CAREER: Identifying Barriers and Supports for Physics Students and Early Career Physicists with Disabilities

在美国的学院和大学里，大约有25%的本科生和20%的残疾研究生进入了科学和工程领域。令人惊讶的是，自1990年《美国残疾人法案》等反歧视法通过以来，残疾人的经济福利有所下降。然而，STEM职业为残疾人提供了更好的经济回报。此外，经济预测表明，越来越需要招募更多的STEM专业学生，而残疾学生是一个可以帮助满足这一国家经济需求的未被招募的群体。残疾本科生和研究生可能会被缺乏支持学生参与的知识的教师和导师劝阻从事STEM职业。这位职业学者正在调查本科和研究生物理学生以及早期职业物理学家在学习和研究经历中遇到的障碍和支持。这项工作的结果为大学教师和专业导师提供了信息，以使从事物理职业的残疾人更容易接触和包容物理。教师早期职业发展（Career）计划是美国国家科学基金会（NSF）范围内的一项活动，为通过杰出的研究、优秀的教育以及在其组织使命的背景下将教育和研究结合起来，体现教师学者角色的初级教师提供奖励。该奖项由EHR核心研究（ECR）项目支持。ECR强调在STEM领域产生基础知识的基础教育研究。这个CAREER项目的目标是探索物理专业学生和早期职业物理学家的态度和经历如何在多个组成部分发生变化，包括人口变量、研究经历和物理子领域。这项研究的重点是那些有视觉、听觉、身体、心理健康和/或认知学习障碍的人，包括那些有学习和阅读障碍、自闭症谱系障碍和其他执行功能障碍的人。每个人都被认为有一个能力概况，在多个方面都有长处和短处。研究问题包括：(1)现有的残疾人物理研究和教学社区的文化是如何受到教师/导师和学生/学员的能力概况和其他个人特征的影响的？(2)物理研究界的现有文化在不同的子领域和研究类型之间是如何变化的？(3)有什么有效的策略可以使物理对残疾人更容易获得和包容？(4)培养大学教师以更好地支持残疾本科生、研究生和早期职业研究人员的有效方法是什么？除了收集学生数据外，还将与美国物理学会（American Physical Society）合作进行调查，以获取大量执业物理学家，并对残疾物理学家及其导师进行访谈。该研究与一项广泛的教育计划相结合，包括为对物理残疾人士感兴趣的教师创建学习社区，修改研究生助教和本科生学习助理的培训，以包括包容性教学策略，举办讲习班以培训物理教师和导师，并为执业物理学家和讲师发表文章。此外，与研究人员一起工作的本科生和研究生将受益于学习STEM教育研究方法，并将研究与改善物理教学的教育机会相结合。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In U.S. colleges and universities about 25% of undergraduate students and 20% of graduate students with a disability enroll in science and engineering fields. Surprisingly, the economic well-being of persons with disabilities has decreased since the passage of anti-discrimination laws such as the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. However, STEM careers offer better financial outcomes for individuals with disabilities. Additionally, economic projections suggest an increasing need to recruit more STEM majors, and students with disabilities are an under-recruited group who could help to meet this national economic need. Undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities may be dissuaded from pursuing STEM careers by instructors and mentors who lack the knowledge to support the students' participation. This CAREER scholar is investigating the barriers and supports encountered by undergraduate and graduate physics students and early career physicists with disabilities in their learning and research experiences. Results of this work provide information to college instructors and professional mentors to make physics more accessible and inclusive for persons with disabilities pursuing physics careers.The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation (NSF)-wide activity that offers awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. This award is supported through the EHR Core Research (ECR) program. ECR emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. The goal of this CAREER project is to explore how the attitudes toward and experiences of physics students and early career physicists vary across multiple components, including demographic variables, research experience, and physics sub-field. This research is focusing on individuals with visual, hearing, physical, mental health and/or cognitive-learning impairments, including those with learning and reading disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorder and other executive function disorders. Everyone is conceived to have an ability profile, with strengths and weaknesses along multiple dimensions. Research questions include: (1) How is the existing culture in the physics research and instructional communities towards persons with disabilities shaped by the ability profile and other personal characteristics of the instructor/mentor and the student/mentee? (2) How does the existing culture in the physics research community vary across sub-fields and research types? (3) What are effective strategies for making physics more accessible and inclusive for persons with disabilities? (4) What are effective ways to train university faculty to better support undergraduate and graduate students, and early career researchers with disabilities? In addition to collecting student data, surveys will be administered in collaboration with the American Physical Society to capture a broad population of practicing physicists, and interviews will be conducted with physicists with disabilities and their mentors. The research is integrated with an extensive education plan that includes creating learning communities for faculty interested in persons with disabilities in physics, modifying trainings for graduate teaching assistants and undergraduate learning assistants to include inclusive teaching strategies, conducting workshops to train physics teachers and mentors, and publishing articles for practicing physicists and instructors. Additionally, undergraduate and graduate students working with the researcher will benefit from learning about STEM education research methods and integrating research with educational opportunities for improving physics instruction.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.