The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) intiative supports models, networks, partnerships and research to ensure the broadening participation in STEM of women, members of racial and ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented, persons of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities.
The University of Cincinnati, lead for a tri-state (OH, KY, IN) project, will convene a three-day conference to convene national and local experts to explore the best practices that support the development of a backbone organization in the context of using a social innovation model for broadening participation in STEM. The intent is to strengthen the network among participants and leverage learning from the Cincinnati Strive experience with collective impact across the Midwest and beyond.
Results from the NextLivesHere: Social Change Innovation Summit, will be disseminated in the tri-state region through the Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative (GCSC and the Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN). National dissemination will occur through informal and formal STEM professional organizations and publications as well as through participation in the NSF-developed national backbone organization.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kathie MaynardRoss MeyerShiloh TurnerGeoffrey ZimmermanGisela Escoe
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The NSF INCLUDES program supports models, networks, partnerships and research to ensure the broadening participation in STEM of women, members of racial and ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented, persons of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities.
The University of California-Irvine (UCI), in partnership with the University of California-San Diego and the University of California-Davis will convene a state-wide conference on inclusion in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) higher education. The California STEM INCLUDES Conference and Network will share best practices for promoting STEM inclusion and provide an infrastructure to further these practices and track the outcomes. The purpose of the conference is to form a backbone for a large regional network in support of the National Science Foundation's Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) initiative.
The five goals of the conference are to:
--increase California educator awareness of demographic gaps in STEM participation and the research on factors influencing such participation gaps;
--engage participants in discussion of promising practices for increasing STEM inclusion
--broaden the impact of existing successful programs for STEM inclusion, through program modification and replication, scale-up, and increased collaboration;
--create a mechanism for sustained discussion, sharing and collaboration around STEM inclusion across California institutions;
--create central repository and common standards for reporting on STEM inclusion and implementation program impact for the state.
Approximately 340 individuals serving a broad cross-section of California's K-12, higher education, public, private and non-profit constituencies will participate in 2 ½ days of intense dialogue on topics such as data and research, successful implementations and sustainable networks for collaboration and sharing. The conference will be held in Spring 2017.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michael DenninSarah Eichhorn
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This award supports the collaborative efforts of the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation, FSG, the Aspen Institute, the Collective Impact Forum, 100Kin10, National Girls Collaborative Project, Women in Engineering Pro-Active Network, MentorNet, Science Museum of Minnesota, Changing Communities, National GEM Consortium, American Society for Engineering Education and the Education Development Center to implement a project to inform the design of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Inclusion across the National of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science(INCLUDES)Initiative. The NSF INCLUDES program supports models, networks, partnerships and research to ensure the broadening participation in STEM of women, members of racial and ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented, persons of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities. The purpose of this conference is to inform the most critical design features of the structures and supports needed so that the NSF INCLUDES Alliance mini-backbones and the National backbone can work effectively and build the capacity to transform the STEM ecosystem.
This conference will bring together the most qualified current experts in inter-organizational collaboration, intersectionality and broadening participation in STEM to apply their collective wisdom to the design of the support structures of the NSF INCLUDES Alliances and National Network. Applying the understanding of complexity theory, adaptive leadership, intersectionality and collaboration models to the field of broadening participation in STEM has the potential to disrupt the current system enough to build capacity to create impactful Alliances. The outcomes of this convening have the potential to advance knowledge for all organizations working to broaden impact in STEM as well as those applying inter-organizational collaboration to the field of social innovation. Using intersectionality as a lens in developing more effective collaborative efforts that are responsive to the organizational partners and the context of the communities they serve can add a critical element to this field. The diverse members of the organizing committee can disseminate the results of this work to multiple networks where the results can impact the practice of inter-organizational collaboration and broadening participation in STEM.
SRI International and the Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching will jointly lead a workshop with the dual goals of supporting INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners that have been Underrepresented for Diversity in Engineering and Science) Launch Pilots during their first year and contributing to plans for a National Backbone. The workshop will strengthen and deepen the potential for rapid, continuous improvement cycles within and across INCLUDES networks. To do so, they will combine the expertise of SRI and Carnegie in improvement science, rapid analytics, and fostering networks of researchers and practitioners to engage participants in conducting a complete improvement cycle within and across INCLUDES Launch Pilots.
The workshop will have three phases. A first phase, conducted online, will share expertise related to each of the four parts of a complete improvement cycle: (1) problem definition, (2) data collection, (3) formative evaluation, and (4) effective communication. This first phase will combine an initial presentation with facilitated, online opportunities to interactively engage in the topics. A second phase, conducted face-to-face, will work intensively with teams from INCLUDES networks to improve their operational and long-term plans. The third phase will reflect and report on the workshop and contribute plans to build capacities for the National Backbone organization. Through the combination of these three phases, they will support the first-year work of INCLUDES teams and also refine understanding of how a national network could combine online and face-to-face elements to advance INCLUDES efforts. The workshop team will create and disseminate resources that are immediately useful to INCLUDES and related projects, and the workshop will openly coordinate with other workshops to achieve synergies. The online offerings will be open, broadly advertised, and permanently available. The lessons learned regarding plans for a national backbone will be disseminated broadly. In addition to participants from INCLUDES networks, additional stakeholders will be invited to both phases so as to shape the future plans to achieve broader impacts aligned with overall INCLUDES goals.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Timothy Podkul
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Iowa State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Texas at El Paso, Michigan State University, University of Georgia and University of California, Los Angeles will lead this Design and Development Launch Pilot to build the foundation for a national alliance that will prepare a new national STEM faculty, spanning all of post-secondary education, able to use evidence-based teaching, mentoring and advising practices that yield greater learning, persistence and completion of women and historically underrepresented minorities (URM) undergraduates in STEM. This project was created by this group of institutions, who are members of the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL), in response to the Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) program solicitation (NSF 16-544). The INCLUDES program is a comprehensive national initiative designed to enhance U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discoveries and innovations focused on NSF's commitment to diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation in these fields. The INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots represent bold, innovative ways for solving a broadening participation challenge in STEM.
The full participation of all of America's STEM talent is critical to the advancement of science and engineering for national security, health and prosperity. Our nation is advancing knowledge and practices to address a STEM achievement and the graduation gap between undergraduate STEM students who are women and men, and between those who are URMs and non-URMs. At the same time U.S. universities and colleges struggle to recruit, retain and promote a diverse STEM graduate student body, and a diverse STEM faculty, who serve as role models and academic leaders for URM and female students to learn from, to work with and to emulate. This project, the CIRTL INCLUDES - Toward an Alliance to Prepare a National Faculty for Broadening Success of Underrepresented 2-Year and 4-Year STEM Students, has the potential to advance a national network of organizations to improve the success of future STEM faculty who will educate a diverse undergraduate body and contribute to the learning, retention and graduation of women and URMs in STEM fields.
The collaborating CIRTL universities will work closely with multiple organizations to address key goals, including Achieving the Dream, Advanced Technological Education Central, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Mathematical Society of Two-Year Colleges, the American Physical Society, the American Society for Engineering Education, the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the Council of Graduate Schools, the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, Excelencia in Education, the Infrastructure for Broadening Participation in STEM, the Louis Stokes Midwest Center for Excellence, the Math Alliance, the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, the National Research Mentoring Network, the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Science Education, the Southern Regional Education Board, the Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching, and the Women in Engineering Programs and Advocates Network. Together, this extensive collaborative network will three goals: (1) To deepen the preparation of future STEM faculty in teaching, mentoring and advising practices that promote the success of undergraduates who are women and URMs; (2) To expand and strengthen faculty preparation specifically for 2-year colleges; and (3) To target the preparation of future STEM faculty who are members of underrepresented groups for effective teaching and mentoring, contributing to their early-career success. The seven universities who are partnering to lead this project will work to: (1) Form active partnerships and national coalitions for each of the three goals; (2) Employ a collective impact framework for each goal team and the entire alliance, ensuring common agendas, shared metrics, mutually reinforcing activities and an integrated process using data improvement cycles; and (3) Achieve pilot outcomes that position the alliance for future work.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robert MathieuRenetta TullKatherine BarnicleCraig OgilvieLeslie GonzalesErin SandersJudy MiltonMary Besterfield-SacreBenjamin FloresOcegueda Isela
Mathematics is the foundation of many STEM fields and success in mathematics is a catalyst for success in other scientific disciplines. Increasing the participation of women and other under-represented groups in the mathematics profession builds human capital that produces a diverse pool of problem solvers in business and industry, research mathematicians, faculty at all levels, and role models for the next generation. Existing support and enrichment programs have targeted women in mathematics at different stages in their undergraduate and graduate education, with different strategies to building community, creating a sense of belonging, and promoting a growth mind set. These strategies challenge some of the most common obstacles to success, including isolation, stereotype threat, not committing to mathematics early enough, and imposter syndrome. Acknowledging the diversity among women in terms of socio-economic background and educational background, this project proposes to examine the effectiveness of these programs through the lens of two primary questions: (1) Which elements of these programs are most critical in the success of women, as a function of their position along these distinct diversity axes?, and (2) which features of these programs are most effective as a function of the stage of the participant's career? These questions are guided by the rationale that a better understanding of, and improved pathways by, which programs recruit and retain undergraduate and graduate women in mathematics has the strong potential to increase the representation of women among mathematics PhDs nationwide.
This project seeks to increase and diversify the number of professional mathematicians in the United States by identifying and proliferating best practices and known mechanisms for increasing the success of women in mathematics graduate programs, particularly women from under-represented groups. The PIs on this proposal, all of whom are leaders of initiatives that have been active for nearly two decades, will work with experts in management, data collection and reporting, and communications to address the following three challenges: (1) develop a common system of measuring the effectiveness of each element in these initiatives; (2) develop a process for effective, collective decision making; and (3) create connections between existing activities and resources. This project is both exploratory research and effectiveness research. The project team first will explore the contextual factors that serve to support or inhibit female pursuit of mathematics doctorates by interviewing a variety of women who were undergraduate mathematics majors in the past, as well as current professional mathematicians. They then will use this information to better understand the most effective features of various current and past initiatives that are trying to increase the participation of women in advanced mathematics. A key stakeholder meeting will develop a process for effective, collective decision-making, to utilize what the project team learns from the interviews. The leadership team will develop a website with discussion board and social media components to highlight best practices and facilitate a virtual community for women interested in mathematics. Finally, a distillation of program elements and their targeted effectiveness will inform the selection of interconnected activities to test on a scalable model. These prototypes will be implemented at several sites chosen to represent a diversity of constituencies and local support infrastructure.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Judy WalkerAmi RadunskayaRuth HaasDeanna Haunsperger
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The University of Georgia, Florida International University, Savannah State University, Clark Atlanta University and Fort Valley State University will lead this Design and Development Launch Pilot to address enhancing recruitment, retention, productivity and satisfaction of historically underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduate students who enroll in STEM graduate programs at primarily white (PWI) and research intensive (RI) universities. This project was created in response to the Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) program solicitation (NSF 16-544). The INCLUDES program is a comprehensive national initiative designed to enhance U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discoveries and innovations focused on NSF's commitment to diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation in these fields. The INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots represent bold, innovative ways for solving a broadening participation challenge in STEM.
The full participation of all of America's STEM talent is critical to the advancement of science and engineering for national security, health and prosperity. Our nation is advancing knowledge and practices to address the STEM education practices for retaining and educating URM undergraduate STEM students at our nation's research intensive universities (RIs). This project, NSF INCLUDES: An Integrated Approach to Retain Underrepresented Minority Students in STEM Disciplines, has the potential to advance a collaborative approach by a group of organizations to improve the success of URM undergraduates in STEM disciplines.
The collaborating universities will work together for the purposes of empowering URM students to more effectively navigate STEM undergraduate and graduate education at minority serving institutions (MSIs) and PWIs, and for transforming the culture of PWIs and RIs. The team plans to use evidence-based approaches to gain insights into cultural differences that impact the success of URM STEM students. Three interventions will be included in the pilot study: (1) undergraduate URM student exchanges between MSIs and PWIs, (2) collaborative inquiry to engage URM students in social science research about issues and experiences of under-representation in STEM, and (3) the adaptation of resources from the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) to train STEM faculty to embrace diversity and improve teaching in diverse classroom settings. The project team plans to develop strategies to scale approaches and develop an alliance of institutions to maximize potential project outcomes.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Suzanne BarbourJuan GutierrezMichelle CookJoachim WaltherTimothy BurgJaideep ChaudharyShekhar BhansaliSarwan DhirMohamad Mustafa
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This INCLUDES award to the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network will focus on building STEM research and teaching capacity of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). HBCUs and TCUs share the impact of disparities that affect their communities and are constantly seeking STEM research and education solutions to engage students and prepare them to be fully involved in developing innovative and effective remedies that will address these disparities. The QEM Design & Development Launch Pilot (DDLP) Project is a collaboration that will provide an underpinning for broadening the participation of institutions involved in improving the enrollment and retention of minority students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To be competitive in a future global economy, the Nation must make a larger investment in the STEM education of its underrepresented groups, including, males and persons with disabilities. Failure to make such an investment can weaken our STEM infrastructure and inhibit the continuity of the Nation as a world leader in STEM.
The project's initial partners consist of five HBCUs (Morehouse College, Morgan State University, Spelman College, Tuskegee University, and University of Maryland Eastern Shore) and two TCUs (Aaniiih Nakoda College and United Tribes Technical College) with the aim of expanding to 12 institutions as well as adding business/industry partners and STEM-focused professional societies. The goals of the DDLP project are to: (1) build and sustain an alliance to increase the participation of African Americans and Native Americans in STEM education, research, and the workforce; (2) strengthen the STEM research, instructional, and mentoring capacities of partner HBCUs and TCUs; and (3) develop and promote broadening participation (BP) practices to address academic and professional career needs of African American and Native American males to significantly increase their representation in STEM. The QEM DDLP will implement evidence-based and data-driven approaches to developing research, education, and mentoring activities that can be tailored to institutional needs and context. The resulting outcome will be an increase in the capacities of HBCUs and TCUs in STEM that will position these institutions for sustained contributions to national broadening participation initiatives.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Shirley McBayLeander McDonaldLaura-Lee DavidsonEugene DeLoatchJuliette Bell
Abstract: We aim to disrupt the multigenerational cycle of poverty in our rural indigenous (18% Native American and 82% Hispanic) community by training our successful college students to serve as role models in our schools. Poverty has led to low educational aspirations and expectations that plague our entire community. As such, its disruption requires a collective effort from our entire community. Our Collective unites two local public colleges, 3 school systems, 2 libraries, 1 museum, 1 national laboratory and four local organizations devoted to youth development. Together we will focus on raising aspirations and expectations in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) topics, for STEM deficiencies among 9th graders place them at risk of dropping out while STEM deficiencies among 11th and 12th graders preclude them from pursuing STEM majors in college and therefore from pursuing well paid STEM careers. We will accomplish this by training, placing, supporting, and assessing the impact of, an indigenous STEM mentor corps of successful undergraduate role models. By changing STEM aspirations and expectations while heightening their own sense of self-efficacy, we expect this corps to replenish itself and so permanently increase the flow of the state's indigenous populations into STEM majors and careers in line with NSF's mission to promote the progress of science while advancing the national health, prosperity and welfare.
Our broader goal is to focus the talents and energies of a diverse collective of community stakeholders on the empowerment of its local college population to address and solve a STEM disparity that bears directly on the community's well-being in a fashion that is generalizable to other marginalized communities. The scope of our project is defined by six tightly coupled new programs: three bringing indigenous STEM mentors to students, one training mentors, one training mentees to value and grow their network of mentors, and one training teachers to partner with us in STEM. The intellectual merit of our project lies not only in its assertion that authentic STEM mentors will exert an outsize influence in their communities while increasing their own sense of self-efficacy, but in the creation and careful application of instruments that assess the factors that determine teens' attitudes, career interests, and behaviors toward a STEM future; and mentors' sense of self development and progress through STEM programs. More precisely, evaluation of the programs has the potential to clarify two important questions about the role of college-age mentors in schools: (1) To what degree is the protege's academic performance and perceived scholastic competence mediated by the mentor's impact on (a) the quality of the protege's parental relationship and (b) the social capital of the allied classroom teacher; (2) To what degree does the quality of the student mentor's relationships with faculty and peers mediate the impact of her serving as mentor on her self-efficacy, academic performance, and leadership skills?
Northern Michigan University's Center for Native American Studies and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion will lead this Design and Development Launch Pilot about culturally inclusive K-16 STEM education for American Indian and Native Alaskan (AIAN) students. This project was created in response to the NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) program solicitation (NSF 16-544). The INCLUDES program is a comprehensive national initiative designed to enhance U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discoveries and innovations focused on NSF's commitment to diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation in these fields. The INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots represent bold, innovative ways for solving a broadening participation challenge in STEM.
The full participation of all of America's STEM talent is critical to the advancement of science and engineering for national security, health and prosperity. Our nation is advancing knowledge and practices to address the undergraduate STEM achievement and the graduation gap between NAAIs and non-native Americans. This project, the NSF INCLUDES: Indigenous Women Working Within the Sciences (IWWS), has the potential to advance knowledge, instructional pedagogy and practices to improve the performance of NAAI high school students and undergraduate students in STEM.
This project team will work to: (1) pilot activities and coursework to train K-16 STEM educators about American Indian inclusive methods and materials, (2) to provide AIAN high school students with STEM college preparatory experience using inclusive STEM practices, and (3) to provide a cohort of female AIAN high school students additional university experiences and mentors as these students transition to postsecondary education. Activities include a five-day summer educators institute for 40 K-16 STEM educators, an additional weekend workshop for 20 K-16 STEM educators, a summer STEM academy for 96 AIAN high school students, a STEM weekend workshop for female AIAN high school students, and a mentoring program for AIAN high school students.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
April LindalaJessica CruzMartin Reinhardt
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This collaboration between two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will form a networked improvement community located within the Piedmont Region of North Carolina. In close partnership with community colleges and civic organizations, the project will reach families and students that lead to broader participation of underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The overall goal is to build and sustain a scalable, inquiry-based network with the purpose of increasing the academic success of underrepresented ethnic minorities and women in the STEM continuum. By engaging in culturally relevant socio-environmental frameworks, project outcomes will positively impact student retention, knowledge, and quantitative skills in STEM across socio-economic divides and STEM disciplines.
The Launch Pilot phase will focus on evidence-based teaching and learning approaches for middle school students. The core structure of the network will serve as a platform to launch and guide other age- and level-specific educational instruction, research, and assessment initiatives. Student understanding of the nature of science will be enhanced by adapting structure, behavior, and function (SBF) theory and system thinking hierarchical (STH) models. Ultimately, the network will represent a driver for social innovation that positively impacts broadening participation in STEM.
The Mississippi Alliance for Women in Computing (MAWC) project will identify factors that influence and motivate female students and female African American students in Mississippi to enroll and persist in an undergraduate engineering- or science-based computing major. There is a particular need for programming that is inclusive of women and women of color who are from the southern region of the United States. These students typically have less access to extracurricular activities that encourage computing, and are less likely to visualize themselves in a computing major or career. This proposed research is to help girls to know that computer science exists and what jobs in computer science are available with a degree in computer science. A rich environment exists in Mississippi for an alliance focused on building co-curricular and mentorship opportunities. A scalable pipeline model, expandable to a Southern Alliance for Women in Computing (SAWC), will be developed with three major objectives: to attract women and women of color to computing, to improve retention rates of women in undergraduate computing majors, and to help postsecondary women make the transition to the computing workforce. Activities to support these objectives include: scaling the National Center for Women and Information Technology Aspirations in Computing award program in Mississippi, expanding scholarships for Aspirations winners, expanding student-led computing outreach programs, establishing a Mississippi Black Girls Code chapter, informing and collaborating with the Computer Science for Mississippi initiative, creating a summer bridge and living-learning community for women in computing majors, and increasing professional development opportunities for women in computing through conferences, lunch and learn meetings, job shadowing, and internships.
The project will analyze whether the co-curricular activities of MAWC lead to computing self-efficacy and ultimately female students selecting to pursue and persist in computing majors and careers. In order to understand student participation and efficacy changes, data collection for this research will be through demographic and background surveys administered to women entering an undergraduate engineering- or science-based computing major at a university in Mississippi and student surveys and evaluations in MAWC-sponsored programs. Using discriminate analysis methods, specific research questions to be addressed are: 1) Which pre-collegiate experiences influenced them to enroll, 2) Which stakeholders influenced these girls in their decision-making process, and 3) What programs are effective in impacting their persistence in the major. Predictor variables for each respective research question are: pre-collegiate experiences, stakeholders, and programs. Outcome variables are: (a) a female undergraduate student with no involvement with MAWC programming, (b) MAWC activity participant, or (c) a MAWC participant having graduated with a bachelor?s degree in a STEM major. Results will complement published longitudinal research on the gendered and raced dimensions of computing literacy acquisition in Mississippi as well as research on effective CS role model programming.