NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: 331 STEM:Energy 3 Universities, in 3 Cities, 1 Vision

这项NSF包括计划拨款由NSF纳入全国工程和科学领域未被充分代表的发现者的学习社区(NSF Includes)资助，这是一项综合性的全国性倡议，旨在通过关注多样性、包容性和扩大对STEM的参与来加强美国在发现和创新方面的领导地位。这笔规划赠款的目标是在最新的学术思想领袖的支持下，发展一个多样化的、社区主导的、全国性的集体影响网络，通过整合3所大学和3个城市的资源，为年轻人提供宝贵的STEM教育和能源领域的劳动力机会，以服务于一个单一的愿景：331 STEM：能源倡议。许多州和社区在追求脱碳和清洁能源部署目标的同时，寻求增加当地清洁能源劳动力的多样性。然而，配套的教育系统和人力资本“管道”还不够发达，不足以支持与设想的能源转型规模成比例的多样化的清洁能源劳动力。该计划最初将专注于三个人口多元化的主要大都市地区，这些地区在不断增长的清洁能源劳动力中所占比例较低：休斯顿、底特律和明尼阿波利斯。该规划项目将通过连接当地大学、社区领袖、学校和清洁能源公司，在三个地点并行学习的分散的学生队列中发展和提供培训和教育，从而在这三个地点的每个地点建立一个支持STEM教育和劳动力发展的生态系统。这项工作的独特之处在于，每个地方队列都将与一个位于当地的社区太阳能项目配对。社区太阳能代表着全美日益增长的趋势，有可能为当地创造显著的经济和环境效益。每一批学生都将直接与太阳能项目合作，为学生所在的社区创造当地利益。学员将更好地了解他们如何成为科学、技术、工程和数学领域的领导者；他们的个人选择如何影响能源使用和环境；以及可能在清洁能源劳动力中找到就业机会。这项工作将促进几个关键领域的知识，这些领域可能会扩大对STEM的参与，并最终扩大清洁能源劳动力的参与。该模式的性质提供了一个机会，可以纳入基于社区的参与性研究以及STEM教育和当地劳动力发展机会，旨在帮助改善清洁能源劳动力的多样性。该倡议将开发一种独特的、可扩展的方法来评估课程需求和途径，并创建一条劳动力管道。此外，我们将根据角色、社区需求和项目要求确定适当的社区参与战略，以确定在独特的社区环境中和在独特的社区环境中成功的计划元素。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。

This NSF INCLUDES planning grant is funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (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. The goal of this planning grant is to develop a diverse, community-led, and national network for collective impact, supported by the latest academic thought leadership to prepare young people with valuable STEM education and workforce opportunities in energy by combining the resources of 3 universities and 3 cities to serve 1 singular vision: the 331 STEM:Energy Initiative. Many states and communities seek to increase the diversity of their local clean energy workforce as they pursue goals for decarbonization and clean-energy deployment. Yet, the supporting education systems and human capital "pipelines" are not sufficiently developed to support a diverse clean-energy workforce proportional to the scale of the envisioned energy transition. The initiative will initially focus on three major metro areas with diverse populations that are underrepresented in the growing clean energy workforce: Houston, Detroit, and Minneapolis.This planning project will build an ecosystem of support for STEM education and workforce development in each of the three sites by connecting local universities, community leaders, schools, and clean energy companies to develop and deliver training and education in a distributed cohort of students who learn in parallel across the three sites. This work is unique in that each local cohort will be paired with a locally-sited community solar project. Community solar represents a growing trend across the US that has the potential to create significant local economic and environmental benefits. Each cohort will be directly working hands-on with a solar project that creates local benefits for the community in which the students live. Participants will develop a greater understanding of how they may become leaders in science, technology, engineering, and math; how their personal choices affect energy use and the environment; and potentially find opportunities for employment in the clean energy workforce. This work will advance knowledge in several key areas that may broaden participation in STEM and ultimately the clean energy workforce. The nature of the model presents an opportunity to incorporate community-based participatory research as well as STEM education and local workforce development opportunities, intended to help improve the diversity of the clean energy workforce. The initiative will develop a unique, scalable method to evaluate curricular needs and pathways and create a workforce pipeline. Additionally, we will determine appropriate community engagement strategies based on roles, community needs, and project requirements to determine successful program elements between and within unique community contexts.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.