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

德克萨斯州A M大学系统（TAMU）研究生教育和教授联盟是为了响应NSF的研究生教育联盟和教授（AGEP）计划征集（NSF 12-554）的AGEP-转化（AGEP-T）轨道而创建的。 AGEP-T轨道的目标机构和组织的战略联盟，以开发，实施和研究创新的循证模型和标准，为STEM研究生教育，博士后培训，和学术STEM职业准备，消除或减轻负面因素，并促进URM的积极做法。TAMU联盟是五个博士学位授予机构谁是德克萨斯州A M大学系统的成员之间的合作，围绕能源和可持续发展的统一主题推进URM。 合作机构包括：得克萨斯州农工大学主校区（TAMUMC），得克萨斯州农工大学-金斯维尔（TAMU-K），草原视图农工大学（PVAMU），西得克萨斯州农工大学（WTAMU）和得克萨斯州农工大学科珀斯克里斯蒂（TAMUCC）。 这些机构正在从事以下非博士学位机构谁也得克萨斯州A M大学系统的成员：得克萨斯州A M国际大学（TAMUI），得克萨斯州A M-圣安东尼奥（TAMUSA），得克萨斯州A M-特克萨卡纳（TAMUT），塔尔顿州立大学（大津），和得克萨斯州A M-商务（TAMUC）。 合作的愿景是建立一个AGEP联盟，为代表性不足的少数民族（URM）人口开辟多条获得博士学位和教授学位的途径，方法是在不同的联盟机构中成功地发展和维持大规模，分布式，但相互关联的STEM社区，增加参与，减少障碍，并促进URM博士生的成功，为教授的职业生涯做准备。长期以来，TAMU AGEP联盟的长期目标是通过可衡量地增加每年授予URM学生的STEM博士学位数量，来增加成功的URM STEM教师的数量增加少数民族（URM）过渡到STEM教师职位的人数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，通过增加进入参与博士课程的URM数量，最终增加成功的URM STEM教师的数量，完成STEM博士学位的URM的百分比，以及过渡到教师职位（或竞争性博士后职位）的人数，以及减少他们获得博士学位的时间。TAMU AGEP联盟参与者有四个明确的目标，他们都是美国公民，他们是STEM领域的URM。 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，被归类为博士或硕士学位学生。 目标如下：目标1。在TAMU AGEP的五个合作机构中，增加进入STEM博士学位课程的URM数量。缩短TAMU AGEP联盟URM STEM博士生获得学位的平均时间，提高联盟学生在五年内完成博士学位的比例。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博士过渡的URM数量。项目的教师或有竞争力的博士后职位。目标4.促进TAMU研究合作，支持与本科生、硕士生和博士生研究人员的联盟范围内的合作，这将导致由至少2个合作机构的教师共同指导的URM STEM博士研究论文数量的增加。形成模式的干预措施TAMU AGEP联盟包括：联合机构招募URM STEM博士生;机构和未来的学生参加年度联盟会议;使用区域旅行，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;根据项目参与程度和学位及时进展的学生保留津贴;学生参与研究和专业发展培训会议，研究种子资金的小型赠款竞争，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NSF资助的研究协调网络进行跨机构合作和伙伴关系（RCN-SEES）：半干旱地区的气候、能源、环境和参与（CE 3SAR）. TAMU AGEP联盟社会科学研究重点关注与URM STEM研究生在每个联盟机构的实验和应用环境中的融入感有关的两个问题：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教授的意图有什么影响？2)哪些因素（例如，机构，人际，个人）促进或调解对URM STEM学生的孤立或排斥的感觉？

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?