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.
Dr. Jeremi London is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Provost for Academic Opportunity and Belonging at Vanderbilt University. London is a mixed methods researcher with interests in research impact, broadening participation and instructional change.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5082-1411
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
[biography]
Dr. Walter Lee is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Education and the director for research at the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED), both at Virginia Tech.
Watford is Professor of Engineering Education, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Executive Director of the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity.
Crystal Pee is a doctoral candidate at Virginia Polytechnic and State University pursuing a Ph.D. in Engineering Education, where she also serves as a graduate research assistant. Her research interests include broadening participation in industry and higher education.
Teirra Holloman is a postdoctoral associate in Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Teirra received her Ph.D. in Engineering Education and M.Eng. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech and her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University. Her research interests include organizational resilience; organizational change; diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in engineering and global education programs.
Dr. Chaneé Hawkins Ash is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) on an NSF grant funded project that explores broadening participation of African Americans in Engineering and Computer Science. In addition to her work at Virginia Tech, Chaneé is the co-founder and principal consultant of Foresight Strategy Solutions, a P-12 and Higher Education consultancy, as well as an independent researcher with San Francisco based strategy and innovation consultancy Entangled Solutions. Her work is focused on supporting schools, districts, administrators, educators, policy makers, communities, and families in dismantling systemic barriers to education and social mobility in order to put in place innovative policies and practices that enhance social ecosystems and overall life outcomes for all learners.
Chaneé holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Truman State University
(Kirksville, MO) and received her Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.