NSF INCLUDES DDLP: Southeastern Compact for Inclusive Student Transitions in Engineering and Physical Sciences (SCI-STEPS)

物理科学和工程仍然是所有STEM领域中最不多样化的-涉及妇女、代表性不足的少数群体和残疾人-在各级STEM教育和培训中。SCI-STEPS是一个NSF包括设计和开发启动试点，将通过开发从大学开始到博士再到劳动力的完整的端到端管道(或路径系统)来解决这一持续存在的挑战。许多旨在扩大参与的孤立努力显示出了希望，但它们产生的影响还不够大。SCI-STEPS代表了一套协调一致的协调干预措施-有意识地促进、系统地联系和有目的地传播。SCI-STEPS代表了主要研究型大学、历史上的黑人学院和大学、综合性大学、社区学院、国家实验室和主要科学组织之间的广泛区域网络。该网络的目标是确保在物理科学和工程方面代表性不足的个人能够从STEM高等教育的起点-2年制或4年制大学新生-通过高等教育途径获得适当的终极学位并在STEM劳动力中就业。妇女、代表性不足的少数群体和残疾人共同代表着大多数对物理科学和工程有兴趣进入高等教育的大学适龄个人。越来越多的研究表明，在留住学生方面，学术和社会融合可能比学术能力更有影响力。因此，旨在遏制这些人的损失的干预措施最终必须旨在改变制度-包括不受欢迎的体制气候、种族/族裔/性别陈规定型观念、缺乏可以认同的导师以及强调从众而不是个人能力的评估方法-而不是改变个人。SCI-STEPS试点侧重于为在四个关键阶段实施最佳做法干预措施做好体制准备：(1)大学一年级到二年级；(2)本科生到研究生；(3)博士到博士后；(4)博士后到工作人员。试点将分三个步骤进行：(1)规划阶段，(2)与四个交界点过渡小组建立初始端到端路径模型，(3)扩大SCI-STEPS与所有初始合作伙伴的“网络网络”。通过一个集体影响框架和嵌入式研究来解决这些目标，这一试点将展示如何在各种机构类型和一个大而不同的地理区域内，在每个途径的关键时刻配合和扩大最佳做法干预措施。因此，解决这些目标也将有助于推动在国家范围内扩大参与的努力，提出各种形式的机构伙伴关系和最佳做法，以便为其他科技、经济和经济领域和/或不同区域领域的其他联盟提供信息。

Physical science and engineering remain the least diverse of all STEM fields---with regard to women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities---across all levels of STEM education and training. SCI-STEPS is an NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot that will address this persistent challenge by developing a complete end-to-end pipeline (or system of pathways) from the beginning of college to the PhD, and then into the workforce. Many isolated efforts to broaden participation have shown promise, but they have not produced big enough impact. SCI-STEPS represents a concerted set of coordinated interventions---consciously facilitated, systemically linked, and purposefully disseminated. SCI-STEPS represents a broad regional network among major research universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, comprehensive universities, community colleges, national labs, and major scientific organizations. The goal of the network is to ensure that underrepresented individuals in the physical sciences and engineering can get from their starting point in STEM higher education---freshmen at 2-year or 4-year college---through the higher education pathways leading to an appropriate terminal degree and employment in the STEM workforce.Women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities collectively represent the majority of college-age individuals entering higher education with an expressed interest in physical science and engineering. A growing body of research indicates that academic and social integration may be even more influential than academic abilities for retention of students. Thus, interventions aimed at stemming the losses of these individuals must ultimately be aimed at changing the system---including unwelcoming institutional climates, racial/ethnic/gender stereotyping, a lack of mentors with whom to identify, and evaluation methods that emphasize conformity over individual capabilities---rather than changing the individual. The SCI-STEPS pilot focuses effort on institutional readiness for implementation of best practice interventions at four key junctures: (i) college freshman to sophomore; (ii) undergraduate to graduate; (iii) PhD to postdoc; and (iv) postdoc to workforce.The pilot will proceed in three steps: (1) a planning phase, (2) development of an initial end-to-end pathways model with four Juncture Transition teams, and (3) scale-up of the SCI-STEPS "network of networks" with all initial partners. By addressing these objectives through a collective impact framework and embedded research, this pilot will demonstrate how best-practice interventions at each pathway juncture can be dovetailed and scaled up across a broad range of institutional types and across a large but distinct geographical area. Addressing these objectives will thus also serve to advance Broadening Participation efforts at a national scale, by suggesting the forms of institutional partnerships and best-practices that may inform other alliances in other STEM disciplines and/or different regional areas.