Stellar ambitions: lived experiences of international graduate students in space science from the Global South

Our current understanding of the experiences of racially minoritized graduate students in space science is limited, and there are no known studies that explore these lived experiences among international students within this relatively niche field other than a persistent lack of diversity (American Institute of Physics, 2019; Gohd, 2020). We refer to several pertinent domains of literature on racially minoritized graduate students in the USA, racially minoritized students in STEM, international students in the USA, and international graduate students to provide a foundation for the current study. There are many factors that affect the lived experiences of racially minoritized graduate students, including undergraduate experience and faculty interaction (Gasman et al., 2008), mentoring (McGee, 2020) and professional societies (Morris and Washington, 2017).

Because of the dearth of studies focusing on international graduate students in space sciences, we turn to US studies on racially minoritized students in STEM broadly to demonstrate that this population experiences racialized challenges while navigating intersecting identities as racially minoritized and scientists (Bernard and Cooperdock, 2018; Burt et al., 2021; McGee et al., 2017; Rodriguez and Blaney, 2021; Sparks et al., 2023; Spencer, 2021). While programmatic efforts have started to look at domestic and international diversity, our understanding is limited to single institutions (Yalim et al., 2023), thus necessitating a broader exploration of this phenomenon.

As previously noted, studies on international students in the USA have focused on persistent challenges (Aggarwal et al., 2024; Buckner et al., 2021; Kim, 2025; Rodriguez et al., 2023). In particular, prior research on international students studying in the USA has noted student difficulties in understanding US concepts of race even while experiencing racism due to coming from countries that are less racially diverse and have different social hierarchies that are not necessarily based on race (Bardhan and Zhang, 2017).

Scholarship on international graduate students have shown additional factors that make up part of the experience studying in the USA from start through completion of their program (Khanal and Gaulee, 2019). Stress due to living in a new country has been found to be a major mental health concern (Clarke, 2023; Wu et al., 2015), particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (Maleku et al., 2022). Finances remain a challenge for international students (Olatunji et al., 2023). Immigration challenges are a persistent barrier both during the program and when considering post-graduation employment in the USA (García et al., 2012; Ritter and Roth, 2021). Furthermore, in certain STEM fields, national security regulations severely restrict access to certain technologies and research opportunities for students, sometimes by country of citizenship (de Wit and Altbach, 2021; Lee and Rice, 2007; Urias and Camp Yeakey, 2009; Wallerstein, 2009). For international graduate students who come from backgrounds that have been historically marginalized, issues of “everyday racism” (Essed, 1991, p. viii) through systemic racism and discrimination continue to negatively affect their experiences while studying in North America (Sato and Este, 2018).

We lack, however, a deeper exploration of the lived experiences of racially minoritized international graduate students in space sciences originating from the Global South. As such, this study seeks to describe the unique aspects of the graduate student experience as they relate to their desires and choices within the context of a field, industry and geopolitical context that influences the trajectories of international students beyond their control.

The research design and analysis were guided by three theoretical perspectives that are rooted in social science research and commonly used by higher education researchers. These theories serve as the lens for understanding the layers and intersectional experiences of racially minoritized international graduate students in space science. Weidman et al. (2001) use a psycho-social perspective to suggest that student experience influences academic and career development. This experience is a byproduct of the students’ program environment. Similarly, Carlone and Johnson’s (2007) work on science identity suggests that ethnoracial and gender identity intersect with one’s development as a scientist. In addition, we use Mazzarol and Soutar’s (2002) push-pull framework to understand the internal and external factors that impact international student decisions, including the availability and quality of educational opportunities in the home country vis-à-vis the destination country, as well as postgraduation employment opportunities.

Acknowledging the layered experience of graduate school, Weidman et al.’s (2001) graduate student socialization framework considers the personal, institutional and communal factors that help socialize graduate students into their programs and professional fields of study. Personal characteristics include country of origin, racial/ethnic background, gender, socioeconomic status and other elements of one’s past prior to entering graduate school. Program and institutional factors center on the academic and peer experiences that help build graduate students’ knowledge, skills and behaviors in preparation for entering academia or the professional world. At the same time, scholarly, professional and personal communities, including family and friends, help develop graduate students for life outside of the program. The goal of this socialization experience is to develop novice professionals ready to engage with scholarly and professional communities post-degree completion.

While such a framework is useful to interrogate the lived experiences of graduate students, an additional framework is necessary to understand the lived experiences of racially minoritized students that goes beyond simply accounting for race and ethnicity to understand the process of becoming a scientist. Carlone and Johnson’s (2007) science identity framework that centers race and ethnicity, gender and scientist goes further into understanding the intersectionality of these experiences as part of the socialization process. This framework serves as an analytical tool to understand how internal and external recognition of one’s status as a scientist are vital when considering these other aspects of identity within a societal construct that has restricted access to science careers for women and people of color.

To incorporate the unique lived experiences of international students, we use Mazzarol and Soutar’s (2002) “push-pull” framework to include the social and economic factors that lead to students leaving their home countries. These factors include the state of their home higher education system and science ecosystem, the economic situation in their home country and the prospect of job opportunities within the USA and home. These factors are consistent with the previously described literature on the challenges international students face.

Any exploration of the lived experiences of international graduate students in the USA from the Global South must consider these three layers of students’ experiences. Given this study’s research question, we recognize that a more nuanced exploration of identity as a space scientist requires both an individual perspective of multiple identities (including racial and international student identities) while accounting for the unique aspects of the academy, industry and the role that communities play in socializing future space scientists. These frameworks informed the questions of the early life experiences that may have generated an interest in space science, experiences of recognition as a scientist and how their identity as a scientist informs their postgraduate school plans. Identity development in terms of demographics and science occupation have long interested researchers interested in breaking down barriers, particularly in predominantly white US institutions (Carlone and Johnson, 2007; Malone and Barabino, 2009). This study applies these perspectives to emerging scientists specifically interested in space science-related disciplines. Together, these frameworks provide a foundation for understanding the experiences of racially minoritized students as they develop their science identity.

Because our focus is on understanding the lived experiences of racially minoritized international graduate students in space science from the Global South, we used a phenomenological approach designed to understand how these individuals engaged in their daily lives as graduate students and thought about their future careers (Moustakas, 1994). In this case, the graduate student experience while holding the identities: racially minoritized, international student and space scientist is the phenomenon of interest. Phenomenology relies on the premise that humans can reflect on their own being after identifying and exploring their lived experiences (Willis et al., 2016).

This study is part of a larger study that explores the experiences of racially minoritized graduate students in space science at US institutions that received human subjects approval. To obtain a sample that aligns with our population of interest consistent with our phenomenological approach (Alhazmi and Kaufman, 2022), we used a purposive sampling strategy by emailing a link to a prescreening questionnaire to potential participants through the directors of all 51 U.S. Space Grant Consortia. The screening questionnaire contained questions regarding racial identity (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino/Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, Southeast Asian, East Asian, South Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or Middle Eastern), international student status (e.g. F-1/J-1 visa) and their field and level of study with brief description of their specialized interest to qualify as a space studies graduate student. We recruited a sample that was diverse in terms of field of study, country of origin and gender identity for maximum variation while maintaining the common experience of being racially minoritized graduate students from the Global South in US space science graduate programs to demonstrate the commonality of patterns across individuals (Palinkas et al., 2015). Fifteen international graduate student participants qualified under our purposive method and participated in the study. Moustakas (1994) recommends between 5 and 25 participants while others (van Manen, 2023) recommend having sufficient participants to achieve data saturation where no new data or codes emerge. The research team determined that data saturation was reached after 15 interviews. All participants received a $50 gift card incentive for participation. Table 1 contains demographic information of the sample. Participants chose their own pseudonyms for anonymity.

We conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with participants from May to August 2023 after piloting the interview protocol with three participants. We refined the interview protocol to use less jargon and improved probing follow-up questions. Interviews ranged from 27 to 62 min via Zoom. Questions were informed by literature on the socialization of graduate students and the intersecting identities of race, scientist and international student in line with the three theoretical perspectives previously discussed. As a result, questions encouraged participants to share stories of how they became interested in space sciences, their career plans, experiences with racism, recognition as a scientist, mentors and perceptions of the inclusiveness of the field. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim by the research team.

We coded transcripts using Saldaña’s (2016) methods, including pre-coding, preliminary jottings and collaborative coding. Authors 1 and 2 identified what Boyatzis (1998) terms “codable moments” (p. 1) during interview while note-taking and standout quote selection from transcripts for thematic analysis, with a focus on participant perception (Saldaña, 2016). Example of the most common codes include: “recognition,” “welcoming environment,” “stay or go” and “citizenship challenge.” By the fifteenth interview, no new codes were generated which gave the team an indication that the study had reached data saturation (van Manen, 2023). Authors 3 and 4 reviewed the code list and preliminary thematic findings before the entire team agreed on the final themes.

To ensure the rigor of the study and its trustworthiness, we used strategies proposed by Lincoln and Guba (1985) to enhance the credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability of the findings. Credibility is the consistency of the findings with subjective reality and can be established through investigator triangulation and researcher reflexivity (Stahl and King, 2020). The data and findings were scrutinized by all four members of the research team to triangulate the themes. We discussed our reflexivity and how it aided the credibility of the findings below. Transferability seeks to align the findings with other similar contexts (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). Purposive sampling sought to achieve a sample of students from a wide range of space science programs with variation in terms of country and region of origin and gender identity. Because qualitative inquiry does not seek generalizability, we note that these findings may be transferable to other countries in the Global North that have an openness to international graduate students but are facing similar nationalist challenges to the USA like the UK. Dependability refers to the fidelity of the execution of the research process (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). We kept an audit trail consisting of preliminary jottings, interview notes, transcripts and coding spreadsheets to keep a record of our research process (Ahmed, 2024; Saldaña, 2016). Confirmability refers to how well the findings and recommendations align with the data. Researchers use peer debriefing with other experts and member checking with participants to validate the final product (Ahmed, 2024). Peer debriefing involved consultation of faculty members who identified with the participant base and held faculty roles involving space studies and/or DEI applications plus faculty who initially came to the USA as international students themselves. Member checks consisted of communicating:

• a verbatim transcript for inspection;

• a summary of the research team’s understanding of key stories from the interviews; and

• the overall findings and our interpretation of the themes across the 15 participants.

These key stakeholder groups affirmed the study’s findings and recommendations.

As part of our reflexivity strategy, all four researchers engaged in reflection over their own positionality. The lead author identifies as a white man and first-generation college student and US citizen who spent decades gazing at the stars and dreaming of a future where the terrestrial problems of racism, classism and other inequities would no longer be the impediments to an equitable society. Prior to earning his doctorate, he served as an international student and scholar advisor for a US institution of higher education, working with diverse international students on issues related to immigration, cross-cultural education and career planning. The second author identifies as a white female who spent years teaching in diverse communities and is invested in research that expands on equitable educational practice. The first two researchers have undergone years of antiracism training and conferred with other scholars to engage in this research with cultural humility, an orientation toward active listening and communicating with participants to portray their true experiences in a way not to exacerbate any racial harm they have encountered. The third author is a female PhD student from China studying at a US university. Her identity as an international student informs her understanding of the barriers faced by this group, aligning with her research interest in educational accessibility. The fourth author is an international female graduate student at a US university who is from South Asia. She has experienced the USA as a racial minority and has a research interest in the betterment for international students’ mobility. We reflected on our positionality, including our privilege and the way we contribute to white supremacy, as part of study design, data collection and analysis processes (Crozier, 2023). The backgrounds of Authors 1 and 2 were instrumental in the choice of equity frameworks and language used in the interview protocol to help participants express themselves in a comfortable setting. This team reflection helped the research team center the findings on less commonly discussed themes pertinent to the international graduate student experience.

We identified three main themes as findings, including: national security as a barrier, the desire to build a space program in their home country and the importance of community as a protective factor.

Participants noted that in addition to the challenges of obtaining an H-1B visa or permanent residency, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) pose an additional challenge for any technology that has dual-use or military applications. Particularly for students working with rocketry or space vehicles/suits, participation in NASA internships with agencies is limited based on their home country’s relationship with the USA. Students noted that because majority white European countries have a strong relationship with NASA through the European Space Agency, those students are at an advantage for research assistantships, internships and postgraduation jobs. The situation has been so frustrating that Tyson, from a South Asian country that does not have a reciprocal arrangement with NASA lamented, “I’m not too keen on staying in a country that wants to throw me out.” While Tyson expressed interest in continuing his work in the USA due to the opportunities present in academic and private industry, national securities barriers are a bridge too far.

Jaguar from South America who has studied the development of next-generation space suits agonized:

Similarly, even when international students do gain access to sophisticated technology as part of their studies, they are regarded with suspicion both from an immigration and racial lens. Magali, also from South America, recalled her experience:

This dual experience of anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic racism can serve as a deterrent for international graduate students from pursuing careers in this sector. Tyson called out the hypocrisy of the US system that preaches non-discrimination when he stated:

As the difficulties with immigration and national security regulations have shown, there are push factors back home or to a third country. But for several participants, returning home to build the space science industry back home is an attractive option. For example, Peter notes, “I’ll do full-time teaching for the school or university. I’ll be guiding few of the undergraduate students and then, I’m thinking to go to some of the schools, talk about astronomy things to the kids.” Despite pursuing a PhD in the USA, the desire to affect change throughout the educational system back home is apparent.

Many students feared what would happen if they were not able to continue their studies and work beyond their degree program due to immigration restrictions. For many, the infrastructure simply does not exist. Najar, from a South Asian country, lamented:

Others remained hopeful while acknowledging that there may not be the same research or industry opportunities in their home country, several participants saw the opportunity to build the knowledge infrastructure throughout the educational system. For example, Sarna proudly stated:

Similarly, Space Lover expressed a desire to not only build a research apparatus, but also use it to expand opportunities in science for others:

Participants noted the challenges in accomplishing their goals if they were to return to their home countries. As returnees, they have the opportunity to impact the lives of their compatriots back home.

For international students from racially minoritized backgrounds, experiences with microaggressions have soured their educational program in the USA. For example, Jaguar from Latin America experienced disrespect in professional settings. But being in a diverse international program with supportive colleagues helped him persist despite the microaggressions:

Diego, however, noted his isolation in his program and how it has affected his mental health:

This experience highlights the need for professional and social integration into programs and how isolating environments can hinder student success.

But a diverse program environment can also be a key factor for international students to build resilience. Tyson adds:

A supportive and inclusive community, particularly with other international student peers, serves to build resilience in the face of racism and xenophobia, particularly when transitioning into professional settings and the workforce which have been more resistant to change. Novita appreciated her peers:

Similarly, Frank stated:

Peers serve as a supportive network that provides perspective and the potential to transform future academic and professional environments into more diverse and inclusive establishments.

These findings extend and deepen our understanding of the challenges facing international graduate students in the USA (Aggarwal et al., 2024; Kim, 2025; Rodriguez et al., 2023) beyond racial and visa-related issues typically discussed in the literature. Specifically, these findings offer new insight into how international graduate students from the Global South see an opportunity to bring these knowledges home to build the infrastructure to participate in the space sector rather than lament lost opportunities that may ultimately deter international students from choosing the USA as a destination. For higher education institutions and graduate programs in the Global South, these returning students represent a skill infusion and can help develop economic and scientific opportunities for the next generation of scientists whereas prior discourse focused on the negative effects of brain drain (Han et al., 2015). Considering Mazzarol and Soutar’s (2002) push-pull framework, the combination of visa and national security (push factor) and the desire to develop a space science ecosystem back home (pull factor) leads us to reconsider this framework to account for the post-degree decision process for international graduate students and may be applicable beyond space science.

In considering the domestic and global dynamics of race, immigration status and the development of scientists, our findings speak to global conversations about the transnational flow of international students from the Global South to the Global North. Because of the dependence of Global North countries on students from the Global South for enrollments (Yao, 2021), graduate programs are faced with an ethical dilemma: how to bring students to their programs but serve them in a way that meet their academic, career and socioemotional needs. The USA is not unique in having issues of racism and xenophobia affecting their international graduate students from the Global South (Park and Francis, 2024; Seet and Zhao, 2021), and these findings suggest that traditional modes of graduate student socialization (Weidman et al., 2001) would benefit from an explicit focus on racialized climate and how community can serve as a protective factor. Furthermore, this study’s integration of immigration status supplements Carlone and Johnson’s (2007) science identity framework focused on race and gender. For instance, Salmon (2022) also identified the cultural element of international students adapting to the US space science ecosystem, indicating that there is multidimensionality and intersectionality to one’s development as a scientist. For other graduate fields in the Global North that are dependent on students from the Global South, particularly mathematics, computer science and engineering (Lanier et al., 2024), these findings can speak to the broader responsibilities for graduate student development.

We offer an overview of practical and theoretical implications for graduate programs, international higher education professionals, and national STEM policy that is applicable to the USA and other countries that have significant numbers of international graduate students in fields closely aligned with economic and national security priorities. Given the importance of international students to science diplomacy efforts and international cooperation (Gast, 2022), the findings portend a challenge for the future of student mobility in the space science sector due to the limited opportunities for international students to continue their research and work based on their nationality. These restrictions may also offer an opportunity for capacity building in students’ home countries to help uplift Global South countries as nations look to partner in space exploration as part of their national priorities.

For graduate programs, the evidence of a strong and inclusive community as a protective factor for students from diverse international backgrounds speaks to the increasing importance of diversifying admissions, the professoriate and taking affirmative steps to include students into laboratory culture and institutional programming (Yalim et al., 2023). Participants in programs that had international faculty were particularly effusive in their descriptions of the academic and social environment and how they can contribute to their success. Elements of “everyday racism” (Essed, 1991, p. viii), however, continue to pervade the student experience.

In terms of advising international graduate students in space science, honest conversations must occur about job prospects. Faculty advisors can work with advisees to develop an expansive career plan that includes contingencies for returning home or potentially finding employment in a third country with less restrictive visa and national security policies. Given our finding about the desire among some participants to return home to develop their country’s space industry, these honest conversations can extend to pre-matriculation discussions with prospective students to note the challenges of staying in the USA and the possibilities with returning home. And similar to working with racially minoritized students from the USA, advisors are called upon to respond to incidents of racism and xenophobia. This proactive approach helps set better expectations for what the program can offer students in the program and beyond.

For national policymakers in the Global North, the talent pool in space sciences represents an “arms race” (Marginson, 2022). While space programs have been cooperative in spite of geopolitical tensions, competition is ramping up and private sector actors search for the best talent. Canada’s recent push to lure away H-1B holders from the USA coinciding with a rise in xenophobia (particularly anti-Asian bias) serves as a warning that immigration policy may be pushing talented graduates to other countries (García and Villarreal, 2014; Hackman and Vieira, 2023). While national security concerns should not be ignored, there needs to be a more concerted effort to provide pathways for students from these countries to remain in the USA rather than pushing them to a competitor country.

International students’ home countries may offer opportunities to bring back these talented students to help build space program infrastructure through teaching and research in the nation’s universities. Mazzarol and Soutar’s (2002) framework may be re-examined in reverse as international graduate students completing their degrees in the USA may find US immigration policy as a push factor back home while the prospect of creating their own version of NASA may be a pull factor. US graduate programs can assist students in curriculum development and teacher preparation to prepare faculty to train the next generation of engineers, astronomers and physicists, who can build a potential partner space program.

Several limitations may impact the transferability of these results to other settings. First, while this study is novel in that it considered an understudied population in a relatively unexplored field of space science, some questions related to race and science identity may have been unfamiliar to some participants. Despite simplifying some of this language after the pilot phase, some US concepts of race may still have been difficult for participants to articulate. We noted, however, that graduate students who were undergraduates in the USA were more comfortable answering questions about race and using the vernacular about racism and microaggressions. Because this study took place in the USA, we cannot be sure that the findings are applicable in all Global North or English-speaking countries. Each country has its own unique history, culture and immigration system that may afford or restrict opportunities for career development for this population. While we note similarities among countries like the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, some programmatic or regulatory differences may exist that limit the study’s findings applicability in those settings.

This study provides some of the first empirical evidence into the lived experiences of current international graduate students in the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary field of space science. We found three major themes: national security barriers, the prospect of building a space program in their home country and the protective environment of diverse peers. Furthermore, we add to practitioner-oriented discussions of how advisors and graduate program directors can better approach expectation management for prospective and current students with a focus on career planning in the current anti-DEI and anti-immigrant environment. Future scholarship should explore conceptions of race within STEM for international graduate students as part of the acculturation process. In addition, future work should explore the perspectives of faculty (both US and international) in STEM programs like space science to compare the perspectives.

This publication was supported by the American Chemical Society with funds provided by the Genentech Foundation. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Genentech Foundation and the American Chemical Society.