2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Studies of Black students’ experiences and journeys to success in engineering programs at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) show that Black students face significant hardship. We must view their experiences through a lens considering multiple factors. It is no longer feasible for students to “wait on the world to change” in engineering programs that perpetuate negative experiences. Stakeholders of these programs must take stock of the state of their culture and assess if the environment they have cultivated is conducive to the diversity goals they set out at the onset of every academic year.

In a previous conceptual paper, we proposed a new framework, Black Student Thriving in Engineering (BSTiE, pronounced “bestie”), to describe what factors contribute to the thriving process based on several existing theories. Six components emerged: (1) internal environment, (2) competence, (3) motivation, (4) belongingness, (5) assimilation, and (6) external environment. The internal environment provides individual context – one’s cultural commitment and identity. Competence is how students perceive engineering concepts and their ability to achieve them. Motivation is a student's willingness to succeed in engineering. Belonging is a student’s perception that they belong in their engineering program at a PWI. Assimilation encompasses how students grapple with who they are and whom they think they need to be in engineering. The external environment provides a discipline-based context – the engineering culture at one’s PWI.

We aim to expand on these emerging themes by focusing on how the internal and external environments affect the thriving process. The previous conceptual paper identified gaps in our understanding of the internal and external environments that must be explored. We will leverage theories that speak to the gender-based racialized experiences of Black students and the racialized nature of institutions. We aim to provide insight into the institution's role in facilitating thriving for Black engineering students at PWIs.