Cultivating Physics Identity and Belonging for Women in Physics

培养物理学界女性的物理学身份和归属感

• 批准号: 2044232
• 负责人: Jessica Rosenberg
• 金额: $ 29.9万
• 依托单位: George Mason University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2044232&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Cultivating; Physics; Identity; Belonging; Women

This project aims to serve the national interest by investigating how a student-led mentorship program supports undergraduate physics majors to succeed. The nation needs well-prepared STEM professionals as growth of the STEM workforce outpaces overall workforce growth. Despite this growth, women still make up only 29% of physical scientists and earn only 21% of the bachelor’s degrees in physics. Increasing the fraction of women and people from underrepresented groups in physics is important for the strength of physics as a discipline and for the growth of the science and engineering workforce. The Pion Program is a student-led mentorship and career conceptualization program designed to improve the preparation of the next generation of physics students for graduate school and the workforce. The program is being developed and launched by the Society of Physics Students and Sigma Pi Sigma, professional organizations for students under the umbrella of the American Institute of Physics. The project aims to study the impact of this program on the development of physics identity and sense of belonging among women and students from underrepresented groups. Because they are connected to persistence, it is valuable to understand what interventions can increase belonging and physics identity. This project builds on extensive literature that has shown the importance of students’ sense of physics identity and belonging to persistence in STEM. The results will expand on a well-established model of physics students’ identity to better understand two key aspects of identity: (1) how the ability to conceptualize physics careers beyond the academy impacts women’s physics identity and belonging, particularly for students who do not intend to follow an academic career trajectory and (2) how physics leadership contributes to a student’s identity and sense of belonging. With mentorship as a central component of the Pion Program and a best practice in helping students develop a sense of identity and belonging, the project will explore the contributions of mentorship to students’ understanding of the career opportunities available to physics degree recipients and to the development of leadership identity. For students who participate in the Pion Program as event leaders and peer mentors, the project will explore the development of leadership identity and the connection to physics identity and sense of belonging. These explorations seek to broaden current models of physics identity and belonging. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.

该项目旨在通过调查学生主导的导师计划如何支持本科物理专业的成功来服务于国家利益。由于STEM劳动力的增长超过了整体劳动力的增长，国家需要准备充分的STEM专业人员。尽管有这种增长，女性仍然只占物理科学家的29%，只获得21%的物理学学士学位。增加女性和来自物理学代表性不足群体的人的比例对于物理学作为一门学科的实力以及科学和工程劳动力的增长非常重要。Pion计划是一个以学生为主导的指导和职业概念化计划，旨在改善下一代物理学学生的研究生院和劳动力的准备。该计划由物理学生协会和Sigma Pi Sigma开发和推出，这是美国物理研究所旗下的专业学生组织。该项目旨在研究该方案对发展妇女和来自代表性不足群体的学生的物理学身份和归属感的影响。因为它们与持久性有关，所以了解哪些干预措施可以增加归属感和物理身份是有价值的。该项目建立在大量文献的基础上，这些文献表明了学生的物理身份感和归属感对坚持STEM的重要性。研究结果将扩展到一个完善的物理学生身份模型，以更好地了解身份的两个关键方面：（1）如何将物理职业概念化的能力超越学院影响女性的物理身份和归属感，特别是对于那些不打算遵循学术职业轨迹的学生，以及（2）物理领导力如何有助于学生的身份和归属感。随着导师作为Pion计划的核心组成部分和帮助学生发展认同感和归属感的最佳实践，该项目将探讨导师对学生了解物理学位获得者的职业机会和领导身份的发展的贡献。对于谁在参加Pion程序作为事件的领导者和同伴导师的学生，该项目将探讨领导身份的发展和连接到物理身份和归属感。这些探索试图拓宽物理身份和归属的当前模型。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。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。