NSF Engineering Education and Centers: Stewarding a Community of Scholars, Leaders, and Innovators

该项目将集合受资助者和其他利益相关者，他们是美国国家科学基金会工程教育和中心（EEC）部门生态系统的一部分，以促进合作和创建社区。EEC通常在任何时候都有350个有效奖项，受助者——被称为首席研究员，或pi——分布在全国不同的机构。由于项目负责人经常与参与欧共体资助活动的其他人“孤立”工作，因此分享最佳实践、合作以及从其他项目负责人的错误和成功中学习的能力有限。该奖项支持为工程教育、扩大工程和工程劳动力发展集群的参与、两个中心和网络集群会议以及三个主题会议举行的三次受资助人会议，这些主题会议涉及(a)参与不足的机构的研究机会，(b)社会人口趋势对国家工程劳动力的影响，以及(c)有形和无形残疾人参与工程教育。近年来，ASEE召开了特别会议，重点讨论的主题包括增加少数民族、性别和性少数群体在工程领域的参与，以及将退伍军人转变为工程职业等。这些专题会议吸引了思想领袖和有影响力的利益攸关方的参与，向更广泛的社区通报了推进这些领域以进一步培养工程专业人员的机会。像这里提议的会议是专门组织的，以分享知识并在PI之间建立强大的网络，促进面对面互动和协作的沟通（例如，2012年CBET受资助者会议；CMMI 2012受资助者会议，2014年STEP受资助者会议，2014年ERC会议，2015年CPS PI会议）。ASEE在支持和连接EEC社区方面具有独特的定位，利用其影响力和影响力来加速工程研究，教学，多样性和包容性方面的创新，传播和采用最佳实践。建议召开的会议将有关各方聚集在一起，提供有目的的交流机会，以便：(a)促进知识共享；(b)培养个人和专业关系、合作和伙伴关系；(c)向参与者通报该领域最新的和正在进行的努力，(d)通过报告、简报、文章和在线资源产生见解和知识，使更广泛的社区了解当前的趋势。会议总结报告的数字副本将与所有与会者共享，并将在会议网站上提供，并通过美国工程教育学会（ASEE）渠道（例如，First Bell, Connections）进行宣传。

This project will assemble grantees and other relevant stakeholders who are part of the National Science Foundation's Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) division ecosystem to foster collaboration and create communities. EEC generally has 350 active awards at any one time, with grantees - known as Principal Investigators, or PIs - spread across the country at different institutions. Because PIs often work "siloed" from other people involved with EEC-funded activities, there is limited ability to share best practices, collaborate, and learn from mistakes and successes of other PIs. This award supports three Grantee Conferences held for the Engineering Education, Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Workforce Development clusters, two Centers and Networks Cluster Meetings, and three Thematic Meetings on (a) research opportunities for under-participating institutions, (b) the effects of socio-demographic trends on the national engineering workforce, and (c) participation of people with visible and invisible disabilities in engineering education.In recent years, ASEE has convened special meetings focusing on topics such as increasing participation of ethnic, gender, and sexual minorities in engineering, and transitioning veterans into engineering careers, among others. These thematic meetings have engaged thought leaders and influential stakeholders, informing the broader community about opportunities to advance these areas to further the education of engineering professionals. Meetings such as the ones proposed here are organized specifically to share knowledge and create strong networks between and among PIs, with facilitated communication given face-to-face interaction and collaboration (e.g., 2012 CBET Grantee Conference; CMMI 2012 Grantee Conference, 2014 STEP Grantees Meeting, 2014 ERC Meeting, 2015 CPS PI Meeting). ASEE is uniquely positioned to support and connect the EEC community, leveraging its reach and influence to accelerate innovation, dissemination, and adoption of best practices in engineering research, instruction, and diversity and inclusion. Meetings such as those proposed gather interested parties to engage in purposeful networking opportunities to (a) foster knowledge-sharing; (b) cultivate personal and professional relationships, collaborations, and partnerships; (c) inform participants about state-of-the-art and ongoing efforts in the field, and (d) generate insights and knowledge that inform the broader community about current trends via reports, briefs, articles, and online resources. Digital copies of meeting summary reports will be shared with all meeting attendees, and will be made available on the meeting website and publicized via American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) channels (e.g., First Bell, Connections).