Connecting nuances of foreign status, professional networks, and higher education outcomes in STEM disciplines over time

来自亚利桑那州立大学、格鲁吉亚理工学院和阿肯色州大学的一组研究人员将调查影响外国STEM高等教育教师在美国的保留率的因素，以及导致他们成为更有生产力的劳动力成员和推进STEM在这个国家的因素。在学术STEM人才的全球竞争时代，尽管外国STEM教师在美国高等教育机构中的代表性很高，但重大的研究和数据差距限制了我们对外国背景和经验，专业和协作网络以及关键教师成果的多个维度的理解。该项目将通过对现有数据集进行综合和新的分析，以及试行一项新的调查，帮助弥补差距。该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）计划资助，该计划支持推进STEM学习和培训的基础研究文献的工作。该研究将通过概念化更广泛的外国身份概念来推进对外国教师的研究，该概念超越了出生和教育的国籍，包括文化特征，家庭组成和位置，当地社区参与和国际专业经验。 该项目的范围将侧重于分析和整合现有数据，从而使这些数据集的价值和局限性更加明确。在方法上，该项目将使用创新的社交网络设计来收集和整合各种国家数据集，以捕捉和分析a）外国身份维度; B）专业网络结构，文化构成和资源;以及c）工作历史，满意度，流动性，指导和生产力等之间的关系。该研究将分三个部分进行：1）对现有NSF赞助的调查数据集进行扩展分析，以调查外国地位与网络结构和结果之间的关系; 2）收集，合并和分析现有科学家数据，以确定长期数据收集的关键差距和互补性; 3）初步数据收集，以开发新的调查设计并验证新的指标。 研究结果将是相关的干预措施，以提高外国教师的整合，满意度，保留和生产力的国家的长期竞争力的设计。

A team of researchers from Arizona State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Arkansas will investigate factors affecting the retention of foreign STEM higher education faculty in the US and those factors leading to their being more productive members of the workforce and advancing STEM in this country. In an era of global competition for academic STEM talent, and despite the high representation of foreign STEM faculty in US post-secondary institutions, significant research and data gaps have limited our understanding of how multiple dimensions of foreign background and experience, professional and collaborative networks, and key faculty outcomes are related. This project will help to address gaps through syntheses and new analyses of existing datasets and the piloting of a novel survey. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning and training.The study will advance research on foreign faculty by conceptualizing a broader notion of foreign status that goes beyond nationality of birth and education to include cultural characteristics, family composition and location, local community engagement, and international professional experience.  The project scope will focus on the analysis and integration of extant data, and in so doing make clearer the value and limitations of those datasets. Methodologically, the project will use an innovative social network design to collect and integrate various national datasets to capture and analyze the relationships among a) dimension of foreign status; b) professional network structure, cultural composition and resources; and c) work history, satisfaction, mobility, mentoring, and productivity, among others. The study will be conducted in three integrated parts: 1) expanded analysis of existing NSF-sponsored survey datasets to investigate how foreign status and network structure and outcomes are related; 2) collection, merging and analysis of extant scientist data to determine gaps and complementarities critical for longer-term data collection; and 3) initial data collection to develop new survey designs and validate new metrics. Study findings will be relevant for the design of interventions to improve the integration, satisfaction, retention, and productivity of foreign faculty for the long term competitiveness of the nation.