In several bodies of scholarly works and studies, it has been proven that Asian Americans in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) field face stereotypes of being “better at math and science” than others, which hold them back in pursuing STEM careers. 

Asian Americans are frequently all grouped together into one homogenous category of “ Asian” rather than being recognized for their diverse and different identities.

A new study being conducted for Asian American STEM college students is currently underway across multiple universities in the U.S., with an overarching purpose to help improve the Asian American college experience, primarily in the STEM field. The study also seeks to promote diversity among the Asian American population in order to dissolve these stereotypes.

The study is being spearheaded by several co-principal investigators, including Chapman University biology professor Jeremy Hsu, Chapman Grand Challenges Initiative (GCI) Postdoctoral Fellow Desiree Forsythe, Carleton College biology professor Rou-Jia Sung and University of California, San Diego (UCSD) biology professor Stanley Lo. 

UCSD undergraduate students Andy Trinh and Jason Tran, as well as members of Chapman’s Biology Education Research group, are also working on this study. The study consists of two main parts — a five-minute survey and a 45-minute to one-hour interview.

During the survey, participants will answer demographic questions about themselves, such as how long they’ve been enrolled as a STEM major and if they feel part of the STEM community. Participants can also indicate their interest in participating in an interview with the spearheads of the study. In the interview portion, which will take place after spring break, students will have the chance to share their experiences navigating the STEM disciplines in college as an Asian American, and they will also receive a $40 Amazon gift card after completion of the interview.

According to Forsythe, the origin of this study arose when she first joined Chapman in August 2022 and had the chance to brainstorm new projects and studies with Hsu. Forsythe’s research generally focuses on how to uncover and address oppressions in STEM.

“Some of my previous work has included looking at white supremacy in STEM and how STEM students with minoritized identities of sexual and gender navigate both college broadly and their STEM discipline specifically,” Forsythe told The Panther. “Dr. Hsu had mentioned that he and a few colleagues were thinking about investigating how Asian Americans experience racism in the STEM fields, and given my research background, I was excited to join.” 

Forsythe also noted how her identity influences her work. 

“It is also important to note that I myself am not Asian American. (I am white) and that it is important for me to continue to reflect on my positionality and understanding of these topics through conversations with my team members and through reading literature on Asian American's experiences with racism in the U.S.,” Forsythe said.

According to both Hsu and Forsythe, 300 students across the three universities have filled out the survey as of March 8. Participant interviews that follow the surveys are scheduled to take place after the spring break until late April via Zoom or in-person. Both Hsu and Forsythe mentioned that there are no findings yet until after interviews are conducted and data is analyzed.

“(During the interview), students will be asked different questions around their experiences as an Asian American in STEM,” Forsythe said. “We are hoping to interview about 60 or so students at least and then create a survey to capture some additional information from those who we weren’t able to interview.”

To take part in this study, a participant must self-identify as an Asian American undergraduate student, be currently majoring or previously have majored in a STEM discipline and must also have completed a minimum of one semester at their college institution.

“Asian Americans in STEM are unfortunately often stereotyped, and there’s an alarming rise of racism against Asian Americans across the U.S. recently,” Hsu told The Panther. “In addition, too often the conversation around Asian Americans groups all of us together without recognizing the incredible diversity that falls within this one ‘label.’”

Hsu continued by stating what he hopes the study will provide to Asian Americans in STEM.

“We’re hoping to amplify the voices of a diverse group of Asian American students in STEM to better understand what resources help promote student success so that we can develop better supports for Asian Americans and all students in STEM,” Hsu said.

Kate Avendano-Woodruff, a sophomore health sciences major, first heard about the Asian American STEM survey from a previous biology professor and decided to take part in it.

“Hopefully the information the study acquires from the Asian STEM community can be used to make the STEM program better and help cater to the academic needs of our community,” said Avendano-Woodruff, who also serves as the graphic designer for Chapman’s Asian Pacific Student Association (APSA). “This can be done by making necessary resources more accessible to the community as well as influencing (professors’) teaching styles.”

Once all interviews conclude in late April, Forsythe explained the way in which she and her fellow co-principals will assess and analyze the results from the study through the process of coding.

Survey coding is especially useful for surveys pertaining to humanity studies. It takes open-ended question responses and sorts them into categories and groups to quickly pinpoint the most critical insights or solutions from each participant’s response.

“Coding is a process in which a researcher assigns a label to a chunk of interview text,” Forsythe said. “For example, if a student is discussing how they really love their major and that they feel as though they are part of the community within their major, we may code this as 'sense of belonging.'”

After coding the interviews, all co-principals of the study will then compare how they assigned codes and come up with a consensus code book. According to Forsythe and Hsu, this code book will hold all the codes that will be used to analyze the rest of the findings. The leftover interviews will be assessed similarly in order to come up with ways to support Asian American STEM students. 

Currently, the study is only open to Asian American STEM undergraduates, but eventually, Forsythe, Hsu, Sung and Lo hope to open up the study or create a new one for Asian American graduate students and faculty as well.

If you fit the requirements above and are interested in participating to help better support Asian Americans in STEM, the link can be found here to sign up and take the five-minute survey. 

“We’ve all had our own unique journeys and were influenced in different ways by our racial and ethnic backgrounds,” Hsu said. “So, we’re excited to see how today’s students see themselves and how their ethnic and cultural backgrounds have impacted their journeys into college and STEM.”