Abstract
With the increasing global competitiveness of STEM, there have been many calls to increase diversity within this White-male dominated field. However, to ameliorate this issue, little research has been conducted on the experiences of undergraduate Black women who are amongst the most underrepresented in the discipline. This scarcity becomes more pronounced in the case of research solely focusing on undergraduate Black female students pursuing STEM at a designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Thus, in the present study I conducted a qualitative analysis of three focus groups with Black identified women in STEM at an HSI. Through thematic analysis, and considering the theoretical frameworks of person-environment fit and intersectionality, participants’ desire to be in the STEM classroom was identified as the core theme. Three other overarching themes were constructed: (1) exclusionary STEM environment, (2) coping mechanisms, and (3) support systems. These themes (along with their subthemes) conceptualize the relationship between the participants’ intersecting identities, personal attributes, and their STEM classroom environment.