RAPID: Ensuring the Success and Sustainability of STEM Graduate Students and Graduate Academic/Research Programs in Response to COVID-19

COVID-19危机对STEM研究生及其研究项目产生了重大的负面影响。大学被迫迅速适应。一些正在开发创新的实践来支持研究生并维持他们的项目，而另一些则在苦苦挣扎。美国国家科学基金会快速反应研究（Rapid）奖授予芝加哥大学国家意见研究中心（NORC），旨在支持和维持美国在危机期间和未来的高质量研究生教育。研究生院院长将被系统地调查他们的成功、挣扎和对未来的担忧。调查结果将被公布并分发给全国的大学。该报告将为学术带头人提供一个相互学习的机会。它将记录大流行期间实时制定的新颖有效的解决方案，并确定应该更充分地探索和可能制度化的新方法，以最好地支持STEM研究生并将研究生项目维持到未来。NORC将遵循可靠且经过验证的研究策略，该策略已在先前的STEM教育研究中使用，遵循既定的研究协议和方法，并已在NORC过去的项目中成功执行。该中心将设计、管理和分析一项在线横断面调查，由研究生院院长代表美国300所博士和硕士水平的大学完成，这些大学招收了大量的STEM研究生。与来自不同机构的四名研究生院院长的初步定性访谈将为调查工具的开发提供信息。调查采用封闭式和开放式问题，将重点关注三个关键调查领域的影响和创新：(1)研究生的学术和研究进展；(2)研究生健康与福祉；(3)研究生项目的连续性和可持续性。数据分析将包括描述性分析和统计测试，以确定机构类型之间的潜在差异（例如，规模、授予的最高学位、少数族裔服务）。调查的定性数据将被编码并组织成三个关键的调查领域。然后，来自参与机构的约30名代表组成的工作会议（虚拟或面对面）将分享、审查和进一步完善调查结果。结果将是一份最终报告，通过NORC的网站和全国各地的STEM研究生项目传播。该快速反应研究（Rapid）奖由研究生教育司/教育和人力资源部研究生教育创新（IGE）项目颁发，资金来自《冠状病毒援助、救济和经济安全（关怀）法案》。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 COVID-19 crisis has had a significant and negative impact on STEM graduate students and their research programs. Universities have been forced to rapidly adapt. Some are developing innovative practices to support graduate students and maintain their programs, yet others are struggling. This National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research (RAPID) award to the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago aims to support and sustain quality graduate student education in the U.S. during the crisis and into the future. Graduate school deans will be systematically surveyed about their successes, struggles, and concerns for the future. The findings will be published and distributed to universities nationwide. The report will provide academic leaders with an opportunity to learn from each other. It will document novel and effective solutions developed in real-time during the pandemic and identify the new approaches that should be more fully explored and possibly institutionalized to best support STEM graduate students and sustain graduate programs into the future. NORC will follow a reliable and proven research strategy that has been utilized in prior STEM education research, follows established research protocols and methods, and has been successfully executed by NORC in past projects. The Center will design, administer, and analyze an online cross-sectional survey to be completed by graduate school deans on behalf of 300 doctoral- and master’s-level universities in the U.S. that matriculate significant numbers of STEM graduate students. Initial qualitative interviews with four graduate school deans from diverse institutions will inform the development of the survey instrument. Using both closed- and open-ended questions, the survey will focus on impacts and innovations across three key areas of inquiry: (1) graduate student academic and research progress; (2) graduate student health and well-being; and (3) graduate program continuity and sustainability. Data analysis will include descriptive analyses and statistical tests to identify potential differences across institutional types (e.g., size, highest-degree awarded, minority serving). Qualitative data from the surveys will be coded and organized into the three key areas of inquiry. The survey results will then be shared, vetted, and further refined by a working assembly (virtual or in-person) of approximately 30 representatives from participating institutions. The result will be a final report to be disseminated through NORC’s website and to STEM graduate programs throughout the country.This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) award is made by the Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program in the Division of Graduate Education/Directorate of Education and Human Resources using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.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.