Expanding Access to Graduate Education and the Advanced STEM Workforce

提高美国STEM劳动力的竞争力取决于从全美范围内招收更多、更多样化的STEM研究生群体，包括来自历史上代表性不足的群体：种族和族裔少数群体、特定STEM领域的性别少数群体、来自STEM研究生学位学历低得不成比例的美国地区的学生、残疾人、第一代学生、低收入学生和退伍军人。该项目将通过扩大国家名字交换(NNE)来支持这一目标，NNE是一个成熟的计划，将代表性不足的本科生与寻求使其研究生课程多样化的机构联系起来。通过研究和交流活动，该项目有可能通过三种方式消除STEM研究生学习的障碍。首先，它将提供一个技术平台，扩大从代表性不足的群体中招聘研究生。其次，使用NNE数据的研究将被用来了解学生进入STEM研究生课程的差距，并为国家和大学招收和支持代表性不足的学生的战略提供信息。第三，该项目将设计、测试和持续改进资源，以支持未来的研究生和大学寻求招收他们进入STEM研究生课程。该项目旨在加快从代表性不足的群体中招收研究生。通过扩展现有的技术基础设施，将代表性不足的研究生与STEM研究生项目联系起来，该项目将产生必要的数据，以加深我们对学生进入研究生道路上的差距和干扰的理解，并用信息和资源来弥补这些干扰。从NNE的学生注册者那里收集的数据将与国家学生信息交换中心的记录相匹配，以确定NNE参与者是否以及在什么时间框架内注册研究生课程。使用Logistic回归分析，研究团队将探索小学生地位、自报本科生GPA、本科生研究经历、卡内基分类等方面对本科生院校类型的影响。通过探索预期本科学位完成后不同时间段的入学概率，将有可能考虑这些人口和教育因素如何影响进入研究生学习的途径。除了生成有助于大学改进招生工作的数据外，该项目的评估活动还将帮助NSF确定这一技术和数据基础设施在加快和扩大未被充分代表的学生参加STEM研究生课程方面的有效性。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。

Increasing the competitiveness of the American STEM workforce depends on recruiting a larger and more diverse group STEM graduate students from across the United States, including those from historically underrepresented groups: racial and ethnic minorities, gender minorities in specific STEM fields, students from U.S. regions with disproportionately low STEM graduate degree attainment, persons with disabilities, first-generation students, low-income students, and veterans. This project will support this goal through the expansion of the National Name Exchange (NNE), a well established program that connects underrepresented undergraduate students with institutions seeking to diversify their graduate programs. Through research and communication activities, the project has the potential to remove barriers to STEM graduate study in three ways. First, it will provide a technological platform for expanding the recruitment of graduate students from underrepresented groups. Second, research using NNE data will be used to understand gaps in student pathways to STEM graduate programs and inform both national and university strategies for recruiting and supporting underrepresented students. Third, the project will design, test and continuously improve resources to support prospective graduate students and universities seeking to recruit them to STEM graduate programs.This project seeks to accelerate the recruitment of graduate students from underrepresented groups. By expanding an existing technological infrastructure for connecting underrepresented graduate students with STEM graduate programs, the project will generate data needed to deepen our understanding of gaps and interruptions in student pathways to graduate school and to remedy these interruptions with information and resources. The data collected from student enrollees in the NNE will be matched with National Student Clearinghouse records to determine whether and on what time frame NNE participants enroll in a graduate program. Using logistic regression, the research team will explore the impact of minoritized status, self-reported undergraduate GPA, undergraduate research experiences, Carnegie classification and other aspects of undergraduate institution type. By exploring the probability of matriculation at different intervals following expected undergraduate degree completion, it will be possible to consider how these demographic and educational factors affect pathways into graduate study. In addition to generating data that will help universities improve their recruitment efforts, the project’s assessment activities will help NSF determine the effectiveness of this technological and data infrastructure for accelerating and scaling the participation of underrepresented students in STEM graduate programs.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.