Cross, K. J., & Paretti, M. C. (2015, June), The Impact of Personal Interactions on the Experience of African American Males on Multiracial Student Teams  Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24882

\bibitem{asee_peer_24882}
  Cross, K. J., \& Paretti, M. C. (2015, June), \emph{The Impact of Personal Interactions on the Experience of African American Males on Multiracial Student Teams}
  Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington.
  10.18260/p.24882

Kelly J. Cross and Marie C. Paretti.  "The Impact of Personal Interactions on the Experience of African American Males on Multiracial Student Teams".  2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2015.  https://peer.asee.org/24882 Internet.  26 Apr, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_24882}
  Kelly J. Cross and Marie C. Paretti.
  "The Impact of Personal Interactions on the Experience of African American Males on Multiracial Student Teams".
  \emph{2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2015.
  https://peer.asee.org/24882 Internet.  26 Apr, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_24882
author = "Kelly J. Cross and Marie C. Paretti"
title = "The Impact of Personal Interactions on the Experience of African American Males on Multiracial Student Teams"
booktitle = "2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2015"
month = "June"
address = "Seattle, Washington"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/24882}
number = {10.18260/p.24882}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - ASEE 2015 Abstract: MIND DivisionAfrican-American student’s experiences on multiracial engineering teamsTeam projects in engineering are critical sites for professional development as students interactwith peers and faculty on projects designed to simulate engineering work. These projects allowstudents to try on professional roles and establish a sense of identity within their field, which inturn influences retention through college and into a career. However, team projects can also be asource of conflict for students from underrepresented populations as their personal andprofessional identities intersect. While substantial research has identified challenges that womenface on mixed-gender teams, few researchers have focused on the experiences of African-Americans on multiracial teams; this study aims to fill that gap.This qualitative study employs a phenomenological approach, using a three-interview sequencewith 9 African-American male engineering students (average age = 19) across academic levels asthey worked on team projects at a large research-intensive, predominantly white institution(PWI). The team projects durations ranged from two weeks to two full semesters. The semi-structured interviews 1) gathered background information about participants, 2) exploredparticipants’ descriptions of the team functionality during the project, and 3) asked participantsto reflect on the experience in the context of their engineering education and identities.Following the practices of phenomenology, all three interviews for each participant weregrouped to holistically describe the “essence” of each participant’s experience. The essence ofthe participant’s experience is captured in the combination of the structural (what) and textural(how) descriptions of the phenomena by the key informants.Preliminary analysis suggests three emerging units of meaning for the student relative to theirmultiracial team experience: 1) participants’ level of racial identification varied significantly; 2)participants did not perceive their race as impacting their team experience, but did describe a“chilly climate” in the larger community (e.g., department, college, and campus); and 3)participants used multiple strategies to manage stereotype threat. First, participants’ racialidentification levels ranged from statements such as “my parents taught me not to see race” to “Iam an African-American.” Second, while most participants stated that their race did not impacttheir team experience, they did discuss feeling isolated in the larger community, including beingsingled out during a class lecture, being questioned for studying in the common area, and getting“dirty looks” while walking through department buildings or on campus. Discrimination was notverbalized, but participants “felt it” during interactions. As a result, students used multiplestrategies to manage how they experienced stereotype threat and made conscious decisions aboutwhen and how to address stereotypes. For example, the stereotype was addressed directly whenan opportunity presented itself, but it was ignored to promote the team progress other times. Theimplications of these emerging themes suggest that engineering educators must cooperativelywork to promote inclusion in addition to broadening participation. Interrogating our roles in whyand how African-American males perceive engineering education as “chilly” can decrease thesestudents feeling of being labeled “the odd man out.”
AU  - Kelly J. Cross
AU  - Marie C. Paretti
CY  - Seattle, Washington
DA  - 2015/06/14
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Impact of Personal Interactions on the Experience of African American Males on Multiracial Student Teams
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/24882
DO  - 10.18260/p.24882
ER  -