Native Americans: An Exploratory Study Pinpointing the Factors That Influence Their Interests and Aspirations for Engineering Faculty Positions

本项目旨在更深入地了解影响印第安人或阿拉斯加印第安人（以下简称印第安人）参加工程教授课程的因素。根据NACME 2014年的一份报告，只有0.4%的工程师是印第安人，而工程系的印第安人就更少了。工程学院通过提供积极的社会文化体验、角色示范、指导和减少孤立的包容性学习环境，在吸引和留住学生方面很重要。然而，对于促使印第安人进入工程学教授或坚持担任工程学教员的因素，人们知之甚少。该项目的研究将提供系统的证据，为印第安人提供最佳实践经验和支持，鼓励他们攻读工程教授学位，并将学院视为他们的职业家园。在工程专业入学人数减少的时代，加强多样性是长期增长和全球竞争力的关键。工程领域的多样性不仅仅是公平和公平的问题，也是工程努力的质量问题。培养人才和促进印第安人在工程教授队伍中的充分包容，可以促进劳动力的多样性，鼓励增长、创造力和创新，这是解决我们最紧迫的部落、国家和全球问题所必需的。迫切需要调查潜在的因素和它们之间的联系，以便在增加工程领域的印第安教师数量方面取得有意义的进展。然而，缺乏先前的系统调查意味着无法获得旨在挖掘潜在结构的研究方法和材料，并且不存在基于更广泛调查的试点数据。因此，本提案的总体目标是双重的：1)在几个美国本土工程学生和教师的样本中进行假设因素及其之间联系的探索性试点研究，包括来自俄克拉何马州、明尼苏达州的参与者，以及美国印第安人和科学与工程学会（AISES）的成员；2)开发方法和材料，为随后的横断面和纵向研究做准备。中心假设是，有一些可识别的因素可以解释印第安人进入工程学院并坚持下去，这些因素可以通过定量、定性和混合方法手段发现和获取。该项目旨在招募美国本土的工程本科生、研究生和教师，以捕捉他们当前和回顾的历程，并参与工程教授的工作。该小组将收集和分析定性和定量数据，并以促进该领域基础知识的方式传播研究结果。这样做，这一努力将奠定基础，为后续的研究扩大美国原住民在工程学院的参与。

This project aims to develop a deeper understanding of the factors influencing Native American or Alaskan Native (hereafter referred to as Native American) participation in the engineering professorate. According to a 2014 NACME report, only 0.4% of engineers are Native American, and even fewer engineering faculty are Native American. Engineering faculty are important in attracting and retaining students by providing positive socio-cultural experiences, role modeling, mentorship, and inclusive learning environments that reduce isolation. However, little is known about the factors promoting Native Americans' entry into the engineering professorate or persistence as engineering faculty members. The project's research will provide systematic evidence that could lead to best practices in providing Native Americans with experiences and support to encourage them to pursue the engineering professorate and consider the academy as their professional home. In an era of decreased enrollment in engineering programs, enhancing diversity is key to long term growth and global competitiveness. Diversity in engineering fields is more than an issue of fairness and equity, but also of quality of the engineering endeavor. Cultivating the talent and promoting full inclusion of Native Americans in the engineering professorate can promote diversity in the workforce to encourage the growth, creativity, and innovation necessary to solving our most pressing tribal, national, and global problems. There is a critical need to investigate potential factors and the linkages among them to make meaningful progress toward increasing the number of Native American faculty in engineering. However, the lack of prior systematic investigations means that research methods and materials designed to tap underlying constructs are unavailable, and that pilot data on which to base more extended investigations are non-existent. Therefore, the overall objective of this proposal is two-fold: 1) to conduct an exploratory pilot study of hypothesized factors and the linkages among them in several samples of Native American engineering students and faculty, including participants from Oklahoma, Minnesota, and members of the American Indian and Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and 2) to develop methods and materials in preparation for subsequent cross-sectional and longitudinal work. The central hypothesis is that there are identifiable factors that explain Native Americans' entry into and persistence in the engineering professorate, and that these factors are discoverable and accessible through quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods means. The project aims to recruit Native American engineering undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty to capture current and retrospective perceptions of their journey toward and participation in the engineering professorate. The team will collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and disseminate findings in ways that advance foundational knowledge of the field. In so doing, this effort will lay the groundwork for subsequent studies on broadening participation of Native Americans in the engineering faculty.