CAREER:The Impact of Racialized Experiences on the Career Trajectories of Doctoral and Postdoctoral Underrepresented STEM Students of Color

The EHR Core Research program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that will generate foundational knowledge in the field. This essential research will examine ways to broaden participation in engineering and computing through a multi-tiered research design that studies how race-related bias and microaggressive acts affect the career trajectories of Black, Native American, and Latino/a doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers. The research will examine three main variables in the study population: racial/ethnic microaggressions, impostor syndrome, and minority status stress. The goals are to (1) study the impact of such barriers on the doctoral experiences and post-doctoral career aspirations of students and researchers in engineering and computing, (2) determine whether departments/colleges in these disciplines implement programs that address these barriers, and (3) test the value of mentoring for reducing race-related stressors and of academic career-centric support that might help students and researchers remain in STEM. A mixed methods research approach will be used to collect data through surveys, interviews, and observations about the mentoring program, annual workshops, and video documentary. The core strategy for measuring change from the intervention will come from the race-focused, academic career-centric mentoring program that will be co-developed using a nationally recognized online mentoring model and information from the proposer?s own online web portal. This mentoring program will test how effectively the model reduces the impact of racial/ethnic microaggressions for Black, Latino/a, and Native American doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers. Outcomes will be multidimensional. First, data will provide a foundation for understanding how to improve the experiences of underrepresented groups in environments that marginalize students of color. Second, the video documentary will serve as a training tool for STEM administrators and leaders. Third, the video documentary will provide research-based coping strategies to help members of the underrepresented population minimize the impact of racialized experiences and negative outcomes while promoting a balanced perspective on both the doctoral completion process and faculty life in engineering and computing. Fourth, the study will offer strategies to make learning in engineering and computing more affirming, thereby leading to the long-term goal of increased interest and eventual transition into the professoriate.