PANEL: Viewing engineering education through the lens of social science: A candid dialogue on race and gender

Abstract

Engineering faculty members and industry professionals play a crucial and multi-faceted role in science and engineering; they help to discover, promote, and disseminate advancements in technology, as well as educate a future workforce of multi-cultural, multiracial engineers. It follows that a thorough understanding of racial and gender disparities is required: (1) to address the complexity of issues facing potential faculty and professionals and (2) to foster greater numbers of Black engineers into academia and industry. There has been a concerted national effort to promote diversity among the engineering research, industry, and faculty communities for more than 40 years. These programs historically focus on the basic mechanisms of an academic or industry career (e.g., the tenure-track process, grant writing, writing a winning CV). However, the efficacy of programs aimed at producing Black engineering faculty and professionals must be examined given the flat percentage of Black engineering faculty near 2.5% for the past decade. To that end, we seek to investigate the degree to which intersectionality (i.e., the interplay of racial stereotypes, gender biases, and other issues) within the engineering education has been addressed for diversity. We argue that engineering education does not adequately addresses race, gender, and other types of bias that require the input of multiple perspectives. Scholarly contributions from fields such as sociology, psychology, and education, in addition to engineering perspectives, will facilitate a greater positive impact for Black Ph.D. and postdoctoral participants. Thus, this panel will be informed by understandings about: (1) the social construction of race, (2) the impact of discrimination on mental health and wellness, and (3) education as a means of transformational change. The work of contributing scholars from fields outside of science and engineering focuses on several crucial areas, including: (1) race, culture, and social stratification; (2) social justice in education; (3) mathematical and racial identity; (4) racial socialization processes; and, (5) race and gender intersectionalities. From this range of expertise, the panel will be able to integrate relevant strands into the challenge of diversity that faces engineering education. This proposed panel seeks to provide the increased awareness of engineering as a profession impacted by racialized and gendered factors that create particular difficulties for Black engineering students who pursue academia or industry. Many of these students are coping with societal constraints. Consequently, this panel will provide assistance in creating effective strategies to transcend traditional boundaries that typically impede their opportunity to pursue engineering employment, in particular, when they are also faced with the need to address a host of negative racial and gendered experiences. The panelists were asked to review the findings presented by McGee et al. [1] in order to provides research perspectives, resources, and insightful narrative videos on strategies for navigating and supporting the experiences of Black engineering graduate students and faculty. The panel discussion would address key questions, including: How does structural racism manifest in the everyday experiences of students and teachers of color in higher education? Do these experiences manifest differently in engineering contexts? What is the role of mentorship in fostering a healthy and culturally affirming identity in students and professionals of color in engineering? What can institutions do to create or improve their climate so that it enhances the opportunities of their students of color in engineering and recognizes and fosters the brilliance of these students?