Public Awareness of STEM and Advancing the Role of Women in STEM

该奖项支持美国-关于如何最好地提高公众对科学技术的认识和促进妇女参与科学、技术、工程和数学的亚洲区域讲习班。会议将召集来自美国和9个南亚和东南亚国家（孟加拉国、印度、印度尼西亚、马来西亚、尼泊尔、巴基斯坦、新加坡、斯里兰卡和泰国）的科学、技术社会（STS）、STEM中的妇女和科学普及领域的约30名受邀学者和专家。会议将利用丰富的数据，展示STEM如何推动经济发展，并强调越来越多的人认识到，STEM教育必须有针对性，不仅要面向政府和行业中未来的STEM专业人员，还要面向公众。这些亚洲发展中国家代表了世界上最具活力的新兴经济体，美国可以从更好地了解这些国家在促进STEM方面面临的机遇和挑战中学到很多东西。因此，这是一个从他们那里收集信息的有利时机，这些信息是关于公众对STEM作为经济增长的重要驱动力的认识如何（也许，是否）影响国家STEM政策的。在这些国家（以及美国），与妇女在STEM参与、就业和领导方面的平等相关的挑战也至关重要。该项目将从跨国角度解决提高妇女在STEM教育和劳动力中的地位问题。通过这个互动研讨会，项目团队将收集有关STEM的非正规教育和普及如何提高选定亚洲国家和美国妇女参与的信息。它将讨论如何建立一支性别包容的劳动力队伍，从而带来经济增长和社会福祉所急需的创新。根据数据和经验教训，与会者将制定建议的国家和国际战略，以促进公众对STEM作为经济发展和社会福祉的重要因素的认识和理解，特别关注性别平等和包容。该会议项目将通过一系列出版物编写一份关于STEM中性别平等问题的最新状况报告。此外，该项目将导致在亚洲国家和美国的STS和科学普及学术界建立伙伴关系，拟议的跨国参与将促进STEM工作场所和市场中的性别国际研究。最后，本次会议探讨的专业会议便利化的混合方法有可能显着提高各种STEM学科的组织如何考虑组织和支持未来的专业协作和共享。总体而言，这一区域项目预计将在一大批国际学者和从业人员中引发有意义的对话，并对这些问题产生长期影响。该项目由NSF科学、技术和社会计划（STS）、ADVANCE和国际科学与工程办公室（OISE）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF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。

This award supports a U.S.-Asia regional workshop on how best to enhance public awareness of science and technology and advance women's participation in STEM. The meeting will convene a group of approximately 30 invited scholars and experts from the fields of Science, Technology & Society (STS), Women in STEM, and Science Popularization from the U.S. and 9 South Asian and Southeast Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand). The meeting will utilize the wealth of data showing how STEM drives economic development and emphasize the growing appreciation that education in STEM must be targeted, not only to future STEM professionals in government and industry, but also to the general public. These developing Asian countries represent some of the most vibrant emerging economies in the world, and the U.S. can learn much from better understanding the opportunities and challenges these countries face in promoting STEM. Thus, this is a propitious time to gather information from them on how (and perhaps, whether), national STEM policies are affected by the public's awareness of STEM as a significant driver of economic growth. Also critical within these countries (and in the United States) are the challenges related to equity for women in STEM participation, employment, and leadership. This project will address the issue of advancement of women in the STEM education and workforce from a cross-national perspective. Through this interactive workshop, the project team will gather information on how the informal education and popularization of STEM may improve the participation of women in selected Asian countries as well as in the United States. It will address how to build a gender inclusive workforce that would lead to innovation much needed for both economic growth and social well-being. Drawing on lessons from data and experience, participants will craft suggested national and international strategies to promote public awareness and appreciation of STEM as important factors in economic development and societal well-being, with a particular focus on gender equity and inclusion. This Conference project will produce an up-to-date status report on issues of gender equity in STEM thorough a series of publications. Furthermore, this project will lead to establishment of partnerships within the STS and Science Popularization academic communities in Asian countries and the U.S. The proposed cross-national engagement will foster international research on gender in both the STEM workplace and marketplace. Finally, the hybrid approaches to professional conference facilitation explored at this meeting have the potential to significantly enhance how organizations across a variety of STEM disciplines might think about organizing and supporting professional collaboration and sharing in the future. Overall, this regional project is expected to trigger meaningful conversations and long term impacts on these issues among a large international group of scholars and practitioners. This project is jointly funded by the NSF programs in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), ADVANCE, and the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).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.