Collaborative Research: IRES Track I: US-Kenya Collaboration to Foster Underrepresented Students' Capacity in Community-Based Engineering Education Research

尽管越来越多的关注和支持学生的国际机会，有明显的差距，谁参加这种经验，他们去哪里。工程专业学生的参与率较低，在种族和经济上属于少数群体的学院/大学学生最不可能有机会参与。此外，这种国际旅行很少发生在撒哈拉以南非洲。为了满足这一需求，这个IRES轨道1项目支持美国代表性不足的学生在肯尼亚埃尔多雷特进行社区参与工程和本地化工程教育设计的研究。学生将与社会工作，工程和社区本身的研究导师合作，这将支持他们对国际发展和工程问题解决合作的批判性理解。我们在两个合作机构，普渡大学（PU）和旧金山弗朗西斯科州立大学（SFSU）工作，我们在肯尼亚莫伊大学，教育/社会工作和工程两个部门，以及社区合作伙伴组织，图迈尼创新中心。该项目将允许更广泛的美国工程专业学生参与国际研究体验。该计划为第一代，种族少数或社会经济地位低的学生提供了在国外开展研究并体验研究过程的机会，同时也通过导师和反思赋予他们权力。学生研究项目将扩大肯尼亚和美国在社区参与工程和本地化工程教育方面的现有研究。该项目通过学生IRES参与者将进行的研究和对该计划的周到评估，提出了一套综合的研究和实践目标。首先，由学生研究人员进行的研究将有助于丰富的奖学金在社区参与的工程和本地化的工程教学和学习的发展。非常需要进一步研究工程师如何以公正和可持续的方式与社区互动，以及工程教育如何满足个别社区和学生群体的独特需求。IRES学生研究项目有可能确定发展工程教育的机会和方法，有效地建立在当地知识的基础上。其次，对该计划的评估有助于我们了解学生的学习，跨文化成长和国际研究经验。特别是，我们的项目将侧重于种族和经济边缘化和第一代学生，他们通常不代表在现有的研究这些计划。通过我们与多个美国机构（普渡大学和SFSU）的合作，以及我们与支持这两个机构工程专业学生人数不足的团体的重点合作，我们的IRES计划将为工程教育和工程实践领域的广泛影响提供一种机制。通过我们详细的招生计划和我们的主题重点，我们的IRES计划将扩大获得有影响力的，以社区为中心的工程教育研究。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Despite increased attention to and support for international opportunities for students, there are clear gaps in terms of who participates in such experiences and where they travel. Engineering students participate at lower rates, and racially and economically minoritized college/university students are the least likely to have the opportunity to participate. In addition, such international trips rarely take place in sub-Saharan Africa. To address this need, this IRES Track 1 project supports U.S. underrepresented students in conducting research in community-engaged engineering and the design of localized engineering education in Eldoret, Kenya. Students will work with research mentors in social work, engineering, and from the community itself, which will support their critical understanding of collaboration in international development and engineering problem-solving. We work across two collaborating institutions, Purdue University (PU) and San Francisco State University (SFSU), and we engage two departments at Moi University in Kenya, Education/Social Work and Engineering, and a community partner organization, Tumaini Innovation Center. This project will allow a broader population of U.S. engineering students to participate in an international research experience. This program gives first-generation, racially-minoritized, or low socioeconomic-status students the opportunity to carry out research abroad and experience the research process while also empowering them through mentorship and reflection. The student research projects will expand existing research in both Kenya and the U.S. in community-engaged engineering and localized engineering education.This project addresses an integrated set of research and practice aims, both through the research that student IRES participants will conduct and in the thoughtful evaluation of the program. First, the research conducted by the student researchers will contribute to rich scholarship in both community-engaged engineering and the development of localized engineering teaching and learning. There is a great need for additional research on how engineers can engage with communities in just and sustainable ways and for how engineering education can meet the unique needs of individual communities and student populations. The IRES student research projects have the potential to identify opportunities and approaches for developing engineering education that builds effectively on local knowledge. Second, the evaluation of this program can contribute to our understanding of student learning, intercultural growth, and experiences in international research. In particular, our project will focus on racially and economically marginalized and first-generation students, who are typically not represented in existing research on such programs. Through our engagement with multiple U.S. institutions (Purdue and SFSU) and our focused engagement with groups that support underrepresented students in engineering at both institutions, our IRES program will provide a mechanism for broad impacts on the fields of engineering education and engineering practice. Through our detailed student recruitment plan and our thematic focus, our IRES program will broaden access to impactful, community-centered engineering education research.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.