NSF INCLUDES DDLP: WiSEN - Supporting Minoritized Women Students in STEM, Cultivating Pathways Using Mentoring Networks

STEM女性教育网络（WiSEN）是一个共同指导网络，为STEM领域历史上代表性不足和边缘化的研究生和本科生提供指导。这包括设计和开发启动试点项目，让学生参与结构化对话，确定指导需求，并探讨阻碍女性参与STEM的系统性障碍。该项目的目标是扩展STEM指导的最佳实践，同时为少数族裔女性学生建立一个全国性的网络社区。该项目的初始阶段是在罗切斯特理工学院、蒙大拿大学、华盛顿州立大学和冈萨加大学等四所高等教育机构之间设计、开发和启动WiSEN项目。WiSEN项目是一个网络改进社区（NIC）。当研究人员、学生和机构领导者合作制定制度和系统变革的解决方案时，NIC模型已经证明了其有效性。这个NIC模型为WiSEN共同指导基础设施提供了基础，该基础设施在虚拟和面对面的混合空间中运行。WiSEN的参与者进行批判性和勇敢的对话，主要围绕：1)理解制度权力和导航系统障碍；2)撬动文化财富与交叉认同；3)系统变革的网络化；4)共同指导未来领袖。研究见解填补了关于指导女性最佳实践的重要知识空白，并为这个可扩展的网络提供了一个平台，可以在最初的四所大学合作伙伴之外实施。该项目由美国国家科学基金会（NSF）的埃迪·伯尼斯·约翰逊（Eddie Bernice Johnson）资助，该计划旨在激励和加速协作基础设施建设，以推进和维持系统性变革，扩大STEM的大规模参与。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。

The Women in STEM Education Network (WiSEN) is a co-mentoring network for historically underrepresented and marginalized graduate and undergraduate women students in STEM. This INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot project engages students in structured conversations, identifies mentoring needs, and explores the systemic barriers that hinder women’s participation in STEM. The project goal is to expand upon best practices in STEM mentoring, while building a national networked community for minoritized women students. The initial phase of the project is design, development, and launch of the WiSEN project among four higher education institutions- Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Montana, Washington State University, and Gonzaga University.The WiSEN project functions as a Networked Improvement Community (NIC). NIC models have demonstrated effectiveness when researchers, students, and institutional leaders collaborate to develop solutions for institutional and systemic change. This NIC model provides the basis for the WiSEN co-mentoring infrastructure, which operates in virtual and in-person hybrid spaces. WiSEN participants engage in critical and courageous dialogue centering on: 1) Understanding Institutional Power and Navigating Systemic Barriers; 2) Leveraging Cultural Wealth and Intersectional Identities; 3) Networking for Systemic Change; and 4) Co-mentoring Future Leaders. Research insights fill important knowledge gaps regarding best practices for mentoring women and provide a platform for this scalable network that can be implemented beyond the initial four university partners. This project is funded by NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative, which seeks to motivate and accelerate collaborative infrastructure building to advance and sustain systemic change to broaden 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.