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

合作研究：为少数族裔博士和博士后在工程学术界的职业生涯提供专业准备

• 批准号: 1734833
• 负责人: Debora Rodrigues
• 金额: $ 19.07万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2022-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1734833&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Professional; Preparation; Underrepresented

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. The 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.

美国国家科学基金会，美国高等教育部和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）领域代表性不足的人口是一个重要的国家需求。 最近的大多数活动，以纠正在STEM学科的代表性不足的人口的不足，重点是从小学到本科大学学位（K-16）的举措。 这些举措在提高美国劳动力的多样性方面取得了重大进展，但它们对即将毕业的博士生进入学术领域担任教师的人数影响甚微。 教师多元化的缺乏是令人震惊的，考虑到发展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教师。由阿克伦大学牵头，与密西西比州立大学和休斯顿大学合作的这一合作项目的目标是增加代表性不足的人口在追求学术生涯的工程中的参与。 为参与者提供STEM教育的额外培训将产生更多准备好的工程教育工作者，这将导致装备更好的工程师进入劳动力市场。 同样，提供额外的技能来获得研究资金将有助于参与者在职业生涯的各个阶段取得成功。 在代表性不足的教师的增加可能会有一个长期的可持续的影响，增加代表性不足的人口进入并通过提供学术榜样/导师保留在工程学科的数量。 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，并为博士生和博士后助理的培训实践提供信息。拟议的项目以研究人员为期1.5天的研讨会的调查结果为基础，该研讨会的重点是为学术界的博士和博士后学员做好准备。 研究结果支持了之前的结果，确定大多数新教师，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暑期密集专业准备课程，结合为期一年的活动，为博士和博士后学生提供扩大的密集专业准备，以提供教学和研究领域的实际动手培训。 参加者将有机会写一份旅行建议书，以获得资金，与联邦赠款协调员会面或参加教育/技术会议。 每年，该方法将在一个合作机构实施和主办，参与者从主办大学、200英里半径内的机构以及每个合作机构招募两名。 这一努力有可能显着增加工程领域追求学术生涯的代表性不足的人口数量。