The Impact of Social Capital and Mentoring in Earth System Science Workforce Development

密歇根州立大学的研究人员将调查地球系统科学（ESS）中指导与职业发展之间的关系，特别关注不同的人群。研究人员认为，通过探究师徒关系发展对职业满意度和归属感的影响，分析不同群体对师徒关系的反应，以及将研究结果综合为可广泛传播的实用建议，可以解决ESS日益增加的多样性问题。这项研究的基本原理是，ESS在招聘、保留和提升技术工人方面落后于其他STEM学科，导致劳动力持续短缺。研究人员将通过分析社会资本在ESS职业发展和归属感中的作用来重新思考ESS劳动力短缺问题。他们将重点关注师徒关系，将其作为学生成为专业人士所需的培训和教育的一个基本方面，特别是在师徒关系中建立的关系强度和信任，以及它们对未被充分代表的群体的职业发展和文化适应的影响。该项目将促进关于社会资本对职业发展和成功重要性的对话。以社会资本为研究的理论框架，研究者将采用混合方法解释设计来探讨两个问题：(1)社会资本如何产生变量？力量和信任？对职业发展学生和专业人员的职业满意度和归属感的影响，不同群体的影响有何不同？(2) ESS导师的收益和成本是什么，不同导师群体的影响是否不同？本研究期望能对指导过程中社会资本发展的本质、不同群体如何通过指导或被指导而受到不同的影响，以及如何将研究成果提炼成实践经验，以提高不同群体在ESS中的保留率等方面产生深入的见解。这些数据将为导师在指导过程中可以采取的步骤提供具体的证据，以促进各种各样的protacimac的成功，以及导师和学生可以采取的步骤，以确保自己对指导体验的满意度。这些见解将综合成两个研讨会，为ESS学生和教师导师。该项目由ECR计划支持，该计划强调基础STEM教育研究，为该领域提供基础知识。投资在至关重要、广泛和持久的关键领域：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。ECR支持积累有力的证据，为理解、构建理论来解释、提出干预和创新建议的努力提供信息，以应对STEM兴趣、教育、学习和参与方面的持续挑战。

Researchers at Michigan State University will investigate the relationship between mentoring and career development in Earth System Science (ESS) with a particular focus on diverse populations. The researchers argue that increasing diversity in ESS can be addressed through 1) an exploration of how relationship development during mentoring impacts career satisfaction and sense of belonging, 2) an analysis of how different groups respond to mentoring, and 3) a synthesis of research findings into practical suggestions that can be disseminated broadly. The rationale for the study is that ESS lags other STEM disciplines in the recruitment, retention, and advancement of skilled workers, resulting in a persistent workforce shortage. The researchers will reconsider the ESS workforce shortage problem by analyzing the role of social capital in career development and sense of belonging in ESS. They will focus on mentoring relationships as a fundamental aspect of the training and education that students need to become professionals, particularly relationship strength and trust built during mentoring and their impact on career development and acculturation on underrepresented groups. The project will contribute to the dialog about the importance of social capital to career development and success. Using social capital as the theoretical framework for the study, the researchers will use a mixed methods explanatory design to investigate two questions: (1) How do social capital variables ? strength and trust ? impact career satisfaction and sense of belonging for students undergoing career development and professionals in ESS, and how do the impacts differ across diverse groups? and (2) What are the benefits and costs to ESS mentors, and do the impacts differ across diverse groups of mentors? The research is expected to yield insights concerning the nature of social capital development during mentoring, how diverse groups are impacted differently through mentoring or being mentored, and how research can be distilled into practical lessons to increase the retention of diverse groups in ESS. The data will provide concrete evidence for steps mentors can take during mentoring to facilitate the success of diverse protégés and steps mentors and students can take to ensure their own satisfaction with the mentoring experience. These insights will be synthesized into two workshops for ESS students and faculty mentors. The project is supported by the ECR program that emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. ECR supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning and participation.