Collaborative Research: NRT-IGE: The NAVIGATE Project: A Case-Study Approach to Overcoming Barriers to Advancement for Women in STEM

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Women are underrepresented in STEM disciplines despite widespread efforts to increase participation, creating an economic barrier as industry demand for STEM employees grows rapidly with advancing technology. Even more apparent is the shortage of women in leadership roles in STEM fields. Many women in STEM disciplines continue to be dissuaded from lofty career goals when they encounter gender bias, discrimination and inequity, reporting that they find it challenging to navigate these adverse situations without derailing their careers. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award in the Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Track to the University at Buffalo and California Polytechnic State University will support the development of the NAVIGATE Project, which aims to increase the number of women STEM graduates who persist in their chosen disciplines, and achieve leadership roles. The NAVIGATE Project is an innovative training program that relies on Case Study Teaching Methods to increase the skills of STEM women to navigate effectively past instances of bias, inequity or discrimination in the workforce. Persistence within career paths will be increased, and the numbers of women in leadership roles nationally will be enhanced. A team comprising scientists and engineers, academic and industry leaders, case studies teaching experts, and evaluation and educational researchers will design and implement the program. The NAVIGATE program employs a proven pedagogy from business, law, and medicine, the Case Study Teaching Method, which has been shown to promote internalization of learning and the development of analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills, to empower women STEM graduate students to recognize and combat gender bias, inequity and discrimination. The program is informed by current theories of equity, diversity and inclusion, and by literature on the issues women STEM professionals encounter in the workforce. This project will test, for the first time, the effectiveness of the Case Study Method for developing students' skills to navigate these issues. The project team will use a mixed methods research design to collect qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate the effectiveness of the graduate training program. The team will create a collection of case studies that will be widely disseminated through the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science or through Lead it Yourself, an NSF-funded project hosted by the University of Washington. The project addresses a national priority to grow and diversify the STEM workforce with methods that have not previously been tried and tested. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The Innovations in Graduate Education Track is dedicated solely to piloting, testing, and evaluating novel, innovative, and potentially transformative approaches to graduate education.