Completion and Attrition in AGEP and non-AGEP Institutions

少数族裔学生在STEM领域的代表性不足是一个全国性的问题。博士项目的流失率很高(40%-50%)，而少数族裔的毕业率往往比他们的同行更低，这一事实加剧了博士生招生中的代表性不足。如此高的流失率给个人和社会带来了巨大的经济、心理和社会代价。除了这些成本之外，我们还面临着STEM教员和非学术人员的老龄化，他们将需要更换。NSF的研究生教育和教授联盟(AGEP)计划旨在解决博士生教育和学术队伍中代表性不足的问题。对AGEP方案的评估表明，在通过AGEP方案获得资助的机构中，参加STEM博士课程的少数民族学生人数随着时间的推移而增加，但迄今为止进行的研究并未将AGEP机构的活动和倡议与学生的成功联系起来，特别是完成率。由于AGEP受资助者的活动和倡议在不同机构之间差别很大，目前尚不清楚这些干预措施中哪一种最有可能对代表性不足的少数族裔学生的博士毕业率产生积极影响。本提案中概述的项目旨在研究STEM博士生项目中代表不足的少数族裔的完成情况和自然减员模式，涉及不同的AGEP和非AGEP机构，以期了解促进成功完成的因素以及在这方面具有希望的政策和做法。该项目建立在研究生院理事会(CGS)已经在进行的关于博士完成和自然减员以及硕士完成和自然减员的工作的基础上，并将其扩展到包括对代表性不足的少数族裔进行更细粒度的调查？在STEM博士项目中的经验。将通过竞争过程选出20所院校，利用为博士完成项目开发的方法，为所有在1992-93至2011-12年度进入参与机构所有STEM博士课程的未被充分代表的少数族裔学生提供确定的学生水平完成和自然减员数据，并在该项目的继任者、STEM硕士课程的完成和自然减员方面进行改进。参与机构还将被要求对代表性不足的少数族裔学生进行调查，以收集与结业和自然减员有关的因素的信息；提供通过AGEP方案、博士结业项目和其他来源资助的活动和倡议的详细数据，这些活动和倡议可能影响结业和自然减员；并便于在旨在收集有关项目政策、实践和气候的深入信息以及这些因素对完成和自然减员的感知影响的现场访问期间接触到教职员工、管理人员和学生。智力价值：该项目的研究结果将提供一个丰富而令人信服的肖像，描述在全国各地的各种AGEP和非AGEP机构注册的STEM博士项目的经验、学术进步、绊脚石和对代表不足的少数族裔的看法。调查结果将告诉NSF和更大的高等教育社区如何在不同的背景下最好地支持这些研究生，使他们成功完成博士课程，完全适应所在学科的规范和文化，能够指导和教授下一代研究人员和学者，并推动各自领域的未来发现。广泛的影响：CGS在其研究能力、当前的数据收集工作、研究完成和自然减员方面处于独特的地位，以及它影响研究生教育更大世界的能力。总体而言，CGS院校每年授予美国近95%的博士学位和超过四分之三的硕士学位。CGS以各种方式传播其调查结果，包括发表报告、时事通讯文章、新闻稿、研讨会、研讨会和年度会议。因此，该项目有可能对改善全国各地AGEP和非AGEP机构STEM博士课程中代表性不足的少数民族的参与、留住和完成情况产生广泛影响。

The underrepresentation of minority students in STEM fields is a national concern. Underrepresentation in doctoral enrollment is exacerbated by the fact that attrition rates from doctoral programs are high (40-50%), and minorities tend to complete at even lower rates than their counterparts. Such high rates of attrition impose significant economic, psychological, and social costs on individuals and society. Quite apart from these costs, we are faced with an aging STEM faculty and non-academic workforce that will need to be replaced. NSF's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program aims to address this problem of underrepresentation in doctoral education and the academic workforce. Evaluations of the AGEP program have indicated that the numbers of underrepresented minority students enrolling in STEM doctoral programs have increased over time at institutions that received funding through the AGEP program, but the research conducted to date has not tied the activities and initiatives of AGEP institutions to student success, particularly completion rates. Since the activities and initiatives of the AGEP grantees vary considerably across institutions, it is not clear which of these interventions have the most potential to positively impact doctoral completion rates for underrepresented minority students.The project outlined in this proposal aims to examine patterns of completion and attrition among underrepresented minorities in STEM doctoral programs across a diverse set of AGEP and non-AGEP institutions with a view to understanding the factors that promote successful completion and the policies and practices that hold promise in this regard. The project builds on work already underway at the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) on Ph.D. completion and attrition and master's completion and attrition and extends it to include a much more fine-grained investigation of underrepresented minorities? experiences in STEM doctoral programs. Twenty institutions will be selected through a competitive process to provide de-identified student-level completion and attrition data for all underrepresented minority students entering all STEM doctoral programs at the participating institutions from 1992-93 through 2011-12 utilizing the methodology developed for the Ph.D. Completion Project and refined in the project's successor, Completion and Attrition in STEM Master's Programs. Participating institutions will also be required to administer surveys to underrepresented minority students to gather information on factors related to completion and attrition; to provide detailed data on activities and initiatives funded through the AGEP program, the Ph.D. Completion Project, and other sources, that may have impacted completion and attrition; and to facilitate access to faculty, administrators, and students during site visits designed to collect in-depth information on program policies, practices, and climate, and the perceived impact of these factors on completion and attrition.Intellectual merit: The research findings from this project will provide a rich and compelling portrait of the experiences, academic progress, stumbling blocks, and perceptions of underrepresented minorities enrolled in STEM doctoral programs in a variety of AGEP and non-AGEP institutions across the nation. Findings will inform NSF and the larger higher education community on how best to support these graduate students in diverse contexts so they successfully complete their doctoral programs and are fully acculturated in the norms and cultures of their disciplines, capable of mentoring and teaching the next generation of researchers and scholars, as well as driving future discovery in their fields.Broader impacts: CGS is uniquely positioned to undertake this effort in terms of its research capacity, current data collection efforts, and experience studying completion and attrition, as well as its ability to influence the larger world of graduate education. Collectively, CGS institutions annually award nearly 95% of all U.S. doctorates and more than three-quarters of all U.S. master's degrees. CGS disseminates its findings in a variety of ways, including published reports, newsletter articles, press releases, seminars, workshops, and annual conferences. As such, this project has the potential to have an extensive impact on improving participation, retention, and completion of underrepresented minorities in STEM doctoral programs in AGEP and non-AGEP institutions across the nation.