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

海洋与气候科学（MCS）科学家在社会中扮演着重要的角色，因为他们关注影响环境和人类的地方和全球问题。然而，MCS是最不多样化的STEM学科之一，在过去的40年里，MCS中黑人、土著和有色人种（BIPOC）的数量变化有限。MCS的气候和文化已被确定为通过把关、专业障碍和其他障碍，对BIPOC个人在学科中的低参与度和保留率以及他们不同的学术和专业成果起积极作用。本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推进MCS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。这个研究项目将调查WHCN，这是一个由位于马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔的六个主要白人机构组成的多组织合作。该项目主要关注三个问题：(1)世界卫生网络的哪些特征促进或抑制了制度和学科的转型？(2)世卫网络以何种方式追求公平合作？随着时间的推移，这种合作是如何演变的？(3)世界卫生网络倡议的哪些有效和无效特征可以为MCS合作提供信息？从WHCN近20年的规划努力中，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，以有限案例的背景和过程为中心。一个工具性案例与项目的目标一致，即开发一个映射转换过程和基础结构的模型。研究设计包括：(1)通过对伍兹霍尔大学BIPOC学生、科学家和校友的定性访谈和定性网络映射，对BIPOC的故事讲述和立场定位；(2)组织和历史分析，通过观察世界卫生网络的举措，对世界卫生网络发展的历史分析，并分析学生数据，与世界卫生网络相关的文件政策，活动，目标和程序；(3)模型开发，这将反映一个可复制和可扩展的模型，以支持STEM合作中的股权为中心。这个合作项目是通过STEM教育活动中的种族平等（EDU种族平等）资助的。该项目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。获奖项目旨在将STEM企业中受系统性不平等影响最大的个人、社区和机构的声音、知识和经验集中起来。该项目符合美国国家科学基金会的核心价值，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种族平等项目的资金来自EDU的各个项目，以表彰其项目与董事会四个部门的集体研究和发展重点的一致性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.