Studying Successful Doctoral Students in Mathematics from Underrepresented Groups

爱荷华州立大学（ISU）与教育发展中心（EDC）和北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校的研究人员合作，将实施一项国家科学基金会EHR核心研究（ECR）项目，研究数学领域代表性不足群体中成功的博士生和最近获得博士学位的人的经历、观点和故事。该项目将开发面试工具，并对四组人群进行深入的半结构化面试：新录取的学生、早期研究生（资格预审）、高级研究生（论文水平）和近期博士研究生（毕业0-5年）。访谈工具可能对这个项目之外的领域有用，这四个队列的使用将增加当前的文献。该研究的研究问题是：追求数学博士学位的成功的代表性不足的学生的生活经历是什么？博士生认为哪些正式和非正式的结构是有效的支持？这项研究将积累知识，为改变数学系文化和实践的决策提供信息，以便更好地从代表性不足的群体中招聘、留住和毕业数学家。该项目将产生对100名研究生和应届毕业生的调查结果，以及12个综合反故事，说明学生的经历和支持系统，这些经历和支持系统导致了代表性不足的群体的学生的成功。相反的故事和其他结果预计将打破目前关于谁能在研究生院取得成功以及如何取得成功的看法。该项目包括向利益相关者和从业者战略性传播研究成果的计划。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。

Iowa State University (ISU) in partnership with researchers at the Education Development Center (EDC) and the University of North Carolina Charlotte will implement an NSF EHR Core Research (ECR) project to study the experiences, perspectives, and stories of successful doctoral students and recent PhDs from underrepresented groups in mathematics. The project will develop interview instruments and conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews with four cohorts: newly accepted students, early graduate students (pre-qualifying exams), advanced graduate students (dissertation level), and recent PhDs (0-5 years since graduation). The interview instruments could be useful to the field beyond this project and the use of these four cohorts will add to the current literature. The research questions in the study are: What are lived experiences of successful underrepresented students who are pursuing mathematics PhDs? and What formal and informal structures are perceived by doctoral students as effective supports? The research will build knowledge to inform decisions about changing mathematics department cultures and practices to better recruit, retain and graduate mathematicians from underrepresented groups. The project will result in survey results from 100 graduate students and recent graduates and twelve composite counterstories illustrating the student experiences and support systems that result in success for students from underrepresented groups. The counterstories and other results are expected to disrupt current perceptions about who can be successful in graduate school, and how. The project includes plans for strategic dissemination of the research results to stakeholders and practitioners.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.