2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Racial Equity in STEM Education: Unpacking the Experiences of Black Women in STEM

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session II

In order for the United States to remain competitive in the global market, it will need a diverse STEM workforce to tackle social, scientific, and technical problems that impact every aspect of our lives (National Science Foundation, 2020). Unfortunately, despite a plethora of initiatives and a surge of research activity within the last ten years, the number of Black women persisting in STEM disciplines remains low and in some fields continues to decline (Chen, 2013). In addition, most STEM jobs require postsecondary education, giving institutions of higher education (IHEs) a high level of power as gatekeepers to long-term financial and social well-being (Cabrera, 2014; Carnevale et al., 2020). When individuals are unable to successfully navigate racist and sexist experiences within IHEs and choose to leave STEM, the entire system of social inequality, from health care to housing to generational wealth, is maintained.

In this poster, we share findings from our Racial Equity in STEM Education project (Award #2319810). This exploratory, sequential, mixed methods, longitudinal study elevates the voices of forty (40) undergraduate Black women in STEM at three IHEs in Georgia and posits that the lack of progression for Black women in STEM is based upon what we have termed “interruption.” Although interruptions are daily occurrences in the lives of all people, Black women are interrupted more frequently than others as a matter of their sheer existence. By unpacking student experiences, we can define interruptions and begin to understand how repeated interruptions by peers, professors, and themselves, lead to so many Black women leaving STEM fields.

Authors

Dr. Tamara Pearson Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Tamara Pearson is the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing Deputy Director and Senior Director of Research and Programs at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Her work focuses on disrupting the root causes for the inequitable access, participation, and success of historically marginalized communities in computing. Dr. Pearson is the former inaugural Director of the Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM at Spelman College. In her two years in that role, she was successful in raising significant public and private funds, including a $5 million grant from Google to develop a data hub highlighting the unique needs and challenges of Black women in STEM, the largest ever grant of this kind from Google, and a $4.2 million Racial Equity in STEM Education grant from the National Science Foundation focused on the undergraduate of experiences of Black women in STEM. Prior to her work at Spelman, she served as Associate Director of School and Community Engagement at the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC) at Georgia Tech, where she led K-12 school and district partnerships. Dr. Pearson holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Spelman College, with a minor in Computer Science, and an MEd and PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Educational Technology from the University of Florida.
Dr. Pamela M Leggett-Robinson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2674-3286 PLR Consulting [biography]

Pamela Leggett-Robinson is the CEO and Executive Director for PLR Consulting in Atlanta, GA. PLR Consulting is a boutique Program Development, Management, and Evaluation firm that works with organizations and institutions that seeks to address multi-faceted obstacles confronting both historically and presently marginalized groups in STEM environments as well as optimize current STEM programs through management and evaluation. Dr. Leggett-Robinson has more than 15 years of higher education experience which includes STEM academic and student success/support programming, strategic planning, data analytics, and program evaluation. As a PI, she has garnered funds in excess of $3 million dollars from both NIH and NSF for broadening participation in STEM Undergraduate Education and as an Evaluator has worked on large projects with NSF (Big Data, BioGraph), Google CS-ER, and DOD STEM Student Success. Her distinguished record of STEM programmatic success (at HBCUs and PWIs) is well documented in publications and presentations. Dr. Leggett-Robinson’s latest publications, ”Demystifying Promotion & Tenure: A resource for Black Women” and “Overcoming Barriers for Women of Color in STEM” are resources to assist Black women along their STEM journey. She currently distributes a bi-monthly Overcoming Barriers Newsletter to Women of Color STEM faculty. Dr. Leggett-Robinson holds a Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from Georgia State University and is a Certified Associate of Project Management.
Dr. Monica Stephens Spelman College [biography]

Dr. Monica Stephens is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Spelman College.
Dr. Kathaleena Edward Monds Albany State University

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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