Science, Technology, Engineering, and Technology (STEM) fields face challenges with underrepresented minority (URM) student achievement and retention. White students earned 59% of bachelor's degrees in science and engineering, while LatinX and African American students earned 16% and 9% respectively (National Center for Science and Engineering…

Objective/Research Question: This research explores how community college students, who are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and aspire to vertical transfer in STEM make choices about majors and transfer destinations. The question is important to advancing equity in STEM, which continues to…

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate self-efficacy as a potential mediator in the relationship between the amount of time students spent during high school participating in the arts and their current science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) motivation levels. The study participants (N = 68) were between the ages of…

Historically, science, technology, math, and engineering (STEM) fields have been saturated with White males while persons excluded based on race or ethnicity (PEERs) are leaving STEM due to a lack of belonging and identity. The purpose of this quantitative multiple regression analysis was to identify whether a relationship exists between the use…

Focusing on community college transfer students who declared a STEM major at their initial transfer to a four-year research university, this study examined the extent to which students' sociodemographic characteristics and academic factors were related to STEM persistence and attrition. This study tracked multiple cohorts of transfer students…

Community colleges expand access to higher education and play a key role in efforts to increase and diversify the future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. While community colleges increase access to higher education and millions of students attend them for some portion of their education, the experiences of…

This qualitative study explored the challenges that Hispanic and African American students experience during their education in STEM fields at community colleges. Students from four community colleges across Texas participated in this study. Drawing from focus group interviews, three themes were identified as self-perceived challenges to degree…

A study of hidden risks, anxieties and barriers to STEM student transfer from community college to a large, comprehensive university is presented. This qualitative study employed a thematic analysis of student responses to a semi-structured interview that asked students about their hesitancy to transfer to a 4-year institution. Participants…

Objective: Community college transfer pathways are critical for advancing gender equity in STEM. Yet, community college students are often ignored within studies of women's participation in undergraduate computing. In a first effort to address this gap in the literature, this paper explores the composition of transfer-intending computing students…

Background/Context: As students increasingly enroll in online postsecondary courses, instructors and students need new strategies to maintain engagement, motivation, and sense of belonging to have academic success, particularly for historically disadvantaged students. This study focuses on improving student success in online postsecondary STEM…

Following COVID-19, teaching was abruptly shifted from a live to a virtual format, posing a challenge to both students and faculty. There is a need to employ alternatives, emphasizing targeting the factors that suit Generation Z students for effective learning while maintaining social distancing. Understanding students' perceptions about the…

First-generation students, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, have low persistence rates. Research shows that one of the barriers to their low persistence is a need for a student-centered pedagogical approach. Research has shown that if an instructor incorporates a pause technique during a standard lecture,…

We explored the impacts of a mathematics prerequisite on student success in Introductory Biology, focusing on students historically underserved in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Specifically, we studied Introductory Biology student outcomes 5 years before and 6 years after adding the prerequisite. Students who had not…

While there is an accelerating demand for professionals in Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers, African-American females (AAF) continue to remain disproportionately represented. Increasing the representation of AAF in STEM is vital to the U.S. workforce. Considerations of both external and internal barriers that impede…

College completion is an important discussion in today's world with only about 30% of community college students completing their degrees within three years of starting their programs. Especially in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields, students are changing their majors or not completing their degrees for a variety of…