Maitra, D., & Coley, B. C., & Thomas, K., & Hailu, M. F. (2022, February), An Exploratory Investigation of the Experiences of Navigating Campus Resources of Black Immigrant Women in Engineering  Paper presented at 2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity) , New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/1-2--39101

\bibitem{asee_peer_39101}
  Maitra, D., \& Coley, B. C., \& Thomas, K., \& Hailu, M. F. (2022, February), \emph{An Exploratory Investigation of the Experiences of Navigating Campus Resources of Black Immigrant Women in Engineering}
  Paper presented at 2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering \& Computing Diversity) , New Orleans, Louisiana.
  10.18260/1-2--39101

Debalina Maitra, Brooke Charae Coley, Katreena Thomas, and Meseret F. Hailu.  "An Exploratory Investigation of the Experiences of Navigating Campus Resources of Black Immigrant Women in Engineering".  2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity) , New Orleans, Louisiana, 2022, February.  ASEE Conferences, 2022.  https://peer.asee.org/39101 Internet.  26 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_39101}
  Debalina Maitra, Brooke Charae Coley, Katreena Thomas, and Meseret F. Hailu.
  "An Exploratory Investigation of the Experiences of Navigating Campus Resources of Black Immigrant Women in Engineering".
  \emph{2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering \& Computing Diversity) , New Orleans, Louisiana, 2022, February}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2022.
  https://peer.asee.org/39101 Internet.  26 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_39101
author = "Debalina Maitra, Brooke Charae Coley, Katreena Thomas, and Meseret F. Hailu"
title = "An Exploratory Investigation of the Experiences of Navigating Campus Resources of Black Immigrant Women in Engineering"
booktitle = "2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering \& Computing Diversity) "
year = "2022"
month = "February"
address = "New Orleans, Louisiana"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/39101}
number = {10.18260/1-2--39101}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Purpose
NSF (2016) reported that Black students received just 6.2 percent of U.S. science and engineering bachelor’s degrees. Whereas Black women only held 2% of science and engineering jobs. This is a significant underrepresentation of gender and race (NSF, 2013). However, the data cited does not differentiate Black women from immigrant backgrounds holding STEM jobs. The generic term of Black identity does not include other cultural and ethnic identities with immigrant background. A specific focus on the Black immigrant women’s college experience appears to be lacking within the literature. While defining the term immigrant, we used the definition provided by the Migration Policy Institute: foreign-born immigrant refers to persons with no U.S. citizenship at birth; they were born outside the United States. And then, the second generation refers to immigrants who are U.S.-born children of immigrants. It’s essential to investigate their college experiences to create a successful and equitable space.
The research questions asked for this study are:
1.	What are the experiences of utilizing available on-campus services of the Black immigrant women pursuing Engineering?
2.	What are the recommendations identified by those students to lessen the gap in needed services and support?

Theoretical Framework
Critical race theory (CRT) is the theoretical framework for our study. One of our epistemological assumptions is color blind policies systematically disadvantage people of color and further creates more inequities. Also, critical race theory encouraged us to generate counter-narratives in the form of discussion, archives, and testimonies because it acknowledges that some groups are socially and culturally marginalized, and their marginalized stories based on their experiences could challenge the dominant practices and can bring changes (Delgado and Stefancic, 2001; Villalpando and Bernal, 2002). Our theoretical framework informed the interview protocol, deductive coding, and the findings. 

Methodology
In this study, we specifically examined the experiences of immigrant women who identified themselves as undergraduate engineering students attending a 4-year public research University located in the South- West of the United States. The data was collected through semi-structured narrative interviews from 10 participants enrolled in engineering programs. The participants first completed a demographic survey. Then we conducted the semi-structured interviews, which were targeted to focus on experiences with departmental culture, campus support, mentoring and faculty interactions, and professional development and future plans to unpack the marginalized experiences of the students.
Each interview lasted between 45 minutes to an hour. Participants received $50 as an incentive for participation in the research study. The interviews were audio-recorded with the consent of participants. As a first-cycle analysis, transcripts were coded deductively. For this study, we focused on-campus support, that means we reported data from student recommendations, their experience of utilizing on-campus services, challenges they faced and gaps in needed support. 
To ensure the accuracy of the data, member checking and intercoder reliability were implemented. 

Tentative Findings
The research is ongoing, and the results thus far are general and tentative. 

Student Experience 
When exploring students’ experience with on-campus services we found that students valued peer to peer support on campus. For example, they relied on the Black African Coalition, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and other multicultural-biracial support groups. Also, students mentioned professional resources like BLAST, which is Barrett leadership and service team, and fellowships offered through the Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology. 
Then students also nurtured their interests like gardening and wood printing through on-campus clubs during the pandemic.
However, most of them reported a lack of peer to staff and faculty relationship. Students also mentioned that interaction with staff and faculty members who identify as one of them is missing in their college experience. 
Another pertinent theme that emerged from the data was the struggle to find basic information; for example, lack of information about transferring credit to save money and the process of transferring the courses with the degree program. Students reported that they often did not know about essential resources like online tutoring services, mentor programs which should be introduced to them formally from the first day of college.
Also, students reported a lack of supports for upper-division engineering classes. Our findings suggested that there is a lack of program-specific academic resources for the students. A major concern also emerged from the data that due to overall negative experiences, some students might not continue their specific degree programs. 

Recommendations from Students
•	Financial worries remained a constant stressor for most of the participants. Students recommended that the department should consider awarding more scholarships. 
•	Under the umbrella of black identity, the clubs also should consider to explore different black identities like Haitian culture, Caribbean culture, African culture. There is no oneness of black identity. 
•	Students recommended providing an easy access guide to scholarships and other resources available to them. 
•	Students also suggested connecting the mentorship path with women engineering professors and postdocs of color from the freshman year to build a robust mentor-mentee network within the engineering school. 
•	Tracking students if they are staying in their major after completion of degree and then revise the specific degree program based on their suggestions. 
•	Students recommended detailed talk on cultural appropriation and gender inequity. One student said, “because women honestly do not understand what they are protected under”. 
•	Our participants conveyed an immediate need to hire more black administrators and to invite more women of color at the career fair. 

Significance
This paper will hopefully create dialogues around the experiences of Black immigrant women in engineering, and their voice will reach the policymakers and educators nationally so that they are better supported in their programs. This paper also aims to identify the gaps in needed support and services directly from the students. Recommendations from the students are the stepping stone to re-evaluate the student need at the departmental and institutional level. Also, we believe some of our findings might have implications for other marginalized groups. To this end, this paper connects to the conference theme of understanding inclusion, equity, access, and diversity to broaden participation focused on the issues such as intersectionality of race and gender.










AU  - Debalina Maitra
AU  - Brooke Charae Coley
AU  - Katreena Thomas
AU  - Meseret F. Hailu
CY  - New Orleans, Louisiana
DA  - 2022/02/20
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - An Exploratory Investigation of the Experiences of Navigating Campus Resources of Black Immigrant Women in Engineering
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/39101
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--39101
ER  -