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

该奖项支持一个关于如何最好地提高公众的科学技术意识和促进妇女参与STEM的美国-亚洲地区研讨会。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)的约30名受邀学者和专家，他们来自科学、技术与社会(STS)、STEM中的女性和科普领域。会议将利用展示STEM如何推动经济发展的丰富数据，并强调越来越多的人认识到，STEM的教育必须有针对性，不仅面向政府和行业的未来STEM专业人员，而且面向普通公众。这些发展中的亚洲国家代表着世界上一些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，现在是从他们那里收集信息的好时机，让他们了解国家科技教育政策如何(以及是否)受到公众对科技教育作为经济增长重要驱动力的认识的影响。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有关的挑战也是至关重要的。该项目将从跨国家的角度解决提高妇女在STEM教育和劳动力中的地位的问题。通过这一互动讲习班，项目组将收集有关STEM的非正式教育和普及如何在选定的亚洲国家以及美国提高妇女参与度的信息。它将讨论如何建立一支性别包容的劳动力队伍，以带来经济增长和社会福祉亟需的创新。与会者将从数据和经验中吸取教训，拟定建议的国家和国际战略，以促进公众认识和欣赏STEM，将其作为经济发展和社会福祉的重要因素，并特别注重性别平等和包容。这一会议项目将通过一系列出版物编写一份关于科学、技术和经济平等问题的最新情况报告。此外，该项目将在亚洲国家和美国的STS和科普学术界内建立伙伴关系。拟议的跨国参与将促进STEM工作场所和市场中关于性别的国际研究。最后，本次会议探讨的促进专业会议的混合方法有可能显著提高不同STEM学科的组织未来如何考虑组织和支持专业协作和共享。总体而言，预计这一区域项目将在一大批国际学者和实践者之间就这些问题展开有意义的对话并产生长期影响。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智力优势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.