NSF INCLUDES: WATCH US (Women Achieving Through Community Hubs) in the United States

数学是许多STEM领域的基础，数学的成功是其他科学学科成功的催化剂。增加妇女和其他代表性不足的群体在数学专业中的参与，可以建立人力资本，从而培养出工商领域的各种问题解决者、研究数学家、各级教师和下一代的榜样。现有的支持和充实项目针对的是处于本科和研究生教育不同阶段的数学女性，采用不同的策略来建立社区、创造归属感和促进成长心态。这些策略挑战了一些最常见的成功障碍，包括孤立、刻板印象威胁、没有足够早地投入数学学习，以及冒名顶替综合症。鉴于妇女在社会经济背景和教育背景方面的多样性，本项目建议通过两个主要问题的视角来检验这些计划的有效性：(1)这些计划的哪些要素对妇女的成功最为关键，作为她们在这些不同的多样性轴上的地位的函数？(2)作为参与者职业生涯阶段的函数，这些项目的哪些特征是最有效的？这些问题的基本原理是，更好地理解和改进数学项目招募和留住本科和研究生女性的途径，具有强大的潜力，可以增加全国数学博士中女性的代表性。该项目旨在通过确定和推广最佳实践和已知机制来增加美国专业数学家的数量，并使其多样化，以提高女性在数学研究生项目中的成功率，特别是来自代表性不足群体的女性。该提案的pi都是活跃了近二十年的倡议的领导者，他们将与管理，数据收集和报告以及沟通方面的专家合作，以应对以下三个挑战：(1)制定一个衡量这些倡议中每个要素有效性的共同系统；(2)制定有效的集体决策流程；(3)在现有活动和资源之间建立联系。本项目既是探索性研究，又是有效性研究。项目团队首先将通过采访过去主修数学专业的各种女性，以及现在的专业数学家，来探索支持或抑制女性追求数学博士学位的背景因素。然后，他们将利用这些信息来更好地了解当前和过去各种旨在提高女性参与高等数学的举措的最有效特征。关键干系人会议将开发一个有效的、集体决策的过程，以利用项目团队从访谈中学到的东西。领导团队将开发一个包含讨论板和社交媒体组件的网站，以突出最佳实践，并为对数学感兴趣的女性提供一个虚拟社区。最后，程序元素的精馏及其目标有效性将告知相互关联的活动的选择，以便在可伸缩模型上进行测试。这些原型将在几个地点实施，以代表不同的选区和当地的支持基础设施。

Mathematics is the foundation of many STEM fields and success in mathematics is a catalyst for success in other scientific disciplines. Increasing the participation of women and other under-represented groups in the mathematics profession builds human capital that produces a diverse pool of problem solvers in business and industry, research mathematicians, faculty at all levels, and role models for the next generation. Existing support and enrichment programs have targeted women in mathematics at different stages in their undergraduate and graduate education, with different strategies to building community, creating a sense of belonging, and promoting a growth mind set. These strategies challenge some of the most common obstacles to success, including isolation, stereotype threat, not committing to mathematics early enough, and imposter syndrome. Acknowledging the diversity among women in terms of socio-economic background and educational background, this project proposes to examine the effectiveness of these programs through the lens of two primary questions: (1) Which elements of these programs are most critical in the success of women, as a function of their position along these distinct diversity axes?, and (2) which features of these programs are most effective as a function of the stage of the participant's career? These questions are guided by the rationale that a better understanding of, and improved pathways by, which programs recruit and retain undergraduate and graduate women in mathematics has the strong potential to increase the representation of women among mathematics PhDs nationwide.This project seeks to increase and diversify the number of professional mathematicians in the United States by identifying and proliferating best practices and known mechanisms for increasing the success of women in mathematics graduate programs, particularly women from under-represented groups. The PIs on this proposal, all of whom are leaders of initiatives that have been active for nearly two decades, will work with experts in management, data collection and reporting, and communications to address the following three challenges: (1) develop a common system of measuring the effectiveness of each element in these initiatives; (2) develop a process for effective, collective decision making; and (3) create connections between existing activities and resources. This project is both exploratory research and effectiveness research. The project team first will explore the contextual factors that serve to support or inhibit female pursuit of mathematics doctorates by interviewing a variety of women who were undergraduate mathematics majors in the past, as well as current professional mathematicians. They then will use this information to better understand the most effective features of various current and past initiatives that are trying to increase the participation of women in advanced mathematics. A key stakeholder meeting will develop a process for effective, collective decision-making, to utilize what the project team learns from the interviews. The leadership team will develop a website with discussion board and social media components to highlight best practices and facilitate a virtual community for women interested in mathematics. Finally, a distillation of program elements and their targeted effectiveness will inform the selection of interconnected activities to test on a scalable model. These prototypes will be implemented at several sites chosen to represent a diversity of constituencies and local support infrastructure.