Impact: Redfining Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty (iREDEFINE ECE); March 2020, Orlando, FL

尽管为增加电气和计算机工程(欧洲经委会)教员的多样性作出了许多努力，但欧洲经委会教员中女性和代表性不足的少数族裔的人数仍然令人震惊地低。在欧洲经委会项目中，女性分别只占终身教职和终身教职教师职位的14.3%和19.6%，这与她们在美国所有工程学终身教职/终身教职职位中的低比例(17.4%)是一致的。电气和计算机工程领域的黑人或非裔美国教师的比例分别只有2.0%和3.1%。同样，只有2.5%的电气工程教员和2.9%的计算机工程教员是西班牙裔。研究表明，留住科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)中代表性不足的群体的有效战略是提供榜样和导师。因此，缺乏教师榜样是导致妇女和少数族裔学生在欧洲经委会方案中任职人数偏低的一个主要因素，这进一步使任职人数偏低的循环延续下去。“影响：重新定义电气和计算机工程学院”(iREDEFINE欧洲经委会)是一项倡议的扩展，旨在通过面对面讲习班和全年在线指导活动，在欧洲经委会方案中增加妇女和代表不足的少数群体的这类榜样的数量。对过去参加iREDEFINE的人员进行的调查证实了讲习班办法的有效性，并支持扩大工作范围以纳入全年活动的必要性。除了为iREDEFINE活动提供运营支持外，这笔赠款还向来自可能没有财力支持其博士生旅行的机构的学生提供面对面的研讨会。iREDEFINE计划的目标是激励和准备博士生和代表不足的少数族裔学生在美国大学寻求欧洲经委会教师职位。该倡议包括：1)在电气和计算机工程系主任协会(ECEDHA)的年度会议上为妇女和任职人数不足的少数族裔欧洲经委会研究生举办讲习班；2)在ECEDHA地区会议上举办迷你讲习班；3)全年在线辅导计划；以及4)iREDEFINE参与者数据库，由ECEDHA管理，向系主任和主席开放，以促进从代表不足的群体中招聘教师。将讲习班延长到两天，在区域会议上增加讲习班，举行四次有组织的虚拟辅导会议，并引入在线社区，这增加了iREDEFINE学者与欧洲经委会部门负责人、行业领袖及其同行互动和建立更强融洽关系的机会范围，使他们拥有一个广泛和多样的专业网络。通过直接影响32名妇女和任职人数偏低的少数群体参与者，该项目将有助于增加申请欧洲经委会各系学术职位的不同类型学生人数，并使他们为成功的学术生涯做好准备。此外，通过将学生与作为学术领袖的榜样联系起来，参加iREDEFINE促进了iREDEFINE学者对学术管理的兴趣，这些学者随后将成为下一代妇女和代表不足的少数族裔欧洲经委会学生的榜样。最后，除了支持参与的学生追求学术事业外，这些活动还增进了对成功战略的了解，以扩大妇女和代表性不足的少数群体在欧洲经委会教授中的参与。这一奖项反映了国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Despite many efforts to increase diversity among electrical and computer engineering (ECE) faculty, the number of women and underrepresented minorities on ECE faculty remains alarmingly low. In ECE programs, women compose only 14.3% and 19.6% of tenured and tenure-track faculty positions, respectively, which is consistent with their low representation (17.4%) in all engineering tenured/tenure-track positions in the U.S. The percentage of Black or African American faculty in electrical and computer engineering is only 2.0% and 3.1%, respectively. Similarly, only 2.5% of electrical engineering faculty and 2.9% of computer engineering faculty are Hispanic. Research shows that an effective strategy to retain underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is to provide role models and mentors. Thus, the lack of faculty role models is a major contributing factor to the low representation of women and minority students in ECE programs, which further perpetuates the cycle of underrepresentation. “Impact: Redefining Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty” (iREDEFINE ECE) is the expansion of an initiative designed to increase the numbers of such role models for women and underrepresented minorities in ECE programs through in-person workshops and year-round online mentoring activities. Surveys of past iREDEFINE participants verify the efficacy of the workshop approach and support the need for expansion to include year-round activities. In addition to providing operational support for iREDEFINE activities, this grant makes the in-person workshops accessible to students from institutions that may not have the financial resources to support the travel of their PhD students.The goal of the iREDEFINE program is to motivate and prepare PhD women and underrepresented minority students to pursue ECE faculty positions in US universities. The initiative consists of: 1) a workshop for women and underrepresented minority graduate ECE students at an annual meeting of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA); 2) mini workshops at regional ECEDHA meetings; 3) a year-round online mentoring program; and 4) a database of iREDEFINE participants managed by ECEDHA and open to department heads and chairs to facilitate faculty recruitment from underrepresented groups. Extending the workshop to two days, adding workshops at regional conferences, implementing four structured virtual mentoring meetings, and introducing online communities increases the range of opportunities for iREDEFINE Scholars to interact and build a stronger rapport with ECE department heads, industry leaders, and their peers, equipping them with a broad and diverse professional network. By directly impacting 32 women and underrepresented minority participants, this project will help to increase the number of diverse students applying for academic positions in ECE departments and prepare them for successful academic careers. Furthermore, by connecting the students with role models who are academic leaders, participating in iREDEFINE catalyzes an interest in academic administration among iREDEFINE Scholars who will then become role models for the next generation of women and underrepresented minority ECE students. Finally, in addition to supporting participating students in their pursuit of academic careers, these activities also advance the knowledge on successful strategies to broaden the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in the ECE professoriate.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.