Collaborative Research: Advancing Collaborations for Equity in Marine and Climate Sciences

海洋和气候科学(MCS)科学家在社会中发挥着重要作用，因为他们关注影响环境和人的地方和全球问题。然而，MCS是STEM学科中最不多样化的一些学科，包括过去40年来MCS中黑人、土著和有色人种(BIPOC)数量的有限变化。通过把关、专业障碍和其他障碍，MCS的气候和文化被认为是BIPOC个人在各学科的参与率和留存率较低以及他们不同的学术和专业成果的积极原因。这项研究项目的目的是研究伍兹霍尔合作网络(WHCN)的研究人员和管理人员如何促进MCS中的公平合作，以及采用哪些流程来发展公平驱动和反种族主义的教育合作、基础设施和途径。项目成果将跨越个人、机构和学科层面的转变。这项研究项目将调查WHCN，这是位于马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔的六家以白人为主的机构之间的多组织合作。该项目侧重于三个问题：(1)世界卫生组织的哪些特征促进或阻碍了机构和学科的变革？(2)世界卫生组织以哪些方式追求公平合作，它们的合作是如何随着时间的推移而演变的？(3)世界卫生组织的倡议有哪些有效和无效的特征可以为世界卫生组织的合作提供信息？借鉴世界卫生组织近20年的方案努力，研究人员将利用工具性案例研究，以组织(例如，机构)和个人(例如，学生、科学家和附属工作人员)为分析单位，集中研究有界案例的背景和过程。一个工具性案例与该项目的目标一致，即开发一个模型来绘制转换的流程和基础设施。研究设计包括：(1)通过与伍兹霍尔大学附属的BIPOC学生、科学家和校友的定性访谈和定性网络图，BIPOC的故事讲述和观点；(2)通过观察WHCN倡议，对WHCN的发展进行历史分析，以及分析学生数据，记录与WHCN相关的政策、活动、目标和程序，进行组织和历史分析；以及(3)模型开发，这将反映出STEM合作中以公平为中心的可复制和可扩展的模式。该合作项目由STEM教育活动中的种族平等(EDU RACE Equity)资助。该计划支持研究和实践项目，调查种族平等因素如何影响科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教育和劳动力的改善。获奖项目寻求集中受STEM企业内部系统性不平等影响最大的个人、社区和机构的声音、知识和经验。该计划符合NSF的核心价值，即支持来自全国不同人口群体、地区和组织类型的杰出研究人员和创新思想家。EDU种族平等的资金来自EDU的各个项目，以表彰其项目与理事会四个部门的集体研发推动力的一致性。这一奖项反映了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。

Marine and climate sciences (MCS) scientists play an important role in society because of their focus on both local and global issues affecting the environment and people. Yet MCS are some of the least diverse STEM disciplines, including limited change in the number of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in MCS over the past 40 years. Climate and culture in MCS have been identified as actively contributing to the low participation and retention of BIPOC individuals in the disciplines and their disparate academic and professional outcomes, through gatekeeping, professional barriers, and other obstacles. The purpose of this research project is to examine how Woods Hole Collaborative Network (WHCN) researchers and administrators advance collaborations for equity in MCS and what processes are employed for developing equity-driven and anti-racist educational collaborations, infrastructures, and pathways. Project outcomes will span individual, institutional, and disciplinary level transformations. This research project will investigate the WHCN, a multi-organizational collaboration between six predominantly white institutions located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The project focuses on three questions: (1) What features among the WHCN promote or inhibit institutional and disciplinary transformation? (2) In what ways has the WHCN pursued equitable collaborations and how has their collaboration evolved over time? (3) What effective and ineffective features of the WHCN’s initiatives can inform MCS collaborations? Drawing from nearly 20 years of WHCN’s programmatic efforts, researchers will utilize an instrumental case study to center the context and processes of a bounded case, with organizations (e.g., institutions) and individuals (e.g., students, scientists, and affiliated staff) as units of analyses. An instrumental case aligns with the project’s goal to develop a model that maps the process and infrastructure for transformation. The research design includes: (1) BIPOC storytelling and standpoint centering through qualitative interviews and qualitative network mapping with Woods Hole-affiliated BIPOC students, scientists, and alumni; (2) organizational and historical analysis through observations of WHCN initiatives, historical analysis of WHCN’s development, and analysis of student data, documented policies, activities, goals and procedures related to WHCN; and (3) model development, which will reflect a replicable and scalable model for equity-centered support in STEM collaborations.This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activities (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EDU Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EDU in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.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.