Cultural and Systemic Barriers to Graduate Stem Education

The goal of this chapter is to review the landscape of equity-oriented research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduate education. This chapter will serve as a resource to researchers in understanding the breadth of equity-oriented research in STEM graduate education and support them in identifying existing gaps in the literature where additional work is required. This chapter will also serve as a resource to practitioners and policymakers interested in engaging in institutional-wide efforts to further the quality of graduate education and educational outcomes for their students. In this chapter, I primarily focus on the systemic challenges students from historically excluded social groups face which create barriers to their equitable educational experience. I explore the literature to understand the ways in which the racialized, sexist, homonegative, and ableist structure of STEM graduate education maintains inequities in student experience and educational outcomes. I do so by focusing on discriminatory beliefs, policies, values, and distribution of resources which inform the marginalized nature of STEM culture. Finally, I conclude this chapter by identifying the gaps in the literature and discussing the implications for researchers.