Collaborative Research: Professional Preparation of Underrepresented Minority PhD's and Post-Docs for a Career in Engineering Academia

美国国家科学基金会、美国高等教育部和来自全国各地大学的部门管理人员一致认为，增加STEM(科学、技术、工程和数学)领域的代表性不足人口是一个重要的国家需求。最近纠正STEM学科中任职人数不足的人口不足的活动大多侧重于从小学到本科大学学位(K-16)的举措。这些举措在增强美国劳动力的多样性方面取得了重大进展，但它们对进入学术领域教师专业职位的博士毕业生数量影响甚微。考虑到培养未来受过大学教育的一代的主要可持续方法是多元化的STEM教员，师资队伍多元化的情况令人担忧。这个由阿克伦大学与密西西比州立大学和休斯顿大学合作领导的合作项目的目标是增加未被充分代表的人群对追求学术事业的工程学的参与。为参与者提供STEM教育方面的额外培训将培养出更有准备的工程教育者，这将导致装备更好的工程师进入劳动力大军。同样，提供额外的技能以获得研究资金将有助于参与者在其职业生涯的所有阶段取得成功的能力。通过提供学术榜样/导师，代表不足的教师人数的增加可能会对增加进入和保留在工程学科的代表不足的人口的数量产生长期、可持续的影响。这项研究的研究部分将增加基于职业发展问题的国家知识，并为培养博士生和博士后助理的实践提供信息。拟议的项目以调查人员为期1.5天的讲习班的结果为基础，讲习班的重点是为学术界准备博士和博士后实习生。我们的发现支持了之前的结果，确定了大多数新教师，无论他们是否接受过博士后培训，都没有为学术界做好充分的准备。拟议的项目将通过一系列为期两周的强化暑期专业准备课程以及为期一年的活动，为博士生和博士后学生提供扩大的、密集的专业准备，以提供教学和研究领域的实践一手培训。参加者将有机会写一份旅行建议书，以获得与联邦赠款协调员会面或参加教育/技术会议的资金。每年，这一方法将在一个合作机构实施和主办，参与者从主办大学、半径200英里内的机构以及每个合作机构招募两名参与者。这一努力有可能显著增加在工程领域从事学术事业的人数不足的人数。

The National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Higher Education, and department administrators from universities across the country agree that increasing underrepresented populations in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields is an important national need. Most of the recent activities to rectify the deficiency of underrepresented populations in STEM disciplines have focused on initiatives from grade school to undergraduate college degrees (K-16). These initiatives have made significant advances to enhancing the diversity of the US work force, however they have had minimal effect on the number of graduating PhD students entering professional positions as faculty in academic fields. The lack of faculty diversification is alarming, considering that the primary sustainable method for developing future college-educated generations is a diverse STEM faculty. The goal of this collaborative project led by the University of Akron, in partnership with Mississippi State University and the University of Houston, is to increase the participation of underrepresented populations in engineering that pursue academic careers. Providing participants with additional training in STEM education will yield more prepared engineering educators, which will lead to better-equipped engineers entering the workforce. Similarly, affording additional skills to obtain research funding will assist with participants' ability to succeed at all stages of their careers. An increase in underrepresented faculty could have a long-term sustainable impact on increasing the number of underrepresented populations that enter and are retained in engineering disciplines by providing academic role models/mentors. The research component of this study will add to the national knowledge based on issues of career progression and inform practices on training doctoral students and postdoctoral associates. The proposed project builds upon the findings of the investigators 1.5 day workshops that focused on preparing PhD and postdoctoral trainees for academia. Our findings, which supported previous outcomes, determined that most new faculty members, whether they had postdoctoral training or not, were not adequately prepared for academia. The proposed project will provide expanded, intensive professional preparation for PhD and postdoctoral students through a series of two-week intensive summer professional preparation courses in conjunction with year-long activities to offer practical hands-one training in the areas of teaching and research. Participants will be provided an opportunity to write a travel proposal to receive funds to meet with a federal grant coordinator or attend an educational/technical conference. Each year the approach will be implemented and hosted at one of the collaborating institutions with participants recruited from the host university, institutions within a 200 mile radius, as well as a two from each of the collaborating institutions. This effort has potential to significantly increase the numbers of underrepresented populations in engineering fields that pursue academic careers.