| NSF Org: |
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 1, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 1, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1744636 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Edward Berger
EEC Division of Engineering Education and Centers ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $49,981.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $49,981.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1430 DUKE ST ALEXANDRIA VA US 22314-3403 (703)562-3646 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1430 Duke Street Alexandria VA US 22314-3403 |
| 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 will expose current senior-level graduate students, who are identified as University and Associate GEM Fellows to university and industry leadership, during the 41st GEM National Conference in New York City, New York. The overarching goal of the program is to positively impact the nation's economic welfare by increasing the ranks of underrepresented minorities, who are technical leaders and who are considering long-term careers throughout the engineering enterprise. Connecting this diverse pool of engineering talent with industry and university leadership (during the annual GEM conference) will offer a forum to enhance their professional success as they extend their network and engage in professional development, which will better prepare graduate degree earners for a career in industry or academia.
A mixed-methods approach will be used to examine the impact conference participation had on the sample of underrepresented graduate students' career interests and goals. It is likely that this project will yield important empirical findings on how universities and industry leaders can work together to develop and prepare a cadre of underrepresented, engineering graduate degree earners for long-term STEM careers. The findings will also help to identify students' motivations and perceived benefits for participating in specific professional development opportunities. Such information will be beneficial to both university and industry stakeholders to collectively develop a sustained pool of diverse engineering candidates for positions in universities and government/industrial laboratories.
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.
Three conferences held in Miami, FL, New York City, NY, and Los Angeles, CA An email invitation to apply for a travel award was sent to all of the GEM Associate and University Fellows.
Graduate student programming at the conference included networking sessions and panel presentations. The panel presentations focused on how to secure a faculty position through the Future Faculty and Professionals panel and other topics focused on attaining a PhD and networking skills. The conference also had technical presentation competitions for the student participants.
The travel grant award was intended to allow an increased number of GEM Associate and University Fellows to attend the annual conference in order to encourage more graduate degree earners to persist to degree and consider a faculty career path.
The demographic profile of awardees aligns with the GEM mission and also with the intended travel grant program goal of encouraging more underrepresented students to attain an advanced degree. The majority of awardees were African American/Black or Hispanic and female. Many of the awardees came from homes where a bachelor’s degree or below was the highest degree earned.
Awardees were satisfied with the overall programming and professional development provided by the conference. Awardees noted that the conference exposed them to opportunities in academia, including a faculty career and the sessions helped them understand what they would need to do in order to apply for a faculty position. Attendees underscored how important this conference was with regard to exposing them to faculty and mentors who motivated them to complete their graduate degree.
Many of the awardees were in their first year of graduate study which could potentially be an opportune time to influence their long-term career plans.
Last Modified: 11/26/2019
Modified by: Marcus A Huggans
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