Missed Opportunities for Diversifying STEM

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Experiences of Minoritized Students in STEM (Table 3)

Abstract

We investigate how demographic, academic and social factors are related to students’ chances of becoming what we term "missed STEM opportunities." These are students who had shown an interest or aptitude in STEM, but who major in non-STEM fields. To do so, we answer: (1) who are the students who were interested and academically prepared for STEM but end up in non-STEM fields? (2) why it is that students who are interested and/or academically prepared for STEM fields decide to avoid these majors? Using primary quantitative and qualitative data, we find that women are more likely than men to constitute missed opportunities for diversifying STEM and that there are marked racial/ethnic differences in the reasons that students major in non-STEM.

Authors

• Elizabeth Stearns, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
  Presenting Author

• Martha Cecilia Bottia, University of North Carolina - Charlotte
  Presenting Author