Building Capacity to Support Career Acceleration and STEM Workforce Development

该项目旨在通过创建和评估一系列研讨会的影响来服务于国家利益，这些研讨会旨在吸引来自代表性不足的种族/民族群体的学生考虑进入企业界。目标是建设全国工程领域少数民族行动委员会（NACME）的能力，以推进与扩大参与和STEM劳动力发展有关的知识。NACME是最大的奖学金提供者，为来自未被充分代表的种族/族裔群体攻读本科工程学位的大学生提供奖学金。通过与全国各地的合作机构和企业支持者的合作，NACME还为学生提供其他资源和专业发展机会。利用NACME基础设施，项目团队将首先开发一系列研讨会，以更好地为有色人种学生（例如，非洲裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人、印第安人）进入企业界做好准备。实习也是活动的一部分。在开展系列活动的同时，项目团队将从参与者那里收集信息，帮助公司改善学生的实习经历。该系列研讨会将在学生报告实习任务之前开始，参与的实习生将被介绍应对公司环境的技巧，包括潜在的敌对工作空间。该项目将由STEM教育工作者、社会科学家、行业专业人士和活动策划者组成的跨学科团队参与。建议的活动将以职业建构理论（CCT）为基础。CCT主要用于职业咨询空间，帮助人们培养和应用他们的职业自我概念。研究团队将使用CCT的具体部分是职业适应性资源和适应性反应，这将代表每个实习生能够应对工作场所挑战和责任的方式。在项目过程中，研究团队将采用两阶段策略来帮助企业赞助商提供高质量的实习经验。阶段1将集中于开发、交付和评估这个项目核心的专业开发研讨会。第二阶段将侧重于从本科生的角度收集和分析关于实习经历的其他信息。总体目标是：(1)监测学生在实习期间的适应性资源、职业认同和组织承诺的发展情况；(2)研究NACME提供的干预措施对实习经历的影响；(3)确定企业合作伙伴改善实习体验的机会领域。这些目标将通过前测、后测准实验设计以及深度访谈来实现，并有意将其与评估计划相结合。该项目的智力价值在于，当学生从学术环境过渡到技术公司实习时，它有可能提供与提供包容和欢迎的工作空间相关的基础知识。本项目由美国国家科学基金会IUSE: EHR项目资助，该项目支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过其参与学生学习轨道，IUSE项目支持有前途的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by creating and then assessing the impact of a workshop series designed to engage students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups to consider entering the corporate world. The goal is to build the capacity of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) to advance knowledge related to broadening participation and STEM workforce development. NACME is the largest provider of scholarships for college students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups pursuing undergraduate engineering degrees. Through collaborations with partner institutions and corporate supporters across the country, NACME also provides students with other resources and professional development opportunities. Leveraging the NACME infrastructure, the project team will first develop a workshop series envisioned to better prepare students of color (e.g., African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans) to enter the corporate world. An internship will also be part of the activities. Concurrent with the operation of the series the project team will collect information from participants that can help companies improve student internship experiences. The workshop series will begin before students report to their internship assignments and participating interns will be introduced to coping techniques for navigating corporate environments, including potentially hostile workspaces.This project will engage an interdisciplinary team of STEM educators, social scientists, industry professionals, and event planners. The proposed activities will be grounded in Career Construction Theory (CCT). CCT is primarily used within career counseling spaces to help people cultivate and apply their vocational self-concept. The specific part of CCT that the research team will use is Career Adaptability Resources and Adapting Responses, which will represent the manner in which each intern is able to cope with workplace challenges and responsibilities. Over the course of the project, the research team will use a two-phase strategy to aid corporate sponsors with offering high-quality internship experiences. Phase 1 will focus on developing, delivering, and evaluating the professional development workshop that is central to this project. Phase 2 will focus on collecting and analyzing additional information about the internship experience from the perspective of the undergraduate students. The overarching goals are to (1) monitor students' development of adaptability resources, vocational identities, and organizational commitment during the internship period; (2) study how interventions offered by NACME impact the internship experience; and (3) identify areas of opportunities for corporate partners to improve the internship experience. These goals will be achieved through a pre-test, post-test quasi-experimental design, followed by in-depth interviews, that are intentionally integrated with the evaluation plan. The intellectual merit of the project lies in its potential to contribute to foundational knowledge related to providing inclusive and welcoming workspaces as students transition from academic settings to internships at technical companies. This project is funded by the NSF IUSE: EHR Program which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its Engaged Student Learning track, the IUSE program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.