Collaborative Research: Access Expansion: Growing a Network of Equity-Focused Programs in the Physical Sciences

该奖项支持Access Network项目，该项目旨在大幅提高物理科学领域的公平性和包容性。研究表明，物理系的许多共同的现有文化特征对女性和代表不足的少数族裔学生产生了不成比例的负面影响，最终导致她们的自然流失。物理系的学生和教职员工使用基于研究的策略创建了一些项目，以培养一种欢迎和重视学生不同身份的文化。Access Network成立于2015年，将其中9个单一校园项目合并为一个全国网络，同时为它们提供与平等工作、制度变革和STEM教育相关的资源、专业知识和知识。有证据表明，Access网站积极地改变了学生的体验，而且该网络支持这些网站的成功。在为新地点开展密集的指导和讲习班以及有意扩大领导力方面吸取的经验教训，将对其他试图将学生支助方面的最佳做法应用于新人口并将地方努力扩大到全国运动的人有价值。文档将扩展新的和现有的方案的资源集，这些方案可以在网络内和其他地方使用。最后，正在进行的评估将有助于了解网络对各个站点及其参与者的影响。接入网络致力于建立更加公平和包容的物理文化。在一套共同的原则(例如，学生的声音、社区建设)和一套方案提供(例如，导师、模范建设课程、社区活动、早期研究机会)的推动下，每个网站都根据其独特的人群的需求而量身定做，从罗切斯特理工学院的大量聋人和重听学生到芝加哥州立大学的黑人通勤学生。该网络通过提供相关专业知识、社区支持、有指导的领导机会和共享资源为每个站点提供支持。通过帮助学生成功并赋予他们作为领导者的权力，Access支持这些学生改变物理文化，使其更加包容、欢迎和公平。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 the Access Network, a project aimed at substantially improving equity and inclusion in the physical sciences. Research has shown that many common existing cultural features of physics departments disproportionately and negatively impact women and underrepresented minority students, ultimately leading to their attrition. Students and faculty in physics departments have created programs using research-based strategies that cultivate a culture that welcomes and values students’ different identities. The Access Network, formed in 2015, combines nine of these single campus programs into a national network while providing them with resources, expertise, and knowledge related to equity work, institutional change, and STEM education. Evidence shows that Access sites have positively transformed the student experience, and that the Network supports the success of these sites. The lessons learned in developing intensive mentorship and workshops to new sites and deliberately expanding leadership will be of value to others attempting to apply best practices in student support to new populations and scale local efforts to national movements. Documentation will expand the set of resources for new and existing programs, which can be used within the Network and beyond. Finally, ongoing evaluation will contribute to an understanding of the impacts of the Network on the individual sites and of the sites on their participants.The Access Network works towards a more equitable and inclusive physics culture. Driven by a set of shared principles (e.g., student voice, community building) and a suite of programmatic offerings (e.g., mentorship, model building courses, community events, early research opportunities), each site is tailored to the needs of its unique population, ranging from a large number of Deaf and hard of hearing students at the Rochester Institute of Technology to Black commuter students at Chicago State University. The Network supports each site by providing relevant expertise, community support, mentored leadership opportunities, and shared resources. By helping students succeed and empowering them as leaders, Access supports these students in changing the culture of physics to make it more inclusive, welcoming, and equitable.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.