The Low Retention of Transgender Students in STEM
Location
Ponderosa Room B
Presentation Type
Presentation
Presentation Topic
Transgender, STEM, student retention.
Start Date
6-3-2026 2:30 PM
Event Sort Order
39
Abstract
Within the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), transgender people are a very underrepresented portion of the workforce. I believe that many of the reasons transgender people are not going into STEM is because of their time studying STEM as high school and university students. These students have negative experiences, or face a lack of positive experiences, and do not receive the resources they need to feel like they will be accepted in a STEM field. This results in a lack of retention of transgender people in STEM programs in universities. There is little research about this topic, and few solutions have been offered to either the students or the educational institutions who seek to give these students a more inclusive environment. With my research, I will investigate what struggles transgender students in STEM go through, to what degree those struggles contribute to the lack of retention of these students, and what high schools and universities can do to ensure that transgender people feel accepted and included in their STEM programs. To do this, I will be interviewing transgender students, staff, and faculty at my university, the University of Central Oklahoma, and compare their experiences in their different STEM fields to what research has been done previously. My research will bring a light to the lives of transgender high school and university students in STEM, reflecting on the problems they have, and propose solutions towards these issues.
The Low Retention of Transgender Students in STEM
Ponderosa Room B
Within the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), transgender people are a very underrepresented portion of the workforce. I believe that many of the reasons transgender people are not going into STEM is because of their time studying STEM as high school and university students. These students have negative experiences, or face a lack of positive experiences, and do not receive the resources they need to feel like they will be accepted in a STEM field. This results in a lack of retention of transgender people in STEM programs in universities. There is little research about this topic, and few solutions have been offered to either the students or the educational institutions who seek to give these students a more inclusive environment. With my research, I will investigate what struggles transgender students in STEM go through, to what degree those struggles contribute to the lack of retention of these students, and what high schools and universities can do to ensure that transgender people feel accepted and included in their STEM programs. To do this, I will be interviewing transgender students, staff, and faculty at my university, the University of Central Oklahoma, and compare their experiences in their different STEM fields to what research has been done previously. My research will bring a light to the lives of transgender high school and university students in STEM, reflecting on the problems they have, and propose solutions towards these issues.
Presenter Bio
Seth Victor Clayton (he/they) is a Forensic Science and Funeral Service major at the University of Central Oklahoma. He is one of the co-closet coordinators and a Sexual Health Ambassador at UCO’s Women’s Research and BGLTQ+ Student Center. He has previously presented at the International Gender and Sexualities Studies conference. He is extremely academic and has always loved learning and school. He graduated from Norman North high school with a 3.896 GPA. Victor has wanted to go into the field of forensic science since he was ten years old. Aside from learning about subjects related to his future career, he has a special interest in current events and societal norms. He was drawn to the topic of transgender high school and college students in STEM from his own experience as a transgender undergraduate STEM student. With his research, Victor wants to bring attention to the isolation transgender people face in a majority cisgender environment. He wants educators and those in administrative positions within STEM education to be aware of their transgender student population, make an effort to create learning conditions that are more inclusive and sensitive to their needs, and in turn see the improvement of transgender student retention rates.