Immigrant Identity and Experiences in U.S. Higher Education Research: A Systematic Review

As immigrant students continue to enter the U.S. educational pipeline at growing rates, it has become increasingly important for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to understand these students’ pathways into and through college as well as the factors impacting their success. Using a systematic review, this analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of how global mobility shapes and is shaped by U.S. higher education, particularly in how immigrant identity and immigrants’ experiences are depicted in U.S. higher education scholarship.

STEM for All

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts are the very foundation of the contemporary and futuristic way of life for the United States and other socio-political entities as well. Yet, growth in STEM education participation has, despite programs of intervention, remained sluggish, rendering an American economy that has become increasingly dependent upon imported STEM talent. This chapter argues that the asymmetric outcomes that are observable across the educational pipeline reflect unique barriers to entry that are not only based upon IQism, but socioeconomic as well as socio-cultural diversity. Utilizing a review of selected literature, the thesis is introduced that a STEM-for-all movement is needed that remediates STEM exclusion. Throughout the discussion, strategies are recommended for policymakers, institutions of education, communities, and families in reversing the growth of a new STEM-based system of social stratification.

Jefa o Profesora

Is a winner mentality acceptable? This chapter will present a brief description of a winner mentality, opportunity gap, and the good, the bad, and the perplexity of the educational pipeline for Latinos. Hispanic women/Latinas in higher education have been affected or have benefited during the process of entering institutions into higher education by the recruitment, retention, and promotion of the organizations. As a growing and developing society where income is related with access to education and job opportunities, Hispanic students in the United States have seen how different their educational outcomes are from their White classmates. Overcoming every step of the way many have become Jefa/Supervisor and others Profesora/Professor by exercising positive human interaction while understanding institutional hierarchies and innovating ways to work the system.

SeqAcademy: an educational pipeline for RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analysis

Quantification of gene expression and characterization of gene transcript structures are central problems in molecular biology. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) are important methods, but can be cumbersome and difficult for beginners to learn. To teach interested students and scientists how to analyze RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data, we present a start-to-finish tutorial for analyzing RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data: SeqAcademy (source code: https://github.com/NCBI-Hackathons/seqacademy, webpage: http://www.seqacademy.org/). This user-friendly pipeline, fully written in markdown language, emphasizes the use of publicly available RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data and strings together popular tools that bridge that gap between raw sequencing reads and biological insight. We demonstrate practical and conceptual considerations for various RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analysis steps with a biological use case - a previously published yeast experiment. This work complements existing sophisticated RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq pipelines designed for advanced users by gently introducing the critical components of RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analysis to the novice bioinformatician. In conclusion, this well-documented pipeline will introduce state-of-the-art RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analysis tools to beginning bioinformaticians and help facilitate the analysis of the burgeoning amounts of public RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data.

Workforce Diversity in Eating Disorders: A Multi-Methods Study

Despite growing recognition of the importance of workforce diversity in health care, limited research has explored diversity among eating disorder (ED) professionals globally. This multi-methods study examined diversity across demographic and professional variables. Participants were recruited from ED and discipline-specific professional organizations. Participants’ (n = 512) mean age was 41.1 years (SD = 12.5); 89.6% (n=459) of participants identified as women, 84.1% (n = 419) as heterosexual/straight, and 73.0% (n = 365) as White. Mean years working in EDs was 10.7 years (SD = 9.2). Qualitative analysis revealed three themes resulting in a theoretical framework to address barriers to increasing diversity. Perceived barriers were the following: “stigma, bias, stereotypes, myths”; “field of eating disorders pipeline”; and “homogeneity of the existing field.” Findings suggest limited workforce diversity within and across nations. The theoretical model suggests a need for focused attention to the educational pipeline, workforce homogeneity, and false assumptions about EDs, and it should be tested to evaluate its utility within the EDs field.

Projecting Success

Changing the trajectory of Black male students may not yet be a national conversation, but it's on the national radar screen. The success of Black males has increasingly become a topic of research, dialogue, debate, and strategic planning. As we engage in the conversation, however, talking with Black male students is a reminder that we're educating kids, not statistics, and that, as one Black student affirms, “The truth doesn't live in numbers. It lives in the person.” The challenges facing Black males throughout the educational pipeline have been discussed by researchers in detail. However, missing from this research are discussions from the perspective of researchers, educators, and community members united on how to better support Black males. This case study examines the field placement partnership between Perimeter College and Project Success: 100 Black Men of Atlanta. The case study documents the goals, plans, and outcomes of the three-year partnership.

Remapping the Latina/o and Chicana/o Pipeline: A Critical Race Analysis of Educational Inequity in Texas

This project creates the first educational pipeline for the state of Texas. It incorporates middle school as a key transition point, differentiates between advanced degree achievement among Latinas/os and Chicanas/os, and fashions a secondary pipeline with a narrower age range. Findings indicate that the move from eighth grade to ninth is a critical juncture; that more adult Latinas/os and Chicanas/os lack any academic credentials among all ethnic groups; and that current generations experience similar inequitable achievement rates as older generations.

SeqAcademy: an educational pipeline for RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analysis

Quantification of gene expression and characterization of gene transcript structures are central problems in molecular biology. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) are important methods, but can be cumbersome and difficult for beginners to learn. To teach interested students and scientists how to analyze RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data, we present a start-to-finish tutorial for analyzing RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data: SeqAcademy (source code: https://github.com/NCBI-Hackathons/seqacademy, webpage: http://www.seqacademy.org/). This user-friendly pipeline, fully written in markdown language, emphasizes the use of publicly available RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data and strings together popular tools that bridge that gap between raw sequencing reads and biological insight. We demonstrate practical and conceptual considerations for various RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analysis steps with a biological use case - a previously published yeast experiment. This work complements existing sophisticated RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq pipelines designed for advanced users by gently introducing the critical components of RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analysis to the novice bioinformatician. In conclusion, this well-documented pipeline will introduce state-of-the-art RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq analysis tools to beginning bioinformaticians and help facilitate the analysis of the burgeoning amounts of public RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data.