"This book addresses the formidable barriers faced and overcome by women of color in STEM, as well as how the navigation of the STEM landscape impacts their lives"--

Despite a plethora of initiatives, policies, and procedures to increase their representation in STEM, women of color still remain largely underrepresented. In the face of institutional and societal bias, it is important to understand the various methods women of color use to navigate the STEM landscape as well as the role of their personal and professional identities in overcoming the systemic (intentional or unintentional) barriers placed before them. Overcoming Barriers for Women of Color in STEM Fields: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a collection of innovative research depicting the challenges of women of color professionals in STEM and identifying strategies used to overcome these barriers. The book examines the narrative of these difficulties through a reflective lens that also showcases how both the professional and personal lives of these women were changed in the process. Additionally, the text connects the process to the Butterfly Effect, a metamorphosis that brings about a dramatic change in character and perspective to those who go through it, which in the case of women of color is about rebirth, evolution, and renewal. While highlighting topics including critical race theory, institutional racism, and educational inequality, this book is ideally designed for administrators, researchers, students, and professionals working in the STEM fields.

Though there has been a rapid increase of women’s representation in law and business, their representation in STEM fields has not been matched. Researchers have revealed that there are several environmental and social barriers including stereotypes, gender bias, and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities that continue to block women’s progress in STEM. In this book, the authors address the issues that encounter women of color in STEM in higher education.

Movement into academic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields has been slow for women and minorities. Not only are women and minorities underrepresented in STEM careers, there is strong evidence that many academic departments are resistant to addressing the concerns that keep them from entering careers in these fields. In light of recent controversies surrounding these issues, this volume, examining reasons for the persistence of barriers that block the full participation and advancement of underrepresented groups in the sciences and addressing how academic departments and universities can remedy the situation, is particularly timely. As a whole, the volume shows positive examples of institutions and departments that have been transformed by the inclusion of women and recommends a set of best practices for continuing growth in positive directions.

Although the effort to involve women in engineering has risen in recent years with the creation of new initiatives and the promotion of inclusion in technical disciplines, the active participation of women in engineering professions is continuously lower than expected. While the need for engineers appears to be constantly increasing, women still do not fill most of this role and have a long way to go to even reach an equal split in the field. This gender gap has a significant impact how women in the STEM fields are perceived as well as their experiences in their education and careers. When it comes to Latin American women in IT, their contribution to science can go unnoticed, their participation levels in these fields are very low, and they often occupy lower-level positions than their male counterparts. These issues need to be discussed, and the experiences of women who work in the field must be shared. Latin American Women and Research Contributions to the IT Field highlights the important role of Latin American women in IT by collecting and disseminating their frontier-research contributions in order to provide more visibility and inspire greater participation of Latin American women within the major field of computer science. With chapters contributed by female authors from eight Latin American and Caribbean countries, the book provides a deep analysis of these women’s trajectory paths to high quality theoretical and applied relevant research in computer science and IT. While highlighting areas such as inclusivity and STEM education, along with advancements and achievements in topics that include nonverbal interaction in virtual reality, fuzzy logic applications in education, and ant colony optimization, this book is ideal for professionals, academics, students, and researchers working in the fields of information technologies and computer science as well as those interested in gender and women’s studies.

Now more than ever, the collaboration of researchers and practitioners from both PreK-12 and higher education in partnership and in research is imperative for solving problems in teaching and learning and for instituting fundamental change in education. There is growing empirical work on educational change and improvement in school-university partnership settings that should be explored. This applied research and research design impacts the initiation and institution of change in partnership settings. Thus, the role of research is an essential lever for reform. Practical perspectives are necessary to share for shaping a future in partnerships and to promote collaborative action and inquiry in school-university and professional development partnership settings. This includes changes in the partnerships’ classroom teaching, in school and college policies, student outcomes, course content, and in partnerships’ teacher education programs. Change and Improvement in School-University Partnership Settings: Emerging Research and Opportunities spotlights the types of research, research designs, and exemplar studies that were successful in producing changes and improvements in the longitudinal partnerships the author founded and directed. The chapters reveal what worked and why it worked along with brief descriptions of the exemplar studies that served as catalysts for change. In addition, a brief history of the partnership movement in America is given along with an overview of the current landscape of the different types of education partnerships prevalent today and their key research features. This book is ideal for researchers, scholars, teacher-researchers, change agents, professors, teacher educators, students, and graduate fellows interested in conducting practical and effective applied research for change and improvement in school-university partnership settings.

The world was dealt a blow that included a pandemic and economic crisis as well as racial unrest, initiating an energized charge for social justice advocacy. The United States is currently facing an unprecedented challenge in ensuring that all citizens live in a fair, inclusive, and opportunity-rich society. These issues have heightened questions about racial justice that have been placated but can no longer be ignored. Marginalized communities cannot thrive if they continue to be oppressed, neglected, disinvested, and isolated from economic opportunity. The culture of allyship needs to be enacted thoughtfully and not performatively to create sustainable change through a critical mass of engaged advocates and activists. Many organizations enable the status quo by not confronting issues around race, gender, and equity. Leaders of color want a seat at the table as highly valued contributors for the transformation of a just and equitable America. By listening to the voices of Black and Brown leaders, the promotion of change in an era of social unrest will finally occur. Black and Brown Leadership and the Promotion of Change in an Era of Social Unrest amplifies the voices of leaders who identify as Black, LatinX, Indigenous, or people of color as they navigate leadership during a time of tumultuous change and social unrest. More specifically, it portrays dilemmas that marginalized communities encounter while advocating for justice and social change within whitestream organizational systems. The chapters delve into the definitions, perceptions, and lived experiences of Americanism, identity, otherness, and racism as it relates to leadership and discusses the issues, dilemmas, struggles, and successes that persons of color experience in leadership roles in business and education. This book is valuable for practitioners and researchers working in the field of social justice leadership in various disciplines, social justice activists and advocates, teachers, policymakers, politicians, managers, executives, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in how leaders of color can succeed, navigate hostile spaces, and ultimately create a change in mindsets and practices that will lead to justice.