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and committees, such as the Committee on Women in Science and Engineering (CWSE)—are an underutilized source of insights. This paper presents the results of a quasi-umbrella review of 29 national reports published during 1974–2016. The reports in this analysis included 134 unique recommendations, which were synthesized into four themes, broadly labeled: (1) Practices & Policies, (2) Culture & Climate, (3) Information & Knowledge, and (4) Investments & Commitments. These recommendations have implications for a wide range of stakeholders interested in addressing this longstanding problem, and the findings of this study provide a historical and policy perspective that is useful for informing next steps that will ideally lead to the forms of progress that have been long awaited. 

The rigorous, structured, and transparent review of literature on a particular topic can lead to promising insights about research directions, practical solutions, and potential policies. While the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is a well-established methodology, it is rarely used in the field of engineering education. Though the use of the term “systematic” suggests a clear-cut process and there are resources available to describe the major steps of the method, the initial steps of a SLR are inherently messy—i.e., they heavily rely on the researcher’s judgement and decision-making. Unfortunately, the messiness embedded in these steps is rarely discussed or described in existing resources. In this study, we reflect on the “messiness” of initiating a SLR on broadening participation in engineering and computer science. Informed by two existing approaches to reflection, we used the STAARA (Situation-Task-Affect-Action-Result-Aftermath) framework to reflect on the ways in which we resolved important decisions associated with one overarching situation and several corresponding tasks, affects, actions; the aftermath is also discussed. This paper includes insights from our experience that can help other researchers navigate the initial steps of a SLR.