Encouraging the Participation of Neurodiverse Students in STEM Graduate Programs to Radically Enhance the Creativity of the Professional Workforce

神经多样性个体，包括那些患有多动症、阅读障碍以及经常同时出现的如书写障碍和计算障碍等疾病的人，拥有独特的技能，这些技能可能是科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的资产，如冒险精神、发散思维和空间可视化。鼓励这些学生参与STEM研究生项目将极大地有利于我们专业劳动力的创造力，这反过来将有助于为国家面临的大规模和复杂的科技挑战找到突破性的解决方案。除了支持国家繁荣和竞争力外，增加神经多样性个体在研究生课程中的参与将大大有利于这些目前在STEM教育中代表性不足的边缘化个体的福祉。这项授予康涅狄格大学的国家科学基金会研究生教育创新（IGE）奖将采用基于力量的神经多样性方法。通过确定神经多样性学生在现行的一刀切的STEM研究生教育模式中面临的挑战的性质，该项目旨在试点和测试创新方法，以提高神经多样性研究生的归属感、生产力和整体体验。在此过程中，该项目将产生知识，为开发更具包容性的教育实践提供信息，这些实践将利用神经多样性个体的独特才能。这些实践将支持神经多样性学生的学业成功，并使这些个人能够为未来的科学和技术进步做出贡献。将残疾、功能障碍和紊乱的范式转变为多样性范式，不仅可以提高非传统学习者对STEM教育的参与，而且可以使整个社会和国家受益。通过采用基于优势的神经多样性方法，该项目将成为促进STEM研究生教育包容性文化的最前沿。为此，该项目采用了一种变革理论模型，其中包括四项综合活动，以试点和测试易于实施的干预措施，这些干预措施具有很高的潜力，可以帮助患有多动症和阅读障碍的学生在STEM研究生课程中取得成功。活动将通过采用基于力量的神经多样性方法来鼓励这些学生群体的参与。本项目旨在评估三个核心假设：1)提高神经多样性学生对其独特优势和挑战的认识，增强他们的自我效能和自我倡导；2)提供点对点互动的机会，增强神经多样性学生在STEM研究生项目中的归属感和体验；3)提供以学生元认知技能为重点的写作干预，提高他们的写作效率。综合研究计划和正式评估的数据将为拟议活动的扩大提供关键知识，并为未来加强STEM研究生教育提供信息。该项目将产生基于实证的方法和干预措施的有效性数据，这些方法和干预措施受到积极心理学框架的启发，为包容性研究生教育环境的发展提供信息。这些知识将通过ASEE年会的研讨会和正式出版物与工程教育工作者分享。在强有力的机构承诺的支持下，由主要研究人员组成的多学科团队和由大学管理人员、研究人员、行业领袖、慈善家和研究生组成的多元化项目顾问委员会将指导项目的招聘、数据收集、数据分析、传播和推广活动。研究生教育创新（IGE）项目专注于研究生教育的研究。IGE的目标是试点、测试和验证研究生教育的创新方法，并产生将这些方法推广到更广泛的社区所需的知识。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。

Neurodiverse individuals, including those with ADHD, dyslexia, and frequently co-occurring conditions like dysgraphia and dyscalculia, have unique skills that may be assets in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics(STEM) fields such as risk taking, divergent thinking, and spatial visualization. Encouraging the participation of these students in STEM graduate programs will significantly benefit the creativity of our professional workforce, which in turn will help to identify groundbreaking solutions to the large-scale and complex scientific and technological challenges facing the nation. In addition to supporting national prosperity and competitiveness, increasing the participation of neurodiverse individuals in graduate programs will significantly benefit the well-being of these marginalized individuals who are currently highly underrepresented in STEM education. This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) award to the University of Connecticut will embrace a strength-based approach towards neurodiversity. By identifying the nature of the challenges that neurodiverse students face in the prevailing one-size-fits-all model of STEM graduate education, this project aims to pilot and test innovative approaches to improve the sense of belonging, productivity, and overall experience of neurodiverse graduate students. In doing so, this project will generate knowledge that informs the development of more inclusive educational practices that capitalize on the unique talents of neurodiverse individuals. These practices will support the academic success of neurodiverse students and empower these individuals to contribute to future scientific and technological advancements. Changing the paradigm of disability, dysfunction, and disorder to one of diversity not only enhances the participation of nontraditional learners in STEM education but also benefits society and the nation at large.By adopting a strength-based approach toward neurodiversity, this project will be at the forefront of efforts to promote a culture of inclusivity in STEM graduate education. Toward this end, the project employs a theory of change model with four integrated activities to pilot and test easy-to-implement interventions with high potential to support the success of students with ADHD and dyslexia in STEM graduate programs. Activities will encourage participation of these populations of students by adopting a strength-based approach toward neurodiversity. This project aims to evaluate three core hypotheses: 1) increasing neurodiverse students’ awareness of their unique strengths and challenges enhances their self-efficacy and self-advocacy, 2) providing opportunities for peer-to-peer interaction enhances the sense of belonging and experience of neurodiverse students in STEM graduate programs, and 3) providing writing interventions focused on students’ metacognitive skills enhances their writing productivity. The data from the integrated research plan and formal evaluation will generate critical knowledge for the scale-up of the proposed activities and inform future enhancements of STEM graduate education. This project will generate data on the efficacy of evidence-based approaches and interventions that are inspired by the framework of positive psychology to inform the development of an inclusive graduate education environment. This knowledge will be shared with engineering educators through a workshop at the ASEE annual meeting and formal publications. Supported by a strong institutional commitment, the multidisciplinary team of principal investigators and the diverse project advisory board composed of university administrators, researchers, industry leaders, philanthropists, and graduate students will guide the recruitment, data collection, data analysis, dissemination, and outreach activities of the project.The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.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.