Innovation Networks: The Creation and Diffusion of Gender Equity Ideas in Universities

东北大学将实施NSF EHR核心研究(ECR)项目，该项目使用多种方法的社会网络分析，以更好地了解NSF资助的先行计划受赠者网络的演变、运营和结果。NSF高级计划自2001年以来一直颁发奖项，以促进系统变革，支持学术科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)劳动力的性别平等。该计划的一个结果是出现了一个全国性的NSF高级网络，由195多所大学和STEM组织组成，拥有1500多名个人。这一网络包括首席调查员和联合调查员、项目主任和经理、咨询委员会成员、评估员、各级STEM教员以及性别和多样性学者。这些参与者中的许多人是或成为中层和高层管理人员，他们可能在转到其他机构时，当他们在多项赠款上担任不同的角色，当他们制作奖学金和其他出版物时，传播关于如何建设公平的学术工作场所的想法，从而扩大网络增进公平战略的范围。ECR项目将研究该网络如何通过STEM组织之间的思想交流使NSF的初始投资成倍增加。该研究项目将使用多方法社会网络方法来分析通过NSF Advance形成的多层网络创造和传播关键想法的过程。该项目将结合网络统计、文本分析和定性方法，以确定在网络中创新的想法和做法，以及知识传播的模式和机制。这项研究将产生来自多个来源的原始数据集：赠款(日期、类型、规模和来自NSF奖项数据库的其他一般信息)、来自高级站点的关键文件(提案、报告和全文会议论文和出版物)、参与高级赠款的个人(人口统计学、文献计量学和2000年以来的工作历史)、大学(组织特征，例如规模、具有卡内基分类和IPEDS调查数据的机构类型以及最佳学院排名)，以及其他与高级相关的奖学金。关系数据将包括通过以下方式建立的联系：(A)在赠款上直接合作，(B)在顾问委员会任职，(C)在同一所大学工作，(D)共同撰写学术论文，以及(E)引用学术工作。我们还对六家预先资助的机构进行了个案研究，对18次访谈和20次预先参与的其他个人进行了访谈。这项研究将记录和洞察这一独特的大学领导和学者网络如何创造、采用和传播创新想法，如何推动高等教育机构的全面变革，包括那些没有NSF预付补助金的机构。这项研究将使资助机构和更广泛的高等教育专业人士受益，他们对促进高等教育公平感兴趣，特别是在STEM领域。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Northeastern University will implement an NSF EHR Core Research (ECR) project that uses a multi-method social network analysis to better understand the evolution, operation, and outcomes of a network of grantees from the NSF-funded ADVANCE program. The NSF ADVANCE program has made awards since 2001 to promote systemic change that supports gender equity of the academic science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce. A consequence of the program has been the emergence of a nationwide NSF ADVANCE network of more than 195 universities and STEM organizations, with more than 1,500 individuals. This network includes Principal Investigators (PIs) and co-PIs, project directors and managers, advisory board members, evaluators, STEM faculty at all ranks, and gender and diversity scholars. Many of these participants are, or become, mid- and top-level administrators who potentially spread ideas about how to construct equitable academic workplaces when they move to other institutions, when they serve in various roles on multiple grants, and when they produce scholarship and other publications, therefore extending the reach of the network’s equity-enhancement strategies. The ECR project will examine how the network has multiplied the NSF’s initial investment through the exchange of ideas among STEM organizations.The research project will use a multi-method social network approach to analyze the creation and diffusion of key ideas through the multilayered networks formed through NSF ADVANCE. The project will combine network statistics, textual analysis, and qualitative methods to identify ideas and practices innovated in the network, and patterns and mechanisms of knowledge diffusion. The research will result in an original dataset from multiple sources: grants (dates, type, size, and other general information from the NSF award database), key documents from ADVANCE sites (proposals, reports, and full text conference papers and publications), individuals involved in ADVANCE grants (demographics, bibliometrics, and job histories since 2000), universities (organizational characteristics, for example size, type of institution with Carnegie Classification and IPEDS survey data, and rankings in Best Colleges), and other ADVANCE-related scholarship. The relational data will include ties created through (a) direct collaboration on grants, (b) serving on advisory boards, (c) working at the same university, (d) co-authoring scholarly papers, and (e) citing scholarly work. We also conduct case studies of six ADVANCE-funded institutions with 18 interviews and 20 interviews with other individuals involved in ADVANCE. This research will document and offer insight into how the creation, adoption, and diffusion of innovative ideas by this unique network of university leaders and scholars spurs comprehensive change in higher education institutions, including those without NSF ADVANCE grants. The research will benefit funding agencies and the broader community of higher education professionals who are interested in pursuing equity enhancement in higher education, especially within STEM fields.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.