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Board 93: Toward a National Agenda for Broadening Participation of African Americans in Engineering and Computer Science: A Systematic Review of Workforce Barriers

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Conference

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Tampa, Florida

Publication Date

June 15, 2019

Start Date

June 15, 2019

End Date

June 19, 2019

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topics

Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--32464

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/32464

Download Count

408

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Paper Authors

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Jeremi S. London Virginia Tech

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Dr. Jeremi London is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Education Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. London is a mixed methods researcher with interests in research impact, cyberlearning, and instructional change in STEM Education. Prior to being a faculty member, London worked at the National Science Foundation, GE Healthcare, and Anheuser-Busch. She earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University.

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Walter C. Lee Virginia Tech Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5082-1411

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Dr. Walter Lee is an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Education and the assistant director for research in the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED), both at Virginia Tech. His research interests include co-curricular support, student success and retention, and diversity. Lee received his Ph.D in engineering education from Virginia Tech, his M.S. in industrial & systems engineering from Virginia Tech, and his B.S. in industrial engineering from Clemson University.

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Bevlee A. Watford P.E. Virginia Tech

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Watford is Professor of Engineering Education, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity.

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Crystal M. Pee Virginia Tech

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Crystal Pee is a graduate student at Virginia Polytechnic and State University pursuing a Ph.D. in Engineering Education. She currently is a graduate research assistant under the direction of Dr. Jeremi London. Her research interests include broadening participation in industry. Prior to attending Virginia Tech, she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Business Administration from Clemson University.

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Teirra K. Holloman Virginia Tech

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Teirra Holloman is a doctoral student in engineering education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where she serves as a graduate research assistant. She is concurrently pursuing a MS in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech with a focus in Management Systems.Teirra received her BS in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University. Her research interests revolve around broadening participation in engineering, experiential learning, and workforce development.

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Chanee Hawkins Ash Virginia Tech

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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.

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Abstract

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.

London, J. S., & Lee, W. C., & Watford, B. A., & Pee, C. M., & Holloman, T. K., & Hawkins Ash, C. (2019, June), Board 93: Toward a National Agenda for Broadening Participation of African Americans in Engineering and Computer Science: A Systematic Review of Workforce Barriers Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32464

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