“How You Got Me Messed Up”: A Critical Analysis of Doctoral Engineering Education through the Lens of Black PhD Candidates

Crystal Alicia Nattoo; Crystal E Winston; Rachel A. G. Adenekan

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Graduate Studies Division (GSD) Technical Session 7: Graduate Student Experiences
Tagged Division: Graduate Studies Division (GSD)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46403

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Paper Authors

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Crystal Alicia Nattoo Stanford University orcid.org/0000-0001-9045-5575

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Crystal Nattoo (she/her) is a first-generation college student from South Florida. She graduated with her bachelors from the University of Miami in 2019 as an Electrical Engineering (EE) major and Graphic Design minor. She then received her EE M.S. degree at Stanford University in 2021, and is currently continuing in the EE Ph.D program. Her current research focuses on the fabrication and characterization of flexible sensors and circuits using 2D transition metal dichalcogenides. She is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Fellowship.

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Crystal E Winston Stanford University

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Crystal E. Winston is a fourth year PhD candidate in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University, Stanford CA, USA. Before pursuing the PhD, Crystal received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA, USA in 2019 and an MPhil degree from Imperial College London, London, UK in 2021. Crystal's research interests include origami robot design and haptics. Crystal's research is supported by the Stanford Graduate Fellowship and the Stanford Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Fellowship.

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Rachel A. G. Adenekan Stanford University

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Rachel A. G. Adenekan received the S.B. degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in music from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA, in 2017 and the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, in 2019. She defended her PhD dissertation at Stanford University in April 2024, and her PhD in Mechanical Engineering will be conferred in June 2024). Her research interests include smartphone-based tools for continuous monitoring, digital / wearable health technologies, and biomechanics, and her work was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Stanford Graduate Fellowship (Medtronic Foundations), the Stanford Precision Health and Integrated Diagnostics Center, the Stanford Center for Digital Health, the Stanford Diabetes Research Center, and the Stanford Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Fellowship.

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Abstract

Engineering graduate education has been the machine keeping research and development afloat for decades. There have been recent efforts to increase the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds admitted to doctoral programs. However, after admission, the problem of retention becomes salient for underrepresented minority groups (URMs) in academia [1]. As young Black engineers continue to enter advanced graduate studies, it becomes important to examine factors that impact how they enter and ultimately decide to leave the institution. In this work, we used the autoethnographic method to share our experiences and illustrate the issues faced by Black PhD students at elite research institutions. We relate our experiences chronologically starting with the expectations from peers once arriving on campus, moving into the expectation of solving a university's equity problems, and ending with the mental burdens of coping with an unhealthy work environment. All of these become factors that can impact whether or not Black PhD students decide to leave the program before completion.

Doctoral education begins with the submission of a strong application. While many resources lay out how to tailor an application to increase a student’s chances of acceptance, there is little criticism of the existing rhetoric surrounding doctoral programs and what they may offer a student long-term, especially in terms of education quality and support systems in place to ensure student retention. Once admitted to the graduate program of their dreams, challenges of identity alignment with peers can make integration a burden for minoritized groups like Black PhD candidates [2]. This integration struggle bleeds into the lab setting, which lacks proper internal oversight. A lack of emphasis on selecting PIs who are well-equipped to lead supportive and diverse laboratories coupled with a lack of diversity in the researcher and PI populations frequently leads to a toxic work environment that Black PhD students have the burden of navigating through during their entire doctoral program. We hope that sharing our experiences will serve as a reference point in the reformation of the graduate engineering education system. By challenging biases and fostering a more inclusive academic space, we aim to see an improvement in the graduation rates of Black doctoral candidates.

REFERENCES [1] A. K. Shaw et al., "Differential retention contributes to racial/ethnic disparity in U.S. academia," PLoS One, vol. 16, no. 12, p. e0259710, 2021, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259710. [2] T. Schmader and C. Sedikides, "State authenticity as fit to environment: The implications of social identity for fit, authenticity, and self-segregation," Personality and Social Psychology Review, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 228-259, 2018.

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Nattoo, C. A., & Winston, C. E., & Adenekan, R. A. G. (2024, June), “How You Got Me Messed Up”: A Critical Analysis of Doctoral Engineering Education through the Lens of Black PhD Candidates Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46403

TY - CPAPER
AB - Engineering graduate education has been the machine keeping research and development afloat for decades. There have been recent efforts to increase the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds admitted to doctoral programs. However, after admission, the problem of retention becomes salient for underrepresented minority groups (URMs) in academia [1]. As young Black engineers continue to enter advanced graduate studies, it becomes important to examine factors that impact how they enter and ultimately decide to leave the institution. In this work, we used the autoethnographic method to share our experiences and illustrate the issues faced by Black PhD students at elite research institutions. We relate our experiences chronologically starting with the expectations from peers once arriving on campus, moving into the expectation of solving a university&#39;s equity problems, and ending with the mental burdens of coping with an unhealthy work environment. All of these become factors that can impact whether or not Black PhD students decide to leave the program before completion.

Doctoral education begins with the submission of a strong application. While many resources lay out how to tailor an application to increase a student’s chances of acceptance, there is little criticism of the existing rhetoric surrounding doctoral programs and what they may offer a student long-term, especially in terms of education quality and support systems in place to ensure student retention. Once admitted to the graduate program of their dreams, challenges of identity alignment with peers can make integration a burden for minoritized groups like Black PhD candidates [2]. This integration struggle bleeds into the lab setting, which lacks proper internal oversight. A lack of emphasis on selecting PIs who are well-equipped to lead supportive and diverse laboratories coupled with a lack of diversity in the researcher and PI populations frequently leads to a toxic work environment that Black PhD students have the burden of navigating through during their entire doctoral program. We hope that sharing our experiences will serve as a reference point in the reformation of the graduate engineering education system. By challenging biases and fostering a more inclusive academic space, we aim to see an improvement in the graduation rates of Black doctoral candidates.

REFERENCES
[1] A. K. Shaw et al., &quot;Differential retention contributes to racial/ethnic disparity in U.S. academia,&quot; PLoS One, vol. 16, no. 12, p. e0259710, 2021, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259710.
[2] T. Schmader and C. Sedikides, &quot;State authenticity as fit to environment: The implications of social identity for fit, authenticity, and self-segregation,&quot; Personality and Social Psychology Review, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 228-259, 2018.

AU - Crystal Alicia Nattoo
AU - Crystal E Winston
AU - Rachel A. G. Adenekan
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - “How You Got Me Messed Up”: A Critical Analysis of Doctoral Engineering Education through the Lens of Black PhD Candidates
UR - https://peer.asee.org/46403
ER -