Suchergebnisse

In response to calls to study the intersecting identities of race, gender, engineering, and veteran status, we examined the experiences of Black male student veterans in undergraduate engineering (BMSVEs). Black male veterans bring technical skills and worldviews shaped by their military and cultural experiences, which can strengthen the engineering profession. Therefore, we addressed the following question: What support systems do BMSVEs use to navigate engineering education at predominantly White institutions? In this study, we used narrative inquiry through seven interviews with BMSVEs and an identity exercise to share the participants' stories. We employed a counterspaces framework informed by veteran critical theory to learn about the counterspaces used by BMSVEs to find fit and succeed in engineering education. The results indicated that religion and family provide counterspaces for BMSVEs who report being marginalized and minoritized because of their race and veteran identity, respectively. While Black-focused counterspaces are important for traditional-age students developing their identities, they were not similarly important to many older BMSVEs with more developed identities. Although Student Veteran Association chapters served as counterspaces for some BMSVEs, this was not the case for all of our participants-perhaps because they perceived them to be White spaces. Our research showed that BMSVEs found fit in their engineering programs by engaging in one or more counterspaces that supported them on their educational journey. A loving family, a faith community, and ethnic- or veteran-focused organizations can serve in this role. The BMSVEs who found counterspaces were well equipped to thrive in engineering education.

Black men are underrepresented in engineering in general and computer engineering (CPE) in particular. Using two unique datasets, (1) the Multiple Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) and (2) 10 interviews with Black men who persisted in or switched away from CPE at two predominantly White institutions, we contextualize the outcomes of
Black men in CPE at predominantly White institutions and highlight these students' narratives about their educational experiences. We use Schneider's attraction, selection, and attrition framework to
better understand how institutions shape the educational experiences of Black men in CPE. Our quantitative
results show that Black men switch majors away from CPE at similar rates to men of other
ethnicities, but they have a slightly lower rate of persistence through eight semesters. Black men who
leave CPE do so earlier than they leave other majors. In our qualitative interviews, we find that early,
hands-on experiences in CPE during the first year served to select students into it. Persisters better
understood what the CPE major entailed than switchers when selecting the major. Attrition was associated
with poor experiences in foundational courses, lack of caring faculty, and students' reconsideration
of their reasons for choosing the CPE major initially. Our findings have implications for electrical and computer engineering faculty and advisors regarding how they teach and interact with their students, particularly those who are historically minoritized. Should the departments make the changes we suggest, the students would be the ultimate beneficiary of an improved environment for learning.