Beginning with the understanding that minority students are often underrepresented in STEM doctoral programs despite their growing proportions in the population, this study provides a description of selected minority doctoral students' experiences in STEM programs. Specifically, this study examines the influence financial support and relationships with faculty advisors and doctoral peers have on doctoral students' experiences and progress. Data for this research were obtained from 13 minority respondents enrolled during spring, summer, and fall 2009 and 73 majority respondents who provided some comparisons and contrasts. The participants were all Ph.D. students from several STEM programs at a research university in the Midwest. Findings from this study suggest that financial support of doctoral students through fellowships and research/teaching assistantships enables students to interact closely with their faculty and their peers and consequently become integrated into the social and academic systems of their programs. Further, through their experiences in teaching and research minority students report acquiring skills and competencies useful not only for graduate school success (e.g. time management; course reading; dissertation writing) but also for successful transition into their respective professions and careers. Funding takes a different form and plays a different role in shaping students' positive experiences in each of the three stages of doctoral study: fellowships during a student's transition year(s), teaching/research assistants during the middle years, and fellowships during the final year(s). Students reported that this sequence of funding supports successful transition into the doctoral program, development of academic and professional competencies during the middles years, and successful doctoral completion during the final year. Faculty-student relationships are important in socializing minority doctoral students into their disciplines and professions. Faculty advisors and mentors are especially important in developing students' academic competencies as well as in preparing them for their professions. In addition, faculty-student relationships characterized by faculty availability, approachability, interest in developing students' academic and professional competence, and support and encouragement are important, perhaps especially so in the absence of mentoring by faculty of color. Peer to peer interactions primarily offer academic combined with social support. Further, interactions and group dynamics among minority students and their transition into PWI doctoral programs seem to be affected by their undergraduate educational backgrounds.

There is little diversity among earned doctorates in the United States. First-generation college students are especially at-risk for not matriculating to a doctoral degree. This applied dissertation provided an understanding of the obstacles faced by first-generation college students in doctoral programs by studying alumni of the McNair Scholars Program. The study examined the components of the McNair Scholars Program that can help ameliorate obstacles faced by first-generation college students as they enroll and persist into graduate school. This study utilized a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach to evaluate the components of the McNair Scholars Program that prepared students for successful persistence into graduate school and subsequent completion of an earned doctorate.

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<p>  </p> <p>Informal learning environments are critical to supplemental student learning outside the formal classroom space. The problem the research addressed is the lack of informal STEM learning programs for underrepresented minority, female, urban, and rural students. The purpose of this research was to demonstrate the effect informal STEM learning has on the population’s self-efficacy and interest in STEM. The intervention for this research study was a seven-day informal learning summer camp involving five STEM projects from around the field and aligned with relevant fields offered by the Purdue University Polytechnic Institute. The participants worked in large and small group sessions with program volunteers to gain foundational learning outcomes. The outcome was measured using the STEM-CIS survey instrument in a pre-and post-testing format. The data was coded from the Likert scale and then used to calculate statistics and effect size for Likert-style data. The intervention was performed during the summer of 2021 and yielded results showing that students felt the effect of having role models and professionals involved in the STEM field. </p>

The recruitment and retention for underrepresented minority (URM) students in agriculture and natural resources have been minimal. The importance of elucidating the lack of representation of students of color and underrepresented minority (URM) students in these fields suggests that appropriate actions at the secondary school and collegiate level need consideration. According to Silas (2016, p.iii), "students of color are currently underrepresented in agricultural disciplines when examining the increasingly diverse make-up of the United States." Examining the recruitment and retention strategies institutions are currently implementing is critical because of the narrative of these particular fields in the treatment of students of color and URM students over time. Many students of color and URM students that are currently matriculating a degree or currently in a career in these respective areas have possibly experienced the imposter phenomenon and imposter syndrome. People may feel like an imposter regarding accomplishments they believe they do not deserve or questioning their ability to receive such accolades. When an individual inhibits these feelings, this is an example of the imposter phenomenon or imposter syndrome. The imposter phenomenon, first recognized by Clance and O'Toole (1988), is a motivational disposition in which persons who have achieved some level of success feel like fakes or imposters. Individuals likely experiencing these imposter feelings during a period were examined using a lens based on the Critical Race Theory (Bell; 1987, Crenshaw, 1989; Delagado andStefancic, 2012) and Racial Identity Development Theory (Helms, 1990; Helms, 1993). The phenomenological study examines the effects of IP/IS in URM graduate students in agricultural and natural resource-related majors and fields. This method focuses on the participants' lived experiences regarding this phenomenon. The study itself examined how URM graduate students dealt with these particular feelings in their respective environments and what solutions were suggested or needed. The researcher interviewed ten participants regarding their perceptions of diversity and inclusion in agriculture, natural resources, and STEM-related fields. / Doctor of Philosophy / The need for diversity and inclusion within agriculture, natural resources, and STEM-related fields is critical and imperative as the demographics of the United States are changing. The shortage of minority individuals within agriculture, natural resources, and STEM-based fields impede the ultimate success and potential within these areas. The utilization of underrepresented minority (URM) individuals within these spaces ensure proper diversity and inclusion methods within these environments. The minimal efforts of diversity and inclusion within these environments are likely to promote feelings of an imposter within these URM individuals which would likely hinder success and motivation. The imposter phenomenon and imposter syndrome are particular feelings in which persons who have achieved some level of success possibly feel like fakes or imposters. This study examines the perceptions of URM students that have perhaps experienced feelings related to this phenomenon in less diverse and inclusive settings. The researcher examines critical race theory and racial identity development by interviewing ten participants about their perceptions of diversity and inclusion and the imposter phenomenon and imposter syndrome within the agricultural, natural resource, and STEM-related majors and fields.