African American women are among the least represented population among engineering faculty in the U.S., and a demographic that faces unique challenges affecting their retention in the academy. This fact was the impetus for an NSF-funded workshop and research project focused on their unique challenges and strategies that enable them to survive and thrive in the academy. This paper summarizes the outcomes of the Intergenerational Mentoring Workshop held Summer 2019 and aims to equip the broader engineering education community with insights for supporting this endangered demographic. The workshop was attended by 24 African American women engineering faculty who represented a wide range of roles in the academy. The day-long workshop consisted of multiple sessions in which participants shared their insights, challenges, and promising solutions. This paper includes the results of qualitative and quantitative data collected from a focus group with a subset of participants, observations made by an external evaluator, and post-workshop surveys. Preliminary data suggests that all participants agreed that the workshop met their expectations and encouraged them as a professional; and 95% agreed that the workshop was appropriate for what they needed at this point in their careers and that the overall workshop had an appropriate balance of interactive activities to keep them engaged. Finally, 80% of the participants indicated they had clarity as to how to address challenges African American women face. Highlights of the research efforts associated with this project will also be discussed.

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In the 1980s, interest in entrepreneurship and innovation experienced significant growth in the United States. As a result, many federally funded programs were created to broaden support for entrepreneurship, from small business grants to entrepreneurship training programs. The increase and large-scale adoption of STEM entrepreneurship programs offers the unique opportunity to examine how these programs can seek to advance racial equity in STEM entrepreneurship programs. The goal of this study was to understand the experiences of racially minoritized participants in a STEM entrepreneurship training program (I-Corps), to identify ways to increase diversity and inclusion in the innovation pipeline. We examined the experiences of 13 racially minoritized academic researchers using semi-structured interview approaches grounded in intersectionality theory. The research question that guided this study was, How do racially minoritized academic researchers experience a STEM entrepreneurship training program? Four themes emerged from the data: 1) structural barriers impacted participant experiences; 2) the rigorous environment and intense climate had negative and positive impacts on participant experience; 3) entrepreneurial identity, mindset, and prior experience impacted participant experience and persistence in entrepreneurial programming; and 4) participants articulated specific takeaways and recommendations for the program. Overall, these findings offer STEM entrepreneurship programs insight into how to design supportive, effective, entrepreneurial, and innovative programs that encourage diversity and inclusivity for all.