CAREER: Effects of Community Cultural Wealth on Persistence of Black and Hispanic Women in the P-20 Computing Workforce Pipeline in Texas

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This project will examine the effects of community cultural wealth on the persistence of Black and Hispanic women in computing education and the workforce.

Participants in the study include a national cohort of students enrolled in computer science coursework and degree programs from eighth grade through undergraduate study. A post-graduate component includes continued study of persistence into graduate study or the workforce. Project goals include contributions to the knowledge base on the influence of community cultural wealth on persistence in computing education and the workforce in the United States and a robust compilation of quantitative and qualitative data that can be used to study educational and career trajectories for women in computing.

The integrated research and education plan applies methods from cultural anthropology to investigate the lived experiences of women of color in computing and combines longitudinal, mixed-methods approaches with the ACCEYSS (Association of Collaborative Communities Equipping Youth for STEM Success) integrative conceptual framework, developed by the principal investigator in previous work. Few studies have considered the role of community cultural wealth on the persistence of Black and Hispanic women and girls in computing.

Not only will findings from this study contribute to fundamental research in STEM education, but products, professional development workshops, and an annual conference will build capacity for K-16 educators, researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders in formal and informal settings to positively impact the persistence of Black and Hispanic youth in STEM and computing. This award is supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) and EHR Core Research (ECR) Programs.

The HSI program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. ECR emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.