IUSE/PFE:RED: Rethinking Engineering Diversity, Transforming Engineering Diversity (REDTED)

在过去的10-15年里，尽管开发了许多项目和其他活动，但提高工程多样性的努力却停滞不前。缺乏进展表明，仅仅“修复”管道是不够的。相反，我们需要努力改变工程教育中所有利益相关者对多样性的看法。该项目将彻底改变罗文大学土木与环境工程系（CEE），从根本上增加多样性，并实现所有CEE学生的高保留率和毕业率。目前正在实施一项雄心勃勃的课程和课外改革计划，以增加妇女和代表性不足的少数民族学生以及历史上服务不足的群体的代表性。这些措施将采用多管齐下的方式来实施，包括修订录取标准，以促进学生群体的多元化；加强学生、教师及管理人员对多样性和平等的认知及理解，以改善包容性文化；为一年级学生和转学生制定“倡导者和盟友指导计划”；将现有的二年级和三年级的工程课程从狭窄的以子学科为基础的方法转变为更具包容性的以系统为基础的方法；并通过提供工业界和学术界的榜样来丰富所有学生的抱负。通过这些努力，该计划的结构将发生根本性的变化：在拨款的5年期间，将该部门的妇女和少数民族/种族（可见urm）的百分比从19.3%提高到50%以上，同时也增加所有历史上服务不足群体的百分比；重新设计课程、教与学、院系制度和程序，以促进包容性，使所有学生受惠；将所有学生的保留率从85%提高到95%；将所有中东欧学生的5年毕业率从目前的68%提高到80%；并激励教师成为转型的积极合作伙伴这一转型研究项目将产生关于urm在工程方面的经验的新知识。主要研究问题包括：(1)URM工科学生的感知人力资本（获取知识或技能）、社会文化资本（发展人际关系和网络）和个人资本（内在动机和外在动机）是什么？这些观念在不同种族、民族、社会经济地位、性别和性取向之间有什么异同？(2)学生对（土木）工程专业自我效能感和职业认同的认知情况如何？(3)教师发展培训的哪些方面在促进采用包容性教学实践和学习环境以及创造包容性文化方面最有效？这些研究问题将用于更好地理解urm在工程领域的感知障碍，并确定开发包容性模型的策略。策略包括录取和留住学生，教师的态度和教学，以及课程的变化，这些将影响学生在专业工作场所的思维和运作方式。这一愿景也延伸到学生的专业成长，通过解决和加强人力、社会和文化资本来培养更高的抱负。这种转变将帮助学生内化愿望，发展自我效能感和自信，使他们成为该领域的领导者和包容性倡导者。这个项目的结果将是一个转换工具包，它允许其他工程程序进行类似的更改。该项目将为如何将工程文化转变为包容性文化提供指导，最终形成一支更多元化的工程劳动力队伍，为应对21世纪的挑战做好准备。

Efforts to improve diversity in engineering have stagnated over the last 10-15 years, despite numerous programs and other activities that have been developed over that time. The lack of progress suggests that it is not enough to simply "fix" the pipeline. Rather, efforts are needed to change the way all stakeholders in engineering education think about diversity. This project will revolutionize the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at Rowan University to radically increase diversity and achieve high retention and graduation rates of all CEE students. An ambitious plan for curricular and extracurricular reform is being used to increase the representation of women and Underrepresented Minority (URM) students and historically underserved groups. These measures will be deployed using a multi-pronged approach that includes revising admission criteria to promote a more diverse student body; enhancing the perception and understanding of diversity and equality among students, faculty and administrators to improve the culture of inclusiveness; developing an Advocate and Allies Mentoring Program for first year and transfer students; transforming the existing engineering curriculum in the second and third year from a narrow sub-discipline based approach to a more inclusive system-based approach; and enriching aspirations for all students by providing role models from industry and academia. Through these efforts radical changes will be made in the structure of the program: increase the percentage of women and ethnic/racial minorities (visible URMs) in the department from 19.3 percent to above 50 percent in the 5 year duration of the grant, while at the same time also increasing the percentage of all historically underserved groups; redesign curriculum, teaching and learning, and department systems and processes to promote inclusiveness that benefits all students; improve retention of all students from 85 to 95 percent; improve 5-year graduation rates of all CEE students from the current level of 68 to 80 percent; and incentivize the faculty to be active partners in the transformationThis transformative research project will generate new knowledge about the experiences of URMs in engineering. The main research questions include: (1) What is the perceived human capital (acquiring knowledge or skills), sociocultural capital (developing interpersonal relationships and networks), and personal capital (intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) of URM engineering students? What are the similarities and differences in those perceptions across race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender and sexual orientation? (2) How do the students perceive their self-efficacy and professional identity in (civil) engineering? (3) What aspects of faculty development training are most effective in promoting adoption of inclusive teaching practices and learning environment and creating an inclusive culture? These research questions will be used to obtain a better understanding of the perceived barriers for URMs in the field of engineering and identify strategies for developing a model of inclusivity. Strategies encompass admission and retention of students, faculty attitudes and teaching, and curricular changes that will impact the way students think and function in the professional workplace. The vision also extends to the students' professional growth with higher aspirations being cultivated by addressing and enhancing human, social, and cultural capital. The transformation will help the student internalize aspirations, develop self-efficacy and self-confidence that they belong in the field as leaders and advocates for inclusivity. The results from this project will be a transformation kit, which allows other engineering programs to make similar changes. This project will provide guidance on how to change the culture of engineering to one of inclusion, ultimately resulting in a more diverse engineering workforce prepared to address the challenges of the 21st century.