The proposed project will examine the impact of contextual factors, career planning skills, confidence in career decision, mindset, social class, and social capital on career development of STEM students. Researchers will investigate the tole of these factors on African American STEM student persistence. As a translational research study, the project grounds theory in practice and demonstrates the impact of using a revised intervention focused on developing the career management skills of African American undergraduate STEM students. The researchers will produce evidence of an effective method for increasing the retention of minority STEM students.
Grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), the project follows a mixed methods design to answer three research questions: (1) How do SCCT-defined contextual factors such as social capital and social class affect the change in participants? career planning abilities and intentions to obtain a graduate degree in STEM? (2) How does an increase in institutional resources designed to support STEM majors impact the efficacy of the intervention? and (3) What is the long-term impact of the intervention on STEM students who participated in the prior career management interventions? Researchers will obtain quantitative and qualitative information on the impact of the intervention and support model building related to career development of minority students. The project is expected to fill a gap in the vocational psychology and STEM persistence literature, i.e., the integration of theory related to career development with underrepresented minorities with research on effective career intervention, growth mindset, and academic persistence for African American STEM students.
This project is funded by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program, broadening participation in STEM education research track.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
