Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are presented in literature as one part of the solution for improving the persistence of Black engineering students and ultimately addressing the shortage of Black engineers in the workforce. Given the value of this learning experience to the individual and the field of engineering, as a whole, it is reasonable to expect for it to be a good one. Unfortunately, there is a growing body of scholarship highlighting the extent to which systemic racism permeates higher education, in general, and undergraduate engineering education, in particular. Since most engineering UREs are led by faculty and staff in Colleges of Engineering, it is reasonable to assume they are not immune to the systemic racial issues that plague engineering education – having exclusionary norms, values, and practices similar to the “culture of science”. Existing scholarship on epistemic exclusion theorizes that individual biases and structural/institutional practices can contribute to faculty of color’s scholarship being devalued and deemed illegitimate. While most literature on epistemic exclusion focuses on how faculty experience discrimination and racism at the internalized, interpersonal and structural levels, what is less understood is the extent to which it happens in some of the earlier levels of research training. If we hope UREs will consistently lead to their espoused value for individuals and the field, there is a need to better understand the extent these three facets of racism in the form of epistemic exclusion –internalized, interpersonal, and structural– manifests in Black engineering students’ UREs and identify ways to replace exclusionary practices with inclusive ones. The purpose of this explanatory mixed-methods study is to examine Black engineering students’ experiences with epistemic exclusion in undergraduate research experiences. The aim of this presentation is two-fold: to discuss the current state of the literature on Black students engaging in UREs within engineering, and to detail the study design and findings to date. Such insights are valuable for exploring how researchers can advance our understanding of Black engineering students participating in UREs, contribute to national efforts to broaden participation of underrepresented minorities in engineering education, and ultimately diversify the engineering workforce.

Biography:
Julia M. Brisbane is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Engineering Education. Her research interests include undergraduate research experiences, broadening participation in engineering, and biomedical engineering education. She received her M.S. from the Virginia Tech – Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Engineering, and her B.S. in Bioengineering from Clemson University.