Background Community cultural wealth, or the types of cultural capital that students of color employ, has been used to understand the persistence of students of color in engineering. The assets-based theory of community cultural wealth helps identify the cultural resources that these students develop in their families and communities and bring to engineering. This theory problematizes the experiences of students of color in the context of an educational system designed for White males.Purpose The study sought to answer four research questions: What types of community cultural wealth did African American and Latino students rely on through their engineering programs? How did the different types of capital contribute to student persistence? What differences emerged between African American and Latino students? What differences emerged at the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender?Design/Method We applied secondary qualitative analysis to interviews with 31 engineering undergraduates: 11 African American students and 20 Latino students from 11 universities.Results Each type of community cultural wealth took various forms and contributed to student persistence. Students alluded to navigational and aspirational capital most often. African American men and women activated particular types of capital differently. Women with different racial/ethnic backgrounds also relied on different forms of capital or methods of activation. ConclusionsThe types of capital are dynamic in how they interact with one another.Community cultural wealth is a useful assets-based construct for the study of persistence of engineering students of color.

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a BACKGROUNDResearch on student attrition from engineering has focused on a variety of factors including demographics, campus climate, interactions with faculty and peers, and learning experiences. It remains unclear, however, whether qualitative differences in risk of attrition response patterns exist among students. PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS)The following research questions are the basis for this study: (1) What can be learned about the risk of attrition from engineering by grouping students using a novel method and multiple measures? (2) How are individual characteristics, student experiences, and perceptions related to qualitative differences among students in their risk of attrition? DESIGN/METHODLatent class analysis identifies qualitative differences among engineering students on measures of risk of attrition. A variety of covariates predict membership in each class using multinomial logistic regression. RESULTSThree latent classes are identified with varying degrees of commitment to degree completion and interest in their engineering major. Individuals who are less confident, experience negative interactions with peers and instructors, and hold negative perceptions of engineering are less likely to be committed to engineering and more likely to be interested in other majors. Student experiences mediate the effects of key individual characteristics. CONCLUSIONSCertain types of student experiences are pivotal for a student's commitment to the major and commitment to degree completion. The risk of attrition is sensitive to a combination of student characteristics, experiences, and perceptions. The mediated relationships between risk of attrition and individual characteristics re-iterate the importance of including student experience variables to control for the context of a college.