Pathways of Urban Immigrant Young Adults Into STEM Fields

• In Event: Critical Issues in Urban Education

Abstract

This paper employs ethnography to investigate a group of urban immigrant young adults from developing countries who are pursuing careers in STEM fields. It opens a longer discussion of lessons that can be gleaned from the student collaborators’ key experiences with necessary adversities, unique sets of exposure and expectations, strong internal loci of control, and geographical and social class transitions during adolescence. Analyzing these shared themes behind these remarkably successful students’ experiences provides novel insights into what can be done to increase access and retention in science, especially amongst underserved populations facing high barriers to entry.

Authors

• Christopher Emdin, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Jeremy Benjamin Heyman, Teachers College, Columbia University