MCA: Mid-Career Advancement - Using STEM Interest Profiling to Build a STEM ecosystems for underrepresented students.

历史上的黑人学院和大学本科课程通过跨部门职业中期晋升征集NSF 21-516支持副教授职级(或同等职级)的科学家和工程师通过协同和互惠互利的合作伙伴关系实质性地加强和推进他们的研究计划，通常是在他们所在的机构以外的机构。该项目的总体目标是通过互惠互利的指导伙伴关系加强和推进首席研究人员(PI)的研究议程，该伙伴关系寻求通过建立STEM生态系统来解决弗吉尼亚州三城地区(彼得斯堡、霍普韦尔和殖民地高地)青年对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)兴趣和态度的下降问题。通过对职业生涯中期调查人员的(重新)投资，NSF旨在支持和发展一支更多样化的高学术级别的科学劳动力队伍，他们仍然参与和活跃于尖端研究。该项目的目标是：1)应用尖端概况分析(潜在概况分析)和社会网络分析，调查中学年龄段的STEM工作；2)使用资产映射来确定三城地区潜在的STEM合作者和利益相关者，有兴趣并致力于创建一个全面而稳健的学习生态系统，以及3)基于三个变量：生产力、耐久性和弹性来评估生态系统的健康和有效性。这些开创性的方法将使PI和合作者能够考虑服务不足的中学年龄青年群体之间的差异；并将使调查员能够检查STEM合作者和生态系统中的利益相关者的素质和关系，并对这些进行微调，以提高其有效性和可持续性。该项目将通过促进关于STEM识字、公平、包容和获取的国家关切的知识来扩展生态系统方法的概念，并将作为寻求了解STEM概况在为公平的STEM生态系统的创建、实施和可持续性提供信息方面所起作用的其他研究人员的典范。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program through cross-directorate Mid-Career Advancement solicitation NSF 21-516 supports scientists and engineers at the Associate Professor rank (or equivalent) to substantively enhance and advance their research program through synergistic and mutually beneficial partnerships, typically at an institution other than their home institution. The overall goal of this project is to enhance and advance the research agenda of the principal investigator (PI) through a mutually beneficial mentoring partnership that seeks to address the decrease in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) interest and attitudes of youth in the Tri-City area of Virginia (Petersburg, Hopewell, and Colonial Heights) by building a STEM ecosystem. By (re)-investing in mid-career investigators, NSF aims to enable and grow a more diverse scientific workforce at high academic ranks, who remain engaged and active in cutting-edge research.The objectives of the project are to: 1) apply cutting edge profiling analyses (Latent Profile Analysis) and Social Network Analysis, to investigate middle school age STEM efforts; 2) use asset mapping to identify potential STEM collaborators and stakeholders in the Tri City area, interested in, and committed to creating a comprehensive and robust learning ecosystem, and 3) assess the ecosystem’s health and effectiveness based on three variables: Productivity, Durability, and Resilience. These groundbreaking methodologies will enable the PI and collaborators to consider variability among groups of underserved middle school-aged youth; and will allow the investigator to examine the qualities in, and relationships between STEM collaborators and stakeholders in an ecosystem, and to fine-tune these in order to improve its efficacy and sustainability. This project will expand the notion of ecosystem approaches by advancing knowledge about national concerns regarding STEM literacy, equity, inclusion, and access, and will serve as a model to other researchers seeking to understand the role that STEM profiling can play in informing the creation, implementation, and sustainability of equitable STEM ecosystems.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.