Exploring the dual pandemic experiences of Black male engineering students

Abstract

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a widespread effect on students, and accompanying it was the social unrest following the murder of George Floyd. Scholars have called this melding of a global health crisis and the social realization of the value (or lack thereof) of Black life as the “dual pandemic.” Despite the proliferation of studies highlighting the effect of the dual pandemic on students in general, fewer published studies have foregrounded the experiences of Black men in engineering undergraduate programs and how they experienced these phenomena. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate how Black male engineering students experienced these two phenomena to better understand how to support Black men’s success in engineering not only during troubling times but at all times. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 Black male engineering students. Using thematic analysis , we developed three themes: (1) feelings of estrangement, (2) adaptation, and (3) resilient reintegration, which illuminate the resilience of Black male engineering students. Though the participants reported setbacks due to the effect of the pandemic and social unrest on their academic pursuits, they ultimately demonstrated an unwavering ability to adapt and reframe those setbacks in positive ways that allowed them to push forward.