Empowering Undergraduate Engineers Towards Inclusive Institutional Change Through Research and Organizing

通过研究和组织，赋予本科工程师实现包容性制度变革的能力

• 批准号: 2318338
• 负责人: Stephen Secules
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Florida International University
• 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: 2023-10-01 至 2027-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318338&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Empowering; Undergraduate; Engineers; Towards; Inclusive

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project aims to empower students to create inclusive institutional change at Florida International University’s College of Engineering and Computing. Existing diversity support strategies tend to provide students with services to improve their academic performance or retention. While this support is important, it can limit students’ sense of agency and feeling that they have a voice in their university, which is an important element of inclusion. The significance of this project will come from the implementation of a JEDI (Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion) Ambassador program which will focus on student empowerment in STEM at Florida International University. Students will have a paid position to conduct either research, leadership, or organizing projects, and they will receive regular mentorship, and have well-scaffolded opportunities to give feedback to administrators, faculty, and other community members on practical solutions for fostering a more inclusive student-centered educational environment. The work will contribute to knowledge about this novel approach to inclusive institutional change, help better understand the opportunities and challenges associated with student empowerment, and generate important insights about inclusion at HSIs. The project’s broader impact will help create inclusive change at Florida International University’s College of Engineering and Computing while also disseminating the project insights widely for translation. The project anticipates future expansions with partners at local and national 2-year and 4-year institutions.The JEDI model will create a yearlong cohort-based student advocacy ambassador program focused on education research and organizing by undergraduate engineering students. Engineering education faculty and student support personnel will partner to establish the program. The project goals aspire to (1) create a program to train undergraduate engineering and computing students for this role, (2) mentor students in Youth Participatory Action Research projects to create insights and impacts towards inclusive change and (3) scaffold students to share their project work with stakeholders. Students will select from three specific model projects: (1) interview study with marginalized student population, (2) gateway course study on inequities in success rates, and (3) development of programming and initiatives in partnership with student organizations. Although projects will differ in focus, the research team anticipates outcomes related to insightful research products and impactful programming towards inclusion. In addition to creating the novel program, the research team will use a Design-Based Research Methodology to understand and enable the evidence-based design of the program; and will use critical discourse analysis to investigate participating students’ empowerment and sense of agency and to understand the impact of the JEDI program on stakeholder views and actions. Each student project will disseminate their work at a student project showcase including local stakeholders. In addition, students will be encouraged to create faculty and advisor development resources, publish at conferences, and conduct presentations to student organizations which includes sharing them on social media. Further, the principal investigators will publish on the program’s structure, process, and success at national conferences and in journals. Via a yearly reflection meeting, the project will share the process of JEDI with additional stakeholders to prepare for translation and expansion. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.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.

在改善本科STEM教育的支持下：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI）计划，该曲目2项目旨在使学生能够在佛罗里达国际大学的工程与计算学院在佛罗里达国际大学的工程学院创造包容性机构变革。现有的多样性支持策略倾向于为学生提供服务以提高其学习成绩或保留的服务。尽管这种支持很重要，但它可以限制学生的代理感，并感觉到他们在大学中发表了声音，这是包容的重要组成部分。该项目的重要性将来自实施绝地（正义公平多样性和包容性）大使计划，该计划将重点放在佛罗里达国际大学STEM的学生权力上。学生将有一个有偿职位来进行研究，领导或组织项目，他们将获得定期的心态，并有充分的机会向管理人员，教职员工和其他社区成员提供反馈，以培养以学生为中心的教育环境。这项工作将有助于了解这种包容性机构变革的新颖方法，帮助更好地了解与学生赋权相关的机遇和挑战，并产生有关HSIS包容性的重要见解。该项目的更广泛的影响将有助于在佛罗里达国际大学工程与计算学院进行包容性变化，同时还将项目洞察力广泛传播以进行翻译。该项目预计，未来与本地和国家2年和4年机构的合作伙伴的未来扩展。绝地武士模式将创建一个基于一年的学生倡导大使计划，专注于教育研究和本科工程专业的学生组织。工程教育教师和学生支持人员将合作建立该计划。项目目标渴望（1）创建一个计划，以培训本科工程和计算该角色的学生，（​​2）青年参与性行动研究项目中的精神学生，以创建对包容性变革的见解和影响，以及（3）脚手架学生与利益相关者分享他们的项目工作。学生将从三个特定的模型项目中进行选择：（1）与边缘化的学生人数进行访谈研究，（2）有关成功率不平等的Gateway课程研究，以及（3）与学生组织合作制定编程和计划。尽管项目的重点会有所不同，但研究团队可以预期与有见地的研究产品和有影响力的编程有关的结果。除了创建新颖的计划外，研究团队还将使用基于设计的研究方法来理解和实现该计划的基于证据的设计。并将使用批判性的话语分析来调查参与学生的授权和代理意识，并了解绝地计划对利益相关者的观点和行动的影响。每个学生项目都将在包括当地利益相关者在内的学生项目展示柜中传播他们的工作。此外，将鼓励学生创建教师和顾问发展资源，在会议上发布，并向学生组织进行演讲，包括在社交媒体上共享他们。此外，首席研究人员将在国家会议和期刊上发布该计划的结构，过程和成功。通过年度反思会议，该项目将与其他利益相关者分享绝地的过程，以准备翻译和扩展。该项目由HSI计划提供资金，该计划旨在增强本科STEM教育，扩大对STEM的参与以及在HSIS上建立能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的智力优点评估和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来获得的支持。