A Longitudinal Study of Women in Physics and People of Color in STEM at Primarily White Institutions

该项目是一项试点研究的十年后续，该研究调查了21名物理学和天文学女研究生的教育经历和职业目标。先前的研究结果显示，师徒关系、性别歧视和职业目标的发展对学生的最终结果产生了复杂的影响。研究显示，许多人考虑从事非学术性的职业，是因为他们认为工作与生活平衡，以及学术性的工作氛围。目前的项目将通过采访原始队列来收集路径数据，将他们的职业和轨迹与他们既定的目标和愿望进行比较，从而扩展先前的研究。这项研究将增加第二个队列，为进一步的研究奠定基础，包括物理教育研究中通常忽略的多个交叉身份。目标是为可能用于招聘和留住女性STEM教师的干预措施提供信息。研究者还将实施一项专业发展计划，通过导师来建立STEM教育的研究能力，导师将在定性数据收集和分析、手稿写作以及研究成果转化为实践方面提供指导。该项目预计将扩大STEM教育研究人员的数量，提高对指导在STEM劳动力发展中的作用的认识，并减少女性在STEM方面的差距。本研究将通过调查以下研究问题，试图了解物理学和天文学领域女性的纵向职业结果和性别经历：(1)近十年来，研究生院女性的职业期望与她们的实际职业有何差异？(2)师徒关系对其职业发展轨迹和结果有何影响？(3)完成研究生学位后，他们有哪些性别经历？研究问题将检验物理学中女性和有色人种的职业轨迹受到其身份和指导经历的影响，进而影响其职业目标和学术路径的假设。在建构主义扎根理论和立场理论的框架下，本研究将采用交叉方法，采用定性方法分析犹他大学半结构化访谈的数据，以回答研究问题。面试程序将是一个主题问题列表，这些问题将在会话式面试中讨论。这种方法不会将女性与她们的同龄人进行比较，但它会产生关于她们对自己经历的个人观点的数据。该研究将产生方法论方法和结果，可以转移到其他STEM学科，用于未来的学术和非学术职业。所产生的知识也将有助于改善物理和天文学少数民族学生的学术环境，并为STEM劳动力培养多样化的人才库。该项目得到了ECR: EHR核心研究项目STEM教育研究能力建设竞赛的支持。ECR资助STEM教育研究，重点关注STEM学习和学习环境，扩大STEM参与，以及STEM专业劳动力发展。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。

This project is a ten-year follow up to a pilot study that examined the educational experiences and career goals of 21 women graduate students in physics and astronomy. The previous study results revealed a complex tapestry of experiences with mentoring, gender discrimination, and the development of career goals that influenced the students’ ultimate outcomes. The study showed that many were considering non-academic careers because of their perceptions of work-life balance and the academic workplace climate. The current project will expand the previous study by interviewing the original cohort to collect pathway data that compares their careers and trajectories to their stated goals and aspirations. The study will add a second cohort to lay the groundwork for further research that includes multiple intersectional identities that typically are omitted from physics education research. The goal is to inform interventions that may be used to recruit and retain women STEM faculty. The investigator will also implement a professional development plan to build STEM education research capacity through mentors who will provide guidance on qualitative data collection and analysis, manuscript writing, and translation of research to practice. The project is expected to expand the pool of STEM education researchers, enhance the knowledge about the role of mentoring in STEM workforce development, and reduce STEM disparities among women.The study will seek to understand the longitudinal career outcomes and gendered experiences of women in physics and astronomy by investigating the following research questions: (1)What are the differences between the career expectations of women in graduate school and their actual careers over the last ten years? (2) What role did mentorship play in their career trajectory and outcomes? and (3) What gendered experiences have they had since completing their graduate degrees? The research questions will test the hypothesis that the career trajectories of women and people of color in physics are impacted by their identities and mentoring experiences which in turn inform their career goals and academic pathways. Framed by constructivist grounded theory and standpoint theory, the study will use an intersectional approach to employ qualitative methods to analyze data from semi-structured interviews at the University of Utah to answer the research questions. The interview protocol will be a list of themed questions that will be discussed during the conversational interviews. The methodology will not compare women to their peers, but it will yield data about their individual perspectives about their experiences. The study will produce methodological approaches and results that could be transferable to other STEM disciplines for prospective academic and non-academic careers. The knowledge produced will be useful also in improving the academic climate for minority students in physics and astronomy and fostering a diverse pool of talent for the STEM workforce.The project is supported by the ECR: Building Capacity in STEM Education Research competition of the EHR Core Research Program. ECR funds STEM education research that focuses on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM professional workforce development.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.