2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Student Understandings of Race and Racial Bias in Computing Environments

Presented at Supporting Students and Faculty in Computing (Equity, Culture & Social Justice in Education Division ECSJ Technical Session 7)

This work-in-progress research paper examines the relationship between undergraduate computing students’ understanding of race and their awareness of racial bias in computing environments. Despite global demand for computing expertise, Black, Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander people remain significantly underrepresented among students, faculty, and industry professionals in the field. While prior broadening participation efforts have focused on increasing representation, less attention has been paid to how students’ perceptions of race may influence their recognition of racial bias in computing contexts.

Grounded in Bonilla-Silva’s framework of race-evasive racism, this study employs a mixed-methods approach to explore how students’ racial identities and experiences shape their perceptions of race and bias in computing. The data was collected through a widely distributed survey and follow-up interviews with a subset of survey respondents. The survey was developed through iterative testing and refinement and consists of 36 items across six constructs: home environment; college environment; belonging/comfort in computing courses and departments; perceptions of race; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and practices; and definitions of race. Semi-structured interviews further explore themes emerging from the quantitative data.

Data collection occurred during the fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters, involving 552 survey respondents from 26 colleges and universities across the United States, China, and Canada, with 46 participants engaging in follow-up interviews. The research explores: How do undergraduate students’ definitions of race and perceptions of biological differences between races influence beliefs about racial bias in computing environments?

Preliminary analysis reveals varying levels of understanding about race as a social construct, with some students still adhering to outdated notions of biological racial differences. This appears to correlate with students’ abilities to recognize potential racial bias in their university computing departments and their perceptions of the computing workforce. Additionally, the data suggests that students’ country of origin and educational backgrounds significantly influence their perspectives on race and its relevance to computing.

This study aims to contribute to the broader goals of social justice in computing education and industry. Understanding how students conceptualize race and its implications in computing can inform more targeted interventions to foster inclusive learning and working environments. This research provides insights into potential barriers to creating truly diverse and inclusive computing communities, aligning with the ECSJ mission to challenge and confront oppressive systems, structures, and practices in and surrounding engineering education. The findings will help universities, departments, and educators design curricula and policies that more effectively address racial bias in computing environments, ultimately working towards dismantling systemic inequalities in the field.

Authors

Jabari Kwesi Duke University
Morgan bernstein Duke University
Reagan Lenora Razon Duke University
Andre Luis Barajas Duke University
Dr. Brean Elizabeth Prefontaine http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8332-7150 Duke University [biography]

Dr. Brean Prefontaine is a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University working with the Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AiiCE). Her research currently focuses on (1) the policies and practices impacting computer science students from marginalized identities and (2) how informal STEM environments can provide a space for students to develop physics or STEM identities. She earned her B.S. in Physics from Drexel University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from Michigan State University. Before starting at Duke, she worked for Horizon Research, Inc. as an external evaluator for STEM education projects.
Victoria E. Callais http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8519-5270 Duke University [biography]

Dr. Tori Callais is an AiiCE postdoctoral researcher at Duke University. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts, a concentration in women and gender studies, with minors in sociology and social work from Louisiana State University. She received her Master’s Degree in Higher Education Administration from Louisiana State University and her Ph.D. in Higher Education from Loyola University Chicago. Her graduate research focused on the racialization of digital campus spaces through the lens of undergraduate experiences and administrative reflection on organizational infrastructure and digital campus culture. Her other research interests include racial equity and STEM education, whiteness and organizational change, untangling whiteness in research approaches, and equity-focused research on higher education in the deep south.
Shaundra Bryant Daily http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6612-2049 Massachusetts Institute of Technology [biography]

Shaundra B. Daily is a Cue Family professor of practice in Electrical and Computer Engineering & Computer Science at Duke University and Levitan Faculty Fellow, Special Assistant to the Vice Provosts. Prior to joining Duke, she was an associate professor with tenure at the University of Florida in the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering. She also served as an associate professor and interim co-chair in the School of Computing at Clemson University. Her research focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of technologies, programs, and curricula to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM fields. Currently, through this work, she is the Backbone Director for the Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education as well as Education and Workforce Director for the Athena AI Institute. Having garnered over $40M in funding from public and private sources to support her collaborative research activities, Daily’s work has been featured in USA Today, Forbes, National Public Radio, and the Chicago Tribune. Daily earned her B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University – Florida State University College of Engineering, and an S.M. and Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab.
Dr. Alicia Nicki Washington http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-9180-6234 Duke University [biography]

Dr. Nicki Washington is a professor of the practice of computer science and gender, sexuality, and feminist studies at Duke University and the author of Unapologetically Dope: Lessons for Black Women and Girls on Surviving and Thriving in the Tech Field. She is currently the director of the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows program and the NSF-funded Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AiiCE). She also serves as senior personnel for the NSF-funded Athena Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Her career in higher education began at Howard University as the first Black female faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. Her professional experience also includes Winthrop University, The Aerospace Corporation, and IBM. She is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University (B.S., ‘00) and North Carolina State University (M.S., ’02; Ph.D., ’05), becoming the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science at the university and 2019 Computer Science Hall of Fame Inductee.

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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computer science
race/ethnicity
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