NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: Developing a Collaborative Infrastructure for Educating STEM Undergraduate Students who are Neurodiverse Learners

美国STEM劳动力的增长对经济和全球竞争力至关重要。为了发展劳动力，需要在社会所有部门中培养STEM人才。拟议的合作汇集了来自北亚利桑那大学、俄亥俄州立大学、奥本大学、密苏里-堪萨斯城大学、夏威夷大学和堪萨斯州立大学的人员，以解决未来利益攸关方联盟和国家扩大参与议程所需的合作基础设施的五个关键要素。该团队将专注于在STEM领域增加神经多样性的挑战，通过增加自闭症、注意力缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)和其他各种神经残疾的本科生在STEM教育中取得成功的人数。该小组的计划包括由小组成员和社区利益攸关方组成的多个区域会议。预计该项目最终将吸引来自数十所大学、学院和社区学院的广泛代表，包括那些已知为特定不同人群服务的高等教育机构，如历史上的黑人学院和大学(HBCU)、西班牙裔服务机构(HSI)和部落学院和大学(TCU)。这些机构中包括前NSF残疾教育研究(RDE)计划STEM奖残疾学生联盟的获奖者，NSF包括设计和开发启动试点补助金(DDLP)。此外，来自国家组织、行业、职业康复和STEM学生的利益相关者将参与其中，他们认为自己是神经性多元化的。计划召开的利益攸关方会议将为合作伙伴提供一个论坛，以建立文化上适当的协作基础设施：制定共同愿景；扩大伙伴关系，使之包括广泛的组织和机构社区；建立共同目标和衡量标准；巩固领导结构；建立和改善合作伙伴之间的沟通；并扩大或扩大工作。这项NSF包括规划拨款是由NSF在全国纳入代表不足的工程和科学发现者的学习社区计划(NSF Includes)资助的，该计划是一项综合性的国家倡议，旨在通过关注多样性、包容性和扩大对STEM的规模参与来增强美国在发现和创新方面的领导地位。该奖项反映了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。

The growth of the United States STEM workforce is important to economic and global competitiveness. Developing STEM talent among all sectors of society is needed in order to grow the workforce. The proposed collaboration brings together personnel from Northern Arizona University, The Ohio State University, Auburn University, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the University of Hawaii and Kansas State University, to address the five key elements of collaborative infrastructure for a future alliance of stakeholders and a national broadening participation agenda. The team will focus on the challenge of increasing people with neurodiversity in STEM fields, by increasing the number of undergraduate students with Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other diverse neurological disabilities who succeed in STEM education. The team’s plan includes multiple regional convenings of team members and community stakeholders. The project is expected to eventually engage a broad group of representatives from dozens of universities, colleges and community colleges, including those institutions of higher education that are known to serve specific diverse populations, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). Included among these institutions are former recipients of the NSF Research in Disabilities in Education (RDE) program’s Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM awards and NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot grants (DDLPs). Additionally, stakeholders from national organizations, industry, vocational rehabilitation, and STEM students who identify as neurodiverse will be involved. The planned stakeholder meetings will provide a forum for partners to build a culturally appropriate collaborative infrastructure: To develop a shared vision; to expand the partnerships to include a broad community of organizations and institutions; to establish shared goals and metrics; to solidify the leadership structure; to establish and improve communication across the partners; and to scale or expand the work.This NSF INCLUDES planning grant is funded by the NSF’s Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science program (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale.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.