Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) National Summit: Inspiring the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education

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With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by synthesizing and disseminating research and knowledge about STEM teaching and learning. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will undertake a 60-month project to establish a blog to share information and to convene a series of meetings and webinars that lead to increased use of effective undergraduate education strategies. The intended outcomes of this project are to provide principal investigators in the IUSE program, evaluators, researchers, and other leaders with an opportunity to: (a) disseminate innovative, evidence-based practices for transforming undergraduate STEM education for majors and non-majors, including improving the diversity of students and faculty participating in STEM education; (b) share STEM education research studies, particularly those focused on different types of institutions and diverse student populations; and (c) establish collaborations among educators, researchers, evaluators, and institutions.The major goals of this project are to (a) synthesize and disseminate research and knowledge about STEM teaching and learning and (b) increase the use of effective evidence-based undergraduate curricula and instructional strategies that will lead to a diverse STEM workforce and a STEM-literate public. To this end, AAAS will provide opportunities for in-person and virtual learning and dialogue. Specific activities include two national summits for faculty and staff from institutions of higher education, as well as professional and educational organizations. The summits will feature plenary presentations, posters, papers, investigator-led working and discussion groups, and sessions led by NSF program directors. Ongoing conversations will be facilitated through post-summit online forums intended to foster continued dissemination and collaboration among investigators and the broader STEM education community. In conjunction with NSF program directors, AAAS will offer IUSE proposal preparation webinars focused on reviewing and discussing the guidelines for IUSE proposals to encourage broader participation in this funding opportunity. AAAS will also host a blog on research and evidence-based strategies to prepare a diverse STEM workforce and science-literate public featuring expert authors and guest editors across various sectors and roles. A 2023 follow-up to the AAAS-NSF 2018 "Levers for Change Working Meeting" is also planned, to assemble STEM education researchers and practitioners who will assess progress and outline potential high-impact future directions in undergraduate STEM education. Additional products will include a printed and electronic report about levers of change in undergraduate STEM education as well as a project website with online poster and paper abstract locators and archived summit programs, webinars, blog, and report resources. The project will include thousands of IUSE principal investigators, co-investigators, and staff across the more than 400 institutions funded by the IUSE program, as well as relevant stakeholders beyond those currently funded by IUSE to promote the generation, exchange, and use of evidence-based practices to improve the future of undergraduate STEM education.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.