Educational Pipeline Research Articles

Understanding the Factors Influencing Women’s Career Trajectories in STEM Education in Kazakhstan.

Although female researchers in Kazakhstan account for 53% of the total, those engaged in science, engineering, and technology fields (STEM) account for less than 45% of the STEM total. A similar pattern is experienced with respect to tertiary education students in Kazakhstan with the percentage of undergraduate women being 58% of the total, but only 32% of the undergraduate students in STEM. Thus, the phenomenon of "leakage" from the STEM educational pipeline starts early and persists, albeit ameliorated with advanced degrees. This study seeks to identify the barriers that deter Kazakhstani women from entering STEM disciplines, from persisting through their studies, and from pursuing successful academic careers. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to identify the extent to which various socioeconomic and institutional factors shape the perception of women towards STEM fields. The major methodological instrument employed is a set of qualitative interviews of female faculty in STEM, designed and calibrated for the local context. The interviewees were randomly selected from one of the largest local universities with a broad spectrum of STEM disciplines. The proportion of indigenous female faculty members in STEM disciplines in this university is less than 25%. The preliminary results reveal that the key barriers are disrupted work-life balance, cultural stereotypes, poor self-assessment, and gender-based discrimination on an institutional level. In addition, factors such as availability of research facilities, job autonomy, involvement in decision-making procedures, and encouragement from the institution emerge as critical facilitators for effective female careers in STEM. The conclusions of this study are expected to inform the development of appropriate questionnaire instruments towards a larger study across a section of tertiary education institutions in Kazakhstan.

Motivating female students in technology education: Staying and thriving on the technology education pipeline of STEM

Learning is an active process that functions optimally when student’s motivation is autonomous. This paper will critique elements of motivation that impact on students’ engagement in Technology Education subjects with an emphasis on female students in senior secondary years of schooling. After interpreting Technology Education and motivational factors, the critique will examine elements identified by various authors as those which motivate modern day youth to engage in non-compulsory education. In fact, the origins of personal and group motivation need to be explored in terms of how youth utilise self-values to engage in practices that schools program for them. Of particular interest are the steps taken by schools to engage females in technology centred programs. Australian data show that young female learners are not articulating through to Mathematics, Science, Engineering, or Technology (STEM) classes and in turn not enrolling in tertiary courses such as Engineering. The critique takes a feminist constructionist view and will draw on research undertaken in senior secondary schools in 2013. Earlier studies have claimed that the artefacts to be made and freedom of choice in the learning process had the most effect on the motivation of students as participants in Technology Education. For some students these elements have affected their intrinsic motivation by expanding their reflectivity and feelings of autonomy. By providing an apparent freedom of choice in materials, techniques, and products to be made, student motivation appears to rise. In examining the research studies on what motivates youth - values are seen to be inextricably linked to the interests and motivation of both individuals and groups. Thus, values will be explored in the context of educational settings of students in the secondary years, with a focus on Technology Education. The implications of the findings in the paper will provide practitioners with strategies to alter the ecology of classrooms for female participants in Technology Education programs in the long term. Those strategies are not about plugging the leaks in the STEM education pipeline, but rather about building a gendered pipeline where girls feel at home doing Technology regardless of whether their school or class is co-educational or single-sex.

Medical education for African American communities in the rural South: A focus group approach to identify fundamental considerations.

We sought to understand concerns fundamental to planning medical education specific to rural southern African Americans who are virtually nonexistent in American medical schools. A diverse multidisciplinary research team conducted this qualitative study with 3 focus groups, including 17 rural medical educators recruited nationwide, 10 African American alumni of a rural medical education pipeline in Alabama, and 5 community and institutional associates of this pipeline. Analysis of recorded transcripts generated themes fitting an ecological model suggesting concerns and intervention foci at individual, community, and institutional levels. Three major themes operating at all ecological levels were: (1) How "rural minority student" is defined, with "rural" often supplanting race to indicate minority status; (2) Multiple factors relate to rural racial minority student recruitment and success, including personal relationships with peers, mentors, and role models and supportive institutional policies and culturally competent faculty; and (3) Challenges to recruitment and retention of rural minority students, especially financial concerns and preparation for medical education. Our findings suggest that individuals, communities, and institutions provide intervention points for planning medical education specific to southern rural African Americans. These spheres of influence project a need for partnership among communities and rural medical educators to affect broad programmatic and policy changes that address the dire shortage of rural African American health professionals to help ameliorate health inequities experienced in their home communities. It is likely that linear thinking and programming will be replaced by integrated, intertwined conceptualizations to reach this goal.

Hustle in Higher Education: How Latinx Students with Conviction Histories Move from Surviving to Thriving in Higher Education

The voices and experiences of formerly incarcerated college students are emerging throughout the social science literature. The importance of documenting their narratives is grounded in the reality that more than an estimated 12,000 system-impacted people are enrolled throughout the California postsecondary education system. This paper highlights the knowledge and skills formerly incarcerated students possess and deploy to navigate higher education successfully. Our study adds to the growing body of literature examining the experiences of formerly incarcerated Latinx students from an anti-deficit perspective. We use the theory of funds of knowledge and semi-structured interviews with 16 formerly incarcerated Latinx students at different points of the postsecondary education pipeline to understand their experiences. We find that formerly incarcerated Latinx students tapped into their “hustle” to move from surviving to thriving in higher education. These pre-college skills, acquired through their life experiences, allow students to seek academic and financial resources, create academic networks, and make personal connections with institutional agents to overcome various personal and institutional barriers.

Dismantle Ableism, Accept Disability: Making the Case for Anti-Ableism in Medical Education.

There currently exists an exciting impetus for increased diversity among medical trainees and improved equity in medical care received by patients. Yet, inclusion of disability within these efforts is often forgotten, allowing the current cultural narrative of ableism to shape medical training. National structural challenges as early as medical school admissions and ableist barriers throughout the educational pipeline have yielded 1) a concerningly low prevalence of medical students and physicians in the US who identify as disabled and 2) propagation of systemic misunderstandings on disability in our healthcare system. This perspective addresses the need for a re-evaluation of diversity in medicine which includes ability status and a commitment to anti-ableism as a critical part of the conversation. We propose reforms and important considerations that could have meaningful implications necessary for improving the culture of disability inclusion in medical education.

Connection, Antiblackness, and Positive Relationships That (Re)Humanize Black Boys’ Experience of School

Background/Context: Black people continue to be popularly imagined as lacking humanity and, as such, are often the disproportionate subjects of unceasing race-gender terror and state violence. A vast body of scholarship has documented the failure of schools to adequately serve Black youth in general, and Black boys and men in particular. There is compelling evidence, however, that consistently humanizing interactions with adults in school lead to positive relationships that in turn may protect against Black boys’ experience of school as fundamentally dehumanizing. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study examined the significance of positive relationships between Black boys and adults in school as they move(d) across the P–16 education pipeline. The study is guided by the following primary research question: How do young Black men and boys describe and understand their interpersonal relationships with adults in P–16 schools? Research Design: A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to understand how 28 Black boys and young men discuss and describe the characteristics of relationships with adults in their school or university. Seven video- and audio-recorded focus groups were conducted. Data analysis occurred in three phases. Video clips from focus groups were analyzed in the first phase of data analysis. During the second phase of our data analysis, researchers employed critical race theory as a key analytic perspective to interpret the data for what they revealed about the ways anti-Black racism and white supremacy structured schooling experiences. The third phase of analysis centered on coding the entire data set, regardless of grade band, for three specific types of interactions: disciplinary/behavioral, social/relational, and academic. Findings/Results: Key findings from the study center on (a) these participants’ keen awareness of the ways their words/behavior/actions are generally misread and misunderstood in U.S. society and (b) the significance of educators’ race-gender perceptions of them in building positive relationships that establish and sustain authentic human connections. Conclusions/Recommendations: Human connection emerges over time and differentiates what our participants ultimately perceived as “good”/positive relationships from “bad”/negative relationships with educators. Recognition of the residual consequences of U.S. chattel slavery for the ways we see, know, and understand Black people and Black children is essential to cultivating positive relationships with Black boys. Although “bad” relationships are characterized by interactions reflecting racial misandry that Black boys come to expect as a normal, ordinary feature of their schooling experience, positive relationships are evidenced through consistently humanizing interpersonal interactions with adults that actively counter harmful racial scripts.

FACTORS IMPACTING ENGINEERING ADVANCED DEGREE PURSUIT AND ATTAINMENT AMONG BLACK MALES

Black males are severely underrepresented in undergraduate and graduate engineering programs. While postsecondary interventions have shown to be effective, they are few and far between. Representation of Black males in all segments of the engineering pipeline continues to lag. There also remains a dearth of research that has sought to uncover and understand the factors that influence Black males to pursue engineering graduate degrees and further use these perspectives for more informed intervention design. As a part of a larger study, the authors used interpretive phenomenological analysis to understand the factors that influenced 15 Black male engineers to pursue engineering graduate degrees and to elucidate factors that led to their degree attainment. As the data was analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis, the authors were guided by cultural capital theory to uncover the assets possessed by participants to attain an advanced degree. Three major themes emerged from this study: benefits of advanced degrees (motivation for why they pursued advanced degrees), social supports (motivation for attainment), and hurdles and obstacles experienced (possible barriers to attainment). Two minor themes (advisor and mentor challenges and negative racial experiences) emerged from the major theme of hurdles and obstacles experienced. Finally, the authors provide recommendations for improving the educational pipeline to in-crease the number of Black males attaining advanced degrees in engineering. The findings of this study may impact intervention design and efforts aimed at recruiting and retaining Black males in engineering graduate programs.

Improving the pipeline for pathologists in Botswana

Abstract Introduction/Objective In the United States, there are approximately 39 pathologists per one million people. In contrast, there is only one pathologist per one million people in sub-Saharan Africa. This shortage of the pathologist workforce significantly impacts the quality of pathology and laboratory services that can be provided in Botswana. Methods/Case Report Root cause and SWOT analyses consisting of the major stakeholders including government officials and key leadership figures from the training university and national referral laboratories were conducted to identify areas within the training pipeline that can be improved. The educational structure, core competencies, clinical exposure and hands-on training, as well as retention and additional faculty were some of the areas in the pipeline identified for improvement. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) NA Conclusion The collaborative training program between Botswana and South Africa were strengthened and additional clinical training sites were incorporated into the training program. The core competencies required of residents were reviewed and additional resources were provided to current residents. The collaboration between Botswana and South Africa for residency and fellowship training was strengthened to include active participation of the head of Pathology at the University of Botswana on the educational curriculum committee. These implemented changes led to the successful advancement of four anatomic pathology residents from the didactic phase to the practical phase of their training. Furthermore, two pathologists were hired to support clinical diagnostics and the education of the pathology residents. In conclusion, a structured review of the educational pipeline and resources that included stakeholders that could effect change led to substantial improvement in the training program and workforce of pathologists in Botswana.

The Community of Bilingual English-Spanish Speakers Exploring Issues in Science and Health: Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Language diversity is increasing in the United States. This growth has implications for language preference, cost, quality, and client outcomes in health services settings. However, language diversity among medical and allied health professionals is lacking. Education pipeline programs are a mechanism to prepare bi- and multi-lingual diverse students to enter health careers. The Community of Bilingual English-Spanish Speakers Exploring Issues in Science and Health (CBESS) is one such program. Through peer mentorship from Leadership Trainees (LT), and a multicomponent 17-month education curriculum, CBESS was designed to increase interest in STEM careers among English-Spanish bilingual high school youth. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted high school students’ education and forced programs to innovate. CBESS was no exception. The most significant modifications were to a) expectations of SRs for a successful Summer Virtual Research Program (SVRP), b) LT roles, and c) scope and delivery of summer science content. A preliminary evaluation was conducted from data collected through pre-post surveys, process data, and focus groups. Among the outcomes were a significant increase in science knowledge among SVRP youth participants as well as no significant differences between cohort 1 and 2 suggesting that changes did not impede program goals. LTs highlighted skills needed and role of mentors. Adaptations were successful and will continue with the 2021 cohort.

PD24-03 TRENDS IN THE RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY OF THE U.S. UROLOGY WORKFORCE

You have accessJournal of UrologyEducation Research IV (PD24)1 Sep 2021PD24-03 TRENDS IN THE RACIAL AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY OF THE U.S. UROLOGY WORKFORCE Efe Ghanney Simons, Aileen Arevalo, Samuel Washington, Serena Does, Lorna Kwan, Anissa Nguyen, Tracy Downs, and Christopher Saigal Efe Ghanney SimonsEfe Ghanney Simons More articles by this author , Aileen ArevaloAileen Arevalo More articles by this author , Samuel WashingtonSamuel Washington More articles by this author , Serena DoesSerena Does More articles by this author , Lorna KwanLorna Kwan More articles by this author , Anissa NguyenAnissa Nguyen More articles by this author , Tracy DownsTracy Downs More articles by this author , and Christopher SaigalChristopher Saigal More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000002017.03AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Historically, urology has had a lack of racial/ethnic diversity in its workforce. In 2019, only 2.0% of practicing urologists were Black and 3.9% Hispanic. Few empirical studies describe trends in urologists who are Under-Represented in Medicine (URM). We aimed to describe the historical trends and current state of racial/ethnic representation within the urology workforce compared to the national population. METHODS: Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Association of American Medical Colleges, trends in racial/ethnic distribution for 2007-2019 were described for the educational “pipeline” for academic urologists, defined as starting with the U.S. population, leading to medical school application and graduation, then residency application, matching and graduation, and ending with urology faculty appointment. A comparative cohort analysis was done for the 2018-2019 academic year for differences in racial/ethnic distribution across cohorts by binomial tests. RESULTS: From 2010-2019, the U.S. Black and Latinx populations increased from 13 to 13.4% and 16 to 18.5% respectively. During that same time, the proportion of Black (3-4%) and Latinx (3-5%) urology residents remained unchanged, despite the increase in total number of residents (N=1043 to 1331). In 2019, there were step-wise decreases in proportion of Black and Latinx members represented at each stage of the educational pipeline, p<0.0001. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of URM urologists was stagnant and did not match the national increase in racial/ethnic diversity during 2010-2019. This may be due to the loss of potential URM urologists at each educational stage. Our findings highlight possible strategies to diversify the urology workforce: diversifying the pool of undergraduates qualified to apply for medical school, targeted support for URM medical students, adequate preparation of URM urology applicants, appraising the equitability of application policies and promoting inclusion for URM faculty retention. Source of Funding: Office of the Vice Dean for Education and Executive Director of the DGSOM AntiRacism Roadmap © 2021 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 206Issue Supplement 3September 2021Page: e426-e427 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2021 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Efe Ghanney Simons More articles by this author Aileen Arevalo More articles by this author Samuel Washington More articles by this author Serena Does More articles by this author Lorna Kwan More articles by this author Anissa Nguyen More articles by this author Tracy Downs More articles by this author Christopher Saigal More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Loading ...

Immigrant Identity and Experiences in U.S. Higher Education Research: A Systematic Review

As immigrant students continue to enter the U.S. educational pipeline at growing rates, it has become increasingly important for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to understand these students’ pathways into and through college as well as the factors impacting their success. Using a systematic review, this analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of how global mobility shapes and is shaped by U.S. higher education, particularly in how immigrant identity and immigrants’ experiences are depicted in U.S. higher education scholarship.

Trends in the Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the US Urology Workforce

To examine the historical trends and factors underlying the current state of racial/ethnic representation within the urology workforce at each stage of the educational pipeline. Using data from the US Census Bureau and the Association of American Medical Colleges, trends in racial/ethnic distribution for 2007-2008 to 2019-2020 were tracked in the educational pipeline for academic urologists. This pipeline was defined as progressively diminishing cohorts, starting with the US population, leading to medical school application, acceptance, and graduation, through to urology residency application, matching, and graduation, and ending with urology faculty appointment. A comparative cohort analysis was performed for academic year 2018-2019 for differences in racial/ethnic distribution across cohorts by binomial tests. From 2007-2008 to 2019-2020, while the proportion of Latinx/Hispanic urology applicants increased by 0.38% per year (95% CI 0.24, 0.52), their proportion in the urology resident population remained unchanged (0.07% per year, 95% CI -0.20, 0.06) from 2011-2012 to 2019-2020. There was a decrease in the proportion of Black urology applicants (-0.13% per year, 95% CI -0.24, -0.02) and no change in the resident population (-0.03% per year, 95% CI -0.11, 0.05), despite an increase in total number of residents (n = 1043 to n = 1734) from 2009-2010 to 2019-2020. In 2018-2019, there were step-wise decreases in proportion of Black and Latinx/Hispanic members represented at critical stages of the educational pipeline (P <0.0001). Attrition in URM urologists occur at key educational stages. This paper offers opportunities for the design of interventions to diversify the urology workforce.

Recognizing Another Black Barrier: The LSAT Contributes to the Diversity Gap in the Legal Profession

Imagine working your entire life with the purpose of building the house of your dreams. The ability to pursue this “calling” has been granted through your tremendous hard-work and dedication to your craft. In fact, building this dream home has been the final culmination of all that you have worked towards over the past several years. Now imagine, you have successfully built the foundation of the house, and began to lay the pipeline for the plumbing. Just as the plumbing was coming together, there was one exact piece that was missing, a coupling, which would be required to connect the pipes. Since pipelines are the heartbeat of all functionality within a house, without the coupling, the incomplete plumbing may diminish the potential of all that your dream house was meant to become. Thus, hindering the dream. Similarly to a person that has a dream of becoming a lawyer. The ability to pursue this calling would be directed through the education pipeline. After obtaining an Undergraduate degree through tremendous amount of hard-work and dedication, the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), a coupling to the next education pipeline, is required for applicants to take when applying to law school. But, what if the LSAT is a faulty coupling that presents a major leak in the education pipeline? This standardize test has revealed years of racial bias from the disturbing score gaps between white and minority applicants. The LSAT has shown to have test biases within the questions that appear in the form of language interpretation, which contains culturally stereotypic language, situations, and structural components. As a result of these biases, there has been a disproportionate amount of lower scores by minorities, which hinders the chances of being accepted into law school. Thus, presenting a leak in the education pipeline that disconnects minorities from achieving their dreams of practicing law. Because of COVID-19, the Law School Admission Council is offering the LSAT online, remotely proctored in place of being in-person. This unexpected change should bring discussion in today’s society about the overreliance on LSAT performance. Institutions should develop new and equitable means to evaluate an applicant’s ability to do well in law school, without disproportionately excluding minorities. Without admission modifications, minorities will continue to remain at a disadvantage when applying to law school.

Estimation and Comparison of Current and Future Racial/Ethnic Representation in the US Health Care Workforce

The COVID-19 pandemic coupled with health disparities have highlighted the disproportionate burden of disease among Black, Hispanic, and Native American (ie, American Indian or Alaska Native) populations. Increasing transparency around the representation of these populations in health care professions may encourage efforts to increase diversity that could improve cultural competence among health care professionals and reduce health disparities. To estimate the racial/ethnic diversity of the current health care workforce and the graduate pipeline for 10 health care professions and to evaluate whether the diversity of the pipeline suggests greater representation of Black, Hispanic, and Native American populations in the future. This cross-sectional study used weighted data from the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) to compare the diversity of 10 health care occupations (advanced practice registered nurses, dentists, occupational therapists, pharmacists, physical therapists, physician assistants, physicians, registered nurses, respiratory therapists, and speech-language pathologists) with the diversity of the US working-age population, and 2019 data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) were used to compare the diversity of graduates with that of the US population of graduation age. Data from the IPEDS included all awards and degrees conferred between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019, in the US. A health workforce diversity index (diversity index) was developed to compare the racial/ethnic diversity of the 10 health care professions (or the graduates in the pipeline) analyzed with the racial/ethnic diversity of the current working-age population (or average student-age population). For the current workforce, the index was the ratio of current workers in a health occupation to the total working-age population by racial/ethnic group. For new graduates, the index was the ratio of recent graduates to the population aged 20 to 35 years by racial/ethnic group. A value equal to 1 indicated equal representation of the racial/ethnic groups in the current workforce (or pipeline) compared with the working-age population. The study sample obtained from the 2019 ACS comprised a weighted total count of 148 358 252 individuals aged 20 to 65 years (White individuals: 89 756 689; Black individuals: 17 916 227; Hispanic individuals: 26 953 648; and Native American individuals: 1 108 404) who were working or searching for work and a weighted total count of 71 608 009 individuals aged 20 to 35 years (White individuals: 38 995 242; Black individuals: 9 830 765; Hispanic individuals: 15 257 274; and Native American individuals: 650 221) in the educational pipeline. Among the 10 professions assessed, the mean diversity index for Black people was 0.54 in the current workforce and in the educational pipeline. In 5 of 10 health care professions, representation of Black graduates was lower than representation in the current workforce (eg, occupational therapy: 0.31 vs 0.50). The mean diversity index for Hispanic people was 0.34 in the current workforce; it improved to 0.48 in the educational pipeline but remained lower than 0.50 in 6 of 10 professions, including physical therapy (0.33). The mean diversity index for Native American people was 0.54 in the current workforce and increased to 0.57 in the educational pipeline. This study found that Black, Hispanic, and Native American people were underrepresented in the 10 health care professions analyzed. Although some professions had greater diversity than others and there appeared to be improvement among graduates in the educational pipeline compared with the current workforce, additional policies are needed to further strengthen and support a workforce that is more representative of the population.

Expectancy-value profiles in math and science: A person-centered approach to cross-domain motivation with academic and STEM-related outcomes

The need to enhance the STEM workforce and, in turn, the STEM educational pipeline is a prevailing issue in the U.S. One critical component in this pipeline is students’ interest in STEM majors and their persistence in such majors, theorized to be a function of both students’ perceived value and expectancy beliefs in the subject matter. Using an expectancy-value lens, we examined cross-domain patterns of high school students’ expectancy beliefs and values in both mathematics and science using a person-centered or profile approach. With data from the High School Longitudinal Study, latent profile analysis revealed five profiles characterized as Low Math/Low Science (i.e., endorsing low levels of expectancy and value beliefs in math and science), Moderate Math/Moderate Science, High Math/High Science, Low Math/High Science, and High Math/Low Science. Taking into account aspects of students’ background and school context, we found that motivational profile membership predicted math and science high school achievement, college persistence, and both STEM major intentions and major choices. Moreover, there were a number of gender and racial/ethnic differences and contextual variation in profile memberships as well. Implications for theory and educational practice are discussed in relation to study findings.

Capturing the Complexity of Alternative Schools: Narratives of Latino Males in an Overlooked Educational Space

This study discusses the needs and challenges associated with Latino males’ treatment in public schools. The primary concern is how nationally, only one in two Latino males graduate from U.S. high schools (Schott Foundation for Public Education in Black Lives Matter: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males, http://blackboysreport.org/ , 2015). However, a growing body of research has emerged, heightening Latino males’ social and academic needs in traditional K-12 educational settings. In this paper, we highlight the need to focus on alternative school settings through the narratives of four Latino males enrolled in two alternative public schools. Our findings describe the nuances in alternative schooling experience for Latino males. It explores the school context's differences to (re)engage youth back into school and the various factors that shape their future aspirations. We discuss implications for research and practice to improve alternative schools' conditions to better serve Latino males in this overlooked sector in the educational pipeline.

What place does nurse-led research have in the COVID-19 pandemic?

AimReflect upon the visibility of nursing‐led research during the COVID‐19 pandemic.BackgroundThe emerging SARS‐CoV‐2 infection has galvanized collaborative and multidisciplinary efforts in clinical and research practice worldwide. The scarce evidence‐base to manage patients with COVID‐19 has included limited nurse‐led research.IntroductionClinical research nurses have greatly contributed to the delivery of COVID‐19 research, yet the number of COVID‐19 nursing‐led research papers appears to be limited, with even fewer nurse‐led research projects funded.MethodsAuthors’ views and PubMed search on ‘COVID‐19 and nursing’.FindingsThere is a dearth of nursing‐led research. Most papers describe the nursing contribution to COVID‐19 care, changes in nursing working arrangements and emotional burden. There are opportunities to explore the consequences to vulnerable population groups of public health measures implemented to stop the progress of the COVID‐19 pandemic.DiscussionWorkforce gaps, limited integration in research structures and clinical redeployment may have hampered nurse‐led research. COVID‐19 may exacerbate staffing deficits by disrupting the education pipeline, obstructing the transition from clinical to academic practice, particularly in areas where clinical academic roles are yet to emerge.ConclusionThe absence of nurse‐led research in COVID‐19 can be explained by chronic, underlying factors and the features of the pandemic response. Emerging models of care, effective staffing and inequalities related to COVID‐19 appear obvious research areas. Nursing leadership needs to strengthen its political voice and lobbying skills to secure nurse‐led research funding.Implications for Nursing PolicyEmbracing international nursing research, strengthening collaborations and lobbying policymakers for investment in nurse‐sensitive research would enhance the response to COVID‐19.

Coming Back Home to Live and Not Die: A Human Geography of a Working-Class Black Gay Male Navigating the Local Higher Education Pipeline

The purpose of this study is to illustrate how in the span of three decades, a working-class Black gay male college student residing in a post-industrial city navigated college. Through a postcolonial geographic epistemology and theories of human geography, we explore his narrative, mapping the terrain of sexual, race and class dialects, which ultimately led to Marcus’s (pseudonym) completion of graduate school and community-based policy research. Marcus’s educational human geography reveals the unique and complex intersections of masculinity, Blackness and class as identities woven into his experiences navigating the built environment.

How Mentors Contribute to Latinx Adolescents’ Social Capital in the Sciences

The aim of this study was to examine how mentors provide social capital to Latinx adolescents in science education. Participants were drawn from a long-term, comprehensive science support program at a medical university in the Midwest. Using a case study approach, various stakeholders participated in one-on-one, in-depth qualitative interviews: 11 Latinx high school and college students, three staff members, 12 graduate student mentors, and 13 faculty mentors. Protocols were approved by an Institutional Review Board. The qualitative analysis was guided by a modified grounded theory approach, which involved three steps: initial coding, focused coding, and modified axial coding. Participants described how mentors promoted youth’s social capital through bridging and bonding behaviors, which were related to students’ (a) enhanced professional development, (b) broadened perspectives about science specifically and education broadly, (c) exploration opportunities, and (d) increased interest in science. This study fills gaps in the literature by showing how bridging and bonding social capital are provided in mentoring relationships and by examining STEM mentoring in a Latinx adolescent sample. Study findings have implications for increasing Latinx students in the science education pipeline. Future directions for research on STEM mentoring and social capital are discussed.

"…You'll Still Make it to the Top": Using Photovoice to Explore Latina/o/x Excellence from the Perspectives of Latina/o/x Youth

While there are numerous studies that employ additive frameworks to combat deficit views of Latina/o/x students, few focus on the perspectives of Latinx youth. This study examines the ways in which 9th grade high school Latinx students define and conceptualize excellence at home, school, and the community using photovoice methodology as a means of youth participatory action research. This research analyzed the photovoice projects of 22 students contextualized within their Educational Journeys (Rodriguez, 2018). The following objectives guided this article: 1) to empirically examine excellence across the home, school, and community among a group of Latina/o/x 9th graders, 2) to provide an in-depth case analysis of two students' photovoice projects within the context of other data sources explored within the Collaborative Research for Equity and Excellence in Our Schools (CREER) project, and 3) to situate the findings within the larger context of the challenges and possibilities facing Latina/o/x students in education. The photovoice projects allowed students to authentically share their stories on the sources of excellence that shape who they are. The article concludes with implications for educators on how they might incorporate photovoice methods in the classroom across the educational pipeline.