| NSF Org: |
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 6, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 6, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1743329 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Christine Grant
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 15, 2017 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $99,933.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $99,933.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2221 UNIVERSITY AVE SE STE 100 MINNEAPOLIS MN US 55414-3074 (612)624-5599 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
56 East River Road Minneapolis MN US 55455-0364 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | EDA-Eng Diversity Activities |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
This project aims to develop a deeper understanding of the factors influencing Native American or Alaskan Native (hereafter referred to as Native American) participation in the engineering professorate. According to a 2014 NACME report, only 0.4% of engineers are Native American, and even fewer engineering faculty are Native American. Engineering faculty are important in attracting and retaining students by providing positive socio-cultural experiences, role modeling, mentorship, and inclusive learning environments that reduce isolation. However, little is known about the factors promoting Native Americans" entry into the engineering professorate or persistence as engineering faculty members. The research will provide systematic evidence that could lead to best practices in providing Native Americans with experiences and support to encourage them to pursue the engineering professorate and consider the academy as their professional home. In an era of decreased enrollment in engineering programs, enhancing diversity is key to long term growth and global competitiveness. Diversity in engineering fields is more than an issue of fairness and equity, but also of quality of the engineering endeavor. Cultivating the talent and promoting full inclusion of Native Americans in the engineering professorate can promote diversity in the workforce to encourage the growth, creativity, and innovation necessary to solving our most pressing tribal, national, and global problems.
There is a critical need to investigate potential factors and the linkages among them to make meaningful progress toward increasing the number of Native American faculty in engineering. However, the lack of prior systematic investigations means that research methods and materials designed to tap underlying constructs are unavailable, and that pilot data on which to base more extended investigations are non-existent. Therefore, the overall objective of this proposal is two-fold: 1) to conduct an exploratory pilot study of hypothesized factors and the linkages among them in several samples of Native American engineering students and faculty, including participants from Oklahoma, Minnesota, and members of the American Indian and Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and 2) to develop methods and materials in preparation for subsequent cross-sectional and longitudinal work. Our central hypothesis is that there are identifiable factors that explain Native Americans' entry into and persistence in the engineering professorate, and that these factors are discoverable and accessible through quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods means. We aim to recruit Native American engineering undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty to capture current and retrospective perceptions of their journey toward and participation in the engineering professorate. We will collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and disseminate findings in ways that advance foundational knowledge of the field. In so doing, we will lay the groundwork for subsequent studies on broadening participation of Native Americans in the engineering faculty.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This NSF-funded research was a collaborative project between the University of Minnesota (#1743329) and Oklahoma State University (#1743752), in partnership with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). This research explored the supports and barriers to Native Americans? interest in, entry into, and persistence as engineering students and faculty. Although Native Americans comprise 2.1% of the U.S. population, they represent only 0.6% (N = 1853) of the total number of engineering students, and only 0.2% (N = 68) of the total number of engineering faculty (Yoder, 2016; NACME, 2012; World Population Review, 2020). The objectives of this project were (1) to conduct an exploratory pilot study with several samples of Native American engineering students and faculty, including participants from Oklahoma, Minnesota, and members of the American Indian and Science and Engineering Society (AISES), and (2) to develop methods and materials in preparation for subsequent cross-sectional and longitudinal work.
Intellectual Merit
To conduct this research, we used both quantitative research methods (e.g., anonymous surveys) and qualitative research methods (e.g., virtual interviews, in-person interviews, and focus groups). Our methods were designed in collaboration with Native American educators, scientists, social scientists, advisors, students and faculty. We consulted with Native American community members concerning the appropriateness of recruitment methods, questions and interpretations of results. Our research questions, research design and data analysis were founded on Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et al., 1994, 2000), and Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory (1977).
Broader Impacts (Pilot Study)
We used multiple methods that were respectful of community mores and preferences, and that were designed to amplify the voices of the Native American community concerning those supports and barriers that either hampered or promoted Native American participation in engineering and the engineering faculty. We presented findings in professional venues in order to inform other scientists and social scientists of the outcome of this study and to enhance its intellectual merit. We presented findings to students, educators and interested Native American community members to enhance application to new and ongoing initiatives. We trained the next generation of scientists in working closely with graduate and undergraduate students in best practices in conducting research with Native American communities. By employing these methods, we sought to support the aspirations of Native Americans to prepare for and pursue their career dreams and goals for becoming engineers and engineering educators.
Major findings of this study for both faculty and students
a) The interest in, entry into, and persistence as engineering faculty were supported by self-efficacy, which was qualitatively related to early experiences with teaching others and/or presenting research. Entry as faculty engineering was described as happenstance and based on unintentional factors related to geography or research track. Faculty microsystems seemed most influential in these cases, due to family needs or mentorship. Group support from professional societies and satisfaction from student successes was an important component of persistence. Faculty valued the opportunity to mentor students, but also voiced hesitance to directly encourage students to enter the faculty given the high entry level pay for engineering industry professionals.
b) Entry into and persistence in their engineering educational programs were supported by parents? encouragement, and by a campus climate that was cooperative, friendly, equitable, and respectful. The biggest challenges these students have are financial (e.g. not enough money to get through school, working during school) and academic (e.g., not sufficiently prepared in high school). Additionally, feelings of not fitting in and a lack of career information were identified as barriers to persistence. Approximately 35% of the engineering students expressed an interest in becoming engineering faculty as one of their career options. Those who did have that aspiration also expressed greater efficacy for studying engineering (r2 = .45, p < .05, greater efficacy for becoming an engineering faculty (r2 = .63, p < .01), and greater parent, peer and community support for becoming an engineering faculty (r2 = .58, p < .05), and a stronger belief that studying engineering would be important to their future (r2 = .42, p < .05).
Broader Impacts (Methods and Materials)
We found that designing methods and materials in collaboration with the Native American community and through collaborating with AISES and other Native American scholars, educators, and community leaders, we were able to successfully meet our broader impact goals of: 1) advancing the full participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM; 2) develop a deeper understanding of the role of barriers and supports in regards to opting into a faculty role in engineering; and 3) disseminate rigorous and culturally-informed findings to the scientific and academic communities via publications and presentations, and increased the intellectual merit of future studies.
Last Modified: 12/29/2020
Modified by: Sherri L Turner
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