Collaborative Research: Understanding Persistence through the Lens of Interruption: A Framework for Transformation (UPLIFT)

这个合作项目将研究中断对黑人妇女的大学STEM经验的影响，以及他们在STEM专业的坚持和预科。中断被定义为公开和微妙的外部行为和内部对话和决定，导致失去焦点，动力和信心，并需要时间来恢复。每次中断都需要资源来恢复（例如，时间），但持续的中断影响黑人妇女的反弹能力，并随着时间的推移坚持干。进行研究，集中黑人妇女谁经历这些中断的声音将产生新的见解重新设计的制度和其他结构性因素，往往作为坚持和成功的STEM专业的障碍。研究设计需要一个纵向的，混合的方法设计，其中他们遵循45黑人妇女谁是STEM专业在格鲁吉亚三所大学。通过访谈，焦点小组，音频日记和使用调查方法收集定量数据，研究小组打算为STEM中的黑人妇女制定一个中断框架。该框架的目标包括：（a）定义中断，（B）确定中断的结构相关的意图坚持，以及（c）确定权力的域和本科黑人妇女在干中断的经验之间的关系。建立一个明确的中断定义和一个强有力的概念框架，有可能产生有助于解决跨学科和跨环境的系统性种族主义的知识。这个合作项目是通过STEM教育计划中的种族平等（EHR种族平等）资助的。该计划支持研究和实践项目，调查种族平等因素如何影响科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教育和劳动力的改善。获奖项目旨在集中STEM企业内受系统性不平等影响最大的个人，社区和机构的声音，知识和经验。该计划符合NSF的核心价值观，即支持来自全国人口群体，地区和组织类型多样性的优秀研究人员和创新思想家。EHR种族平等基金来自EHR各项目，以表彰其项目与董事会四个部门的集体研究和开发目标的一致性。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。

This collaborative project will study the impact of interruptions on Black women’s collegiate STEM experiences and their persistence and matriculation in STEM majors. Interruptions are defined as overt and subtle external acts and internal dialogues and decisions that result in a loss of focus, momentum, and confidence and require time to rebound. Each interruption requires resources to rebound (e.g., time), but continual interruptions impact Black women’s ability to rebound and persist in STEM over time. Conducting research that centers the voices of Black women who experience these interruptions will generate new insights into redesigning institutional and other structural factors that often serve as barriers to persistence and success in STEM majors.The research design entails a longitudinal, mixed-methods design wherein they follow 45 Black women who are STEM majors across three colleges in Georgia. Through interviews, focus groups, audio diaries, and the use of survey methods to collect quantitative data, the research team intends to develop a framework of interruption for Black women in STEM. The goals of the framework include: (a) to define interruption, (b) to identify constructs of interruption related to intent to persist, and (c) to determine the relationship between the domains of power and the experiences of interruption by undergraduate Black women in STEM. The creation of a clear definition of interruption and a robust conceptual framework has the potential to generate knowledge that will help address systemic racism across disciplines and settings. This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.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.