Long COVID: Elucidating the Impact of COVID-19 on Black Male Engineering Students - Highlighting their Resilient Assets

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a widespread effect on university students. From the shutdown of university campuses nationwide to the switch from in-person to online teaching, this sudden change's negative and positive impacts have been studied on a general and university-to-university basis. However, there remains a dearth of published research that describes the lived experiences of Black male engineering students during this time. Therefore, through secondary data analysis of our original study around the career aspirations of Black male engineering students, this study aimed to investigate how Black male engineering students were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 Black male engineering students. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we inductively developed four themes: peer interaction and engagement, professor-student interaction, course modality experiences and accommodations, and academic adjustment and discipline. The findings illuminate the resilience of Black male engineering students. Though the participants reported setbacks due to the effect of the pandemic on their academic pursuits, they also reported an unwavering ability to adapt and reframe those setbacks in positive ways that allowed them to push forward. ***This project was completed with contributions from Erik M. Hines and Tyron Slack from Florida State University.