Untapped and Unstoppable: Exploring the Experiences of Black Undergraduate Women in Engineering and Computer Science

• In Event: Critical Analyses of STEM's Systemic Inequities

Abstract

Collectively, systemic racism, sexism, and misogyny in the U.S. continue to exclude Black women from STEM pathways, contributing to their underrepresentation in these fields. In engineering and computer science (ECS) programs in U.S. colleges and universities, Black women are structurally and institutionally racialized and gendered. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore how peer-peer and student-faculty interaction shape Black women’s undergraduate experiences in ECS disciplines. Using a Black feminist thought and intersectionality lens, results revealed that Black women’s academic resilience and persistence manifest in their ability to overcome alienation, exclusion, an invisibility in their ECS majors. Moreover, results showed that peer-peer and student-faculty interaction and a shared-identity with others have a complex effect on their academic journey.

Authors

• Deazell Joseph Johnson, California State University - Northridge

• Nathan R. Durdella, California State University - Northridge