Supporting Professional Development of Undergraduate Researchers

一个有能力的STEM（科学技术工程师和数学）劳动力对国家维持创新的能力至关重要，这些创新推动了经济增长，并使国家保持了高质量的生活。因此，创建一支多样化的stem人才队伍是NSF的战略重点。大多数计划获得STEM学位的学生都未能完成学业，来自弱势背景的学生的流失率尤其高。参与本科生研究，在一定程度上可以提高学生的自我效能感，并使学生自我认同为科学家，这已被证明可以提高学生的保留率。当涉及到所有背景的学生时，这就提高了STEM职业的多样性。为了进一步促进STEM职业中不同学生的保留，该计划将提供专业发展机会，包括支持学生群体在专业会议上展示他们的研究成果。该计划将为从事本科研究的生物学、计算机科学、海洋科学和地质学学生提供专业发展机会，目标学生来自不同背景，包括来自少数民族服务机构的学生和NSF本科生研究经验项目的参与者。确定了专业发展机会（例如，在会议上展示成果）的学生将提交在线申请，该申请将被审查，以确保学生符合基本资格（例如，进行了高质量的本科研究，正在协调他们的研究导师），并确定该经历是否会对他们的职业发展产生有意义的影响。包括评估学生获得其他专业发展机会的有限程度。学生将提供基本的跟踪数据，以评估该项目对不同参与者的影响程度，并确定在专业协会发表演讲的影响。该奖项由生物科学部的生物基础设施部（DBI）、计算机和信息科学与工程部的计算机和网络系统部（CNS）以及地球科学部的海洋科学部（OCE）和地球科学部（EAR）提供支持。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。

A capable STEM (Science Technology Engineer and Math) workforce is critical to the nation’s ability to sustain the innovations that fuel economic growth and allow the country to maintain a high quality of life. Consequently, creating a diverse STEM-capable workforce is a strategic priority for NSF. Most students who start college with plans to obtain a STEM degree fail to finish, with students from disadvantaged backgrounds having particularly high attrition rates. Participation in undergraduate research, in part by improving the self-efficacy of students and leading to self-identification of students as scientists, has been shown to increase retention of students. When students of all backgrounds are reached, this has improved diversity in STEM careers. To further promote retention of diverse students in STEM careers this program will offer professional development opportunities, including support for cohorts of students to present results of their research at professional conferences.The proposed program will provide professional development opportunities for biology, computer science, ocean sciences and geology students conducting undergraduate research, targeting students of diverse backgrounds including from minority-serving institutions and participants in NSF’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program. Students who have identified a professional development opportunity (e.g., presenting results at a conference) will submit online applications which will be vetted to ensure students meet basic qualifications (e.g., have conducted high quality undergraduate research, are coordinating their research mentors) and to determine whether the experience will have a meaningful impact on their career development, including evaluating the extent to which students have had limited access to other professional development opportunities. Students will provide basic tracking data to allow assessment of the extent to which the program reaches diverse participants and to determine the impact of making presentations at professional societies. This award is supported by the Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI) in the Directorate for Biosciences, the Division of Computer and Network Systems (CNS) in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, and the Divisions of Ocean Sciences (OCE) and Earth Sciences (EAR) within the Directorate for Geosciences.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.