CAREER: Fostering broader participation and thriving in STEM: A comprehensive investigation of faculty mentorship of doctoral students

教师早期职业发展(Career)计划是国家科学基金会范围内的一项活动，旨在为那些通过杰出的研究、出色的教育以及在其组织使命范围内整合教育和研究而体现教师学者作用的初级教师提供奖励。这个授予职业学者的项目的目标是增加我们对有效的教师指导及其与STEM研究生“欣欣向荣”的联系的理解，STEM研究生的定义是参与度和成就。该项目将研究和教育与研究生培训、年度培训讲习班和研究传播结合在一起。除了为教师开发培训材料外，教育活动还包括为本科生和研究生提供培训机会。该奖项由EHR核心研究计划支持，该计划支持STEM基础教育研究计划。这项工作将应用一个基于社会支持心理学理论的框架来理解教师指导在学生结果中的作用。在这个理论结构中，社会认同的影响与学生对导师对学生潜力的信念的看法以及学生对导师提供的支持的看法有关。通过客观结果(如及格要求、出版物)和主观经验(如动机、压力)来衡量，学生的这些评价有助于“茁壮成长”。这项研究将考察：博士生认为教师指导的哪些方面会影响他们的成功；感知到的和观察到的教师支持的作用；以及教师指导的哪些类型的行为会影响学生的感知。面对面讲习班将作为开发关于STEM教员有效指导的在线培训模块的基础。这个项目的结果将通过增加我们对教师导师如何影响学生成功的理解，扩大关于导师在培养研究生和减少流失率方面的影响的知识。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 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. This project awarded to a CAREER scholar has the goal to increase our understanding of effective faculty mentoring and its connection to STEM graduate student “thriving”, defined in terms of engagement and achievement. This project integrates research and education with graduate traineeships, annual training workshops, and the dissemination of research. Besides developing training materials for faculty, the educational activities include training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. This award is supported by the EHR Core Research program which supports fundamental STEM Education research initiatives. The work will apply a framework based on the psychological theory of social support to understand the role of faculty mentorship in student outcomes. Within this theoretical construct, the impact of social identity is linked to the student’s perception of the mentor’s belief in the student’s potential as well as the student’s perception of support provided by the mentor. These appraisals by the student can contribute to “thriving” as measured by objective outcomes (e.g. passing requirements, publications) and subjective experiences (e.g. motivation, stress). The study will examine: what aspects of faculty mentorship are perceived by doctoral students to impact their success; the role of perceived and observed faculty support; and, what types of behavior by a faculty mentor impact the student’s perception. In-person workshops will serve as the basis for the development of an online training module on effective mentoring by STEM faculty. The results of this project will expand knowledge of the impact of mentorship on preparing graduate students and reducing attrition rates by increasing our understanding of how faculty mentors can impact the success of students.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.