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Browsing by Author "Canetto, Silvia S., advisor"

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    Achievements and challenges of undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields in the Ronald E. McNair Program
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Farro, Samantha Anne, author; Canetto, Silvia S., advisor; MacPhee, David, advisor
    This dissertation is comprised of two studies and is about understanding the challenges, choices, aspirations, and perceptions of successful, underrepresented undergraduates in STEM fields. Study 1 compared self-perceptions of academic ability and academic performance of female and male undergraduate science and engineering students from underrepresented ethnic and socioeconomic groups, upon admission in (Time 1) and graduation from (Time 2) the McNair Mentorship Program. Female and male students were similar in regard to academic performance. However, at Time 1, women were significantly more likely than their male peers to describe themselves as academically weaker. Upon graduation from the McNair Program, women's perceptions of their academic skills were on par with those of men. Students with double minority status (i.e. by sex, ethnicity, generation in college, or income) had more negative self perceptions of academic skills, as well as lower performance on standardized tests. Overall, these findings suggest that one barrier for women in STEM education is lower confidence. However, over time female McNair students in STEM increased their self-perception of academic competence. This study's findings also indicate that multiple minority status may have a cumulative negative impact on academic self-perceptions and academic performance. Study 2 focused on the experiences of high-achieving, female undergraduates from disadvantaged backgrounds who are majoring in engineering, physical, or life science. Interviews about educational choices and career aspirations were collected in written form upon admission to (Time 1) and graduation from (Time 2) the McNair Mentorship Program. Students' timing of educational and career decisions, motivations, parental expectations and involvement in educational and career planning, career exploration, and career aspirations were qualitatively analyzed longitudinally and across disciplines. Insights about educational choices and career aspirations are shared and recommendations are given for future research to improve career counseling to support disadvantaged women in STEM fields.
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    Culture matters: factors affecting the persistence of European American and Asian women in two U.S. engineering doctoral programs
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Hosoi, Stefanie Aki, author; Canetto, Silvia S., advisor; Borrayo, Evelinn A., committee member; James, Susan P., committee member; Nerger, Janice L., committee member
    Over 50% of the students enrolled in engineering doctoral programs in the U.S. are foreign nationals, with the majority of these students coming from Asian countries (primarily China, Korea, India, and Taiwan). The present study was designed to better understand the factors that affect the persistence of women in engineering doctoral programs in the U.S., while explicitly examining how differences in students’ cultural backgrounds might influence the factors they perceive as important to their educational persistence. Individual interviews lasting 62 to 98 min were conducted with 16 participants enrolled in two U.S. universities. Ten of these participants were U.S. citizens of European American descent, and six were foreign nationals from five Asian countries (China, Korea, India, Taiwan, and Singapore). All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and then analyzed by team of trained coders using Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA) as a qualitative framework. The results are discussed in two chapters. The first chapter focuses on the perceived challenges described by the 16 study participants, and shows that social contexts and psychological responses to these contexts interact to create challenges to persistence on an engineering educational career path. In the second chapter, factors that participants perceived as promoting their persistence on an engineering educational and career path are described, including both external support structures and psychological factors that motivate persistence. Similarities and differences between the themes that emerged from interviews with U.S. and Asian participants are discussed in both chapters, highlighting the implications of these themes for the development of interventions aimed at increasing women’s representation in doctoral level engineering careers. This paper concludes with a General Discussion, in which I provide an additional theoretical structure to these findings by examines the themes that emerged from the interviews in the context of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), and discuss the limitations of this research.