CAREER: An Investigation of Mentors' Practices that Help Minoritized Undergraduates Persist In STEM

教师早期职业发展（Career）计划是一项国家科学基金会范围内的活动，为通过杰出的研究、优秀的教育以及在其组织使命范围内将教育和研究结合起来，以教师学者为榜样的初级教师提供奖励。该项目授予职业学者的目标是发现和理解有效的、基于证据的指导实践和策略，这些实践和策略支持少数民族本科科学、技术、工程、数学（STEM）学生的成功，并有意为导师做准备。该项目通过开发理论框架、指导模块、案例研究、演讲、网络研讨会和研究生课程，将研究和教育结合起来。该奖项由EHR核心研究计划支持，该计划支持基础STEM教育研究计划。指导已被证明对STEM中历史上的少数民族学生，特别是黑人，西班牙裔/拉丁裔和美国印第安人/阿拉斯加原住民的持久性产生积极影响。然而，对于高等教育中的导师来说，很少有例子能详细说明有效的指导方法、策略和能力，帮助少数群体的学员坚持并取得成功。本研究的目标是使用严格的混合方法研究设计，以更好地理解指导方法、应对策略（如用于应对压力情况的方法）以及STEM领域少数族裔学生的教师导师的感知能力。这项工作将确定一个有代表性的导师样本，他们帮助少数族裔本科生坚持STEM；采访这些导师，了解他们的方法和应对策略；采用经验证的师徒胜任力评估问卷调查师徒之间的师徒胜任力；并采访学员，了解他们与导师的经历。基于交叉性和社区文化财富的指导理论资产以及所研究的导师的选择性，新知识将增加指导文献及其理论发展。该项目将创造知识和工具，支持在地方、区域和国家平台上开展有效指导教育。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. This project awarded to a CAREER scholar has the goal to discover and understand effective, evidence-based mentoring practices and strategies that support the success of minoritized undergraduate science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) students and the intentional preparation of mentors. This project integrates research and education by developing a theoretical framework, mentoring modules, case studies, presentations, webinars, and a graduate course. This award is supported by the EHR Core Research program which supports fundamental STEM Education research initiatives. Mentoring has been shown to positively affect and influence the persistence of historically minoritized students in STEM, specifically Blacks, Hispanics/Latinx, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives. Yet for mentors in higher education, minimal examples exist that detail effective mentoring approaches, strategies, and competencies that help minoritized mentees to persist and succeed. The goal of this inquiry is to use a rigorous mixed-methods study design to better understand mentoring approaches, coping strategies such as methods used to respond to stressful situations, and perceived competencies of faculty mentors of minoritized students in STEM fields. This work will identify a representative sample of mentors who help minoritized undergraduates persist in STEM; interview these mentors about their approaches and coping strategies; survey mentors and mentees about the mentors' competencies using the validated Mentoring Competency Assessment survey; and interview mentees about their experiences with their mentors. The new knowledge will add to the mentoring literature and its theoretical development based on the assets of the guiding theories of intersectionality and community cultural wealth, and the select nature of the mentors under study. The project will result in the creation of knowledge and tools that support education about effective mentoring across local, regional, and national platforms.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.