| NSF Org: |
OISE Office of International Science and Engineering |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | August 17, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 27, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 1840364 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Fahmida Chowdhury
OISE Office of International Science and Engineering O/D Office Of The Director |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $99,384.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $119,139.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2020 = $19,755.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
6823 SAINT CHARLES AVE NEW ORLEANS LA US 70118-5665 (504)865-4000 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
6823 St. Charles Avenue New Orleans LA US 70118-5665 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): |
GVF - Global Venture Fund, IRES ASI - Track II: IRES Adva, EPMD-ElectrnPhoton&MagnDevices, Special Initiatives |
| Primary Program Source: |
01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.079 |
ABSTRACT
The development of global competencies in advanced degreed holders in STEM fields is critical to innovation, competitiveness, and economic development in the increasingly international marketplace of science and engineering. This workshop brings together experts from different types of organizations (universities, non-profit entities, funding agencies, private sector) that participate, engage in, or have significant roles in STEM graduate education/training programs to formulate a series of recommendations on how best to structure programs that provide international experiences for graduate students. The goal would be to identify the most efficient ways to support graduate students in their development of global competencies that will not increase time-to-degree or detract from their technical contributions. The workshop also explores related topics such as how to provide international research experiences to students from under-represented groups and those who are economically disadvantaged. This event addresses concerns common to international research experiences for graduate students across all STEM disciplines. Attendees/participants include representatives from the natural sciences, biological sciences, physical sciences, engineering, and social sciences; experts in educational psychology, program evaluation, and international relations add to the breadth of the conversation.
The main goals of the workshop are to address the following topical research questions;
-- What is the appropriate role of the student's faculty research advisor (research mentor) in identifying, defining, permitting, and evaluating the advisee's international research activity?
-- What are the appropriate timing and duration for introductory, follow-on, and subsequent international research experiences during a STEM PhD student's education/training? What about a STEM master's student?
-- What are the appropriate entities/metrics for assessing the international research activity experiences, defining the appropriate assessment tools, collecting and archiving data, and conducting longitudinal studies on international research experiences?
Presenters/attendees are selected by the organizing committee to reflect as broad a view as possible, including those calling for major changes in how international research activities are structured and funded. The outcomes of the workshop will be a publicly-accessible report with recommendations to the higher education, industry, non-profit, and governmental agency communities on how to improve global skills development in STEM advanced degree holders through effective international research activities.
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.
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.
Intellectual Merit
The primary goal of this project was to hold a workshop on best practices in international research experiences for U.S. graduate students abroad in order to better understand how these projects are effectively structured and how their long-term effects can be tracked. A supplemental award was given to study the immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on implementation of NSF-funded international research experiences programs.
Final reports for the Workshop and follow-on Roundtable were prepared and are available on the workshop website. A series of recommendations were made, highlights of which include the following:
- An evaluation of the student's interpersonal and cognitive skills development should be undertaken in order to determine their readiness for the international experience.
- A decision-tree approach should be used to assist students in determining the optimal timing and duration of an international research visit.
- A graduate student’s research advisor should serve as an advocate for their advisee’s international research experience.
- Institutions should provide training for research mentors on how best to facilitate international research experiences for their graduate students
- The academic community should develop and administer surveys on international research experiences to current and former graduate students, faculty, and university administrators.
Results of the COVID-19 survey were analyzed presented to NSF program directors. Survey findings indicate that PIs are mostly putting their international projects on hold and waiting out the pandemic. Of those interviewed, none were able to travel for their projects in 2020, yet over half indicate that they intend or hope to travel to the foreign site in 2021. Over 360 undergraduate and 280 graduate students participating in these reporting programs have been impacted by the inability to travel due to COVID-19 restrictions. Extrapolation to include students from all active awards eligible to participate in the survey indicates that over 1500 students were impacted by their inability to complete the international component of their project in 2020. Half of the PIs interviewed indicated that they were able to continue their projects through virtual activities, with monthly workshops with participants and foreign hosts being the most common. Virtual activities included introductions to the host country, videos from past participants, training lectures, and journal clubs. In some instances, student participants were given data from previous years or from foreign hosts to analyze as part of home-based participation. Planning for when travel resumes was a common activity. Although substitution of foreign partners with another to facilitate travel did not occur, some projects created substitute activities such as focusing on outreach rather than international research collaborations. Nevertheless, many of the interviewed PIs expressed concern that the inability to travel and meet with foreign hosts in person during 2020 negatively impacted the development of global and intercultural competencies in their student participants, based on anecdotal comparisons with previous cohorts who were able to travel.
A beta version of the international research opportunities decision tree is also available on the workshop website. It collects a series of information including year in school, degree sought, major field of study, and geographical areas of interest. It then returns recommended duration of stay and specific opportunities as pulled from an exisiting website on international fellowship opportunities.
Broader Impacts
International collaboration and cooperation permeate all of every-day life, including the import/export of goods and services, social media ethics and standards, and researcher mobility. These initial investigations into the foundations of global competence development have implications into all areas of society. As we understand what leads to more effective international research collaborations, we can better understand the societal implications of that research around the world.
Last Modified: 11/09/2021
Modified by: Brian S Mitchell
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
