REU Site: FIRE: Facilitating Inclusive Research Experiences in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

REU 网站：FIRE：促进机械工程和材料科学领域的包容性研究经验

• 批准号: 2244144
• 负责人: John Whitefoot
• 金额: $ 41.02万
• 依托单位: University of Pittsburgh
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2244144&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Site; FIRE; Facilitating; Inclusive

This is a three-year new proposal for an REU Site titled, "REU Site: FIRE: Facilitating Inclusive Research Experiences in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science” at the University of Pittsburgh. Ten students each year will conduct research related to mechanical engineering and material science. The goal is to determine and validate best practices that will help address gaps in URM students attending graduate school and change the culture at their institution. To address the well-documented gender- and race-gaps in engineering graduate school, this REU program focuses on the “leak” in the pipeline that occurs between undergraduate and graduate school. The project will develop validated practices for reducing barriers for students, building on existing research in STEM inclusion, and lessons learned from prior summer research programs. Multiple mentors will be assigned to each student. This strategy will create an encouraging and professional environment. Interactive workshops for professional, technical, and social skills will help build lasting social and professional networks for the students as well as the mentors. The project will build the confidence, skills, and networks of diverse undergraduates and foster a more inclusive culture among faculty and REU students as they pursue graduate studies.This is a three-year new proposal for an REU Site titled, "REU Site: FIRE: Facilitating Inclusive Research Experiences in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science” at the University of Pittsburgh. Ten students each year will conduct research related to mechanical engineering and material science. Two complementary strategies will be applied to broaden representation in ME/MSE graduate school: 1) Build the confidence, skills, and networks of diverse undergraduates; 2) Foster a more inclusive culture among faculty and graduate students. The plan for the program is to recruit ten diverse undergraduate students per year through the REU and to pair these with an internally-funded cohort of students from the University of Pittsburgh. The program will also directly include faculty members, graduate students as technical mentors and undergraduate students as peer mentors, thus fostering change within a large segment of the department. The program will develop validated practices for reducing barriers for these students, building on existing research in STEM inclusion, and lessons learned from prior summer research programs. Multiple coordinated and trained mentors per student will create an encouraging and professional environment. Interactive workshops for professional, technical, and social skills will help build lasting social and professional networks for the students as well as the mentors. This work will further develop and disseminate validated best practices for addressing the undergraduate-to-graduate school pipeline “leaks” and, ultimately, increase the diversity in the pool of mechanical engineers and materials scientists with graduate degrees, for the purpose of fostering greater diversity of faculty in these programs.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.

这是一项为期三年的 REU 站点新提案，名为“REU 站点：FIRE：促进机械工程和材料科学领域的包容性研究经验”，匹兹堡大学每年将有 10 名学生进行与机械工程和材料相关的研究。 REU 项目的目标是确定和验证最佳实践，以帮助解决 URM 研究生院学生的差距并改变其机构的文化。重点关注该项目将在现有的 STEM 包容性研究的基础上，制定经过验证的实践，以减少学生的障碍，并为每个项目分配多名导师。该策略将为专业、技术和社交技能创造一个令人鼓舞的专业环境，将有助于为学生和导师建立持久的社交和专业网络。多元化的本科生，并在教师和教师之间培养更具包容性的文化REU 学生正在攻读研究生课程。这是一项为期三年的 REU 站点新提案，名为“REU 站点：FIRE：促进机械工程和材料科学领域的包容性研究经验”，匹兹堡大学每年将有 10 名学生参加。开展与机械工程和材料科学相关的研究。将采用两种互补策略来扩大 ME/MSE 研究生院的代表性：1）建立多元化本科生的信心、技能和网络；2）培养更具包容性的文化教师。毕业该项目的计划是每年通过 REU 招收 10 名不同的本科生，并将这些学生与匹兹堡大学内部资助的学生配对。该项目还将直接包括教职员工和技术研究生。该项目将以 STEM 包容性的现有研究以及从之前的夏季研究项目中吸取的经验教训为基础，开发有效的实践，以减少这些学生的障碍。每个学生都有经过协调和训练有素的导师，将创建一个鼓励和专业的环境。针对专业、技术和社交技能的互动研讨会将有助于为学生和导师建立持久的社交和专业网络。这项工作将进一步开发和传播针对本科生到研究生的有效最佳实践。学校管道“泄漏”，并最终增加具有研究生学位的机械工程师和材料科学家人才库的多样性，以培养这些项目中教师队伍的更大多样性。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为是值得的通过使用基金会的评估进行支持智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。