NRT-IGE: Indigenous Graduate Education in Science and Engineering - Southwest (IGESE-SW)

科学家和工程师的任务是解决本世纪一些最大和最复杂的国家和全球挑战，使该行业的就业机会增长最快的任何其他部门在美国。但是科学和工程领域存在多样性问题，这阻碍了充满活力，创造性和多样化的人才库。许多高等教育项目通过创建旨在缩小STEM领域多样性差距的项目来应对这一问题。虽然这些努力已经开始弥合一些代表性不足的少数民族人口的差距，但美国印第安人和阿拉斯加原住民（AI/AN）仍然是STEM领域研究生学位中代表性最低的学生群体。亚利桑那大学（UA）研究生教育创新（IGE）轨道中的国家科学基金会研究培训（NRT）奖将提高AI/AN工程学生的持久性，并通过纳入土著和更多对话的互动方法来影响教师的看法和态度。该项目通过实施和调查旨在影响AI/AN学生，教师导师和部落民族领导人之间关系的几个文化相关的计划组成部分，解决了AI/AN科学和工程从业者数量少的问题。这个试点项目的新颖之处在于系统地实施和评估程序模块，这些模块以教育科学和社会理论为基础，假设这些理论可以显着提高AI/AN在STEM研究生课程中的持久性，特别是在工程领域。该计划将改变土著工程学生和大学工程教师的研究生教育经验。该方法承认并利用了UA AI/AN学生中存在的文化和社会资本，并在批判性种族理论和家庭教育模式的研究中得到了框架。UA有一个独特的机会与亚利桑那州内22个联邦承认的部落合作。这些国家占据了亚利桑那州的四分之一以上，是超过25万美国印第安人的家园。这个基于UA的IGE测试平台使用民族志方法来研究行动和事件的意义，这些行动和事件围绕着参与，忠诚和其他对研究生院学习至关重要的组成部分的概念，从AI/AN学生，教师导师和部落民族领导人的角度来看。该模型包含四个主要组成部分，反映了AI/AN研究生成功持续发展的整体，基于实践的系统方法：1）财政援助：与UA的SLOAN奖学金计划合作，为土著工程学生提供学费资助; 2）社区驱动的研究：与当地部落合作伙伴建立关系; 3）土著教师指导：土著指导计划作为教师培训计划的一部分;和4）提供学生的融合和专业技能发展，以增加归属感和专业工程准备。这四个组成部分是单独的关键，集体强大，并提供了一个授权，积极的，和持久的研究生学术生涯的AI/AN学生从所有部落和原住民社区。试验平台的成功要素将扩大到全国其他地区。NSF研究培训（NRT）计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的，新的，潜在的变革性模型，用于STEM研究生教育培训。研究生教育创新轨道专门致力于试点，测试和评估新颖，创新和潜在的变革性研究生教育方法。该项目由研究生教育联盟和教授（AGEP）计划共同资助。AGEP资助研究和开发，实施和调查模型，以改变博士教育，博士后培训和/或历史上代表性不足的少数民族（URM）在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）和/或STEM教育研究的论文阶段。

Scientists and Engineers are tasked with tackling some of the largest and most complex national and global challenges this century, making jobs in this sector the fastest growing of any other sector in the United States. But the fields of Science and Engineering have a diversity problem which inhibits a vibrant, creative, and diverse talent pool. Many higher education programs have responded to this issue by creating programs intended to narrow the diversity gap in STEM fields. While these efforts have begun to bridge the gap for some underrepresented minority populations, American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) remain the least represented group of students in graduate degrees in STEM fields. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award in the Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Track to the University of Arizona (UA) will improve persistence of AI/AN engineering students and impact faculty perceptions and attitudes through the inclusion of indigenous and more conversational methods of interaction. This project addresses the issue of low numbers of AI/AN science and engineering practitioners by implementing and investigating several culturally relevant program components designed to impact the relationships among AI/AN students, faculty mentors, and Tribal Nation leaders. The novelty of this pilot project is in the systematic implementation and assessment of program modules, grounded in education science and social theories that are hypothesized to dramatically improve persistence of AI/AN in STEM graduate programs, especially in engineering. This program will transform the graduate education experience for indigenous engineering students and university engineering faculty. The approach acknowledges and leverages the cultural and social capital present in the AI/AN students at UA, and is framed in research on critical race theories and family education models. UA has a unique opportunity to work with the 22 federally recognized tribes that lie within the state of Arizona. These nations occupy over one quarter of Arizona, and are the home to over 250,000 American Indians. This UA-based IGE testbed uses ethnographic methods to study the meaning of actions and events surrounding the concepts of engagement, belongingness, and other components critical to persistence in graduate school study from the perspective of AI/AN students, faculty mentors and Tribal Nation leaders. The model contains four major components that reflect a holistic, empirically-based, systems approach to the successful persistence of AI/AN graduate students: 1) Financial Assistance: partnering with the SLOAN scholarship program at UA for tuition funding for indigenous engineering students; 2) Community-driven research: relationship building with local tribal partners; 3) Indigenous Faculty Mentoring: Indigenous Mentoring Program as part of a faculty training initiative; and 4) providing student integration and professional skills development to increase a sense of belongingness and professional engineering preparation. These four components are individually critical, collectively powerful, and provide an empowering, positive, and persistent graduate academic career for AI/AN students from all tribes and Native communities. Successful elements of the testbed will be scaled to other regions nationwide. 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.This project is co-funded by the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program. AGEP funds research and the development, implementation, and investigation of models to transform the dissertation phase of doctoral education, postdoctoral training and/or faculty advancement of historically underrepresented minorities (URMs) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and/or STEM education research.