SPARKing Representation in Cognitive Science

非裔美国人、拉丁裔/o/e/x/和土著学生和研究人员在认知心理学和认知科学方面的代表性不足。这些研究领域通常侧重于理解思维如何表征和操纵知识，以及这些心理表征和过程如何在大脑中实现。认知心理学专注于理解人类如何感知、思考和沟通，认知心理学和/或认知科学的培训为个人的职业定位，从学术界到工业界，专门研究从人工智能到商业和营销的主题。认知领域是未来就业增长的核心；这项建议的目的是支持多样化劳动力的发展。SPARK协会支持所有级别的学习者和研究人员（本科生，研究生，早期职业生涯，高级学者），其总体目标是创建一个支持基础设施，帮助历史上被边缘化的个人在这一研究领域脱颖而出。支持以小组指导、点对点指导和跨多个平台传播信息资源的形式提供。改善历史上被边缘化的学者的经历有助于创造一个更公正的社会。Spark Society与几个认知科学家的全国性会议合作，为历史上被边缘化的学者建立社区，并为他们提供指导。这创造了一种归属感，并有可能减少孤立感，这种孤立感驱使历史上被边缘化的学习者和研究人员远离该领域。导师模式辅以评价措施，包括对博士课程的分析。了解研究生项目招聘和要求的变化如何影响认知科学和认知心理学项目组成多样性的变化，并通过制定明确的方法来确定为什么历史上被边缘化的学者在很大程度上缺席整个领域的领导力，将允许更有针对性地开发有效的项目，以支持该领域的培训，并创造一个空间，让领导力成为一个开放和可取的途径。这项研究将侧重于制定方法，以便评估毕业生政策在招收历史上处于边缘地位的学生方面的有效性。这一目标的核心是确定相关项目，对与招聘相关的政策变化进行编码，并考虑结果（即项目完成，就业安置）。制定评估政策变化对研究生多样性影响的方法，并确定阻碍领导力多样性的驱动因素，是实现创造更加多样化和包容性的研究领域和随之而来的劳动力这一长期目标的重要步骤。该项目也得到了EDU种族平等STEM教育项目（EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education program）的支持。该项目支持通过研究和实践促进STEM教育和劳动力发展中的种族平等的项目。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。

African American, Latina/o/e/x/, and Indigenous students and researchers are underrepresented in cognitive psychology and cognitive sciences. These fields of study generally focus on understanding how the mind represents and manipulates knowledge and how these mental representations and processes are realized in the brain. With its focus on understanding how humans perceive, think, and communicate, cognitive psychology and training in cognitive psychology and/or the cognitive sciences positions individuals for careers ranging from academia to industry, specializing in topics from artificial intelligence to business and marketing. Cognitive fields are a centerpiece of future jobs growth; the aim in this proposal is to support the development of a diverse work force. The SPARK Society supports learners and researchers at all ranks (undergraduate, graduate, early career, senior scholars) with the overarching goal of creating a support infrastructure to help historically marginalized individuals excel in this field of study. Support is provided in the form of group mentoring, peer-to-peer mentoring, and dissemination of informational resources across multiple platforms. Improving experiences of historically marginalized scholars helps create a more just society. The Spark Society partners with several national conferences for cognitive scientists, allowing for community building for historically marginalized scholars and providing mentoring wherever they are located. This creates a sense of belonging and has the potential to reduce feelings of isolation that drive historically marginalized learners and researchers away from the field.The mentorship model is supplemented by evaluative measures, including analyses of PhD programs. Understanding how changes in graduate program recruitment and requirements have impacted changes in the compositional diversity of cognitive science and cognitive psychology programs, and by developing clear methodologies to identify why historically marginalized scholars are largely absent from field-wide leadership, will allow for more targeted development of effective programs to support training in the field and create a space where leadership is an open and desirable avenue. The research will focus on developing methodologies that allow for evaluation of graduate policy effectiveness in recruitment of historically marginalized students. Central to this aim is identification of relevant programs, coding of policy changes related to recruitment, and consideration of outcomes (i.e., program completion, job placement). Development of methodologies that assess the impact of policy change on graduate student diversity and identify drivers hindering diversity in leadership are important steps towards the long-term goals of creating a more diverse and inclusive field of study and accompanying workforce.This project is also supported by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.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.