What's the Cost? Examining the Racial Opportunity Cost of Black and Latinx Students in STEM

• In Event: The Interplay of Culture, Identity, and Motivation for Black and Latina/o Students in STEM Fields

Abstract

This presentation investigates the social, psychological, emotional toil that Black and Latinx students pay to persist in STEM at a Predominantly White Institution. Using the Racial Opportunity Cost Framework, we attend to the various contextual and internal factors that inform their decisions. We present a model for examining the racialized cost of Black and Latinx students in STEM, noting the degree to which it is informed by identity, departmental, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. Implications for the types of sociocultural environmental interventions needed to facilitate a low racialized cost are provided.

Authors

• Michele Williams, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Donte C. Dampier

• Terrell R Morton, University of Illinois at Chicago