Postdoctoral Scholar University of Iowa Marion, Iowa, United States
Program Abstract: Strong connections to identities may lead to increased success for marginalized students in STEM, including both marginalized and STEM identities. LGBTQ+ science-major students in this study had varying levels of connection to either their STEM or LGBTQ+ identities, leading some participants to actively exclude their LGBTQ+ identities from STEM spaces or to disconnect their science identity from their LGBTQ+ identity. This study utilizes a queer theory framework for exploratory qualitative research methods, focusing primarily on interviews with participants and purposefully examining and seeking to eliminate the power differential between researcher and participant, an approach that is considered by some queer researchers as crucial for queer theory interview work. Queer theory can be used to question the meaning and usefulness of categories and to look beyond what is easily observable, and this study utilizes a queered approach to understanding participants' connections across their identities.
