2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work-in-progress paper describes research efforts to better understand the academic trajectories, particularly persistence, of women in a S-STEM project as they pursue higher education in computing. While students may leave STEM for a variety of reasons, prior research has shown that marginalized groups in STEM often leave because they do not develop a STEM identity or sense of belonging in STEM. Thus, we foreground the importance of identity in understanding the academic trajectories of women. All of the women Scholars in the project identify with a historically marginalized racial or ethnic group in STEM. In recognition of the impact of these multiple, social identities to which Scholars identify, we are employing an intersectional lens to examine how various settings (e.g., at home, at the university, in the S-STEM project, in society), supported or impeded women in their pursuit of a computing degree. Using data from interviews with four women involved in the project, this paper will address the following two research questions: RQ1: How do various settings (at home, at the university, in computing courses, in S-STEM projects, in society) support or inhibit the computing identities of women who may experience multiple forms of marginalization due to their racial or ethnic identities? RQ2: How do these experiences influence their persistence?

We take a critical approach to our work - focusing on how the settings in which students live and their experiences in those settings interact with their multiple identities. This paper will prompt conversations of the role of programs, like the S-STEM project, in supporting women’s pursuit of computing.