Collaborative Research: Professional Preparation of Underrepresented Minority PhD's and Post-Docs for a Career in Engineering Academia

合作研究：为少数族裔博士和博士后在工程学术界的职业生涯提供专业准备

• 批准号: 1734833
• 负责人: Debora Rodrigues
• 金额: $ 19.07万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2022-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1734833&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Professional; Preparation; Underrepresented

The National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Higher Education, and department administrators from universities across the country agree that increasing underrepresented populations in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields is an important national need. Most of the recent activities to rectify the deficiency of underrepresented populations in STEM disciplines have focused on initiatives from grade school to undergraduate college degrees (K-16). These initiatives have made significant advances to enhancing the diversity of the US work force, however they have had minimal effect on the number of graduating PhD students entering professional positions as faculty in academic fields. The lack of faculty diversification is alarming, considering that the primary sustainable method for developing future college-educated generations is a diverse STEM faculty. The goal of this collaborative project led by the University of Akron, in partnership with Mississippi State University and the University of Houston, is to increase the participation of underrepresented populations in engineering that pursue academic careers. Providing participants with additional training in STEM education will yield more prepared engineering educators, which will lead to better-equipped engineers entering the workforce. Similarly, affording additional skills to obtain research funding will assist with participants' ability to succeed at all stages of their careers. An increase in underrepresented faculty could have a long-term sustainable impact on increasing the number of underrepresented populations that enter and are retained in engineering disciplines by providing academic role models/mentors. The research component of this study will add to the national knowledge based on issues of career progression and inform practices on training doctoral students and postdoctoral associates. The proposed project builds upon the findings of the investigators 1.5 day workshops that focused on preparing PhD and postdoctoral trainees for academia. The findings, which supported previous outcomes, determined that most new faculty members, whether they had postdoctoral training or not, were not adequately prepared for academia. The proposed project will provide expanded, intensive professional preparation for PhD and postdoctoral students through a series of two-week intensive summer professional preparation courses in conjunction with year-long activities to offer practical hands-one training in the areas of teaching and research. Participants will be provided an opportunity to write a travel proposal to receive funds to meet with a federal grant coordinator or attend an educational/technical conference. Each year the approach will be implemented and hosted at one of the collaborating institutions with participants recruited from the host university, institutions within a 200 mile radius, as well as a two from each of the collaborating institutions. This effort has potential to significantly increase the numbers of underrepresented populations in engineering fields that pursue academic careers.

美国高等教育系国家科学基金会和全国大学的部门管理人员一致认为，STEM（科学，技术，工程和数学）领域的代表性不足的人口不足是国家的重要国家需求。 纠正STEM学科中代表性不足的人群不足的大多数活动都集中在小学到本科学院学位的倡议（K-16）。 这些举措已取得了重大进步来提高美国劳动力的多样性，但是他们对即将毕业的博士学位学生的人数最小的影响最小，从而进入学术领域的教职员工。 考虑到发展未来大学教育的几代人的主要可持续方法是一种多样的STEM教师，因此缺乏教师多样化令人震惊。由阿克伦大学（University of Akron）与密西西比州立大学和休斯顿大学合作的合作项目的目标是增加从事学术职业的工程人员的参与。 为参与者提供额外的STEM教育培训将产生更多准备好的工程教育者，这将导致装备更好的工程师进入劳动力队伍。 同样，提供额外的技能获得研究资金将有助于参与者在职业生涯的各个阶段取得成功的能力。 通过提供学术榜样/导师，代表人数不足的教师的增加可能会对增加并保留在工程学科中的代表性不足人群的数量长期可持续影响。 这项研究的研究组成部分将根据职业发展问题增加国家知识，并为培训博士生和博士后同事提供介绍。拟议的项目基于调查人员的发现1.5天研讨会，该研讨会着重于为学术界准备博士学位和博士后学员。 支持先前结果的发现确定，大多数新教师，无论是否接受过博士后培训，都没有为学术界做好充分的准备。 拟议的项目将通过一系列为期两周的夏季专业准备课程与长达一年的活动一起为博士和博士后学生提供扩展的强化专业准备，以在教学和研究领域提供实用的动手培训。 参与者将有机会编写旅行提案，以获得与联邦赠款协调员会面或参加教育/技术会议的资金。 每年，该方法都将与来自房东大学，200英里半径范围内的机构招募的参与者一起在合作机构之一中实施和托管，以及每个合作机构的两个。 这项努力有可能显着增加从事学术职业的工程领域中代表性不足的人群的数量。