Scaffolding NSF CISE REU Site Evaluation Through Comparative and Longitudinal Tracking

计算研究协会将审查由CISE理事会资助的本科生研究经验（REU）站点，以评估其有效性，特别是对来自计算领域代表性不足的人口统计学群体的学生。在建立多元化的国内人才库方面，计算机领域正面临挑战。为解决这一问题，实施了各种干预措施。通过参与研究经验，为本科生创造与他们的研究领域接触的机会，是培养学生兴趣并使他们留在自己的领域的方法之一。这些研究经验也有利于从计算机领域代表性不足的人口统计学群体中留住学生。通过评估，本项目的结果将有助于改善本科生的研究经验，增强其影响力。此外，从更广泛的研究和报告中收集到的见解将为STEM教育提供全国认可的资源，使全国社区了解计算多样性和包容性的长期趋势和有效实践。通过向计算机社区通报这些基于证据的最佳实践，并关注对计算机领域代表性不足的学生群体（例如，女性，有色人种学生等）的成功特别有影响的实践，项目成果将有助于增强REU参与的影响，从而在科学和工程领域形成更强大、更多样化的国内人才库。REU评估项目（REP）旨在评估CISE REU项目对参与者的影响，并为未来REU项目的可持续和可扩展评估建立基础设施。REP将建立在现有的nsf资助项目CISE REU Toolkit的基础上，该项目自2009年以来一直在评估CISE REU。REP的独特贡献在于它能够利用其他特定于计算的数据收集工作，这将为CISE REU计划提供更高水平和更大规模的比较分析。为了评估REU，该项目将收集参与NSF CISE REU的学生的调查数据和来自REU pi的特定地点信息。这项评价将结合前后和比较的方法，从多维角度考察后备资源参与的影响。评估结果将通过年度报告与REU站点pi和NSF项目官员共享。该项目还将在另一个国家级项目CRA数据伙伴调查的基础上建立一个数据收集和评估基础设施，该项目由项目团队运营。这种大规模进行此类评估的基础设施将能够持续监测reu的成功。每年通过该基础设施收集系统数据将使调查人员能够跟踪REU参与者在其职业生涯中的进展。在更高的层次上，通过这个项目产生的结果将有助于我们理解本科研究项目如何支持学生的学术和研究事业发展。此外，这个项目的重点是了解REU计划的哪些方面鼓励被认为在计算中代表性不足的学生群体（例如，女性，有色人种学生等）的成功，为支持计算社区扩大计算参与的努力提供了知识和基于证据的最佳实践。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。

The Computing Research Association will examine the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites funded by the CISE Directorate to evaluate their effectiveness, particularly for students from demographic groups that underrepresented in computing. The field of computing is facing challenges in terms of building a diverse domestic talent pool. Various interventions are implemented to address this issue. Creating opportunities for undergraduate students to engage with their field of study through participation in research experiences is one of the ways for building students’ interest and retaining them in their field. These research experiences are also beneficial for retaining students from demographic groups that are underrepresented in computing. Through this evaluation, the results of this project will help to improve the undergraduate research experiences and enhance their impact. Further, the insights gleaned from the increased scope of research and reporting will provide a nationally recognized resource for STEM education that informs the national community about long term trends and effective practices for diversity and inclusion in computing. By informing the computing community about these evidence-based best practices, with attention given to practices that are especially impactful for the success of underrepresented student groups within computing (e.g., women, students of color, etc.), the project outcomes will help enhance the impact of REU participation, resulting in a stronger and more diverse pool of domestic talent in the field of science and engineering. The REU Evaluation Project (REP) is intended to assess the impact of CISE REU programs on the participants and establish an infrastructure for the sustainable and scalable evaluation of REU programs going forward. The REP will build on an existing NSF-funded project, CISE REU Toolkit, that has been evaluating CISE REUs since 2009. The unique contribution of REP is its ability to harness other data collection efforts specific to computing that will provide a higher-level and larger-scale comparative analysis of the CISE REU program. For evaluating the REUs, the project will collect survey data from the students participating in NSF CISE REUs and site-specific information from the REU PIs. This evaluation will be combining pre-post and comparative methods to provide a multi-dimensional look into the impact of REU participation. The results from the evaluation will be shared with the REU site PIs and NSF Program Officers through annual reports. This project will also establish a data collection and evaluation infrastructure based on another national level project, CRA Data Buddies Survey, run by the project team. Such an infrastructure to conduct this type of evaluation at scale will enable sustainable monitoring of the success of REUs going forward. Collecting systematic data through this infrastructure annually will enable the investigators to track REU participants as they progress in their career. At a higher level, results generated through this project will contribute to our understanding of how undergraduate research programs support students’ academic and research career development. Additionally, this project’s focus on understanding what aspects of REU programs encourage the success of student groups considered underrepresented in computing (e.g., women, students of color, etc.) contributes knowledge and evidence-based best practices that support the computing community’s efforts to broaden participation in computing.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.