Howard University will conduct research that contributes to the basic understanding of how students navigate their undergraduate STEM education and eventually make the transition into STEM graduate study. While a number of studies describe the trends and status of African American participation in STEM careers, more work is needed to understand the mindset, thought processes and experiences of students who do pursue graduate degrees in STEM. We know little about the factors that lead students to pursue STEM graduate degrees. Nor do we truly understand the unique role of the HBCU experience that leads to that choice. Howard proposes to conduct a research study to describe how some students at Howard University, an HBCU, make choices about their post-baccalaureate careers. This study will lead to a better understanding of the common traits and characteristics of those students who choose to pursue STEM graduate degrees.
The intellectual merit of this proposed research lies in understanding how HBCU STEM undergraduates navigate their post-BS career choices. Through interviews, focus groups and surveys, we will identify the conceptual foundations students need in order to pursue graduate STEM education, seek to understand this transitional experience across gender lines, disciplines and citizenship and transform the findings and insights gained from this research into practice. Most importantly, however, we aim to contribute to the literature by expanding the knowledge base about this understudied group (i.e. African Americans at HBCUs) which will allow the HBCU STEM community to identify where additional research is needed and how to enhance the effectiveness of intervention programs. Although we are particularly interested in those students who pursue STEM graduate degrees, we will explore the full array of options that students have, including professional school (medicine, dentistry, business, law) and immediate entry into the workforce. The research team is led by an engineer with extensive education research experience and an educator with experience in STEM education research. For the last three years, this team has overseen a longitudinal study as part of the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education (CAEE) funded by NSF. Preliminary findings from this study sparked the interest in examining career paths and the post-baccalaureate experiences of African American students in the sciences and engineering.
The dissemination goal of this project is to share the findings with a variety of audiences to enhance the scholarly discussion on two broad topics; increasing the numbers of minorities who pursue STEM graduate education, and increasing the awareness of the importance of conducting STEM-based education research in the HBCU community. The engineering and science community as well as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning community will be interested in the results of this study. As a national leader in the on-campus production of African American Ph.D.s and the production of Black undergraduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s, Howard is uniquely capable and holds a social responsibility in creating these broader impacts.
Examining the Post-Baccalaureate Decisions of High Achieving Black STEM Students Funding awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) supported our education research project examining the post-baccalaureate decisions of high achieving Black science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students. Our goal was to provide a comprehensive account of how these students make decisions about their post-baccalaureate careers. Although we were particularly interested in those who pursue STEM graduate degrees, we explored the full array of options, including professional school (medicine, dentistry, business, law) and immediate entry into the workforce. Fifty senior level STEM students participated in this study. The study consisted of semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and surveys. Data showed that 26% of students reported they would be attending graduate school, of that 82% reported they would be pursuing a master’s degree or Ph.D. in a STEM area while the remaining students selected a master’s degree in a social science or business administration. Approximately 19% of the overall sample reported they would be attending professional school and 40% of the sample reported they would pursue a career in industry upon graduation. Not surprisingly, the majority of these students (59%) were engineering students. Among students pursuing graduate school, 36% made that decision during their senior year, 46% during their junior year and 18% before entering their freshman year. Thus, although a few were aware of their post baccalaureate decision prior to entering college, an overwhelming majority of the students made the decision to pursue a graduate degree in STEM areas during their junior or senior year. It is important to note that data from the structured interviews revealed many students reported they came into college with a preconceived notion of their post baccalaureate plan and then changed their decision after consultation from a faculty member or participation in a research intensive program. Similarly, the decision to pursue industry after graduation was often made during students’ junior and/or senior year. In fact, 18% made their decision during their junior year while 70% made their decision during their senior year. The remaining students (12%) made their decision before entering college. This decision was often influenced by students’ employment or internship experience. Finally, 88% of students pursuing professional school made their decision prior to entering college. The remaining 12% made the decision during the sophomore year. Although many of the students participated in programs similar to the ones that those that pursue graduate school participated in, students pursuing professional school were often greatly influenced by family and volunteer experiences. An understanding of the critical point in a STEM students’ academic career in which he/she determines his/her post baccalaureate decision can inform educators on the best time to make academic and career interventions. This study held significance because it includes a minority population of high achieving STEM students and it utilizes multiple data collection methods to examine these students over the course of two years: during students’ senior year as well as their first year beyond completion of the baccalaureate degree. Further, the results of this study enables academicians to better understand how STEM students navigate their post-BS career choices, identify the conceptual foundations students need in order to choose to pursue graduate STEM education, understand this transitional experience across gender lines and discipline, and transform the findings and insights gained from this research to inform practice.
