Academic and Research Leadership Symposium for Diversity-Driven Innovation

背景2010年，美国国家科学院发布了一份报告，名为《超越正在聚集的风暴，重现：迅速接近5类》，该报告指出，美国创造的大部分新工作岗位将是科学技术进步的结果。然而，包括非洲裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人和美洲原住民在内的少数族裔群体在工程和科学领域的代表性仍然很低，特别是在博士研究人员和教职员工的水平上。越来越多的证据表明，种族和民族多元化的组织和最高管理层带来了更多的创新，这突显出迫切需要增加在高级研究和学术职位上代表不足的少数族裔的数量，以维持美国作为全球经济领导者的地位。为响应上述需求，学术和研究领导力研讨会(ARLS)应运而生，旨在培养学术界、工业界和政府实验室中的少数族裔工程师，这些工程师的职业生涯主要集中在先进技术的研究和开发上。2014年ARLS与2014年全国黑人工程师学会全国会议共同举办，是最近成立的学术和研究领导力(ARL)网络的开幕活动。ARLS有两个重点：(1)教师发展，(2)研究职业发展和同行网络。教师发展线有由ARLS网络成员组织的研讨会，以加强和揭开学术界的基本组成部分的神秘面纱。研究、职业发展和网络线索对于培养少数族裔工程师在研究组织中的职业生涯至关重要，并有助于通过同行网络实现自给自足的ARL生态系统的目标。它为所有职业水平的研究人员提供了一个机会，培养他们与同行的联系，并受到工程和科学许多学科的最新发现和技术进步的启发。预计将有新的合作机会和战略职业发展机会，并将建立新的联系，以支持在美国从事研究的少数族裔工程师的发展和成长。NSF的资金将支持30名少数族裔早期职业教师、研究生和研究专业人员参加研讨会的旅费。它还将为研讨会的一些杰出演讲者提供支持。布罗德意义本次研讨会将成为少数群体研究人员交流想法的场所，这些想法将导致新的智力产品和技术造福社会。ARLS将提供一批少数族裔候选人，以改善美国大学或联邦/工业实验室员工的多样性。聚集积极参与的少数族裔研究人员将提供一个网络和临界群体，这是帮助增加美国以研究为重点的职业的参与者数量所必需的。最后，它还将为需要使其审查小组多样化的联邦机构的项目经理提供候选人库，在当前的NSBE研究生院会议(GSC)中开发内容和授课研讨会的人员，并开发最佳实践，以提高少数族裔学生以目前不可能的方式攻读工程学博士学位的兴趣。该奖项由工程教育和中心分部扩大参与工程项目支持。

BackgroundIn 2010, the National Academies released a report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5, which suggests that the majority of new jobs created in the U.S. will be a result of advancements in science and technology. Racial and ethnic minority groups including African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans, however, remain substantially underrepresented in engineering and science, especially at the level of Ph.D. researchers and faculty. Growing evidence of increased innovation resulting from racially and ethnically diverse organizations and top management underscores the strong need to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in advanced research, and in academic positions, to sustain the United States as a global economic leader. Technical DescriptionResponding to the aforementioned need, the Academic and Research Leadership Symposium (ARLS) has been created to prepare minority engineers in academia, industry, and government laboratories whose careers involve a strong focus on research and development in advanced technologies. The 2014 ARLS, co-located with the 2014 National Society of Black Engineers national conference, is the inaugural event of the recently founded Academic and Research Leadership (ARL) Network. The ARLS has two focused threads: (1) faculty development, and (2) research career development and peer networking. The faculty development thread has workshops organized by members of the ARLS Network that strengthen and demystify fundamental components of academia. The research career development and networking thread is critical to preparing minority engineers for a career in research organizations and helps meet the goal of a self-sustaining ARL ecosystem through peer networking. It provides an opportunity for researchers at all career levels to nurture connections with their peers and be inspired by the latest discoveries and technical advances across many disciplines of engineering and science. Opportunities for new collaborations and strategic career advancements are anticipated and will create new connections to support the development and growth of minority engineers involved in research in the United States. NSF Funding will support travel expenses for 30 minority early career faculty, graduate students, and research professionals to attend the Symposium. It will also support some of the preeminent speakers for the Symposium.Broader SignficanceThis symposium will serve as a meeting place for minority researchers to share ideas leading to new intellectual products and technologies that benefit society. ARLS will provide a pool of minority candidates to improve the diversity amongst employees in universities or federal/industrial laboratories within the United States. The gathering of engaged minority researchers will provide a network and critical mass that is necessary to help increase the number of participants in research focused careers in the United States. Finally, it will also provide a pool of candidates for program managers of federal agencies needing to diversify their review panels, people to develop content and teach workshops in the current NSBE graduate school conference (GSC), and develop best practices for increasing the interest amongst minority students to seek Ph.D.s in engineering in ways not currently possible.This award is being supported by the Broadening Participation in Engineering Program of the Engineering Education and Centers Division.