This paper presents themes that emerge from empirical literature on women of color (WOC) in computer science (CS) graduate education. We ask, According to the literature, what factors affect the experiences, participation, and advancement of WOC in CS graduate degrees? The findings are drawn from a subset of literature on graduate education from our National Science Foundation-funded project, Literature Analysis and Synthesis of Women of Color in Technology and Computing. Findings of on-campus social supports include student support groups and peers who provided community, navigation strategies, and motivation to succeed. Family and friends also provided recognition and encouragement. Students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities reported that their schools provided them with structural support through recognition and investment in their potential. Findings of barriers include a sense of isolation, as well as professors and male classmates creating a culture of hostility and exclusion for WOC. Despite these challenges, WOC used individual and social strategies to navigate and persist. They drew on their determination, dedication to achieving goals, and past challenges to stay motivated and succeed while also developing soft skills. They were further motivated to use their knowledge of CS as a tool to solve problems and help others. Our synthesis contributes an analysis of the social and structural supports and barriers for WOC in the understudied field of CS graduate education. This research will increase knowledge about success strategies to retain women of color with advanced CS degrees to fill the United States' technological workforce needs.

This paper synthesizes 20 years (1999-2019) of empirical research on women of color (WOC) in computing and tech graduate education. Using complementary theoretical frameworks of social pain and community cultural wealth (CCW), we identify factors in the research literature that affect WOC's experiences, participation, success, and persistence. This qualitative meta-synthesis employed systematic literature search and selection methods, a hybrid approach to coding and thematic analysis. Findings include the ways in which social pain from isolation, exclusion, and hostility from peers and faculty negatively affected WOC's experiences in their graduate programs. Often, WOC's motivation to persist and succeed in computing came from key social actors, such as mentors and families, and from individual and social strategies, such as seeking counterspaces, that leveraged their CCW. This meta-synthesis contributes to the knowledge base about the mechanisms that support and hinder the persistence of WOC in computing graduate programs and provides recommendations for institutions and for further research.

Background To address social disparities and generate an innovative workforce, engineering higher education should provide learning environments that benefit students from all backgrounds. However, because engineering programs are not enrolling or retaining women of color at demographic parity, a better understanding of these students' experiences is needed to develop effective interventions. Purpose This study analyzes research on women of color in undergraduate engineering education to determine what influences their experiences, participation, and advancement. We identify challenges to and strategies for persistence and present recommendations for engineering institutions to create interventions that support women of color and mitigate institutional inequities. Scope/Method Using the snowballing method, we identified 65 empirical studies published between 1999 and 2015 that met the criteria for this review. These studies represented qualitative, mixed-methods, and quantitative methodologies from various fields. We conducted a systematic thematic synthesis, informed by frames of intersectionality, critical race theory, and community cultural wealth. Conclusions Women of color use navigational strategies to address the social pain of race and gender inequity in engineering education. Institutions should take responsibility for generating a sense of belonging for women of color and provide social and structural supports that increase self-efficacy, address social pain, and improve retention.