BLASTEM: A look into what Black Doctoral students want and what their faculty are giving

This project addresses the need to understand the ways in which navigating STEM higher education environments impacts Black graduate students, particularly in relation to their mental health and career trajectory decisions, which we explicitly define as both STEM degree completion intentions and intentions to persist in a STEM career. Through analyzing the lived experiences of Black doctoral students (our partners in this proposed work) through the lens of critical race and role strain theories, we aim to enable empirical research for faculty to better understand perceptions of their role in supporting their students and better ways that they can do this through the mitigation of systemically racist practices.