The criticality of language: Exploring STEM education evaluators conceptualizations of equity, diversity, and inclusion and the influence on their roles and practice.

Language is critical in evaluation. It influences understanding of goal attainment, judgments made about the quality of a program, interactions between stakeholder groups, interpretation of findings, and future actions. This paper reports research on language that unearths complexities related to the agenda of diversifying STEM and the utilization of evaluation in achieving its goal through an examination of STEM education evaluators' conceptualizations of diversity, equity, and inclusion and the implications for their practice.

Implementation of a Biomedical Engineering Research Experience for African-American High School Students at a Tier One Research University.

Enriching science experiences and competencies for underrepresented students during high school years is crucial to increasing their entry into the science pipeline and to improving their preparedness for success in college and STEM careers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of project ENGAGES, a high school STEM year-long research program for African–American students, mentored by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at Georgia Tech. It aims to provide an authentic research experience and expose student to the possibility and benefits of attaining an advanced degree and careers in STEM fields.