CAREER: Women and Students of Color in Doctoral Mathematics

该项目将研究影响妇女和来自数学科学博士课程中代表性不足群体的学生参与的因素。研究者将对五个博士项目进行案例研究，进行调查，并与学生和教师进行深入访谈。没有一项研究系统地、广泛地考察了数学博士科学中代表性不足的群体的经历。通过从机构和个人的角度来看待这个问题，本项目希望加深对数学博士取得成功所需条件的理解，女性和代表性不足群体的学生面临的障碍，以及一些项目为帮助学生取得成功所采取的行动。研究和教育活动的理论指导下，学习是由三个部分组成：获取知识，从事实践，发展研究身份。通过她作为数学和统计学研究生的经历以及她之前对博士生流失的研究，研究者拥有博士数学科学的第一手知识。研究人员已经建立了一个由从事相关工作的数学家组成的网络，他们同意为这个项目提供资源（比如接触数学专业的学生群体）。研究方法、数学多样性问题、研究生数学教育、在线调查和评估方面的专家已同意作为顾问或顾问参与本项目。她拥有定性和定量研究方法的经验，并通过她之前在研究和工业领域的工作管理过复杂的长期项目。研究和教育计划都集中在数学教育的多样性问题上。该研究项目的一个明确目标是提出数学教师和政策制定者可以遵循的具体建议，以增加注册和毕业于数学博士课程的博士生的多样性。结果将在数学界传播。研究者已经开始在这方面的工作，通过会议发言和出版适合数学读者的出版物。提案中描述的持久性框架、通过项目开发的定量持久性措施以及研究结果，很可能为其他STEM学科招募和留住更多样化的学生群体的努力提供参考。如果这项研究取得成功，那么它将增加我们对女性和STEM中代表性不足的学生成功的重要因素的理解，一些学生群体面临的障碍，以及教师和其他相关方可以做些什么来提高这些学生的参与和成功。研究者的教育工作将包括培训职前中学教师，使他们更加了解和响应多样性问题，引导他们以各种背景的儿童参与数学和数学思维的方式进行教学。此外，研究者将领导一个项目，为数学本科生建立一个有指导的学习社区，其目标是吸引更多的学生，特别是更多样化的学生，进入数学和数学相关学科。通过这些努力，研究者的目标是引导未来的本科生群体提高对数学是什么以及如何使用数学的认识，并帮助他们发现数学的兴奋和价值。

This project will examine factors affecting the participation of women and students from groups underrepresented in doctoral programs in the mathematical sciences. The investigator will conduct case studies of five doctoral programs, a survey, and indepth interviews with students and faculty. No research has systematically and broadly examined the experiences of underrepresented groups in doctoral mathematical sciences. By looking at this question through both the institutional and individual perspectives, this project expects to increase understanding of what it takes to succeed in doctoral mathematics, the obstacles faced by women and students from underrepresented groups, and the actions some programs have taken to help students succeed.The research and educational activities are guided by theory that learning is comprised of three parts: acquiring knowledge, engaging in practices, and developing a research identity. The investigator has first-hand knowledge of doctoral mathematical sciences, through her experiences as a graduate student in mathematics and statistics and her previous research on doctoral student attrition. The researcher has developed a network of mathematicians who do related work, who have agreed to make resources available for this project (such as access to populations of students in mathematics). Experts in research methodology, diversity issues in mathematics, post-graduate mathematics education, online surveys, and assessment have agreed to be available to this project as advisors or as consultants. The investigator has experience with both qualitative and quantitative research methods, and has managed complex, long-term projects through her prior work in research and industry. Both the research and educational plan are focused on issues of diversity in mathematics education. One explicit goal of the research project will be to develop concrete recommendations that mathematics faculty and policymakers can follow to increase the diversity of doctoral students who enroll in and graduate from doctoral mathematics programs. Results will be disseminated within the mathematics community. The investigator has begun working in this regard, through conference presentations and the development of publications suitable for a mathematical audience. The persistence framework described in the proposal, the quantitative persistence measures developed through the project, and the research findings, may well inform efforts in other STEM disciplines to recruit and retain a more diverse student body. If this research is successful, then it will increase our understanding of the factors important in the success of women and students underrepresented in STEM, the obstacles faced by some groups of students, and what faculty and other interested parties can do to improve the participation and success of these students. The investigator's educational work will include training pre-service secondary teachers to be more aware of and responsive to diversity issues, leading them to teach in ways that engage children of all backgrounds in mathematics and mathematical thinking. In addition, the investigator will be a leader in a project to develop a mentored learning community for undergraduates in mathematics, with a goal of attracting more students, and in particular a more diverse population of students, into mathematics and mathematics-related disciplines. Through each of these efforts, the investigator aims to lead future cohorts of undergraduate students to an improved sense of what mathematics is and how it can be used, and to help them discover the excitement and value of mathematics.