AGEP-T: Collaborative Research: Advancing Interdisciplinary STEM Graduate Education in Energy and Sustainability Disciplines

得克萨斯农工大学研究生教育和教授联盟(TAMU)是为了响应NSF研究生教育联盟和AGEP转型(AGEP-T)轨道的教授(AGEP)计划征集(NSF 12-554)而创建的。AGEP-T Track的目标是机构和组织的战略联盟，以开发、实施和研究STEM研究生教育、博士后培训和学术STEM职业准备的创新循证模式和标准，以消除或减轻负面因素并促进URM的积极实践。TAMU联盟是德克萨斯农工大学系统的五个博士学位授予机构之间的合作，围绕能源和可持续发展的统一主题推进URM。合作机构包括：德克萨斯农工大学主校区(TAMUMC)、德克萨斯农工大学金斯维尔分校(TAMU-K)、普莱里维尤农工大学(PVAMU)、西德克萨斯农工大学(WTAMU)和德克萨斯农工大学语料库克里斯蒂(TAMUCC)。这些机构聘用的非博士学位机构也是德克萨斯农工大学系统的成员：德克萨斯农工大学(TAMUI)、德克萨斯农工大学圣安东尼奥分校(TAMUSA)、德克萨斯农工大学(Tamut)、塔尔顿州立大学(TSU)和德克萨斯农工商贸学院(TAMUC)。合作的愿景是开发AGEP联盟，通过在不同的联盟机构中成功地发展和维持大规模、分散但相互关联的STEM社区，为代表不足的少数族裔(URM)群体开辟通往博士和教授的多种途径，增加参与，减少障碍，TAMU AGEP联盟的长期目标是通过可测量地增加每年授予URM学生的STEM博士学位的数量，并增加过渡到STEM教师职位(或过渡到导致教师职位的竞争性博士后)的人数，从而增加成功的URM STEM教师的数量。TAMU AGEP联盟的短期运营目标是制定、实施和评估一套可移植的战略，通过增加进入博士课程的URM数量、完成STEM博士学位的URM比例、完成STEM博士学位的URM比例、以及过渡到教师职位(或竞争激烈的博士后职位)的人数，并减少他们获得博士学位的时间。TAMU AGEP联盟的参与者都是美国公民，他们都是STEM的URM，有四个明确的目标。该联盟将学生参与者定义为URM美国公民，对能源和可持续发展表现出兴趣，并被归类为博士生或硕士研究生。目标1.增加五所合作的TAMU AGEP机构中进入STEM博士学位课程的URM的数量。目标2.缩短TAMU AGEP联盟URM STEM博士生的平均获得学位的时间，并增加整个联盟的学生在五年内完成博士学位的百分比。目标3.为TAMU AGEP联盟的学生提供竞争教师职位所需的准备，并增加从STEM博士项目向教师或竞争性博士后职位过渡的URM数量。目标4.促进TAMU研究合作，以支持联盟范围内与本科生、硕士和博士生研究人员，将导致来自至少2个合作机构的教师共同建议的URM STEM博士研究论文的数量增加。形成TAMU AGEP联盟模式的干预措施包括：联合院校招聘URM STEM博士学生；各机构和潜在学生参加年度联盟会议；利用区域旅行、虚拟社交网络和网络研讨会为AGEP博士生提供社区建设和联合指导机会；根据参与项目的程度和学位的及时进展向学生提供留学生津贴；学生参加研究和专业发展培训会议、研究种子资金的小型赠款竞赛、学习社区以及博士后奖学金安置和/或教师职位的过渡活动；并与美国国家科学基金会资助的研究协调网络(RCN-SEES)：气候、能源、环境和半干旱地区的参与(CE3SAR)进行跨机构合作和伙伴关系。TAMU AGEP联盟社会科学研究集中在两个问题上，即与每个联盟机构的URM STEM研究生在实验和应用环境中的包容性相关的两个问题：1)经历孤立或排斥对URM STEM研究生的生产力和进步以及他们继续担任教授的意愿有什么影响？2)什么因素(例如，制度、人际、个人)促进或调解URM STEM学生经历孤立或排斥的感觉？

The Texas A&M University System (TAMU) Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate was created in response to the NSF's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program solicitation (NSF 12-554) for the AGEP-Transformation (AGEP-T) track. The AGEP-T track targets strategic alliances of institutions and organizations to develop, implement, and study innovative evidence-based models and standards for STEM graduate education, postdoctoral training, and academic STEM career preparation that eliminate or mitigate negative factors and promote positive practices for URMs.The TAMU Alliance is a collaboration between five doctoral degree granting institutions who are members of the Texas A&M University System, to advance URMs around the unifying theme of Energy and Sustainability. The collaborating institutions include: Texas A&M University Main Campus (TAMUMC), Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMU-K), Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), West Texas A&M University (WTAMU), and Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (TAMUCC). These institutions are engaging the following non-doctoral degree institutions who are also members of the Texas A&M University System: Texas A&M International University (TAMUI), Texas A&M-San Antonio (TAMUSA), Texas A&M-Texarkana (TAMUT), Tarleton State University (TSU), and Texas A&M-Commerce (TAMUC). The vision of the collaboration is to develop an AGEP Alliance that opens multiple paths to the doctorate and professoriate for underrepresented minority (URM) populations by successfully developing and sustaining large-scale, distributed, yet interconnected STEM communities among the diverse Alliance institutions that increase participation, reduce barriers, and promote success of URM doctoral students preparing for careers in the professoriate.The long-term goal of the TAMU AGEP Alliance is to increase the number of successful URM STEM faculty by measurably increasing the number of STEM doctoral degrees awarded to URM students each year and increasing the number of underrepresented minorities (URMs) transitioning to STEM faculty positions (or to competitive postdocs that lead to faculty positions).The short-term operational goal of the TAMU AGEP Alliance is to develop, implement and assess a set of transportable strategies to ultimately increase the number of successful URM STEM faculty by increasing the number of URMs who enter participating doctoral programs, the percentage of URMs completing STEM doctoral degrees, and the number who transition to faculty positions (or to competitive postdoctoral positions), and by reducing their time to doctoral degree.There are four defined objectives for the TAMU AGEP Alliance participants, who are all U.S. citizens, who are URMs in STEM. The Alliance defines a student participant as an URM U.S. citizen, with a demonstrated interest in energy and sustainability, who is classified as a doctoral or master degree student. Objectives follow:Objective 1. Increase the number of URMs entering STEM doctoral degree programs at the five collaborating TAMU AGEP institutions.Objective 2. Reduce the average time to degree for the TAMU AGEP Alliance URM STEM doctoral students, and increase the percentage of students across the Alliance completing their doctoral degree in five years.Objective 3. Provide the TAMU AGEP Alliance students with the preparation necessary to compete for faculty positions and increase the number of URMs transitioning from STEM Ph.D. programs to faculty or competitive postdoctoral positions.Objective 4. Foster TAMU research collaborations to support Alliance-wide collaboration with undergraduate, master's and PhD student researchers that will result in an increase in the number of URM STEM doctoral research dissertations co-advised by faculty from at least 2 partner institutions.The interventions that form the model for the TAMU AGEP Alliance include: joint institutional recruitment of URM doctoral STEM students; participation of institutions and prospective students in an annual alliance conference; use of regional travel, a virtual social network, and webinars to provide community building and joint mentoring opportunities for AGEP doctoral students; student retention stipends based on level of project participation and timely progress toward degree; student participation in research and professional development training conferences, a mini-grant competition for research seed funding, a learning community, and transitioning activities for post-doctoral fellowship placement and/or faculty positions; and engage faculty in cross-institutional collaborations and partnerships with the NSF-funded Research Coordination Network (RCN-SEES): Climate, Energy, Environment and Engagement in Semiarid Regions (CE3SAR).The TAMU AGEP Alliance social science research study focuses on two questions related to feelings of inclusion of URM STEM graduate students at each of the Alliance institutions in both experimental and applied settings: 1) What effect does experiencing isolation or ostracism have on the productivity and progress of URM STEM graduate students and their intentions to continue to the professoriate? 2) What factors (e.g., institutional, interpersonal, individual) promote or mediate against URM STEM students' experiencing feelings of isolation or ostracism?