Welcome to EDEFI!

Learn More About us

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Mission Statement

(EDEFI) (pronounced “edify”) investigates the institutional, technical, social, and cultural factors that affect decision-making, career choices, and career satisfaction for engineering and computing doctoral students, candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty who have been marginalized by race and/or gender. EDEFI also looks at ways those factors contribute to the current underrepresentation of these marginalized groups in engineering and computing faculty positions. We pay special attention to increasing the numbers of Black faculty in these positions.

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Find Out More About Our Team

The EDEFI team was co-founded by Dr. Ebony O. McGee and Dr. William H. Robinson. They are supported in their work by faculty research affiliates, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students. Click here to view Team Bios.

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Video Mentoring

We provide substantive and targeted videos for the mentoring of engineering faculty, students, and post-doctoral scholars of color. Click here to be taken to our video mentoring page.

Why we do it

Engineering faculty members help discover, promote, and disseminate advancements in technology. From 2007 – 2016, The percentages of women and Asian engineering faculty have steadily increased. However, the percentage of Black engineering faculty has decreased from 2.5% to 2.3% and the percentage of Hispanic engineering faculty has fluctuated between 3.4% and 3.9%. Many potential faculty members are dissuaded from entering academia because of race, gender, and other identity-based biases.

Why we do it

Engineering faculty members help discover, promote, and disseminate advancements in technology. However, many potential faculty members are dissuaded from entering academia because of racial, gender, and other identity-based biases.

WHY WE DO IT

Engineering faculty members help discover, promote, and disseminate advancements in technology. However, many potential faculty members are dissuaded from entering academia because of racial, gender, and other identity-based biases.

CURRENT PROJECTS

• Explorations into the Stagnant Number of African American Engineering Faculty.

• Coaching Black Ph.D. Engineering and Computing Students Toward the Professoriate.

• Why We Persist: An Intersectional Approach to Characterizing and Examining the Experiences of Women of Color Tenure-Track Faculty in Engineering.

• CAREER: The Impact of Racialized Experiences on the Career Trajectories of Doctoral and Postdoctoral Underrepresented STEM Students of Color.

CURRENT PROJECTS

• Explorations into the Stagnant Number of African American Engineering Faculty.

• Coaching Black Ph.D. Engineering and Computing Students Toward the Professoriate.

• Why We Persist: An Intersectional Approach to Characterizing and Examining the Experiences of Women of Color Tenure-Track Faculty in Engineering.

• CAREER: The Impact of Racialized Experiences on the Career Trajectories of Doctoral and Postdoctoral Underrepresented STEM Students of Color.

DISCLAMIER:

This work was supported by grant funding from the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Home About Mentoring News & Events Research Contact

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Peabody College, Vanderbilt University

230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203

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ebony.mcgee@vanderbilt.edu

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+1 (615) -343-2596