NSF Award
1648609
According to popular and scientific literature, there is a dearth of underrepresented students (e.g., African Americans) majoring in engineering. This lack of representation is often linked to institutional culture, instructional practices, stereotype threat, and conscious/unconscious biases. The current national environment necessitates better understanding of the effects of stereotype threat and microaggressions and how they negatively impact broadening participation efforts in engineering. The overall objective of this project is to determine how stereotype threat and microaggressions influence African American students' academic success and psychological wellbeing in engineering. The project outcomes have major implications for improving teaching and learning experiences for African Americans and other historically underrepresented students in engineering. They also have the potential to positively shape student advisement and curriculum development. <br/><br/>The project will employ stereotype threat theory, by collecting survey data, interview data, and videographic data. Specifically, this study will address the following research questions: (a) How does an interdisciplinary group of engineering educators and behavioral scientists find common language to explore psychological phenomena that impact African American students' achievement in engineering education?; (b) How do African American graduates of a 3:2 dual degree engineering program articulate their educational experiences at historically Black Colleges and Universities compared to those who attend predominately White universities?; and What is the relationship between stereotype vulnerability and a sense of belonging among African American engineering and other STEM majors? The central hypothesis is that there will be a statistically significant difference among HBCU African American engineering majors on measures of perceptions stereotype threat and vulnerability scales and measures of sense of belonging compared to those African American students at other institutional-types.
