MPWG: The WISER Research Program to Retain First Year Women in Science and Engineering Majors

这项提议的目标是对一项实验性的、多学科协调的计划(WISER)进行多阶段评估，该计划将一年级的女学生与研究环境中的教师配对。一年级学生在两个学期的持续研究项目中接受指导、任务和指导。该计划通过其共同的目标和共同的招聘过程而团结在一起，这导致了自由选择的跨学科配对。宾夕法尼亚州立大学的教职员工将构建一种评估工具，使他们能够改进项目，以更好地留住或支持三组参与者：WISTER实习生本身、指导他们的研究生，以及已接纳一年级学生进入他们的研究实验室并提供基本培训、指导和角色建模的教职员工。该项目将展示如何将这一方案传播到两年制机构，这些机构在妇女教育和培训渠道中起着关键作用。宾夕法尼亚州立大学阿宾顿-奥贡茨分校的一个为期两年的城市校园将开始一个更明智的项目来测试这一模式。他们将使用师生匹配，这是该计划的一个关键属性。参加这两个机构的是来自地球和矿物科学学院、工程学院、农业科学学院和健康科学学院的教职员工和研究生，其中大多数是女性。根据评估结果，建议者将向400所附属学院和大学提交WISER计划(经评估结果修改)，这些学院和大学在每个州、哥伦比亚特区和波多黎各组成52个NASA空间赠款财团。最终目标是通过赞助Wisers向K-12以前就读的初中或高中的学生介绍他们在科学和工程方面的研究经验来影响社区。

The objective of this proposal is to conduct a multi-phased evaluation of an experimental,multi-disciplinary coordinated program (WISER) that pairs first-year female students with faculty in research environments. First-year students are mentored and given duties and instruction in an on-going research project over two semesters. The program is united through its common objectives and a common recruitment process that leads to freely chosen, interdisciplinary parings. Faculty and staff at Penn State will construct an evaluation instrument which will allow them to refine the program to better retain or support three groups of participants: WISER interns themselves, graduate students who supervise them, and faculty who have accepted first year students into their research labs and who provide essential training, mentoring and role modeling. The project will demonstrate how this program can be disseminated to two-year institutions that are crucial in the SEM pipeline for women. A two-year urban campus on Penn State at Abington-Ogontz will begin a WISER program to test the model. They will use the faculty-student matching which is a key attribute of this program. Participating at both institutions are faculty and graduate students from the colleges of earth and mineral sciences, engineering, agricultural sciences and health science, a majority of whom are female. Based on the results of the evaluation, the proposers will present the WISER program (modified by the result of the evaluation) to 400 affiliated colleges and universities that form the 52 NASA Space Grant Consortia in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The final goal is to impact communities by sponsoring WISERs to present descriptions of their experiences with research in the sciences and engineering to the K- 12 students at their former middle or high schools.