Monica Lynn Miles

• PhD
• Assistant Professor of Engineering Education at University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Black students face repeated racial microaggressions that may challenge their mental health and academic performance in engineering doctoral programs. Researchers attribute this to stereotypes and institutional climates that juxtapose their STEM and racial identities as incongruent. In this article, we analyzed the perceptions of environmental, beh...

Despite national calls for increasing diversity and inclusion within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), inequitable recruitment and retention strategies remain commonplace. Inherent to many strategies is a lack of specificity in attending to the needs, desires, and cultures of individuals who are minoritized at the intersecti...

This narrative study examined the mentor-mentee relationship from the positioning of 31 minoritized STEM postdocs at a research-intensive institution. Seeking to enhance the current body of literature on mentoring and minoritized STEM postdocs to encourage institutions to adopt culturally responsive practices and cultivate sustainable research envi...

In the field of adolescent development, the language, theoretical frameworks, methods for collecting and analyzing data, and ways of interpretation that researchers use may advance notions of white supremacy and perpetuate racist ideas. Understanding how researchers study Black girls and women, in particular, is a critical step in working toward th...

This paper calls for a critical reimagination of science epistemology and praxis by advocating for a move toward Black liberation in and through K-12 science education. This call is driven by our desires as authors to foster a future of K-12 science teaching and learning that centers, embraces, and promotes historical and contemporary Black scienti...

This case report explores the integration of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJScreen, version 2.3) into science education and environmental advocacy initiatives, using Buffalo’s East Side as a focal point. EJScreen offers accessible environmental and demographic data that can illuminate...

This qualitative case study explored young Black and Latina women’s perceptions of the dietetics major and profession. We sought to examine young Latina and Black women’s motivations and reasons why they did not choose the dietetics major and profession after exposure to the major and profession. This research as a qualitative case study was part o...

Introduction Universities across the United States have implemented initiatives to enhance diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, focusing on improving outcomes for racially minoritized students. While many diversity initiatives target undergraduate programs, there is a gap in support for STEM graduate student...

There are complexities in how care in schools is perceived by students and how achieving culturally relevant caring necessitates a deeper level of engagement. This case study delves into the perspectives of thirteen Black and Latiné students attending a justice-themed high school, focusing on their perceptions of caring orientations within the teac...

The devaluation of women of Color (WoC) by way of gender discrimination and systemic racism is well documented. For WoC in engineering a chief cause is the observable wage gap. Women who identify as Asian, Black/African American, Latina/Chicana, Indigenous/Native American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Native Alaskan, and/or multiracial have r...

Purpose Local and national U.S. programs focused on diversifying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in academia and industry have created academic pathways for Black Engineers. However, most STEM diversity programs in doctoral education typically end or availability significantly decreases. This absence leaves little or limite...

This article describes how an environmental justice (EJ) mapping tool guide was developed to assist communities, educators, students, and environmental practitioners to help investigate and identify environmental issues by bringing awareness to racial, economic, and health disparities in New York State. The Guide helps to increase accessibility to...

Building on empirical research that examines the mentoring experiences of minoritized postdocs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, the researchers conceptualized a framework to cultivate inclusive, supportive, and mutually beneficial mentoring relationships among faculty mentors or Principal Investigators (PIs) and p...

Many current STEM discipline reforms embrace the language of increased representation and diversity in higher education. Despite the tacit agreement on long-term goals for expanding diversity, institutions may also enact a counter-narrative and agenda that includes an emphasis on “high standards,” the objectivity and rationality of the discipline,...

While there is evidence to support the existence of identity‐based disparities, inequities, and biases in the academic journal peer‐review process, little research supports the presence of this bias in the peer‐review process for academic journals in science education. Through an analysis of six leading journals in science education, we aimed to in...

The purpose of this commentary is to provide health professionals and educators with guiding questions to include into their practice to critically reflect on the care their African American patients receive. African American patients have historically experienced health disparities in comparison to non-African Americans. This dichotomy of care is...

The contributions, participation, and exploitation of Black people within science and science education are devalued within the cannon of science teaching and learning. This in part is due to the Eurocentric nature of science and education. As a result, Black youth participate in science regularly; however, it is overlooked, not recognized, and/or...

U.S. universities are fraught with institutional barriers that challenge Black faculty members’ ability to thrive in academia, while they also make attempts to broaden access and participation in fields like engineering and computing. The diversity-related service requested of Black faculty members can negatively complicate their chances for tenure...

This conceptual paper presents our position on why the field of postsecondary science, technology,engineering, and mathematics education (STEM) should reorient and anchor diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in Black feminist frames. Reviewing the culture of science and Black feminisms, we propose a reimagined space that centers Black women’s o...

The environmental justice (EJ) movement has been a key factor in the United States’ struggle to provide a healthy environment for all to thrive. The origins of the movement date as far back as the 1960’s, led primarily by people of color and low economic status communities living in America’s most polluted environments. More recently, the just sust...

Purpose Mentoring postdocs is a shared responsibility and dynamic process that requires a mutual commitment between the faculty mentor and postdoc. The purpose of this study is to understand how minoritized science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) postdocs view and engage in mentoring exchanges with their faculty mentors. In the con...

This chapter explores Buffalo, New York, a gentrifying former rust belt city, where environmental racism impedes certain citizens from benefiting from its revitalization. Environmental justice education must be contextualized to ground concepts in a time and place relevant to learners. Guided by two frameworks, Environmental Justice (EJ) and Critic...

Drawing from the experiences of 14 Black students participating in a structured undergraduate research program at either an historically Black university or a predominantly White institution, the authors conducted a secondary data analysis on interview and journal prompt data using Yosso’s community cultural wealth framework to identify sources of...

In this paper, we propose a racial solidarity praxis in mathematics education grounded in Black-, Latinx-, and Indigenous-led scholarship and their respective communities' joining efforts to combat White supremacy. Increased solidarity across racial groups in mathematics education could illuminate new ways of nourishing and affirming Indigenous, La...

Background Engineering education in the United States has been accused of favoring White men at the exclusion of those traditionally underrepresented in engineering. However, contrary to the culturally responsive literature addressing approaches to “colorblindness,” engineering faculty believe they should treat all students equally. Purpose This s...

This essay shares a personal narrative from a Black woman STEM education researcher whose experiences living in poverty positively impacted her childhood and provided her with skills and strategies to navigate academia. The author's lived experiences have influenced her social justice research agenda aimed at combating social inequities. Her use of...

Background Research shows that engineering and computing students who are marginalized by race and/or gender and experience social suffering often wish to challenge social inequities through their vocation, an attribute we refer to as an equity ethic. This study explores how doctoral engineering and computing students develop this attribute even wh...

This paper is written in response to Alberto J. Rodriguez and Deb Morrison’s article entitled, “Expanding and Enacting Transformative Meanings of Equity, Diversity and Social Justice in Science Education.” The authors provide a historical account of science education social justice research efforts within the USA and support the need to more critic...

In this paper we build a conceptual framework to argue for culturally compelling instruction that leads to teaching for change. Culturally compelling instruction calls for a substantive shift in how teachers view their students, communities, and what the perspective might mean for students’ future when they have access to alternative learning oppor...

The state takeover of schools in predominately Black communities has not disrupted the racial subjugation of Black girls. Using proportional analyses and Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans as research sites, we find that the takeover of school districts does not produce statistically weaker associations with the use of harsh disciplinary practices a...

This article focuses on the scholarship of Black mathematics education researchers whose work focuses on Black students in P–20 mathematics spaces. We conducted a metasynthesis literature review of empirical studies by Black mathematics education researchers. The authors utilized critical theories of race and racism to aid in the synthesis of the l...

Black graduate students in engineering and computing experience isolation due to their underrepresentation. In this manuscript, we analyzed how Black engineering and computing doctoral students’ experiences of isolation and impostor syndrome were exacerbated by negative interactions with their Asian international peers. Data were collected through...

This case study examines after school programming in citizen science from the perspective of Critical Race Theory. During the course of enacting community outreach projects this data was used to examine the positioning of experts, student, and teachers within the program. This study explores the role of race and ethnicity, and the ways in which mar...

The aim of this study was to investigate reasons Latina and Black females’ decide to pursue career opportunities in health profession programs at higher education institutions. Within a HCOP outreach designed to serve students identified as financially or academically at risk who self-identified as a member of an underrepresented group in STEM. Thi...

The state takeover of locally governed schools in predominately Black communities has not disrupted the racial subjugation of Black girls. Using proportional analyses and the cities of Detroit, Memphis, and New Orleans as research sites, the researchers find that state takeover districts have not resulted in statistically weaker association between...

As a critical race ethnography, this dissertation attempts to foreground the richness of Black urban youth culture during and around science classroom instruction. Ironically, during an era of much diversity rhetoric in the United States, the culture of urban Black youth is rarely reflected in mainstream public school culture. I attempt to explicat...