Track 3: Mentoring for the Formation of Research Careers in Engineering (M-FORCE)

轨道 3：工程研究职业形成的指导 (M-FORCE)

• 批准号: 2311210
• 负责人: Rhonda Franklin
• 金额: $ 80万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-15 至 2028-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2311210&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Track; Mentoring; Formation; Research; Careers

NSF and many others have long recognized the need for more underrepresented minority (URM) participation at every level of the engineering workforce. While some progress has been made in the past decade, it is clear that URMs tend to encounter social and personal obstacles that their well-represented counterparts do not face as they navigate the road from undergraduate training to workforce participation and career development. We believe that key mentoring strategies at the graduate school level, along with targeted introductions to research and mentoring opportunities for undergraduates, will help increase both the quantity of URMs entering the engineering workforce and the quality of experiences URMs need to thrive in high-level engineering careers. In particular, we aim for “best practices” mentoring that enables URM engineering graduate students to better understand and envision 1) research-based engineering careers; 2) transdisciplinary, team-based approaches needed to solve complex problems; and 3) ways to translate solutions into the market through technology transfer. Having such an understanding and vision, typically achieved by effective mentorship, is crucial for developing the leadership, communications, and professional competencies that future technology leaders in industry, academia, and government need from graduate education. To accomplish our goals, we propose Mentoring for the Formation of Research Careers in Engineering, or M-FORCE. This innovative, inclusive, open-access mentoring hub is designed to meet the goals of Track 3 of NSF’s Broadening Participation in Engineering program (NSF 22-514). M-FORCE, which is a partnership between the University of Minnesota, Morgan State University, and the National GEM Consortium, will create belonging and inclusion for URM engineering graduate students that will enhance knowledge of the research enterprise and its career pathways. It will also provide a model for a collaborative community that can be adapted to any graduate program. Data collected through the M-FORCE hub will advance understanding of 1) the role that collective and individual mentoring can play in improving URM graduate school training and career development experiences; 2) how mentoring and network formation impacts graduate students’ perception of belonging and inclusion, which strongly influences their consideration of a research career in engineering; 3) how early exposure to research career concepts impact URM graduate student motivation to pursue and complete terminal degrees; and 4) how exposure to research and graduate school preparation activities influences URM undergraduates’ interest in and decisions about research careers in engineering. M-FORCE will leverage the best practices of minority serving institutions like HBCUs, which have been exceptional at providing community and a sense of belonging to URM engineering undergraduate and graduate students. It will also leverage best practices of very high-research R1 (and predominately white) universities that have been transitioning research from siloed to convergent approaches that are needed to solve today’s complex problems. Finally, M-FORCE will give URM undergraduates exposure to research and formal graduate school preparation and the rare opportunity to meet a critical mass of URM graduate students performing research and preparing to become leaders in technology fields. After five years, our hub model will be customizable for any campus research community to support and prepare URM engineering graduate students, especially first-generation college students. It will also provide a model of fairness and equity in institutional and program structures that can supplement formal academic training for engineering graduate 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.

NSF和许多其他人长期以来已经认识到需要在工程劳动力的各个级别上参与更多代表性不足的少数民族（URM）。尽管在过去十年中取得了一些进展，但很明显，URMS往往会遇到社会和个人障碍，即他们所代表的同行在从本科培训到劳动力参与和职业发展的道路时不会面对。我们认为，研究生院一级的关键心理策略，以及针对大学生的研究和心理介绍，将有助于增加进入工程劳动力的URM的数量，以及URMS在高级工程职业中蓬勃发展的经验质量。特别是，我们旨在实现“最佳实践”心理，使URM工程研究生能够更好地理解和设想1）基于研究的工程职业； 2）解决复杂问题所需的基于团队的跨学科方法； 3）通过技术转移将解决方案转化为市场的方法。具有这样的理解和愿景，通常是通过有效的心态实现的，对于发展领导力，沟通和专业能力至关重要，这使得未来的技术领导者在研究生教育中未来的技术领导者和政府的需求至关重要。为了实现我们的目标，我们建议指导工程学或M-Force的研究职业。这个创新的，包容性的开放性心理枢纽旨在满足NSF扩大参与工程计划（NSF 22-514）的目标3的目标。 M-Force是明尼苏达大学，摩根州立大学和国家宝石财团之间的合作伙伴关系，将为URM工程研究生创建归属和包容，以增强研究企业及其职业道路的知识。它还将为合作社区提供一个模型，可以适应任何研究生课程。通过M-Force Hub收集的数据将提高人们对1）集体和个人心理在改善URM研究生院培训和职业发展经验方面所发挥的作用； 2）心理和网络形成如何影响研究生对归属和包容的看法，这强烈影响他们对工程研究生涯的考虑； 3）早期暴露于研究职业概念如何影响URM研究生的动机追求和完整的终端学位； 4）接触研究和研究生院的准备活动如何影响URM大学生对工程研究职业的兴趣和决定。 M-Force将利用HBCUS等少数民族服务机构的最佳实践，这些机构在提供社区和属于URM工程本科生和研究生的属性方面非常出色。它还将利用非常高级研究的R1（且主要是白人）大学的最佳实践，这些实践已将研究从孤立的方法转变为解决当今复杂问题所需的收敛方法。最后，M-Force将使URM本科生接触研究和正规研究生院的准备工作，以及难得的机会，以结识大量的URM研究生进行研究并准备成为技术领域的领导者。五年后，我们的枢纽模型将为任何校园研究社区提供自定义，以支持和准备URM工程研究生，尤其是第一代大学生。它还将在机构和计划结构中提供公平和公平的模型，这些模型可以为工程研究生补充正式的学术培训。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响评估标准来评估NSF的法定任务。