NSF INCLUDES DDLP: WiSEN - Supporting Minoritized Women Students in STEM, Cultivating Pathways Using Mentoring Networks

妇女参与STEM教育网络(WISEN)是一个共同指导网络，面向STEM历来代表性不足和被边缘化的研究生和本科生。这包括设计和开发启动试点项目，让学生参与有组织的对话，确定指导需求，并探索阻碍妇女参与STEM的系统性障碍。该项目的目标是扩大STEM辅导方面的最佳做法，同时为小规模女学生建立一个全国联网社区。该项目的初始阶段是在四所高等教育机构--罗切斯特理工学院、蒙大拿大学、华盛顿州立大学和贡萨加大学--设计、开发和启动WISEN项目。当研究人员、学生和机构领导人协作开发针对机构和系统变化的解决方案时，NIC模型已证明是有效的。此NIC模型为WISEN共同指导基础设施提供了基础，该基础设施在虚拟和面对面混合空间中运行。明智的参与者参与批判性和勇敢的对话，中心是：1)了解体制力量和克服体制障碍；2)利用文化财富和跨部门身份；3)建立网络促进系统变革；以及4)共同指导未来的领导者。研究见解填补了关于指导妇女的最佳做法的重要知识空白，并为这一可扩展的网络提供了一个平台，该网络可以在最初的四个大学合作伙伴之外实施。该项目由美国国家科学基金会埃迪·伯尼斯·约翰逊在全国工程和科学领域未被充分代表的发现者的学习者社区(INCLUDE)倡议资助，该倡议旨在激励和加速协作基础设施建设，以推动和维持系统性变化，以扩大对STEM的参与。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Women in STEM Education Network (WiSEN) is a co-mentoring network for historically underrepresented and marginalized graduate and undergraduate women students in STEM. This INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot project engages students in structured conversations, identifies mentoring needs, and explores the systemic barriers that hinder women’s participation in STEM. The project goal is to expand upon best practices in STEM mentoring, while building a national networked community for minoritized women students. The initial phase of the project is design, development, and launch of the WiSEN project among four higher education institutions- Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Montana, Washington State University, and Gonzaga University.The WiSEN project functions as a Networked Improvement Community (NIC). NIC models have demonstrated effectiveness when researchers, students, and institutional leaders collaborate to develop solutions for institutional and systemic change. This NIC model provides the basis for the WiSEN co-mentoring infrastructure, which operates in virtual and in-person hybrid spaces. WiSEN participants engage in critical and courageous dialogue centering on: 1) Understanding Institutional Power and Navigating Systemic Barriers; 2) Leveraging Cultural Wealth and Intersectional Identities; 3) Networking for Systemic Change; and 4) Co-mentoring Future Leaders. Research insights fill important knowledge gaps regarding best practices for mentoring women and provide a platform for this scalable network that can be implemented beyond the initial four university partners. This project is funded by NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative, which seeks to motivate and accelerate collaborative infrastructure building to advance and sustain systemic change to broaden participation in STEM at scale.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.