2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Intersectionality Between Race and Gender in LSAMP-NSF STEM Program Mentorship

Presented at Equity, Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY) Technical Session 9

Undergraduate research experiences are important for students to gain better insight into what they want. Students are paired with mentors and this can lead to both positive and negative experiences. In engineering, especially, this is a chilly climate where if you are not an abled cis white male, it is almost inevitable that you will not be part of the majority in the field. This can lead to stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation and hopelessness in a person’s academic and career pursuits. Race and gender disparities do exist in the field, where the intersectionality between women and students of color promotes the greatest achievement gap. These students, as well as faculty, are represented least in the field. Social, as well as institutional barriers, inhibit success, and our goal is to explore how we can reduce race and gender imbalance in the field of engineering. A solution is to see the intersectionality between race and gender in these women of color in STEM. “[R]esearch must focus on illuminating women of color as political subjects and the gender, racial, class, and sexual politics that impact their lives” (Crenshaw, 1991), and focus on illuminating women of color and their experiences. We have to take seriously the insights of women of color, effectively situating their work on intersectionality as subjugated knowledge (Leslie McCall, 2005). This qualitative research is based on 33 interviews of mentors and minorities protegés within the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) across four different universities within a statewide university system, in the United States of America.

Authors

Ms. Jennifer Ackerman Texas A&M University [biography]

I am a third year PhD student at Texas A&M University in College Station, and am a first-generation, queer, female student from New York. I am in the higher education administration program and my research interests include engineering education for underrepresented students, especially women in the field. I am interested in how their mental health is affected by being an outsider in and out of the classroom.
América Soto-Arzat Texas A&M University [biography]

The second author is a Latine queer person of Mexican descent, born and lived in Puerto Rico and also raised in Brazil. She/they has passionately worked as a research assistant on topics like psychosocial effects after Hurricane María, gender stereotypes in faith communities, racism, and racial identities in Puerto Rico. She/they is the co-author of publications in Cruce and Polimorfo journals. She/they is pursuing a Ph.D. program at Texas A&M University, researching about women’s power in intimate relationships and the role of education during Covid-19. Also, she/they is working on qualitative research to understand the relationship between mentors and minority protégés in the LSAMP-NSF program across campuses. And is the director of the Aggie Research Program at Texas A&M University.
Dr. Christine A Stanley Texas A&M University [biography]

Christine A. Stanley is Regents Professor of Higher Education and holder of the Ruth Harrington Endowed Chair in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University.
Reuben A Buford May University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign [biography]

Reuben A. Buford May is the Florian Znaniecki Professorial Scholar, Professor, and Department Head of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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