0000272 October 1, 2000 Louis Stokes Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-LAMP) Phase II. HRD-0000272 Ford The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LS-AMP) is a comprehensive statewide-coordinated program aimed at substantially increasing the number and quality of minority students earning baccalaureate degrees in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) areas supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and subsequently to increase the number of minority students enrolling and succeeding graduate school. A mediator-aim, for the attainment of the above goal, consists of enhancing and institutionalizing, systemic mentoring, student research participation, and a reform-imbued instructional infrastructure at LS-LAMP institutions, in collaboration with other systemic programs in the state, national laboratories, and professional organizations. LS-LAMP began in 1995 with a five-year objective of doubling, by the end of 2000, the number of minority SMET students receiving BS degrees from partner institutions (from 500 to 1,000) and of sending 20% of these graduates to enroll and succeed in SMET graduate school programs in Louisiana and elsewhere. Indicators of the attainment of the objectives of Phase I are presented farther below. By the end of the five-year period of Phase II, LS-LAMP proposes not only to maintain the gains of Phase I but also to increase the number of high-quality SMET BS degree production to 1600 per year while institutionalizing its entire operation. No fewer than 40% of these graduates will successfully pursue SMET graduates degrees. The basic strategies of LS-LAMP are a comprehensive collaboration, the statewide replication and expansion of exemplary, systematic mentoring and outreach programs, including the Timbuktu Academy and others, and institutionalization. A notable feature of LS-LAMP Phase II resides in the coordinated approach to complete institutionalization of our activities that are focused on increasing minority participation in SMET. Southern University and A&M College serves as the lead institution for LS-LAMP program with the active input and advice of an array of collaborating public and private sector entities including the LS-LAMP Governing Board, chaired by the Commissioner of Higher Education, Dr. E. Joseph Savoie. Currently, there are eleven (11) Louisiana higher educational institutions and one research organization participating in LS-LAMP. They are Dillard University (DU), Grambling State University (GSU), Southern University and A&M College (SUBR), Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), Southern University at Shreveport (SU-S), Tulane University (TU), the University of New Orleans (UNO), the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL), and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON). The grantee and fiduciary agent for Ls-LAMP is the Louisiana Board of Regents. The Board of Regents, in consultation with the lead institution, issue contracts to LS-LAMP partner institutions as per the cooperative agreement between the Regents and the National Science Foundation (NSF). ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Bagayoko, Diola Kerry Davidson Louisiana Board of Regents LA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5293349 9133 9131 1594 1515 SMET 9178 9133 7204 0000273 November 1, 2000 Washington Baltimore Hampton Roads Alliance for Minority Participation (WBHR-AMP). The expanded Washington Baltimore Hampton Roads Alliance for Minority Participation (WBHR-AMP) includes Howard University as the lead institution with Hampton University, Morgan State University, the University of the District of Columbia, Bowie State University, Norfolk State university and Virginia Sate University as partners. For Phase II, the administration has been completely restructured to ensure the involvement at the highest academic levels at all of the partner institutions. In addition, we intend to implement strategies that will emphasize retention, recruitment and tutoring throughout the undergraduate SEM programs rather than just at the initial year. The goals and objectives established for the expanded WBHR-AMP in Phase II are: To work closely with staff of existing programs such as EXCEL, HBCU initiatives, TRAGG, ONR, McNair Scholarship Program and institution-wide counseling and tutorial programs for freshmen/sophomore students in SEM areas to ensure that students are receiving good introductory course work and individualized counseling to successfully complete majors in SMET fields; To provide junior/senior level students at all of the participating institutions an opportunity to integrate research into their SEM curriculum by providing academic credit for their underrate research and ensure that they have an opportunity to work in a research environment through a semester/summer exchange during the academic semester at a level one research university, in industry and/or at national or governmental laboratories; To facilitate the transfer of SMET students from community colleges that have articulation agreements with institutions within the WBHR Alliance for summer/transfer enrichment programs, and ensure their successful completion of B.S. degrees in an SMET field; To provide mentoring workshops to SEM faculty and introduce all members to new pedagogy for teaching and mentoring students in SEM field by working closely with existing program sand implementing new initiatives; and To prepare prospective SEM graduates for graduate training in SEM fields by providing assistance and tutorials for Graduate Record Examinations, senior comprehensive examinations and seminars in research methodologies and instrumentation. The expected impact on SEM students is to graduate approximately 1600 B.S. level students per year in the next five years; actively recruit and retain at least 200 community college transfer students in undergraduate degree programs in SEM fields; and enroll approximately 300 SEM students per year in doctoral degree programs in SEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR English, Richard Howard University DC Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5024724 9133 SMET 9178 9133 7204 0000295 November 1, 2000 University System of Maryland Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Phase II). Launched in November 1995, the University System of Maryland (USM) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) is a comprehensive program that is designed to extend and increase the impact of current initiatives to increase substantially the quantity and quality of minority and other students receiving baccalaureate degrees in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET). The proposed USM LSAMP, Phase II will continue and expand activities begun in Phase I. It also is expected to increase the number of minority and other SMET students earning doctoral degrees and entering SMET careers, especially faculty positions. The following SM institutions to participate as full partners in the proposed USM LSAMP, Phase II: 1) The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), 2) University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP); and 3) The University of Maryland, Eastern Shore (UMES), a historically black institution. Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, III, President of UMBC, will continue as the principal investigator of the proposed USM LSAMP, Phase II. He has received national recognition for his leadership in developing innovative programs to expand education opportunities for minority SMET students. Dr. Hrabowski received the National Science Foundation's 1994 Education Achievement Award for his outstanding commitment and dedication in the education for minorities in the fields of science and mathematics, and his latest book, Beating the Odds, focuses on the fundamentals that help Black males achieve academic excellence. Also participating in the proposed USM LSAMP, Phase II will be the 18 public community colleges in Maryland. The following community colleges are located in close proximity to the participating USM institutions and serve as the primary feeders of minority and other SMET transfer students: 1) Anne Arundel Community College; 2) Baltimore City Community College; 3) Community College of Baltimore County at Catonsville; 4)Chesapeake Community College; 5)Howard Community College; 6) Montgomery Community College; 7) Prince Georges Community College; and 8)Wor Wic Community College. During Phase II, efforts to increase the number of minority and other SMET students transferring to USM LSAMP universities from the remaining 10 community colleges will be expanded. In support of NSF's goal, the primary goal of the proposed USM LSAMP, Phase II is the following. To produce approximately 574 minority SMET baccalaureate recipients by the end of the 2000-2001 academic year; approximately 648 minority SMET baccalaureate recipients by the end of the 2001-2002 school year; approximately 722 minority SMET baccalaureate recipients by the end of the 2002-2003 academic year; approximately 796 minority SMET baccalaureate recipients by the end of the 2003-2004 academic year; and approximately 887 minority SMET baccalaureate recipients by the end of the 2004-2005 academic year The secondary goals of the proposed USM LSAMP II are the following. To increase the number of minority students entering SMET graduate programs. To increase the number of minority students entering SMET careers, especially faculty positions. Based in evaluations of current and previous programs aimed at increasing minority participation in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology at the participating USM universities, the proposed USM LSAMP, Phase II's design includes the following characteristics:. Strong commitment by institutional leaders to the program's success and to its complete institutionalization beginning on January 6, 2006; Removal of financial barriers for minority students; A Summer Bridge Component; An Academic Year Component; Focus on improving knowledge and skills; Focus on motivation and support; Focus on monitoring and advising; Focus on academic and social interaction; Focus on "filter" SMET course curricula revision; and Involvement of feeder community colleges. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Hrabowski, Freeman University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 8904424 X614 W522 W106 V971 V823 V502 V372 V190 T239 9133 SMET OTHR 9178 9133 0000 0000305 November 1, 2000 The All Nations Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. The All Nations Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program (ANLSAMP) is a national Native American initiative that aims to build upon the successes and "lessons learned" from the previous Phase 1 five-year program. The overall goal of this Phase II program is to establish a comprehensive ANLSAMP interactive network designed to increase substantially the quality and quantity of American Indians receiving baccalaureate degrees and graduate degrees in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) by: 1) Increasing the number of B.S. degree programs offered in SMET fields at Tribal Colleges from to 2 to 10; 2) Increasing the number of B.S. programs in different SMET disciplines from one to four; and 3) Increasing the graduation rate of Native students with B.S. degrees in SMET fields from 112 to 224. Through this proposal, the following partnerships will be funded to meet the goals above: 1) TCUs who want to develop an associate degrees in SMET fields; 2) TCUs who want to have associate to bachelor of science degrees in SMET fields; and 3) The development of regional SMET education networks. Specific goals and objectives will accomplished through four major activities: Management, Networking, Research and Project. With the inclusion of all Tribal Colleges in this proposal, ANLSAMP will strengthen an already cohesive Tribal College network for SMET education, support the purpose of the Executive Order and enable the management team to leverage other resources more effectively. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR McDonald, Joseph Zetra Wheeler Salish Kootenai College MT Martha L. James Cooperative Agreement 5000000 9133 SMET 9178 9133 0000341 November 1, 2000 Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. This proposal describes the formation of the Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Illinois LS-AMP) and presents a comprehensive plan for improving the quality of undergraduate education for underrepresented minority students in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET). The Alliance will focus on increasing the number of minority students from Illinois LS-AMP who choose to major in a SMET discipline, persist in the science pipeline and are prepared to attend graduate school or to teach in SMET disciplines. Illinois LS-AMP activities will enhance the growth of the SMET community at and among Alliance institutions and promote linkages and partnerships in undergraduate SMET education throughout Illinois. In order to accomplish these objectives, the Alliance will utilize strategies that include: 1) pre-college and community college bridge programs to ease the transition and better prepared freshman and transfer students; 2) faculty and peer mentoring to help retain students in SMET disciplines; 3) supplemental instruction (study groups, tutorials, workshops, study skills training) to strengthen students ability and resolve to succeed in gatekeeper and higher level courses; 4) academic year and summer undergraduate research to prepare and develop students for transitioning to graduate school; 5) curriculum revision; and 6) industry internships. The Illinois LS-AMP universities from a diverse group of public and private institutions in urban and rural settings: Chicago State University (CSU), lead institution, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), DePaul University (DPU), Illinois State University (ISU), Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE), Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Governors State University (GSU). The participation of the City Colleges of Chicago completes the Alliance. The presidents of Illinois LS-AMP baccalaureate institutions and the Chancellor of the Chicago Community College (CCC) System will comprise a Governing Board committed to the institutionalization of successful AMP activities, establishing policy and obtaining additional financial and resources support from the Illinois legislature, Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), foundations, and industrial and business communities. The Illinois LS-AMP has a strong assessment component, with external evaluation and internal feedback. External suggestions and assistance will be furnished by a Program Advisory Committee (PAC), the composition of which provides a connection with the Illinois business community, the public high schools, graduate schools, state and national policy makers and national research institutions. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Daniel, Elnora Marian Wilson-Comer Chicago State University IL Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 3611000 9133 SMET 9178 9133 7204 0001388 July 1, 2000 PGE/LCP: MentorNet, A National Electronic Industrial Mentoring Network for Women in Engineering and Science. MentorNet pairs undergraduate and graduate women studying engineering, sciences, and mathematics with mentors in industry using 3-mail to improve student retention in SMET fields and careers. This national program's centralized operations provide information, applications, matching training, coaching, and evaluation supported by electronic communications. Electronic mentoring offers a highly cost- and time-effective means of mentoring, transcending typical restraints of time, geography, and synchronous communication, thereby providing mentors to many students who would not otherwise have them. MentorNet's national scope and scale offer potential for strong matches between students and mentors, and significant economies of scale in operations. MentorNet represents an expanding partnership among colleges and universities, corporations, and professional societies. MentorNet extends earlier work to new populations in new settings with new systems and infrastructure and enlarged scale. By Year 3, MentorNet will involve 100 participating campuses, serving 5,000 student/mentor pairs. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Muller, Carol Susan Staffin Metz Catherine Didion San Jose State University Foundation CA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 898717 1544 SMET 9179 0002073 August 15, 2000 PGE/LCP: Sport Science: Using Sports as a Vehicle for Science Learning. Sport Science addresses the needs of urban girls in gaining equitable access to science/mathematics education. Through sports, girls will not only develop science/mathematics discourse, but will build rapport and trust, thus achieving both an intellectual advancement in science/mathematics and a psycho-social-emotional connection. The overall goal of the program is to design, implement, evaluate, and disseminate a field-based program for fostering the resilience of girls in science/mathematics through the vehicle of sports. The project is designed as a three-year intervention involving 540 girls from six middle schools over a three-year period, teachers, college students, minority athletes, and mentors. The sport science curriculum will be standards based and have an equitable focus. The entire curriculum will include 40 science/ mathematics standards driven activities that feature a sport as the vehicle through which the science/ mathematics is learned. The 10 sports to be featured in the program include: (1) five team sports - volleyball, basketball, soccer, hockey, and softball; and (2) five individual sports - fencing, golf, tennis, track (running and throwing). The project will achieve the goals and objectives through five components: (1) after school programs, (2) Saturday academies, (3) special sport day events, (4) academic and summer internships, and (5) career connections. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hammrich, Penny Tina Green Greer Richardson Temple University PA Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 848986 1544 SMET 9177 0002126 September 1, 2000 PGE/LCP: GEMS: Learning Online. Education Development Center, Inc. proposes to refine and offer -- along with WestEd, TERC, IDRA, and Eisenhower Clearinghouse -- the online gender equity course for middle school math and science teachers entitled "Engaging Middle School Girls in Math and Science." Utilizing a qualitative methodology, we will research over a two-year period the impact of this training on participants' attitudes and practices, among other things, identifying key aspects of course design and delivery that aid in positive impacts. This project will provide vital data on the effectiveness of one type of online gender equity training, as well as the suitability of various aspects of gender equity training to this delivery format. It will also strengthen infrastructure by building a community of math and science teachers trained in gender equity who communicate and support each other as they translate a critical framework into strategies and activities for classroom change. The leadership development aspect of the course will begin a process of wider institutionalization. Finally, the project will build on current networks, working to create new conversations that will evolve over time and make the necessary linkages among math and science, gender equity, and educational technology professionals. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hanson, Katherine Joyce Kaser Education Development Center MA Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 854282 1544 SMET 9177 0002129 August 1, 2000 PGE/LCP: Opening the Horizon: Strengthening Science Education for Middle School Girls in Rural Southwest Missouri. Opening the Horizons proposals a significant enhancement in the science education of middle school girls in rural southwest Missouri. This is a geographic region where the education of women in the sciences is greatly undervalued. Opening the Horizon seeks to engage up to 200 middle school girls and their science teachers from 26 Ozarks counties as well as the girls' parents, school administrators, and local and regional communities in an active, positive and self-sustaining program of scientific literacy, curiosity, and opportunity. The main components of the program are (1) kick-off and closing conferences each year at Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU) and Drury University (both located in Springfield, Missouri) to include girls, their parents, and teachers; (2) three Saturday workshops over the course of the year to be run simultaneously at five college or university regional sites closer to the girls' homes (3) on-going contact for the girls with a college student mentor; (4) on-going contact for the teachers with other science teachers in the region as well as faculty women in the sciences at the regional higher educational institutions; and (5) a distance learning course for middle school teachers available at nine sites. The program will be run by a leadership team of SMSU and Drury women faculty as well as site directors at each of the five other college and university sites. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Kemp, Paula Barbara Wing Annette Gordon Missouri State University MO Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 876583 1544 SMET 9177 0002152 October 1, 2000 PGE/PG: Superior Scientists. The School District of Superior, Wisconsin will identify and appoint school and community mathematics and science professionals to an Advisory Planing Council to plan Superior Scientists, a comprehensive program targeted at girls in upper elementary, middle and high school, their parents, teachers, and guidance counselors. Over the course of a year the council will plan activities to increase the number of girls enrolling in high school math, science, and technology courses, and therefore, increase the number of women eligible to work in science. Components identified as critical to the success of the project include (1) working with girls at elementary, middle, and high school; (2) developing community resources for internships; (3) developing a professional women's network for mentoring; (4) improving curriculum to raise the mathematics and science achievement of all students; and (5) introducing teaching methods that incorporate experiences that interest girls. An effective Advisory Planning Board and an application to the National Science Foundation's Program for Gender Equity for a Large Collaborative Project are primary outcomes set for this planning grant. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Smith, Peggy School District of Superior WI Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 16900 1544 SMET 9177 0002825 March 15, 2000 Fourteenth Annual National Conference of Black Physics Students, to be held March 16-19, 2000 in Greensboro, North Carolina. On March 16-19, 2000 the Fourteenth Annual National Conference of Black Physics Students (NCBPS) will be held in Greensboro, North Carolina hosted by North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (AT&T). The objective of the NCBPS meeting is to assist an encourage African-American students who have shown interest and ability in physics and astronomy to enter and complete Ph.D. programs, and to initiate research, teaching, or technical careers commensurate with their educational achievement in physics and astronomy. This meeting will enable the undergraduate and graduate attendees of the NCBPS (attendance goal, approximately 165-190 students) to interact with each other as well as with successful minority and non-minority scientists in both a formal and informal environment. The National Society of Black Physics will also be meeting at A&T during the time that the NCBPS will be held and will have overlapping activities for one day of the conference, thereby providing another avenue for these students to interact with Black physicists. Additionally, A&T will bring in approximately 100+ minority public school students and their teachers for one day of the conference. The NCBPS tradition on increased importance as we move toward the new millennium with hopes of meeting the growing challenges of an increasingly technology-driven world. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Williams, Elvira North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University NC Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 35000 9133 SMET 9178 9133 0003185 January 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: Adventures in Computers, Engineering, and Space (ACES). The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, in partnership with Girls, Inc. and the UTC Challenger Center will conduct a program entitled Adventures in Computers, Engineering, and Space (ACES) to encourage girls to consider careers in these fields, and to continue their education in science and mathematics. ACES will include a one-week residential summer workshop for 24 girls entering seventh and eight grades. This workshop will provide space-related activities at the Challenger Center and hands-on activities in computer science and electrical, mechanical, and industrial engineering, as "Whole Person" activities such as nutrition, professional etiquette, and exercise. Follow-up activities will include small design projects that encourage originally in solving problems with constraints. To widen the influence of the project, an ACES Fair, featuring hands-on engineering, computer, and space activities, will be conducted at selected elementary and middle schools, and community centers. Participants for all activities will be drawn from both economically disadvantaged groups and the general population; each group will be assessed and tracked separately so that the efficacy of ACES in influencing attitudes of each can be measured. ACES will serve as a model for other communities concerned with under-representation of women in technical careers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR McCullough, Claire Neslihan Alp Stephanie Smullen Cecelia Wigal katherine winters University of Tennessee Chattanooga TN Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 99893 1544 SMET 9178 0003187 January 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: Science in the City. The Chicago Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the Girl Scouts of Chicago, will expand Science in the City, an innovative science, math and technology program that targets hard-to-reach urban girls living in homeless shelters and housing developments throughout Chicago. This project will offer engaging activities and real-world applications to teach hands-on-science, math, and technology to 120 girls ages nine through fourteen, over a one-year period. In an effort to combat the physical and social isolation that these girls feel, they will be brought together monthly to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum to participate in a variety of activities, programs, and events. These girls will attend workshops to obtain hard-to-get science badges, have fun with their families at "Science for Families Days" and educational field trips, learn about science careers during a job shadow day with museum staff, participate in a five-day summer camp, and learn how science affects their everyday lives. Successful women scientists will function as teachers and role models to help build the girls' science knowledge, career choices, and self-esteem. As an in-kind match, the Academy will provide each girl with a one-year Family Membership to the Nature Museum, so that they will continue to explore and learn beyond the scope of this program. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Blitz, Jennifer Chicago Academy of Sciences IL Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 95198 1544 SMET 9177 0003232 August 15, 2000 Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiave. The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network is requesting two years of support from the National Science foundation (NSF) to provide technical assistance in the Foundation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU-UP) Program. The goal of the HBCU-UP Program is to strengthen the Nation's workforce by enhancing the quality of undergraduate Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET) programs at HBCUs. Support from the Foundation will enable the QEM Network to: (1) provide on-site technical assistance to six of the 1999 and six of the 2000 HBCU-UP awardee institutions with technical assistance linked to critical needs identified within each of the targeted institution's HBCU-UP funded projects; (2) enlarge the pool of potential HBCU-UP grantees through the conduct each year of The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network is requesting two years of support from the National Science foundation (NSF) to provide technical assistance in the Foundation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU-UP) Program. The goal of the HBCU-UP Program is to strengthen the Nation's workforce by enhancing the quality of undergraduate Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET) programs at HBCUs. (3) utilize the regional workshops to offer general technical assistance to, and serve as a dissemination vehicle for all current HBCU-UP grantees. Expected outcomes are that each of the six targeted 1999 and of the 2000 HBCU-UP grantees will successfully achieve their expected accomplishments for the year in which technical assistance is provided. In addition, at lease 20 (67 percent) of the 30 HBCUs participating in the invitational regional workshops in years one and two will submit HBCU-UP proposals, at lease 10 (50 percent) of which will be successful the following year in obtaining HBCU-UP awards. In year two, special workshop sessions will be held for institutions whose proposals were unsuccessful in the previous year's competition. HBCUs that participated in the workshops in year one but did not submit proposals in the next Program competition will be replaced with new HBCUs if they do not demonstrate sufficient commitment to submitting a proposal during the next competition. URBAN SYSTEMIC PROGRAM HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 438766 7347 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0004252 October 1, 2000 University of California Nine Campus Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. The UC-AGEP, comprised of all nine UC System campuses, is working in partnership with federal and state sponsored preparation programs for underrepresented minorities in SMET. The programs that are formally linked to the UC-AGEP include: LSAMP, MESA-MEP, Ronald McNair Scholars, MARC, MBRS, and UCLEADS. Additionally, each UC campus has developed links to undergraduate institutions that graduate large numbers of minority students with bachelor's degrees in SMET. In this proposal, the UC Office of the President assumes responsibility for routine coordination, data management, and communication with NSF regarding funding and reporting requirements. To facilitate communication and collaboration among the campuses, two working groups (one in Northern California and one in Southern California) have been formed, and will meet at least twice each year. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Switkes, Ellen University of California, Office of the President, Oakland CA Roosevelt Y. Johnson Cooperative Agreement 3236003 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0004264 February 15, 2001 Biology Success!. Proposal # HRD-0004264 Institution: Landmark College Principal Investigator: Richard Grumbine Title: "Biology Success!" ABSTRACT "Biology Success!" is an innovative project proposed by Landmark College to demonstrate that students with learning disabilities can succeed in high school and college introductory biology courses when the curriculum has been designed to respond to their learning needs. The heterogeneous classes in America's schools parallel the national average for the presence of students with learning disabilities. Between 10% and 20% of the population is estimated to have dyslexia, attention-deficit disorder or other specific learning disabilities. These students can learn along side traditional learners in the biology classroom and laboratory, if faculty are aware of strategies designed to present information and reinforce it in a way that benefits the learning styles of those with learning differences, while serving traditional learners. Landmark College is uniquely qualified to undertake the preparation of a biology Teaching Manual. Landmark is the only fully accredited college in the nation that restricts admission to students with a diagnosed learning disorder. For the past sixteen years the College has worked to develop a specialized environment tailored to individual learning styles. The College's External Program has been instrumental in providing other educators across the country with proven methodologies that foster success for those with learning disabilities. The institution is eager to extend this work beyond the more traditional areas of reading, writing and communication and apply Landmark's six Educational Principle's to the four major components of the introductory biology curriculum, ecology, genetics. evolution and cell biology. To accomplish this goal, the project will work with faculty from Landmark College and four collaborating institutions: Marlboro College, Austine High School for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, Bellows Falls Union High School, and Community High School of Vermont. The collaborating institutions will develop curriculum, provide in-service sessions for faculty, field test teaching modules, assess available CD-ROM and on-line products and provide access to the Teaching Manual through Landmark's web site and in print. The impact of this project will be felt in science instruction throughout the country. It will provide faculty on the secondary and post-secondary levels with the methodology to apply proven teaching strategies to classroom and laboratory instruction advancing the success of those with learning disabilities in science by removing barriers to learning. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Grumbine, Richard Abigail Littlefield Linda Hecker Landmark College VT Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 424877 1545 SMET 9177 0004292 May 1, 2001 Universal Virtual Laboratory (UVL). Proposal # HRD-0004292 Institution: Temple University Principal Investigator: Bruce Butz Title: "Universal Virtual Laboratory" ABSTRACT The focus of the Universal Virtual Laboratory (UVL) project is finding new ways to accommodate people with severe motor impairments to an electrical engineering laboratory. Any participants who are deaf or hard-of-hearing will also be accommodated. The major goals of the project are to: 1) Develop a simulated, but realistic, laboratory that will enable students to name, place and interconnect various circuit elements, electronic devices, electrical systems, signal generators and measuring instruments. 2) Enable users to manipulate virtual instruments, elements and devices either by direct manipulation, with a mouse or a headpointer, or by discrete actions with switches, keyboard, or speech recognition. The system will maximize the speed with which the student can interact with the system by using rule-based algorithms. 3) Develop novel input/output devices that will accommodate various disabled students. 4) Permit the student to connect in any physically feasible way the elements, instruments available in a typical laboratory storeroom, and obtain the same responses, including failures, that would be experienced in the laboratory. 5) Simulate the performance of the interconnected elements and objects by integrating them seamlessly with software application packages. These packages will produce a data stream representing current, voltages, frequencies, power, etc. The data stream will be used as inputs to the various simulated measuring instruments. 6) Provide the student with an intelligent laboratory assistant that will answer the student's questions in a way that simulates the role of an expert laboratory assistant who is expert in both the subject matter and accommodation of disabilities. 7) Place the resultant UVL modules on CD ROMS and make these modules completely functional on the World Wide Web. 8) Disseminate the results over the World Wide Web, in appropriate journals and through presentation at notable conferences. The framework developed in this project could be used as a template for the design and implementation of realistic virtual laboratories in other engineering courses as well as in the physical sciences. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Butz, Brian Temple University PA Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 448533 1545 SMET 9177 0004326 January 15, 2001 Universal Design for Access into SMET Careers. Proposal # HRD-0004326 Institution: Springfield Technical Community College Principal Investigators: Mary Moriarity, Jack Barocas, and James Masi ABSTRACT Springfield Technical Community College plans to leverage its extensive experience with technical education and with assistive/adaptive technology to increase participation of students with disabilities in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) education. The primary goal of the project is to demonstrate and disseminate a professional development model to engage SMET faculty in the Universal Design of Curricula to support the learning of students with disabilities. The institution and its project staff will rely on their experience acquired in the Advanced Technical Education (ATE) Center in the design of specialized technical simulation, courseware, and laboratory-based components of SMET curricula. A cohort of 30 disabled students, half of whom experience sensory disabilities, will be the principal target population upon which the materials are piloted and tested. Evaluation will include an examination of outcomes of a "train-the-trainer" model of professional development, wherein a cohort of SMET faculty are trained and serve as mentors to other faculty within their academic divisions to expand and accelerate the diffusion of Universal Curriculum Design of SMET courses. The Springfield Technical Community College actively participates in extensive Northeast and national networks of ATE institutions (including both high schools and community colleges) that will permit broad dissemination of the project's results and products. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Barocas, Jack Fenna Hanes Mary Moriarty Springfield Technical Community College MA Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 449100 1545 SMET 9177 0004476 December 15, 2000 Special Science Teams Continues. Proposal # HRD-0004473 Institution: Rutgers University Principal Investigator: Yakov Epstein Title: "Special Science Teams (S ST) Continue" ABSTRACT The Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education (CMSCE) at Rutgers University proposes the expansion, refinement, and institutionalization of Special Science Teams (SST), a model professional development program for teachers of students with special needs. Previously, SST developed as a model project that integrates exciting hands-on environmental science activities, equity-focused cooperative learning strategies, and physical and pedagogical modifications in an effort to provide teachers with the skills and knowledge necessary to encourage all children in science, regardless of disability. SST currently targets grades 3-5 teachers (general education teachers, science teachers, and special education teachers), and exists as a self-contained summer institute. Future activities include creation of a model, for-credit course in environmental science for teachers of students with disabilities, while expanding the curriculum to include extensions for teachers of grades K-6. The first step in insuring that all students have ample opportunities to enjoy science is ensuring that all teachers have the confidence and competence in science themselves. Unfortunately, elementary school general education and special education teachers rarely have strong science backgrounds. Traditional college science courses lack the pedagogical strategies needed by teachers, and science education courses lack solid core content. To fill this gap, SST Continues will provide practicing teachers, as well as prospective teachers, a strong college level environmental science course taught by college faculty, using the newly-developed SST curriculum, that incorporates modifications for students with disabilities as the laboratory experience. By providing general and special education teachers and future teachers with strong core science content, specific strategies for modifying hands-on activities, and standards-based environmental science curriculum, SST Continues will ensure that students and teachers realize the many possibilities for persons with disabilities. During Year 1of this three-year award, the current SST professional development model will be expanded from grades 3-5 to grades K-6 in order to serve larger audiences. During Year 2, a credited, one semester course at Rutgers University that combines extensive core content in environmental science with the curriculum and strategies developed in the SST program will be offered. SST Summer Institute alumni will serve as laboratory instructors for the course. During Year 3, a course guide which includes lectures, overheads, and assessments for the college-level course in environmental science, in combination with the revised SST laboratory component, will be prepared so that it can be readily disseminated to both community and four-year colleges throughout the nation. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Epstein, Yakov Rutgers University New Brunswick NJ Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 268738 1545 SMET 9177 0074857 August 15, 2000 POWRE: A Gender Lens on Rowan University's College of Engineering. Concern about the underrepresentation of women in engineering and other sciences has received national attention. This underrepresentation reflects a gender gap in educational preparation and opportunities, and results in an underpresentation of women in one field of lucrative and rewarding occupations. The new College of Engineering at Rowan University incorporates a number of innovative features in its program, which have been noted as favorable to the encouragement and retention of female students and their ensuing career commitment and success. The proposed research will assess the extent to which female engineering students at Rowan are satisfied with their program, committed to completing an engineering degree and career, are confident in their abilities to achieve their engineering goals, and are academically successful. The project is designed to have a beginning-of-the-year survey and an end-of-the-year survey, to assess the changes over the academic year. In the beginning-of-the-year survey, students will be asked about their preentry characteristics and training, engineering aspirations and plans, and self-confidence about achieving their engineering goals. In the end-of-the-year survey, students will be asked to assess various aspects of the Rowan program in terms of their satisfaction with them, the extent of their participation in extra-curricular activities, their current engineering goals and level of self-confidence to achieve them. Objective data will provide information on their academic performance prior to entry, at the end of the first semester, and at the end of the second semester. Focus group interviews will give a more in-depth probe into female engineering students' experiences, problems and concerns. PROF OPPOR FOR WOMEN IN RSCH HRD EHR Hartman, Harriet Moshe Hartman Rowan University NJ Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 74995 1592 SMET 9178 1592 0080386 September 1, 2000 PGE/LCP: Techbridge. Techbridge is a three-year Large Collaborative Project between Chabot Observatory and Science Center, Oakland Unified School District, California State University-Hayward, Mills college, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Community Resources for Science that (1) encourages girls to pursue academic and career options in technology and (2) contributes much needed research regarding gender, culture, and technology. This model program takes an innovative approach to engage teachers, counselors, families, role models, and peer support networks in keeping girls involved and motivated in technology. Techbridge utilizes project-based learning to introduce girls to technology and role models to help girls realize that technology is a tool for many different career options. It builds bridges to ease the transition from middle school to high school and helps girls visualize the next steps to college and careers. In addition to quantitative analysis that will track and assess the progress of participating girls, qualitative analysis will study the complex interaction of gender and culture on girls' experiences with technology and choices regarding coursework and career plans to better understand how families and schools can support girls. Project partners will work together to institutionalize project findings and resources into existing teacher training and district programs for long-lasting impact. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Heber, Etta Ellen Spertus Linda Kekelis JoAnn Hatchman Chabot Space and Science Center CA Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 898599 1544 SMET 9177 0080395 October 1, 2000 PGE/LCP: Promoting Diversity in Web-Based Education of Software Developers. The project will leverage online education for the benefit of diversity in the software profession. Its goal is to enhance the ability of educational institutions to recruit, retain and graduate increased numbers of female and minority students in the areas of software design, creation and maintenance. The project is based at Carnegie Technology Education, a nonprofit subsidiary of Carnegie Technology Education, a nonprofit subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon University, which offers Internet-based learning and certification for software developers. The team will modify ten courses developed for 2 and 4 year undergraduate institutions. The courses will be modified to make them more appealing, accessible, and effective for diverse learners. Pilot sites will be selected among institutions already subscribing to the courses from Carnegie Technology Education. The sites will receive special assistance in recruiting diverse students and in gender equity training for faculty. Thus the project will produce new materials and new practices for recruiting, teaching, and cirriculum in software development. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Fisher, Allan Carnegie-Mellon University PA Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 578228 1544 SMET 9178 0080662 September 1, 2000 PGE/LCP: Testing Campus Based Models of GRE Prep Courses. This project proposes to develop, improve, test and evaluate GRE (Graduate Record Exam) preparatory courses for SMET majors at five women's college's in partnership with the graduate school that developed the SMART GRE Prep course as a component of a NSF MPWG. The sites will use material from this successful course, but provide new materials and approaches to test the course in a variety of contexts. Partners include The Graduate School of Baylor College of Medicine and Wesleyan College. The project will directly serve more than 650 SMET students. The courses will use standardize diagnostic and exit exams to compare results of different models and test successful components at different sites in years two and three. Course guidebooks will be developed and information regarding models will be disseminated to other women's colleges and those with an interest in securing opportunities for women to pursue advances SMET degrees. This Large Collaborative Project will provide information for campuses to improve graduate school opportunities for thousands of US women, SMET majors and impact undergraduate students, faculty and graduate student mentors, and faculty and staff who develop expertise in teaching skills assessed on the GRE. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Slaughter, Gayle Baylor College of Medicine TX Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 847165 1544 SMET 9178 0080669 August 1, 2000 PGE/PG: Gender Composition and Engineering Team Processes. Engineering and science fields increasingly demand the use of team decision-making in order to meet needs of a rapidly developing technological society. Although women historically have been limited in their participation during decision-making processes within these fields, this situation is changing. The Colorado School of Mines is currently investigating how gender composition of teams in the first and second years affects quality of their products and satisfaction of individual team members. The goal of the proposed collaborative effort is to build upon current research by investigating mixed gender teams in upper level undergraduate courses, graduate research efforts, and industrial settings. The purpose of this request for a Planning Grant is to refine the collaborative strategy and to secure essential partnerships to bid successfully for a Collaboration Grant. We have subdivided the effort into four work packages. Work package 1 validates the results of the Experimental Study and investigates the extension to upper division undergraduate courses as well as other universities. Work packages 2 and 3 expand the research effort to include graduate programs and industrial settings. Work package 4 examines how results of the previous three work packages can be used to improved both undergraduate and graduate curricula. We are not proposing four independent research efforts, but rather a strategy that supports continual exchange of information across work packages following a natural progress that students follow through their undergraduate education into either graduate school or industry. Results of this study are likely to suggest techniques, supporting strategies, and practices by which mixed-gender teams can make successful decisions. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Knecht, Robert Barbara Moskal Debra Lasich Colorado School of Mines CO Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 30000 1544 SMET 9178 0080706 August 1, 2000 PGE/LCP: Gender Equity Options in Science (GEOS). Project GEOS (Gender Equity Options in Science) extends into higher education a NSF project that for six years has provided career development for math/science talented at risk girls. GEOS will follow up the participants of this project who are now in college, as well as provide guidance to young women who remain uncertain about their SMET majors. Career development workshops will be designed that encourage and mentor women in building strong career identities, in participating in leadership activities in their fields of interest, and in overcoming barriers to the attainment of their goals in math, science, engineering, and technology. GEOS involves (1) a year-long series of career development workshops (2) an overnight faculty-student retreat, and (3) a national seminar for university faculty to disseminate this project and teach gender equity strategies for SMET college women. This seminar will be offered in collaboration with the National Wakonse Fellowship for College Teaching, a consortium of universities committed to teaching improvement. Each summer, the model of career development and faculty mentoring developed at Arizona State University will be taught to 80 SMET faculty and college counselors from the eight universities attending the GEOS Wakonse Seminar. The staff, advisory board, student participants, and principle investigators will serve as trainers. Each faculty participant will develop a faculty development workshop or intervention for women based on techniques for career development and women friendly science. Reports on these projects will be collected into a summary of best practices to be disseminated among the 1,500 Wakonse Fellows online as well as available at cost to all participants. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Kerr, Barbara Sharon Robinson-Kurpius Arizona State University AZ Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 855743 1544 SMET 9178 0086156 September 1, 2000 Dull Knife-Northern Cheyenne Rural Systemic Initative. The Dull Knife Memorial College (DKMC) Rural Systemic Initiative will be a five year effort that will sustain and amplify the transformations already begun in the educational experiences of the K-14 students on and the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. The quality and quantity of the learning experiences in science, mathematics and technology within and beyond the school walls will be enhanced by professional development for teachers, adoption of effective strategies, and promotion of parental and community involvement in the educational process. An advisory committe to the principal will provide input on program direction, objectives and activities, policy decisions and special requests by program participants. The creation of fonnal "personal professional growth" plans for each individual teacher will be initiated with plans that are reviewed and updated annually but extended forward for a five-year period. Professional development activities will be structured around cohorts teachers based on closely related job and interest factors that the teachers identify and a regional professional development committee will be formed to make training programs self-determined by the area teachers. Emphasis will be placed on making the school site a place to learn for teachers and parents as well as students. Alternative assessment methods and implementation will be included as a component of the professional development for school administrators and teachers. Staff will include a local community member who will be employed to actively seek public and political support for educational priorities within the reservation community, one educational professional in mathematics/physical sciences and one in biological sciences who will work with area K-14 teachers. RURAL SYSTEMIC INITIATIVE PROG SYSTEMIC REFORM HRD EHR Littlebear, Richard Chief Dull Knife Memorial College MT Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1250000 7366 1538 SMET 9177 0086158 September 1, 2000 Cankdeska Cikana Community College Rural Systemic Initiative. Cankdeska Cikana Community College was part of cohort 3 of the Tribal College Rural Systemic Initiative (TCRSI). Programs in this cohort received planning support in the first year, with the subsequent two years used to implement systemic reform. As a result of this initial funding, 100% of the teachers at the target schools were trained and began to implement standards based curriculum in their classrooms. Strategies for Phase II were selected based on extensive research on high poverty schools that scored highly on standardized achievement measures. Effective reform efforts have been shown to provide professional development programs of high quality, be well coordinated with desired instructional outcomes results oriented, and have consistent policies throughout the system. Successful schools carefully assessed student performance in comparison with standards and created additional time for academic instruction. Based on this research, the C4 Initiative will expand on the following three fronts. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Standards Based Curriculum training offered twice per year will acquaint new hires and provide current developments for experienced teachers. Additional training sessions will focus on standards based assessment, including objective, standard alternative assessments to standardized tests. C4 will coordinate a Summer Science Institute during which teachers pilot lesson plans using independent and guided research in mathematics and science, and alternative assessment. With the coordination of C4 this curriculum will be piloted, evaluated and revised by the teachers involved in implementing it. This teacher-as-researcher model is anticipated to contribute to the scientific training of the workforce, and increase school commitment to the curriculum. An innovation in this area is the inclusion of a second strand of training for paraprofessionals, with a separate Summer Institute for teacher aides. CONSISTENT POLICIES The existing RSI Council of reservation programs aimed at improving SMET at the k through 14 level will be expanded to include Title I and RSI programs on other reservation. This committee will meet monthly to coordinate activities that will leverage resources, maximize teacher participation and have the optimal impact on student achievement. The Project Director will be appointed a member of the curriculum committee at each of the target schools. These committees are charged with adoption, implementation and publication of policies supporting standards based curriculum and other aspects of systemic reform. Extensive use of telecommunications will facilitate coordination with off-reservation programs. COORDINATED RESOURCES Examples of resource coordination outcomes are dual high school-college credit course to increase advanced opportunities in mathematics and science, and training at the state Indian Education Association conference supported jointly by all North Dakota reservation RSI projects. RSI staff and Council will coordinate the development of after-hours instruction in mathematics and science, funded by resources from private and federal grant funded programs already on the reservation. Training for these programs and policy development will be provided with RSI funds and by the RSI Council respectively. Cankdeska Cikana can draw upon three years of successful collaboration with the school districts and an experienced RSI Project Director who is an enrolled tribal member and also a former middle school mathematics and science teacher. As such, the project begins with a high level of credibility with the target school administrators and teachers. RURAL SYSTEMIC INITIATIVE PROG SYSTEMIC REFORM HRD EHR Esser, Efthalia Cankdeska Cikana Community College ND Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1250000 7366 1538 SMET 9177 0086310 July 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: E-WOMS: Expanding Women's Opportunities through Mathematical Science. Northern Illinois University (NIU) will engage in a small, experimental project to improve the participation and retention of women in mathematics. E-WOMS: Expanding Women's Opportunities through Mathematical Science, offers a twopronged approach to solving the problem of low continuation rates for women in college mathematics. The first component of the project includes a novel collaboration among three units in NIU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences-the Department of Mathematical Sciences, the Department of Communication, and the Women's Studies Program. The objective of this component is to change negative campus perceptions regarding women's roles, abilities, and achievement in mathematics. Graduate interns in Communication will work with the other two units in designing a public information campaign to educate the community during the funding period. This activity will give the interns opportunities to translate their research and theoretical knowledge into practice, and then to reflect back on their experiences in final papers. The second component consists of teaching interventions focusing on 60 women taking Calculus I during their first semesters at Northern (30 students each in fall 2001 and 2002). The interventions will create a community of students engaged in collaborative problem solving and the other activities (both in class and in a separate support group) enhanced by an associated section of UNIV 101. An orientation class. By enrolling in these courses together, attending presentations by professional women who use mathematics in their careers, and being offered ample opportunities for mentoring by members of the Department of Mathematical Sciences as the Women's Studies Program, the students involved will receive support and knowledge necessary to continue to take the higher mathematics courses required for many majors. Throughout, particular attention will be paid to the fact that many NIU students come from rural communities in which there are few (if any) female models of achievement in careers involving mathematics and higher education. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Levin, Amy Diana Steele Northern Illinois University IL Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 100000 1544 SMET 9178 0086338 January 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: Gender Differences in the Perception and Use of Informal Science Learning Website. This project investigates the potential to promote understanding and interest in science among middle school girls on an informal science learning web site called Whyville. Whyville provides an environment for students to explore scientific phenomenon, together with other students, and participate in both scientific and design activities. Preliminary studies of the current Whyville users show that over 60% of the users are girls, most from grades 4-8. Because Whyville is successful in attracting girls to a science oriented site, it is poised to be a potentially powerful tool for motivating and educating girls in science. The proposed project would use several methodologies to investigate Whyville characteristics, participants, and effects. A survey of the current Whyville users (N=600) will gather data on science interest, demographics, and background. Focus groups with current users (N=20) will be conducted on-line, within Whyville, to gather information on site use. A group of first time users (N=60) will be recruited from local schools and given a science interest and background survey, as well as a pre-assessment before entering Whyville. Then, using a tracking program, a subset of the current users (N=60) and all first time users will have their movements on the site monitored for three months in order to determine the activities of greatest interest and appeal. A subgroup (N=20) of new and current users will "visit" Whyville in a lab setting where their use of the site will be tracked in depth. They will also participate in a "think aloud" session with an interviewer while using Whyville and will explain their perceptions and understanding of the science content. The new users will also be asked to complete an interim assessment at the end of their "think aloud" session. Finally, any subsequent voluntary use of Whyville by these new users will be tracked for three months and they will be asked to complete a post-assessment to provide a third comparison point for the impact of Whyville exposure on science concept knowledge. The research proposed should provide a number of benefits. Its examination of Whyville characteristics, participants, and effects may provide a model for researchers, evaluators and site developers in future work. The findings should suggest guidelines for improving the effectiveness of educational websites in attracting your girls' interest in science and technology, and they may have important implications for improving school-based learning as well. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Aschbacher, Pamela California Institute of Technology CA Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 99991 1544 SMET 9178 0086345 April 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: Improving the Mathematical Skills of Deaf High School Girls. The objective of this project is to increase the number of high school deaf girls who take mathematics classes in high school, with an ultimate goal of increasing the numbers who major in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) in college and who eventually enter careers in SMET. At present, very few deaf girls think of careers in SMET because they are not encouraged to take mathematics and science courses while in high school. Deaf girls generally are not encouraged by teachers or counselors to consider careers in SMET. Part of the reason for the lack of deaf women in SMET is due to stereotyping and partly due to the historical perspective about deaf in general. This project, through a partnership between the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) and Mt. Holyoke College, will integrate deaf female high school students into a well established and successful summer mathematics program at Mt. Holyoke. Through their summer experience in this program, it is expected that the deaf girls will gain confidence in their ability to handle mathematics and will consider careers in SMET. The deaf girls in this project will be integrated into the Mt. Holyoke Summermath program with full support of interpreters and other services funded by this grant. This will be the first time that deaf girls will be able to attend one of many summer math programs for high school girls presently offered at many colleges in the United States. These programs have been closed to deaf students. By forming a partnership between NTID and Mt. Holyoke, pre-training in deaf strategies can be provided to the faculty and staff at Mt. Holyoke, pre-training in deaf education strategies can be provided to the faculty and staff at Mt. Holyoke, and needed support services will be provided to the deaf girls. Through this partnership, it is expected that the girls' self esteem, confidence, problem solving abilities toward mathematics and science will be strengthened, and that the girls will be more willing to take science and mathematics courses in high school and be better prepared to enter postsecondary programs in SMET. This project will have a very powerful impact on deaf education, since these initial eight students can become role models for other deaf high school girls. Furthermore, this project should help to change teachers', administrators', and parents' perspectives on the career opportunities for deaf females. It is expected that this project will also open the doors of other SMET summer programs for high school students at postsecondary programs, and will provide real gender equality to a group of students that have been shut out from these opportunities because of their deafness. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Brooks, Dianne Robert Menchel Rochester Institute of Tech NY Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 77836 1544 SMET 9178 0086360 January 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: Bioinformatics Initiative for High School Students. Abstract This summer initiative will familiarize selected high-school students with Bioinformatics, an increasingly important field with strong potential for growth in the coming decades. This course is oriented toward female high school students. This program will be offered in the summer of 2001, and will be open to qualified young women who have just completed their third year of high school. Particular encouragement will be given to young women who are members of minority groups; who are from low-income families; and who lack strong role models in science and technology. Upon conclusion of the program, the participants will be able to: - Describe, apply, and analyze principles of molecular biology; - Use the Internet, Microsoft Office, and Bioinformatics tools; - Use problem-based learning techniques; - Distinguish the outcomes of their data entries and manipulations; - Comprehend Bioinformatics as a field of study; - Know the roles that women can achieve in science and information technology; and - Value group process as a means of learning . In the program, participating young women will live on campus during the five-week program period; take courses during the day; participate in hands-on lab work; work together as members of small teams; benefit from presentations from and discussions with working professionals in the field; and travel to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government laboratories, and other sites to complement their coursework, and learn how Bioinformatics is used in the scientific field. The program will use the NSF-funded Biology Student Workbench (BSW) program as the part of the curriculum, and the program organizers will work closely with the staff of that project in order to implement it appropriately. Using a problem-based learning approach, the investigators will teach via student-centered group interaction, and will create specific scenarios for student research. The program will be designed to encourage young women to pursue Bioinformatics as a field of study, and ultimately as a profession. Participants will strengthen their general computer skills and their ability to use the Internet as an interactive tool. By working in teams they will increase their problem solving abilities, communication skills and ability to interact with others. Upon conclusion of the program, information will be disseminated to encourage the replication of the program at other sites nationwide through presentations and publications, as well as work with BioQuest and the Biology Student Workbench team. The program organizers except to extend the benefits to other high school students and teachers, and encourage many young women to enter computer technology, mathematics, and science fields. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Cronin, Susan Charlotte Zales Immaculata University PA Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 92656 1544 SMET 9178 0086366 December 1, 2000 PGE/SEP: Out of the Lab: A Camp for Ninth Grade Girls. In conjunction with a public radio program, Sheldon Jackson College and Pacific High School will conduct a one-week camp on science and society issues for ninth-grade girls. Our marketing plan will be to encourage traditionally underserved students, such as Alaskan Natives, low income and rural (bush) students. The camp will be preceded by a three-day workshop for teachers to become familiar with update science concepts. The camp will be held on the Sheldon Jackson College campus located in downtown Sitka, on the Pacific Ocean at the edge of the Tongass National Forest in the Heart of Alaska's inside passage. The cam will utilize Expeditionary Learning School techniques: guided questions, and posing challenges to have students explore scientific arenas. The goal of the camp will be to expose young women to science in relation to social and ethical issues. The camp will cover the scientific method, scientific assumptions and explore how science impacts our culture, how the media portrays scientists, and science communication. The experience should result in positive student attitudes towards exploring careers in science. Further, time will be spent with each individual developing a career pathway that will map out a plan for courses during their high school career. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Marcello, Joseph Sheldon Jackson College AK Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 47426 1544 SMET 9177 0086370 December 1, 2000 PGE/SEP: Women Engineers*Changing Attitudes Now (WE*CAN). There are three major barriers to increasing female involvement in science, mathematics, and technology: 1) inequitable treatment of females in classrooms, 2) lack of self-confidence, and 3) lack of successful mentors. The WE*CAN (women Engineers * Changing Attitudes Now) grant will address these barriers through extensive modeling, direct teaching, and mentoring. In WE*CAN grant there are four objectives and ten activities which will address engineering and gender equity concerns. The objectives include: 1) mentoring young women from elementary school to undergraduates, 2) informing young women about engineering careers and providing them opportunities to experience engineering activities, 3) informing teachers, counselors, and parents about engineering and gender equity issues, and, 4) disseminating information about gender equity and engineering through the WE*CAN program and future WE*CAN activities. The activities included in this grant are as follows: 1) establishing a WE*CAN mentoring program, 2) establishing a WE*CAN web page, 3) presenting information about the field of engineering while modeling gender equity to K-12 groups, 4) teaching engineering to elementary students in the Super Saturday program, 5) teaching engineering to middle school students in the Summer Camp for Academically Talented Students (SCATS) program, 6) conducting a WE*CAN engineering day 7) creating an all female team for the BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) robotic competition, 8) teaching elementary girls in an engineering enrichment program, 9) providing a workshop for teachers and counselors in the field of engineering and gender equitable teaching and counseling strategies, and 10) disseminating information at conferences and events about gender equity and engineering. Participants from the first grade through the university level will experience a hands-on and minds-on approach to the field of engineering in gender equitable environment. Participants will experience support through the WE*CAN mentoring program. A strong focus will be placed on mentoring young women as a way on increasing self-esteem. Several activities in the WE*CAN grant are integrated with existing programs in an attempt to make the seeds of this program sustainable in future years RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Wilson, Stacy Kathleen Matthew Western Kentucky University KY Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 99998 1544 SMET 9178 0086373 February 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: Retaining Undergraduate Women in the Sciences: A Laboratory Research Program. The Women in Science Program (WISP) at Indiana University-Bloomington (IUB), is creating a research fellowship program to encourage women to pursue science degrees and science careers. The Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) Program for Women in the Science will provide research experience to upper-division undergraduate women who have shown potential and interest in the sciences. Third-year women science majors will participate in researh under the auspices of IUB faculty starting the summer of 2001 and continuing for the 2001-2002 academic year. The participate will also serve as mentors to lower-division undergraduate women interested in pursuing science majors The URF Program will identify qualified students during the 2000-2001 school year to begin laboratory work in the summer of 2001. The Program will run through the summer and through both fall and spring semesters of the 2001-2002 academic year. By focusing on upper-division students, the Program hopes to assist students to gain the experience they need to pursue careers in laboratory research or to be competitive for graduate school. Students will also be required to write a paper and present posters on their research to increase their communication, writing and presentation skills, to make them more competitive with others in their field. The laboratory experience provided by the URF Program will enhance the participants' research capabilities and will increase interest in and preparation for jobs and graduate school majors in the sciences. The interactions among the participants, faculty mentors, fellow lad researchers, and the sophomore mentees will increase the support system for women in the sciences. The overarching goal of the URF Program is to increase the number of females that graduate with Bachelor's degrees in the sciences and to retain them in science fields after graduation. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Robinson, Jean Indiana University IN Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 99970 1544 SMET 9178 0086419 December 15, 2000 PGE/SEP: Latinas En Ciencia. This Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) project experiences and the numbers of Latinas choosing to pursue careers in science and technology. The three primary project goals of Latinas en Ciencia are: 1. To engage Latina girls in science and technology at early age before they've decided against science and technology career pathways. 2. To support Latina girls' engagement with science and technology from preschool through high school. 3. To change the internal culture at OMSI in order to make the Museum feel like home for the Latinas. Several strategies will be utilized to achieve these project goals. OMSI will create an outreach program in three communities with a large Latino population around the Portland Metropolitan area. Aimed at recruiting and supporting Latina girls in third through fifth grade, this program will help build ability and create opportunities for girls in science and technology, while reinforcing the girls' abilities, fostering independence, and creating an "I can succeed" attitude in the girls. Activities in each community will include school assemblies, a weekly science club, family science nights, overnight programs at the Museum, and summer camp experiences. OSMI will create a culture within the Museum that is conducive to attracting Latina girls and provide effective programs at the Museum, and summer camp experiences. OMSI will create a culture within the Museum that is conducive to attracting Latina girls and provide effective programs and opportunities for them in science and technology by instituting monthly Latino Family Science Days, utilizing bilingual staff and volunteers for interpretation, within the Latino Community and within the Museum will be linked to facilitate connections at all age levels, offering mentoring opportunities and building leadership abilities and self-confidence in the Latina girls. Community partnership established during the Planning Grant will also be further developed and nurtured. These various strategies will be evaluated to assess participation levels in different programs and for different age group and to assess the engagement of the Latina girls in science and technology activities. Academic and skills-based gains will also be evaluated for particular groups to provide useful insight into the effectiveness of the strategies employed. The hope is to determine which strategies are most effective so as to further understanding of how to engage Latina girls in science and technology through nonformal science experiences. By learning how to more effectively introduce this undeserved population to science and technology, nonformal science institutions can help Latina girls discover possible career paths in science and technology that may have otherwise been inconceivable. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Johnson, Marilyn Alison Heimowitz Susan Holloway Oregon Museum of Science and Industry OR Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 99997 1544 SMET 9178 0086424 January 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: An Experiment in Engaging High School and Undergraduate Women in Computer Science. In this project, we plan to test and evaluate a three-pronged approach to attracting females into computer science and for keeping them in computer science once they have entered college. The two largest components of our program are aimed at giving high school girls the tools necessary to have confidence about their technical abilities and be comfortable in computer science, as well as providing them with an independent project experience with female university faculty mentors in computer science. The third prong of our approach is aimed at retaining college women in computer science through their bachelor's degree and into graduate school. The summer component of this program is designed for 20 high school students to participate in an 8-week, half-day summer camp. The camp will focus on both static and interactive web programming, and animation and gui programming with Java. The Girls' POWER (Programming Of the WEb Rocks!) summer program will include lectures, lab sessions, and most significantly individual and group projects. In order to provide personal contacts for high school girls on their own territory, the high school, we plan to set up a Visit a High School Program, in which females in computer science from both academia and industry participate as distinguished role models and visitors to local high schools. The visiting role models would be accompanied by a graduate or undergraduate female computer science or computer engineering student to provide a role model at two different levels. The activities for undergraduate women focus on lessening women's of isolation as a computer science major, raising their self-esteem, increasing their awareness of career opportunities, and promoting research and graduate study. Activities include a mentoring program, informal lunch meetings, organized field trips, and independent research study opportunities. The proposed project has a number of aspects that are innovative. We have created a strong team of three senior female computer science professors who are noted for both their research and teaching excellence. The program leverages off of the technical strengths, excitement, and successes of the web for achieving the goals of the program. The program targets females in the critical high school and early undergraduate years, and focuses on the hypothesized barriers to attracting and retaining women at these stages. The anticipated regional outcomes of this project include an increase in the number of local high school women taking the Advanced Placement exam in computer science, as increase in the number of high school women at the participating schools majoring in computer science in college, and an established communication between numerous female computer scientists at all levels in this local geographic region. Beyond the Delaware Valley, the results should help to advance the understanding of the kinds of activities that actually aid in attracting and retaining women. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Pollock, Lori Kathleen McCoy Mary Carberry University of Delaware DE Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 99992 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0086440 January 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: Afterschool and Summer Science Camps for Young Women. WSU will implement a young women's afterschool and summer science camp program to determine what type and degree of contact is most effective in increasing their understanding of, and interest in, the areas of science, math and technology. Three types of science camps are proposed for middle school girls: eight-week afterschool camps (two days/week); week-long summer camps (six hours/day); and week-long residential summer camps. Each camp provides 30 hours of instruction. The theme of the camps in "Science at the Summit." This mountaineering theme covers many fields of science, mathematics and technology related to popular Northwest outdoor experiences. Camps are taught by a certified teacher, assisted by local outdoors experts, with support from women science professionals. A mentoring program brings together women professionals and students through regular E-mail contact over six-month period immediately following the camp experience. Girls also have program contact through CityLab's website and with CityLab's monthly newsletter. Program evaluation will determine whether or not the mode of delivery of content material, in combination with a strong mentoring program, significantly affects middle school student's interest in, and intent to pursue courses and experiences in science, math and technology. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Oliver, Sylvia Michael Trevisan Washington State University WA Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 87822 1544 SMET 9178 0086452 January 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: TechGirl: A Website for Middle School Girls Interested in Science and Technology. TechGirl will be a fun and dynamically evolving website dedicated to helping middle school girls learn about science and engineering. It is intended to help them develop an appreciation for the beneficial impact of science and engineering on society, and to encourage them to consider possible careeers in science and engineering. This site will contain four major parts: 1) Biographical sketches of women at different stages of their careers, including high school, college, beginning their careers, and at the peak of their careers, including a short bio and a fun/interesting description of a specific event in their career. 2) Advice on developing their careers, from choosing courses and activities in high school to picking a college and major to finally choosing a career. 3) Puzzles/Brainteasers designed to challenge the girls and expose them to different aspects of science and engineering. 4) Engineering Encounters, a role-playing game where the girls simulate how their life could develop through high school, college, and their career. This game will present them with a series of choices, and then they choose a response which then results in different events occurring in their lives. TechGirl will be developed in close collaboration with two major programs at Arizona State University, the Women in Applied Science and Engineering program and the MInority Engineering Program. The design of TechGirl is based on extensive discussions with middle and high school girls, their teachers and counselors, college girls in WISE, engineers who mentor for WISE, and college students in the OMEP program. Those groups will continue to play a critical role in the development and assessment of TechGirl, so that it is designed as much as possible by girls and women for girls. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Anderson-Rowland, Mary James Adams Michael Wagner Maria Reyes Arizona State University AZ Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 99805 1544 SMET 9177 0086551 October 1, 2000 AGEP: PEAKS: The Colorado Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Avery, Susan Stein Sture Mark Hernandez University of Colorado at Boulder CO James H. Wyche Cooperative Agreement 2500000 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0086701 October 1, 2000 New Mexico Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. The proposed NM-AGEP is designed to triple the number of SME graduate minority students pursuing doctoral degrees and entering the professoriate over the next five years at the three NM-AGEP Universities through the following objectives: (a) coordinating efforts to support minority SME graduate students statewide, (b ) increasing the recruitment, retention and graduation of minority doctoral students in SME and supporting those students in pursuing academic careers, and ( c) institutionalizing a graduate education cultural climate that is receptive and supportive of a diverse graduate student population. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Gale, Thomas David Johnson Timothy Pettibone Teresita Aguilar William Flores Kenneth Frandsen Laurie Churchill New Mexico State University NM Roosevelt Y. Johnson Cooperative Agreement 2760623 1515 SMET 9179 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0090070 March 1, 2001 Accessible Mathematics. Recent research shows that children with disabilities benefit greatly from deep involvement in mathematical thinking. Major mathematics education committees such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the National Research Council have emphasized the importance of high level mathematical thinking and reasoning for all students, especially those students with special needs who have not had access to this kind of mathematics. This project is based on the assumption that when students with disabilities engage in a variety of NCTM Standards-based activities that support their strengths, they can learn to think mathematically. Children with disabilities will learn to think about, strategize, and solve mathematical problems in the manner recommended by the NCTM Standards. To explore ways in which students with disabilities can be supported to successfully develop mathematical thinking, researchers at TERC will work collaboratively with a group of 12-16 teacher-researchers who are implementing an NCTM standards-based curriculum, grades 1-5. The teachers will be chosen in pairs of one mainstream classroom teacher and one special education teacher who work with the same students as they engage with standards-based mathematics curricula. The teacher pairs will work together to look closely at and find ways to improve the mathematical thinking of students with disabilities. All of the teachers will meet regularly in an action research group with TERC researchers during two years of the project. They will present and discuss episodes from their classrooms about teaching mathematics to children with disabilities, plan next steps in their investigations of students' learning, and document and disseminate the strategies that are successful in developing the mathematical understanding of students who have disabilities. In the last year of the project, teachers and TERC researchers together will write articles to disseminate their findings to other teachers. They will describe the ways in which the special education and classroom teachers work together to improve the mathematics learning of children with disabilities and will document successful strategies that other teachers can use. These research findings will be useful to teachers because they will be grounded in classroom practice. The work of this project will include: 1. Implementation of a teacher research group of classroom and special education teachers to develop their skills in planning and implementing classroom research and to report on and receive feedback on their own research. 2. Research by the teacher pairs to learn how particular students with disabilities learn mathematics best, and what is needed to support their learning. 3. Communication of this classroom-based body of research through publications, existing websites, and presentations to others-especially to other practitioners-in a way that helps others see more deeply into students' mathematical thinking. 4. Documentation and description of the collaboration among the special education and classroom teacher pairs in their schools to suggest approaches that can be used by others. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Storeygard, Judy TERC Inc MA Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 449999 1545 SMET 9177 0094556 March 15, 2001 Retention of Women Graduate Students and Early Career Academics in Science and Engineering. Very few academic intervention programs for women in science and engineering have foucsed on graduate students and junior faculty. Yet, attrition rates for women doctoral students are significantly higher than those for men and numbers of female faculty in SMET areas remain very low. Research indicates that women increasingly want to pursue academic careers in science and engineering, but experience prolbmes in these fields due to institutional factors such as gendered organization patterns and overt subtle discrininatory preactices. We propose to organize a primarily regional conference of Mid-western land-grant colleges and universities on the Iowa State University campus to bring together women's studies facutly and others doing research on women in SMET fields, and faculty and graduate students in science and engineering, in order to exchange relevant research findings on the barriers to graduate and faculty women's full participation in science and engineering fields and to develop strategies and action plans aimed at retaining women graduate students and facutly in science and engineering. A unique aspect of the proposed conference is that it aims to bring together scientists and women's studies scholars-two groups that seldom interact and yet have a great deal to learn from each other-in terms of 5-7 persons from about 20 academic institutions. These teams will be exposed to the current research on women ins SMET fields, exchange information, and work collaboratively to develop ideas for potential retention programs at theri universities. Each team will be expected to construct a plan of action for its own institution, to implement it in the successive months, and to report on it ata a follow up forum a year later. The proceedings of the conference and follow up activity will be disseminated on the web and in print. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Bystydzienski, Jill Iowa State University IA Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 55479 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0094986 January 15, 2001 Improving Opportunities for Students with Disabilities through Cooperative Dissemination. Proposal # HRD-0094986 Institution: University of Northern Iowa Principal Investigator: Gregory Stefanich Title: "Improving Opportunities for Students with Disabilities through Collaborative Dissemination" ABSTRACT This project is a communication/dissemination project for teachers, administrators and teacher educators to improve their knowledge and familiarity with resources for the teaching science to students with disabilities. The project will continue an existing alliance with NSTA to enhance equity for all students in science. The mode of delivery will be a two-day pre-conference program presented at the NSTA Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri on March 20-25, 2001, a sectional presentation at the NSTA meeting, and maintaining an exhibit booth in the exhibition hall throughout the conference. This project will educate professionals providing services to students with disabilities about effective resources, and teaching/assessment strategies. The disability areas addressed will include motor/orthopedic impairments, deaf and hard of hearing, visual impairments, learning disabilities, cognitive impairments, and behavioral disabilities. Information in the areas of assistive technologies, teacher education, research on effective teaching, methods of instruction, materials and programs, evaluation and assessment, and educational organizations and agencies will be disseminated to participants in the pre-conference and to those visiting the exhibit booth. The proposed effort will address responsibilities of educators contained in legislative mandates (i.e. Disabilities Education Act, 1973; Americans with Disabilities Act, 1989, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 1997), inequities reflected in the literature concerning opportunities in science for students with disabilities, and informational needs of teachers and teacher educators in making science instruction responsive to students with disabilities. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Stefanich, Greg Edward Keller University of Northern Iowa IA Ted A. Conway Standard Grant 60398 1545 SMET 9177 0095392 August 1, 2001 Adapting Kids Network for Deaf Students. Proposal # HRD-0095392 Institution: TERC Principal Investigator: Judith Vesel Title: "Adapting Kids Network for Deaf Students" ABSTRACT TERC will collaborate with Vcom3D, Inc., and staff from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), on use of the SigningAvatarTM accessibility software to sign the web activities and resources for two Kids Network units; evaluate the extent to which the addition of signing promotes achievement of standards-based learning outcomes; report the lessons learned about best practices for using the SigningAvatarTM characters to sign most web-based science materials; and create a more robust sign/facial expression / body space library for use in SigningAvatarTM enabling other science curricula. The collaboration brings together three organizations uniquely suited to conduct the proposed program of work. Units from the award-winning Kids Network series (developed previously by TERC with NSF funding) were selected for the project because repeated controlled evaluations have shown that hearing students who use the units make significant gains in standards-based learning outcomes. Vcom3D's staff embarked in 1997 on a course of research and development directed toward using visualization technologies to assist education of deaf and hard of hearing students. The SigningAvatarTM software is the result of this work. NTID, a college of Rochester institute of Technology (RIT), is known for its leading-edge research in the use of technology and technical signs for science instruction. Building on the partners' collected knowledge, products at the end of three years will include: 1. Kids Network Weather in Action unit adapted for students in Grades 3-6 who are deaf or hard of hearing - Teacher's Guide with SigningAvatarTM enabled online activities, resources, and implementation strategies to meet the needs of the target population. 2. Kids Network Are We Getting Enough Oxygen? Unit adapted for students in Grades 6-8 who are deaf or hard of hearing - Teacher's' Guide with the addition of the SigningAvatarTM enabled online activities, resources, and implementation strategies to meet the needs of the target population. 3. Summative evaluation report - Soft copy documentation of the extent to which the addition of signing to the web-based components of each unit promotes achievement of specified standards-based learning outcomes. 4. Report of lessons learned - Soft copy documentation of best practices for using the SigningAvatarTM technology to make most web-based science materials accessible to students who are deaf. 5. New vocabulary of technical signs for the Avatar characters' sign/facial expression/body space lexicon - Words and terms primarily in the areas of earth and space, life, and physical science; communication; and data sharing, display, and analysis. TERC will have project oversight and responsibility for the tasks of curriculum-related modifications to the web activities and resources, the controlled evaluation, and the report of lessons-learned. Vcom3D will add new technical signs to the SigningAvatarTM library and SigningAvatarTM enable each unit. Consultants from NTID will assist in the selection and appropriate use of signs. An Advisory Committee and an outside Project Evaluator further enhance the capacity to ensure that students who are deaf or hard of hearing have increased and ongoing access to quality, age-appropriate science materials. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Vesel, Judy Shelley Popson TERC Inc MA Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 448403 1545 SMET 9177 0095944 April 15, 2001 Haptic Interfaces for Spatial Learning. Proposal # HRD-0095944 Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder Principal Investigators: Lucy Y. Pao, Dale A. Lawrence, and Howard Kramer Title: "Haptic Interfaces for Spatial Learning" ABSTRACT This project will explore the use of haptic (touch) interfaces, in concert with conventional visual and audio interfaces, to enhance communication and learning of spatial concepts in science and engineering. Graphical means of expressing spatial concepts provide the most clear and concrete representation of spatial ideas, but are often the most difficult for people to use. In contrast to existing approaches that use only vision, the project will seek non-visual means of expressing and communicating spatial ideas and data. The approach also differs from recent attempts to reproduce 2D visual graphs or pictures as 2D haptic or tactile artifacts for the visually impaired. Such approaches depend on projections of 3D objects onto viewing planes, a technique that is only marginally accessible to blind people. Technology exists that can enable people to draw effectively in 3D without depending on vision or vision-like projections of the 3D object or idea. The project will explore the integration of a 6 degree of freedom (DOF) haptic interface with new software tools that produce a variety of direct 3D drawing capabilities, including the capability to instantly review and correct the concept as it is created. Investigators will explore the benefits of non-visual (haptic and audio) feedback for drawing. We believe non-visual interaction with drawing tools can make graphical representations of spatial constructs, relationships, and ideas much easier to generate and share, promoting clearer discourse in fields that depend on spatial concepts. The ability to create precise 3D drawings would provide a mode of communication for visually impaired people opening new opportunities in fields that require an ability to communicate using spatial representations. The technology to be developed and test consists of a desktop workstation that provides capability for visual, audio, and haptic interaction with computer-generated spatial constructs. The tools will consist of software programs that allow users to easily draw in 3-dimensions with visual, haptic, and audio feedback. A suite of rendering/drawing modes will also be developed to enable users to create and interpret 3-dimensional objects or drawings. The existing visual/haptic interface facility at the University of Colorado will be augmented with audio capabilities similar to those currently used in the University of Colorado Assistive Technology Lab. This augmented workstation will be used as a testbed during years 1 and 2 of the project, where work will focus on the development and testing of particular modes of drawing and rendering spatial objects and data, and of particular pedagogic approaches to learning spatial concepts. The resulting rendering modes will be evaluated by students with learning and/or visual impairments as well as non-impaired students who are interested in science and engineering. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Pao, Lucy Dale Lawrence Howard Kramer University of Colorado at Boulder CO Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 449864 1545 SMET 9178 0095948 March 1, 2001 Clearinghouse on Mathematics, Engineering, Technology and Science. Proposal # HRD-0095948 Institution: Rochester Institute of Technology Principal Investigator: Harry G. Lang Title: "Clearinghouse on Mathematics, Engineering, Technology and Science (COMETS): A Comprehensive Resource in the Education of Deaf Students" ABSTRACT The proposed Clearinghouse On Mathematics, Engineering, Technology, and Science (COMETS) will serve as a major resource for information dissemination. The Project will also build a network of many professionals who will use the resources for systemic reform, and will evaluate its information dissemination strategies with these audiences. The goals of the project are to: 1) develop a comprehensive resource to provide synchronous information through interactive components to eight target audiences of professionals, parents, and students available on the World Wide Web and in print: 2) field-test the applicability of the information and the dissemination strategies in both formal and informal professional development activities; and 3) develop a network for systemic reform through information dissemination in the education of deaf students in science, education, mathematics, and technology. The revolution in computer technologies shows promise for enhancing information dissemination to students who are deaf or hard of hearing and the professionals responsible for their education. In particular, the World Wide Web has been shown to be successful in an experimental prototype project as part of a previous NSF-funded teacher preparation project. Abundant evidence shows that many of the needs of professionals serving deaf students in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) areas can be met through quality, interactive resources that are made available on the World Wide Web. With quality control associated with individual and institutional authority, the Internet can be a credible change agent in an information dissemination program for systemic reform in science and mathematics for deaf students. COMETS, based at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), a college of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), is an interactive Web site. Project staff will present educational research findings and draw implications for teaching, curriculum development, and the provision of support services in SMET areas. The application of the information will be field tested in formal professional development activities. The quality of the information to be shared will be high, extracted from periodicals refereed by national experts. The project will also include a comprehensive evaluation of information dissemination and the findings regarding the most effective evaluation strategies will be shared with others through presentations and publications. An existing network will be expanded from approximately 400 teachers to include administrators, support service professionals, parents, and representatives from organizations critical to systemic reform in the education of deaf students. The acronym "COMETS" presents an appropriate metaphor. As with the so-named astronomical bodies, this project will leave a trail of material and energy which will be available for a long time to come. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Lang, Harry Rochester Institute of Tech NY Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 198978 1545 SMET 9177 0095994 April 1, 2001 Kindling Inclusionary SMET Education for Persons with Disabilities (KISMET Project). Proposal # HRD-0095994 Institution: County College of Morris Principal Investigator: Judith Kuperstein Title: "Kindling Inclusionary SMET Education for Persons with Disabilities" (KISMET) ABSTRACT The County College of Morris (CCM) is an established leader in associate degree level science education. Annual surveys of SMET graduates from 1994-98 with very high response rates show that over 91% report being employed, enrolled in 4-year institutions, or both. In 1989, CCM created its Horizons Program dedicated to the needs of students with learning disabilities (sld), that has grown from 35 participants to over 500 with 38% coming from 9 other counties. CCM has also developed a successful system for providing tailored services to students with physical disabilities (spd) and an active Disability Awareness Committee. Adaptive equipment and software are used to make its state-of-the-art SMET classrooms and laboratories accessible, and special tutoring is provided as needed. An analysis of the limited individual data available on CCM's sld and spd reveals that CCM is providing SMET programs that are attractive, but they point out issues that deserve investigation relating to noticeable clustering of these students in a very limited number of SMET programs. The overall goal of the proposed project is to create increased inclusionary SMET education opportunities for students with disabilities (swd) that should attract more of these students into SMET programs and careers. The various components to accomplish this are in-place (i.e. quality SMET programs and faculty, an established Tech Prep Consortium of secondary schools, and proven assistance programs for swd). The specific objectives of the proposed KISMET project are to: Upgrade CCM's capacity to provide SMET education to students with disabilities by: (1) improving articulation and transition coordination with secondary schools, (2) orienting faculty toward inclusionary thinking regarding this population, and (3) increasing the availability of support services and assistive equipment. Develop more "swd friendly" delivery of SMET curricula, including training faculty in identified successful techniques. Improve the tracking of swd SMET enrollees and their progress at CCM as a means to both learn "what works" for this population and better serve individual swd. Increase first-time enrollments, retention and persistence to graduation by swd in SMET programs, including decreased abandonment of SMET for non-SMET majors. The project will use a New Transition Coordination Outreach Initiative to Secondary Schools, a Special Recruitment Effort, a Faculty Task Force to Improve SMET Curricula Delivery, Faculty/Staff Development activities, and Additional Direct Assistance. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Nast, David Bette Simmons County College of Morris NJ Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 447803 1545 SMET 9177 0096333 August 7, 2000 PGE/SEP: Supporting university women in geoscience: the mentoring ladder, field experience, and academic training. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Jansma, Pamela University of Arkansas AR Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 91983 1544 SMET 9179 9177 0099125 March 1, 2001 Open Door, Capacity Building at Yavapai College. Proposal # HRD-0099125 Institution: Yavapai College Principal Investigator: Kenneth Abbott Title: "The Open Door Project" ABSTRACT Yavapai College serves the needs of rural and isolated small urban populations in Yavapai County, Arizona. The college is well underway toward completing its ADA self-evaluation goals for physical barrier removal. A corresponding effort, however, has not taken place to address access to instructional materials in appropriate forms, educational technology, alternative delivery methodologies and access to laboratory and field experiences. The goal of this project is to increase the number of rural disabled students successfully pursuing SMET careers. An advisory committee will provide oversight and project direction to actualize the following objective: To develop a model program that creates an inviting rural community college environment responsive to the needs of students with disabilities. The Open Door Project will: 1. Assign a SMET disabilities curriculum coordinator to research, gather, and maintain a specific set of alternative curricular materials and strategies for all gateway math and science courses that use current best practices of adaptation, accommodation, and assistive technology. 2. Train disabilities Master Teachers in all SMET curricular areas who will conduct disabilities awareness and alternative strategies training at the SMET department level. The problem of adjunct faculty inclusion will be addressed by specific training at orientation, access to intranet resources, and assignment of a disabilities mentor from the full-time SMET faculty. 3. Develop ways for students to have a SMET "hands-on" experience by creating innovative ways to assimilate students with disabilities into ongoing research, field and laboratory activities and to facilitate student interface with working SMET professionals in local and regional high tech businesses. This activity will include development of a SMET Summer Camp for students with disabilities. The Open Door Project will also work to increase the number of disabled high school students, veterans, women re-entering the workforce and Native Americans with SMET career expectations. This will be accomplished by using the countywide outreach activity of existing TRIO and Transition programs to encourage interest in SMET careers among disabled students. In addition, these outreach groups, staff development activities, and stipends for participation in summer programs, will be used to raise the awareness of high school and college career counselors and faculty. This will increase their competency to address the needs of students with disabilities and promote existing Yavapai College Foundation scholarships for disabled and SMET students as well as SMET summer camps. The Open Door Capacity Building Project will raise the visibility and attractiveness of SMET careers for disabled students by creating a program specifically designed to capture their imaginations and provide a responsive community college experience that articulates into a SMET career or advanced degree. The long-range post-project goal is to use Yavapai College's unique field sites and on-campus dorm capacity to create a regional SMET magnet school for students with disabilities. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Abbott, Kenneth Paul Smolenyak Yavapai College AZ Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 421574 1545 SMET 9177 0099141 March 1, 2001 Earth System Science Works!. Proposal # HRD-0099141 Institution: University of Southern Maine Principal Investigators: Sharon Locke and Libby Cohen Title: "Earth System Science Works!" ABSTRACT This project enhances and expands the work of ACCESS Earth, an intensive summer institute in Earth system science for students with disabilities and their teachers previously funded by NASA. During ACCESS Earth teachers and students work with research scientists at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve on the coast of Maine, examining the impacts of sea level rise, climate change, and coastal development. Teachers and students have the opportunity to use technology such as Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing to study environmental changes and the dynamics of land-sea-air interactions. Earth System Science Works! will build on the current program by providing: 1) mentoring for teachers and students during the school year, 2) support for adaptation of existing Earth system science curriculum, 3) support for a partnership with the Digital Library for Earth System Education, and 4) support for visiting scientists with disabilities to attend the summer institute. Through Earth System Science Works! students and teachers will be able to continue their studies in earth system science beyond the week of the summer institute. Students will communicate electronically with scientists with disabilities working in earth system science fields and will share their interests in science through an interactive Web site. Teachers will communicate with science and education faculty on implementing accessible earth system science lessons into their classrooms and will post adapted lessons and other ideas on the project Web site. The goal is to create a sustained discussion forum on the accessibility of earth system science education at the K- 12 level. This project will positively influence the way in which earth system science is taught at all educational levels through a partnership with the Digital Library for Earth System Education. A special working group of teachers selected by project staff will adapt popular earth system science curricula so that they are accessible to students with disabilities and will field test the adaptations in their classrooms and at the summer institute. The adapted curricula and strategies for teaching earth system science to students with disabilities will be published as an Earth System Science IdeaBook, which will be fully integrated into the Digital Library. The timing of this project affords an ideal opportunity to guide the development of the library. Teachers and students will serve as testers of library tools, collections, and interfaces and will advise staff on its accessibility for persons with disabilities. This project seeks to increase the number of students with disabilities who pursue earth system science careers by changing the methods, materials, and curricula used in high school science classes. Earth system science courses are being offered with increasing frequency at both the high school and middle school levels, and the Digital Library for Earth System Education will further increase the availability of educational resources. Earth System Science Works! Will comprehensively evaluate the accessibility of earth system science education and provide new resources for teaching earth system concepts to persons with disabilities. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Locke, Sharon Libby Cohen University of Southern Maine ME Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 385150 1545 SMET 9177 0099216 January 15, 2001 Integration of Adaptive Technology and Clinical Assessment into Mathematics at MU. Proposal # HRD-0099216 Institution: University of Missouri at Columbia Principal Investigator: Gregory Holliday Title: "INTEGRATION OF ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGY AND CLINICAL ASSESSMENT INTO MATHEMATICS" ABSTRACT The Department of Mathematics of the University of Missouri - Columbia (MU) in a unique collaboration with the university's Adaptive Computing Technology (ACT) Center and the Assessment and Consultation Clinic (ACC), proposes to create a highly supportive mathematics learning environment for students with learning disabilities (LD). The project will ensure retention and success in mathematics for students with LD by: 1. enabling students with LD to amplify and successfully apply intact cognitive processes by using adaptive computing technology (ACT); 2. increasing institutional capacity of the MU Department of Mathematics to effectively identify and instruct students with LD; and by 3. developing field placement opportunities to support successful school-to-work transitions. Success in mathematics depends on perceiving, processing, retaining, retrieving, and applying complex information. A deficiency in any of these capacities places students with LD at high risk for failure. Often, students have more than sufficient cognitive capacity to comprehend mathematical concepts and master essential skills if they have appropriate classroom and testing accommodations. While technologies exist to compensate for weak processing capacities in students with LD, such technologies are of little benefit if they are not appropriately customized to the student or effectively utilized in the classroom. In addition, the link between specific learning disabilities and appropriate compensatory technology, especially as applied to postsecondary students enrolled in mathematics coursework, has been largely conjectural. Instructors and students have therefore underused this strategy. Postsecondary success of students with disabilities has remained unsatisfactory. The proposed model for mathematics instruction of postsecondary students with LD will consist of: 1. Enhancement of mathematics instructors' awareness of LD and how to effectively teach students with LD through collaborative trainings offered by the ACT Center and the ACC; 2. Collaboration between the ACC and ACT Center to link specific LDs to appropriate technology; 3. Integration of the technology accommodations of the ACT Center into mathematics curriculum and instruction; 4. Collaboration among all three units (ACT Center, ACC, and Department of Mathematics) to identify placement opportunities and maximize student learning opportunities in the workplace. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Holliday, Gregory Stamatis Dostoglou Darren Gabbert University of Missouri-Columbia MO Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 431448 1545 SMET 9177 0099229 April 1, 2001 Building Capacity for a National Community College Collaborative IT E-Learning Support Network for People with Disabilities. Proposal # HRD-0099229 Institution: Western Michigan University Principal Investigator: Robert Leneway Title: "Building Capacity for a National Community College Collaborative IT E-Learning Support Network for People with Disabilities" ABSTRACT The Education in Information Technology project (EDIT) represents a new partnership of some of the nation's leading informational technology providers in support of people with disabilities. Western Michigan University and the Association of Rehabilitation Programs in Computer Technology (ARPCT) form a partnership to combine the hardware and software of IBM with the courseware of Smartforce.com to focus on a research initiative. EDIT will develop an E-learning Internet support network to study the impact of using a collaborative Internet site to increase the educational capacity of community colleges for preparing students with disabilities for information technology related careers. Ten of 50 ARPCT member programs are already located in community colleges, and efforts will be made to increase this number. IBM and Smartforce.com have donated over $500,000, in product, support and courseware, to initiate the effort. This project will develop the site, promote its use, and conduct rigorous research on its impact for assisting community colleges to build their capacity for preparing students with disabilities for information technology related careers. The effectiveness of community colleges using a national collaborative E-learning site to improve their ability to prepare more students with disabilities will be tested, and results will be disseminated widely. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Leneway, Robert Western Michigan University MI Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 448853 1545 SMET 9177 0099230 March 1, 2001 The Classroom of the Sea. Proposal # HRD-0099230 Institution: University of Connecticut Principal Investigator: Ivar Babb Title: "The Classroom of the Sea (COS)" ABSTRACT "Classroom of the Sea (COS)" is a comprehensive three-year project that addresses many of the special needs of deaf learners in science. About one in every thousand school age children in the U.S. is deaf or hard of hearing and these learners often lag behind their hearing peers in cognitive and language development. COS will address these issues, as well as the special communication needs of deaf learners, through a partnership of scientists, educators, and students that aims to enhance both teaching and learning in middle and high school science education. The project staff will integrate research and education and draw upon the excitement of scientific discovery to motivate students, provide situated learning opportunities, and identify the scientific and technical concepts that need to be integrated with American Sign Language to enhance science instruction to deaf students. For the past four years the National Undersea Research Center (NURC) located at the University of Connecticut has been collaborating with the American School for the Deaf (ASD) to successfully advance science education for deaf students. This interaction was initiated by ASD's participation in the Aquanaut Program, an educational outreach program of NURC that provided deaf learners an opportunity to conduct hands-on research using visual technologies, including sonars, robots, computers and other marine sampling devices. This project will provide the expertise and infrastructure to develop a standards-based science curriculum and problem-based lab and field experiments, evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches, while simultaneously improving the ability to teach science to deaf learners through language enhancement. The objectives of the Classroom of the Sea program are to: 1) develop an integrated science curriculum for deaf students using highly interdisciplinary marine science; 2) provide real-world oceanographic research opportunities to enrich the curriculum; 3) develop processes for optimizing the use of technical signs and American Sign Language in science and technology instruction; 4) adapt and develop technologies to disseminate the curriculum, language enhancement strategies, and research results to the Deaf community, educators of deaf students, and others; and 5) better prepare deaf students to pursue careers in science and technology. COS is comprised of two integrated elements - Science Through Marine Science" and Communications Access". The program is based upon the premise that students, and particularly students with disabilities such as deafness, can achieve a high degree of scientific literacy by learning science in a practical manner, i.e. within authentic learning environments. This will be achieved by studying the many facets (i.e. disciplines) of the marine environment. The second major element of the Classroom of the Sea involves "Communications Access," which will emphasize functional communication in teaching science through sign language and will involve the identification of concepts and terms that lack clear signs within American Sign Language (ASL) and the effective use of ASL grammatical features. Appropriate technologies will be developed and tested to implement and disseminate all elements of the program. The critical program components studied and demonstrated in the Classroom of the Sea project will not only benefit deaf learners, but can be applied in school programs to enhance the education of all students, especially those with other disabilities or those for whom English is a second language. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Babb, Ivar Scott Brown Peter Scheifele Harry Lang University of Connecticut CT Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 443997 1545 SMET 9177 0099261 January 15, 2001 Transcending The Digital Divide. Proposal # HRD-00-99261 Institution: UC Santa Barbara Principal Investigator: Reginald Golledge Title: "Transcending the Digital Divide" ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate a non-visual interface for accessing digital information. The aim is to investigate the perceptual and cognitive problems that blind people face when trying to interpret information provided in a multimodal manner. The project also plans to provide touch sensitive and sound based network interface and navigation devices that incorporate cognitive wayfinding heuristics. Haptic (force feedback) interfaces will be provided for exploring web pages that consist of map, graphic, iconic or image products. Sound identifiers for on-screen windowed, map, and image information will also be provided. These tasks will contribute to transcending the Digital Divide that increasingly separates blind or vision impaired people from the growing information-based workplace. Recent research at UCSB has begun to explore how individuals identify features presented through sound and touch. Other research (e.g. O'Modhrrain and Gillespie, 1998; McKinley and Scott, 1998) have used haptics to explore screen objects such as windows, pulldown menus, buttons, and sliders; but map, graphic and other cartographic representations have not been explored. In particular, the potential of auditory maps of on-screen phenomena (e.g. as would be important in GIS applications) has barely been examined and few examples exist of combining audio and touch principles to build an interface. While imaginative efforts to build non-visual interfaces have been proceeding. there is a yet little empirical evidence that people without sight can use them effectively (i.e. develop a true representation of the experienced phenomena). Experiments will be undertaken to test the ability of vision impaired and sighted people from different age groups to use these new interface or features such as: (i) the haptic mouse or a touch window tied to auditory communication displays; (ii) digitized real sounds to indicate environmental features at their mapped locations; (iii) "sound painting" of maps, images, or charts to indicate gradients of phenomena like temperature, precipitation, pressure, population density and altitude. Tests will be developed to evaluate (i) the minimum resolvable area for the haptic interpretation of scenes; (ii) the development of skills for shape tracing in the sound or the force-feedback haptic domain, (iii) the possibility of using continuous or discreet sound symbols associated with touch sensitive pads to learn hierarchically nested screen information (e.g. locations of cities within regions within states within nations); (iv) to evaluate how dynamic activities such as scrolling, zooming, and searching can be conducted in the haptic or auditory domain, (v) to evaluate people's comprehension and ability to explore, comprehend, and make inferences about various non-visual interpretations of complex visual displays (e.g. maps and diagrams), and (vi) to explore the effectiveness of using a haptic mouse with a 2" square motion domain to search a 14" screen (i.e. scale effects). RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Golledge, Reginald University of California-Santa Barbara CA Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 450260 1545 SMET 9178 9177 0102533 June 1, 2001 Success in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Programs. Virginia State University is submitting this planning proposal to the National Science Foundation Historically Black Colleges and University Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) in Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science, and the Physical Sciences. The Goal of this planning proposal is to conduct an assessment at VSU on the SMET offerings and develop a plan which will be an institutional stepping stone toward a National Science Foundation SMET-UP five year grant proposal with t he long term intention to increase the number of well-qualified minority students graduating in engineering, science and mathematics and to provide these students with sufficient preparation, guidance, and encouragement to attend graduate school. Key personnel for the project will be the Principal Investigator (PI), Co-PI, Activity Coordinator, the director of Institutional Planning and Assessment, the director of Freshmen, Retention and General Education Programs and all SMET department chairpersons. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Yarbrough, Earl Mohammad Moadab Virginia State University VA Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 49700 1594 SMET 9178 0102620 June 1, 2001 Program for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Computer Technology (PESMaCT). This proposal is submitted to the National Science Foundation in response to the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP). The purpose of this interdisciplinary proposal is to request funds to develop and implement Southern University at New Orleans's (SUNO) ``Program of Excellence in Science and Computer Technology (PESMaCT)''. The PESMaCT web address is www.suno.edu/cs/pesmact/. Studies have confirmed that the shortage of manpower in the science and technical workforce is particularly acute within the underrepresented minority population. Minorities make up only 14.5% of the present enrollment in graduate science and engineering programs, and 6% of the science and technical work force. Compared to the 28% minority representation in the population as a whole, there is an untapped minority resource for building the nation's scientific and technical workforce. The origin of this problem can be traced to inadequacies in science education in K-12 schools. It has also been documented that lack of achievement in science is due to shortcomings in present instructional methods which lack emphasis on gate-keeper and lab centered courses, hands-on training, and ineffective or non-collaborative efforts to utilize local universities resources and facilities. SUNO is proposing a solution to this problem through PESMaCT. The goals of this project are to: (1) increase the "pipeline" flow of minorities from high schools and junior colleges to science, mathematics, and computer technology (SMaCT) fields,(2) improve retention of minorities in SMaCT, and (3) improve the quality of graduating SMaCT majors. The overall objectives are to: (1)integrate technology into all gate-keeper courses, (2) double the current retention rate of 30%, (3) graduate 300 quality SMaCT majors within a 5 year period, and 4) get 15% to be accepted to graduate or professional schools. These goals and objectives can be achieved by: (1) engaging in aggressive recruitment, (2) implementing a strategic retention plan, (3) enhancing undergraduate curricula, 4) utilizing undergraduate research as a valuable teaching tool, and (5) establishing a collaborative and synergistic relation with Louis Stokes Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-LAMP). The important catalysts for our plan are: (1) collaboration among departments in the College of Science at SUNO and (2) collaboration between SUNO and the New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS) which supply 74% our student population. Unlike other institutions in the city of New Orleans, SUNO is an open-admission institution serving about 4,000 students with majors in liberal arts, sciences, business and education. Also, the University has graduate programs in social work, criminal justice, computer information systems, and education. NOPS district serves about 84,000 urban students with 85% being African Americans. Compared to the rest of the state with 59.2 % poverty level, 88% of NOPS students come from families with incomes below the federal poverty level. PESMaCT is designed to improve the educational experience of minority students in science, mathematics, and computer technology from high school through college. Implementation of PESMaCT in high schools will motivate students to pursue degrees in careers of SMaCT fields. As a result, this will lead to an increase in the number of minority graduates and serve as a crucial pipeline in increasing the number of underrepresented minorities receiving graduate degrees and working in SMaCT fields. Beyond the funding period, PESMaCT will be sustained by support from the University, local industries/companies and funds acquired from other grants. PESMact will support the University strategic plan to: (1) increase opportunities for students' success, (2) ensure quality and accountability, and (3) enhance services to the community and state. Most importantly, the project outlined in this proposal will help PESMaCT to achieve the NSF HBCU-UP goal to enhance the quality of undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) at Historically Black Colleges and Universities as a means to broaden participation in the SMET workforce. In addition, PESMaCT will positively impact the largest urban public school system in the State of Louisiana. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Hardy, Henry Adnan Omar Carl Johnson Murty Kambhampati Joe Omojola Southern University New Orleans LA Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2730321 1594 SMET 9178 7582 7204 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0102676 June 15, 2001 HBCU-UP Planning Grant. A majority of entering students begin their college careers with inadequate mathematics background to pursue SMET careers. The purpose of the proposed planning program is to design a comprehensive program to overcome these entering deficiencies to improve the participation and performance of minority students in SMET disciplines. The overall goals of the planning program will be (a) to assess the strengths, weaknesses and needs of mathematics instruction as well as other gate-keeping courses in the SMET disciplines; and (b) to assess undergraduate student research needs and opportunities in SMET disciplines on and off campus. Assessment includes, student performances on many items such as the Sophomore Proficiency Examination, Major Area Examinations, Graduate and Professional School Entrance Examinations, success in advanced programs, presentations of research papers at professional conferences, professional publications, and the type of employment and advancement in ranks. Assessment of the quality of faculty members in the SMET disciplines will be done by a review of the credentials of faculty members as compared to the SMET faculty in other institutions and the standards set by accrediting bodies and performance portfolios. In assessing faculty development and recruitment needs, the ratio of instructor/students in mathematics and other SMET disciplines will be compared with other majors at Benedict, as well as with other similar institutions. Visitation to other institutions with SMET's curricula that have recently been reformed due to NSF effort, self-study or otherwise, will help Benedict to have a better assessment of the College's current SMET's curricula. This is also the case when selected staff members of the Task Force visit sites that they have recently reformed their SMET's curricula. The current and future technology needs for SMET courses, in general, and SMET majors, in particular, will be assessed. Consultants with expertise in SMET curricula will be used in the overall process of assessing the current curricula and potentially improving and/or redesigning them. It will be made certain that high-level decision-making administrators (President, his cabinet, and deans) review the comprehensive proposal and approve its contents before submission to NSF . An internal advisory committee, (Task Force), will help to guide the work and to assess the planing program. In particular, this committee will help assess and analyze data and plan/design the curriculum for the comprehensive program. It is anticipated that the proposed project will result in the development of a competitive proposal for submission to the National Science Foundation for funding through the HBCU-UP Program. The proposal will be based on an accurate assessment of current and future needs in the SMET programs at Benedict College. Results of these assessment activities will also provide information needed by the College to improve other areas that bear on the performance of students in the SMET disciplines. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Haghighi, Aliakbar Benedict College SC Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 0102722 June 1, 2001 SMET Research and Training Center. The University of the District of Columbia plans to establish a Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET) Research and Training Center to develop and implement strategies to teach and retain students in SMET courses. Specific objectives for organizing the Center are to: 1. Modify the content of entry level (gate-keeper) science, mathematics and engineering courses for undergraduate students to enable them to improve their performance and retention rates in these programs, to improve performances on graduate and professional school standardized tests,and increase their competitiveness for employment opportunities; 2. Develop procedures that will be used to improve science, mathematics, engineering, and technology capabilities of faculty and students by identifying and planning activities such as seminars, symposia, and workshops to expose them to current trends in the various disciplines; and 3. Obtain information on the current status of teaching and research facilities in the Biological and Environmental Sciences, Chemistry and Physics, Mathematics , and Engineering programs in order that a strategy can be developed to improve laboratory infrastructure which includes obtaining equipment and adequate space that will enhance faculty and undergraduate student research. The SMET Center is designed to improve the academic performance and increase student retention. Entry level (gate-keeper) science, mathematics and engineering courses in the SMET curricula will be revised to add a research component to the laboratory courses in order to emphasize reasoning skills and stimulate logical thinking. This activity is designed to develop a long-term dynamic curricula that can adapt to changing technologies. One hundred freshman students will be randomly selected to participate in the center. Fifty students will have declared majors in one of the SMET disciplines and 50 will be undeclared majors. The participants will be followed through graduation to determine the impact of the SMET Center activities on course attendance and completion rates, passing rates, research activities, grade point averages, graduation rates, enrollment in graduate and professional schools and employment. The Center administrators will consist of the principal investigator , two co-principal investigators and an administrative assistant. The administrators will plan and implement Center activities with the advice and support of the advisory committee. The principal investigator will have the primary responsibility of supervising all aspects of the program with the co-principal investigators assuming the day-to-day operations of the Center, such as, organizing, conducting and, implementing the activities. An advisory committee consisting of scientists and administrators (7), as well as, two consultants will complete the administrative core. All faculty in the SMET disciplines will be invited to participate in the center. They will participate in enrichment activities (research, workshops etc.), implemented by the Center. These activities are expected to produce energetic faculty, committed to teaching and research. They will utilize improved teaching techniques and computer technology to make courses interesting and stimulating. The status and availability of research and teaching facilities in the SMET disciplines at UDC will be assessed by consultants. The consultants (2), selected from UDC faculty, will inventory current equipment and available space in the University for teaching and research. Additionally, the consultants will provide information concerning available research facilities in government, industry, and research-intensive universities in Washington. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Clark, Vernon Freddie Dixon Jean Grant University of the District of Columbia DC Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 49618 1594 SMET 9178 0102798 June 1, 2001 Strengthening Undergraduate Preparation in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology. Fort Valley State University (FVSU) has sustained the commitment to its mission and strategic plan of providing quality educational experiences for under represented minority group individuals (who constitute 93% of enrolled students), equipping them for productive and effective citizenry in an increasingly competitive society. A recent benchmarking, study conducted by the University System of Georgia, hailed FVSU as one of the top four institutions in the State with a competitive retention rate of 70% or better. Additionally, 88% or more of FVSU's biological sciencesgraduates are placed in medical or graduate school. We proposes to build upon this successful tradition of minority group retention and graduation from general baccalaureate degree programsby increasing more broadly the number of minority group graduates who pursue advanced studies in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET). Funding is requested to achieve the primary goals of increasing the number of minority students graduating with a major in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) by 30%, and achieving a 10% increase over a five- year period in the number of SMET graduates pursuing master and doctoral degrees. There are three strategic initiatives being proposed to achieve these goals namely: i) enhancing the recruitment, and retention, of SMET major, ii) enhancing the infrastructure for providing technology if used and research-based SMET courses of instruction, and iii) providing career awareness opportunities in SMET field of study. These goals will be achieved via achievement of five interrelated objectives: 1) Enriching the academic preparation of students in SMET disciplines by focusing on developing course reform and enhancement, 2) Broadening and strengthening the research program for faculty development, 3) Strengthening the partnerships with academic institutions and industrial labs to enhance quality research experiences for students, 4 ) Infusing technology into teaching, research, and professional development, and 5) Enhancing critical transition activities to improve access and retention of undergraduate students. These objectives will be accomplished in different phases: revising gateway courses and improving the performance of students in SMET gate-keeping bottleneck courses via including research/lab exercises and providing students tutorial assistance. Faculty enrichment activities will improve their research skills, collaborative research will provide wide exposure to students to opportunities to become familiar with SMET programs. Providing `hands-on experience'' to students using the state-of-the art facilities and other enrichment activities will improve their skills, and motivate them to pursue graduate studies. Student participation will be promoted by financial assistance as work study/stipend, and by summer internships at major research institutions. Bridging initiative to address high school/ undergraduate-graduate- job market transitions in SMET fields will also be established. It is expected that this project will: 1) substantially increase the number of minority graduates in SMET disciplines and increase the proportion of those graduates who pursue advanced degrees in these disciplines through bridging and career awareness programs; 2) strengthen faculty expertise and capability to mentor students as researchers, and overall commitment to continued professional development as SMET scholars - a 10% increase in faculty research projects, publications, linkages, and grantsmanship will be attained; 3) promote gains in learning through the provision of a revised SMET curriculum which builds on increased faculty interactions with the incorporation of inquiry-based pedagogy; and 4) promote the greatest potential for student enrollment and success in SMET disciplines by enhancing the physical infrastructure (e.g., teaching/ research facilities) of the university. Dr. Sarwan Dhir, Assistant Professor, having strong project management experience will direct the program under the supervision of Dr. Josephine Davis, Vice President Academic Affairs. A Leadership Team of the Chairs of the SMET departments and an Advisory Committee of internal and external distinguished scientists will conduct an annual review of the program outcomes as well as formative evaluation as the program is developed. The results of this project will be disseminated widely in the professional community through presentations at regional and national/scientific meetings and publications in scientific journals. The general public will have access to the successful efforts of this project through FVSU web site. The commitment of Fort Valley State University is evidenced from the supporting letter from Dr. Oscar L. Prater, President, FVSU, and overall supervision of Vice President for Academic Affairs and participation of Dean's, on the Advisory Committee, release time for faculty, matching cost of the equipment, and allocation of physical facilities for the teaching and research laboratories and use of other facilities and resources. This project will advance the mission of the University through its provision of high quality degree programs that increase the participation of minority group graduates in higher education. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Lomotey, Kofi Sarwan Dhir Fort Valley State University GA Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2494078 1594 SMET 9178 7204 1594 0102801 June 15, 2001 HBCU-UP Planning Grant. This planning grant proposal is written in response to the NSF 00-131 Program Solicitation for Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP). We believe that this planning grant will provide substantial assistance to Savannah State University (SSU) in conducting an assessment of science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) education. Accordingly, Savannah State University will develop an institutional plan to enhance SMET education through curriculum improvement, faculty development, and infrastructure facility acquisition and utilization. This planning grant will not only significantly enhance the academic environment at SSU, it will also assist the institution in assessing its strong programs as well as those SMET disciplines, where SSU is not producing enough qualified graduates (with GPA 3.0 or higher) to enter graduate programs, be competitive and receive their Masters or Ph.D. degrees. Savannah State University is already assessing its programs and thus NSF support will complement our planning process to improve curricula and instructional programs in those disciplines that are not producing large enough numbers of well qualified graduates entering graduate school or the work force in SMET- related fields. This assessment period will end during the mid-semester in the Spring of 2001; planning will take place between March 2001 and August 2001. We anticipate receiving continued support from the NSF to plan the SMET improvement grant proposal. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Silver, Joseph Pravin Raut Obi Emeh Olarongbe Olubajo Ijaz Awan Suversha Gupta Savannah State University GA Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 49804 1594 SMET 9178 0102812 June 1, 2001 Enabling Tomorrow's Research Scientists. Tougaloo College seeks to increase the number of majors in science, math, and computer science who ar successful in their courses, who complete undergraduate studies with honors, and who attend graduate school in the sciences and technology. The college has an excellent track record for placing students in medical and health professional schools, and has also recently been cited as among the top five undergraduate sources of African-American doctorates. The program has three strategies. The first is to improve student success in introductory courses in biology, chemistry and mathematics. To our tutorial drop-in center we are adding three people (two supported by this grant) to provide weekly supplemental instruction sessions for the first two years of of instruction in these disciplines. In addition test practice sessions will be held to familiarize students with standardized test questions from examinations such as the Graduate Record Examination and the Medical College Admissions Test. We will also build the enrollment in our physics, pre-engineering, and computer science programs. We will sponsor a six-week summer program to introduce students to both fields, along with reading and English skills. We will offer a number of scholarships to talented students in computer science or physics who maintain a 3.3 science GPA. Finally we plan to stimulate interest in science and in graduate school by supporting research as an integral part of of the life of both faculty and student scientists. Contrary to its past tradition, the college will provide time for older faculty and new faculty to set up a viable on-campus research program, through either released time or sabbatical leaves. This program will continue to be supported by the College after the grant, as faculty acquire outside funding. These initiatives will provide a rich, stimulating environment for students which will provide a unique window on the reasons why people become scientists. 1 HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Turay, Abdul Richard McGinnis Linden Haynes Tougaloo College MS Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2496692 1594 SMET 9178 7582 7204 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0102828 June 1, 2001 Teams Enhancing Access for Minorities in Science (TEAMS). Nationwide statistics show marked under-representation of minority students attending graduate schools or pursuing careers in the areas of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (SEM). HBCU's are in the most ideal situation to provide solutions to this problem. Universities like Kentucky State University must make every effort to recruit, retain, and graduate minoritySEM students and subsequently enable them to attend graduate school. Unfortunately, enrollmentin SEM disciplines is declining rather than growing. Therefore, Kentucky State University is submitting a proposal to the NSF HBCU-UP initiative designed to increase enrollment of minoritystudents in SEM areas and enhance their preparedness for graduate school success. Teams Enhancing Access for Minorities in Science (TEAMS) is a comprehensive program designed to prepare young minority students for entry into careers in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (SEM) fields. The first phase of the program is a summer Undergraduate Bridge Program for rising high school seniors and graduates. Once students matriculate at Kentucky State University, they will proceed as TEAMS through several phases of their undergraduate academic program culminating with an intensive Graduate Bridge Program in preparation for graduate school. The overall goal of TEAMS is to increase the number of qualified minority students entering graduate schools in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics and to provide them with academic experiences and research opportunities which will increase their participation in graduate schools and their degree of successful completion of graduate endeavors. The benefits of the TEAMS Program will include: - Providing a conduit that will facilitate the entry of high potential minority high school students into Kentucky State University through an Undergraduate Bridge Program that will support andprepare high school students to reach above average achievement in undergraduate studies in SEM courses. -Providing students with a curriculum that will challenge them in a manner that is appropriate for developing the content and skills in subject areas pertinent to graduatestudies in SEM. -Establishing Excel Study/Research Teams that will prepare students in content, problem-solving skills, and cooperative and investigative approaches to learning. -Establishing a Graduate Bridge Program that will promote readiness for and an awareness of the expectations of graduate studies by providing students with first hand experiences in various aspects of research. -Providing faculty development activities, such as workshops, seminars, institutes, and conferences on innovative teaching strategies, including inquiry-based teaching and learning, collaborative learning, and interdisciplinary approaches. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Mania, Robert Kentucky State University KY Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2429792 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0102835 June 15, 2001 Transforming Science Mathematics Engineering and Technology (TranSMET). Morris Brown College requests as Planning Grant of $50,000 form the National Science Foundation to support TranSMET -Phase I, a period of academic self-assessment, understanding, and planning around those issues of infrastructure, faculty and student preparedness that pose barriers to desired student outcomes in the science, math, engineering, and technology disciplines. The 10 month planning phase is designed to culminate in 1) a comprehensive five-year proposal that will catalyze the pedagogical reformation of Morris Brown College by 2) conducting a thorough analysis of the College's SMET infrastructure and programs and to develop a realistic and workable plan for implementing changes; and 3 ) developing a process of consistent assessment and evaluation of SMET programs. With the formation of TranSMET Morris Brown College plans to design a series of three retreats (meetings and workshops). Phase I of the project will culminate in a complete analysis of its current SMET infrastructure, the formation of a permanent assessment and evaluation process for all present and future SMET programs, and fmally the development of a comprehensive multi-year proposal to increase minority participation in the SMET "knowledge workforce." HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Venerable, Grant Milford Greene Morris Brown College GA Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 0102874 June 1, 2001 TSU College of Science and Technology Enhancement Program (STEP). Texas Southern University (TSU) proposes a Science and Technology Enhancement Program (STEP) One-Year Planning Grant to the NSF Historically Black College and University Undergraduate Program (HBCU UP). The objective is to increase the recruitment, retention and graduation rates of students in undergraduate programs in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) areas through quality enhancements of teaching and student learning at the University. The TSU STEP will achieve this overall objective through four (4) programmatic thrusts: Student recruitment and retention for academic success, Faculty development in teaching and scholarly achievements, Curricular reforms through use of technology, and Assessment and evaluation for sustainability beyond NSF funding. These programmatic thrusts will have measurable goals and timelines to achieve the overall objectives of the TSU STEP. During this one-year planning period the TSU STEP will develop a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan for science and technology. Industry will become an integral part of the S&T programs trough establishing a Corporate and Professional Advisory Committee for the College of Science and Technology and a discipline specific one for each department. Comprehensive plans to assist faculty teaching with technology and enhancing their research capacity will be developed. Each undergraduate academic program will recommend improvements in their curriculum to enhance the quality of the education. An assessment and evaluation plan will be developed such that the TSU STEP will be sustainable after NSF funding has expired. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Davis, Daniel Texas Southern University TX Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 49997 1594 SMET 9178 0102892 June 1, 2001 The Living and Learning Science Retention Program(LALSRP). The Living and Learning Science Retention Program (LALSRP) at Saint Augustine's College is designed to facilitate entry into the junior year by providing a support system for entering freshmen and sophomore science, mathematics and computer science (SMC) majors. A comprehensive approach to provide a support system will be accomplished by implementing the following objectives: 1. To revise and update curriculum to incorporate cooperative learning which will enhance study skills and generate independent learners; 2. To provide participants with intramural research experiences which will increase their analytical reasoning skills and provide hands-on laboratory experiences; 3. To build students' confidence so that they can successfully pursue an undergraduate degree in science and technology by providing positive role models, mentors and a strong academic support system; 4. To assist participants in the understanding of the process involved in pursuing a degree in science and technology by offering seminars, workshops and field trips; and 5. To enhance and develop faculty participants by providing research and curriculum development opportunities. In order to accomplish the stated objectives, the program will consist of five components: (1) Curriculum Enrichment which will include a Pre-freshman Summer Bridge Program, Enrichment Center and a Village of Science and Technology (VOSAT); (2) Undergraduate Research Experience; (3) Seminars and Workshops; (4) Scholarships and (5) Faculty Development. This program will enhance the living and learning community on the campus of Saint Augustine's College. It will serve as a model that can be replicated across the campus and can also be applied to other disciplines. It is anticipated that by the end of the 5-year funding period, the number of SMC graduates at Saint Augustine's College will increase 2 fold. In five years the campus will have an established infrastructure to support the transition of freshmen into the junior year. The dormitory VOSAT in particular, will stimulate scientific and technological discussions among majors and nonmajors on the campus. This proposed Living and Learning Science Retention Program will support 30-50 students each year and impact approximately 1,400 undergraduate students who reside on the campus of Saint Augustine's College. This program will serve as a model that can be replicated on any campus that has a minority based population. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Luckes, Kim Gloria Early Payne Saint Augustine's College NC Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2573421 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0103501 June 1, 2001 Creating Windows of Opportunity for Success in the SMET Areas. Jarvis Christian College, ``the college with the personal touch and where dreams come true,'' proposes an aggressive and comprehensive model Historically Black College and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), engaging a community of academic partners working together to significantly increase minority participation and access to science careers. The Program goal is to develop, implement, evaluate and institutionalize a program that will achieve and sustain a high quality and competitive science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) education program. The comprehensive program proposed for Jarvis emphasizes the following four elements: Pre-College Outreach Programs; Undergraduate Student Scholars; Faculty Development Opportunities; and Curriculum, Equipment and Laboratory Development. The specific objectives are: (1) to implement a summer enhancement and skills development summer workshop for rising high school students who have demonstrated an interest and aptitude in the science areas that will ensure that 80% of the participants will complete the twelfth grade and enroll in college as a SMET major; (2) to implement a summer ``bridge'' program for students entering Jarvis in the Fall that will impact 90% success rate during the first year; (3) to develop an implement a Scholars program customized to achieve 90% undergraduate retention and graduation rates and result in at least 70% enrollment in graduate or professional SMET programs; (4)to develop and implement a comprehensive faculty development program, develop new curricular offerings and expand existing courses for improvement and (5) to increase diversity and the number of SMET majors by 20% annually. All proposed activities support the mission of the National Science Foundation, ``to provide access to quality science education for all students'', and the mission of Jarvis Christian College, ``to provide a quality education to increase the competitiveness of its students in post-baccalaureate efforts.'' The extensive evaluation process and the involvement of the total college community and the community partners will insure its success. This proposed Jarvis Program represents the model for ``Creating Windows of Opportunity for Success in the SMET areas.'' HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Jones, Johnnye Glendora Carter Syed Muniruzzaman Jarvis Christian College TX Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2507411 1594 SMET 9178 0110595 October 1, 2001 Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP): Alabama Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Phase III. The underrepresentation of minorities in the science, mathematics, engineering, and technology workforce is still a national problem, ten years after the National Science Foundation (NFS) initiated the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program. By all accounts great progress has been made, but not enough to turn the problem around. As one of the six oldest National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances in the nation, Alabama has been in the forefront of efforts to increase the quantity and the quality of underrepresented minorities receiving baccalaureate degrees in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) fields. Many of the Alabama Alliance's programs have been replicated by other alliances. The Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ALSAMP) began in 1991 with a baseline of 431 minority SEM undergraduate degrees and reached a peak of 979 in 1999, a 127% increase. The baseline minority SEM enrollment for ALSAMP is 3,301. The minority SEM enrollment for the 1999-2000 academic year is 5,876, a 78% increase. These are indicators of success for ALSAMP Phase I and Phase II. The ALSAMP Phase III proposal is designed to a) sustain the B.S. Degree production levels and student retention rates specified as Phase II goals and b) define a baseline level of and commitment to a significant increase in the number of previous, current, and future baccalaureate recipients entering either a SMET graduate program or a graduate program in teacher education. Thus, the project approach for LSAMP will involve sustaining and institutionalizing current LSAMP Phase II activities and the implementation of new LSAMP Phase III activities as given below. Programs to be Sustained and Institutionalized New LSAMP Phase III Programs LSAMP Summer Bridge Program GRE Preparation for All Students LSAMP Scholars Program Undergraduate Research for All Students Summer Research Internship Program GRE Required for All LSAMP Students LSAMP Graduate Bridge Program SEM Student Mentoring Program Increase Number of SMET Students Entering Graduate School through Tracking Effort Drop-In Centers/Cooperative Learning Intensify Recruitment of Technology Students Summer Research Conference Increase Collaboration with Other Programs Publication of The National LSAMP Magazine National LSAMP Publication in Phase III Budget The major portion of the Phase III budget will support these new programs. Consequently, the Phase II programs will be sustained by cost sharing from participating institutions, support from private sources, and institutionalization. During the next five years, LSAMP will define a baseline level of and commit to a significant increase in the number of baccalaureate degree recipients entering either a SMET graduate program or a graduate program in teacher education. This effort will involve preparing students for success in graduate school and placement in a graduate school of choice. Students will be tracked through graduate school by means of the LSAMP Success Link Program and a graduate student database will be maintained by the Alliance. Collaboration with other NSF programs will be increased substantially, particularly with the NSF Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Program and the NSF Urban Systemic Program. Program activities will be disseminated through the publication of the National LSAMP Magazine and a full-time program evaluator will be appointed to oversee assessment and evaluation activities. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Dale, Louis Mary Braswell University of Alabama at Birmingham AL Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5194516 9133 SMET 9178 9133 7204 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0114472 August 1, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): DIS: On the Air with Gender Equity. This project seeks to impact K-8 grade girls by disseminating information on gender equity issues, barriers, possibilities and role models, via radio to a national audience. Through radio WAMC will develop a weekly segment and 4 regional call-in shows for national distribution that will inform, enlighten, engage, and inspire listeners on the issues and possibilities of gender equity in the sciences for K-8 grade girls. This model will be shared nationally so that it can be replicated. WAMC will create, produce, air and distribute the weekly segments and call-in shows regionally through WAMC's 10 station-network, nationally and globally via Public Radio and ABC satellites, the Internet, mailings of CDs and the Armed Forces Radio. The Gender Equity segments will be incorporated into WAMC's award-winning radio programs "51Percent," their show concerning women's issues, and WAMC's current call-in program "Vox Pop." This project is a collaboration with an Advisory Board of professional women, nationally known for their involvement with gender equity, and The Capital Area School Development Association, a study council affiliated with the School of Education at The University at Albany, SUNY, which serves as a cooperative planning and development unit through which affiliated schools and educational agencies may more effectively define and fulfill their purposes and functions in serving the educational needs of their communities. Both will assist in evaluation of the program and the Advisory Board will give input for program content. This project has the potential of reaching more than 300,000 listeners per month in WAMC's regional area alone. Additionally, "51Percent" is heard on over 125 radio stations nationally via satellite to affiliates of the ABC Radio Networks, via satellite to stations able to access the Public Radio Satellite, and on Compact Disc to stations that are not interconnected. Additionally, the program airs worldwide via the Armed Forces Radio to 133 countries, and online via the Internet through www.wamc.org, the WAMC web site and www.ThePublicRadioStation.com, WAMC's model non-broadcast public radio style program stream. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Darcy, Mary WAMC Northeast Public Radio NY Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 92260 1544 SMET 9177 0114516 August 1, 2001 PGE: PLN Girls' Career-Relevant Interests in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology: Examining Outcome Expectations, Perceived Barriers, and Perceived Supports. The purpose of this research is to increase our understanding of the early career development of girls as they form opinions, develop belief structures, and make decisions about career options in science, mathematics, engineering, and/or technology careers by expanding our theoretical framework and empirical base to include a more direct focus on the influence of outcome expectations, perceived barriers, and perceived support. The need to conduct inquiry into the role of outcome beliefs in the development, stability, and change in career interests, and to examine contextual factors that impact the eventual entry of young girls and women into the pipeline toward pursuing scientific and technical careers provides the framework for the research. This planning grant involves the recruitment and commitment of several collaborating researchers, research institutions, and school systems. Collaborative researchers will provide the expertise across the disciplines of counseling, educational psychology , and science. Collaboration across institutions will provide the opportunity for multiple sites to bring existing resources to bear on the problem and allow for research across widely varying demographics and locations. Multiple school systems will contribute to the opportunity to generalize to populations of rural, suburban, and urban youth, as well as varying socioeconomic groups. The planning year will include the identification of a sufficiently large and diverse sample of girls, and the design and pilot testing of both qualitative and quantitative instrumentation. This study will use a multimethod approach to examine the outcome expectations and perceived barriers and supports ofgirls, ages 10-14, the impact of these expectations on career-related interests, and, if funded through a future grant, the development of these interestS and outcome expectations over time. Focus groups will be used to identify factors to be used in the development of items for several Q-sorts and to be incorporated into assessment tools. Quantitative instruments that will measure the constructs of interest will be designed, when necessary , revised when appropriate, and then pilot tested with middle school youth. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Shoffner, Marie Carolyn Callahan Deborah Newsome University of North Carolina Greensboro NC Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 29665 1544 SMET 9177 0114586 November 1, 2001 LSAMP: Puerto Rico-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, Phase III: Constructing Permanent Pathways to Graduate Studies. The Puerto Rico Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PR-LSAMP) is an alliance of the Resource Center for Science and Engineering of the University of Puerto Rico, the University of Puerto Rico System, the Inter American University System, Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, and Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. During the academic year 1999-00, these institutions had a SMET enrollment of 27,441, or 90% of the SMET undergraduate population on the Island. Ninety-nine percent of the student population is Hispanic and 80% are low-income students. The goal of the PR-LSAMP is to increase the quantity and quality of minority college students who successfully complete a BS/BE degree and enter and complete a graduate degree in a SMET field. During Phase I and II (1991-92 to 1999-00), PR-LSAMP institutions awarded 21,878 BS degrees in SMET, with a 62% annual increment from baseline year, from 1,709 annual degrees in 1991 to 2,771 in 1999-2000. This was achieved following a two-prong approach: (1) increasing enrollment in SMET disciplines, and (2) improving retention and graduation rates by implementing a series of strategies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of SMET programs. In Phase III, PR-LSAMP will build upon these achievements to: (1) further increase the SMET production curve from 2,771 to 3,600, which more than doubles the Phase I baseline figure of 1,709; (2) increase to 50% the percent of BS SMET graduates from UPR institutions who enter graduate school, and to 25% for those graduating from the private institutions, and (3) increase the number of BS graduates from PR-LSAMP institutions that complete a PhD degree in SMET, either locally or nationally, from 239 to 300 by the end of year 5. During Phase I and Phase II the core of PR-LSAMP was the revision of the SMET curriculum to emphasize for depth of understanding with a "less is more approach", to promote active learning based on inquiry and the use of interactive demonstrations, to incorporate technology to the learning process, and the development of broad-based mathematics skills. Teaching strategies such as cooperative learning and the development of Study/Learning Skills within the Context of a Course were also implemented across SMET disciplines. Jointly with this curriculum revision, PR-LSAMP offered undergraduate SMET students mentoring and research opportunities to increase their motivation to remain in SMET careers and enhance their qualification for pursuing graduate studies. During Phase I and II a total of 2,363 research stipends were awarded, for an average of 262 stipends per year. As a result of these sustained efforts, the Index of Course Efficiency (the average number of times students have to take a SMET course to satisfactorily pass it), was reduced from an average of 2.5 to 1.7. The average graduation rate at UPR institutions increased from 48% to 62% in science, while the average graduation rate for engineering at UPR increased from 53% to 81%. At private institutions the average graduation rate increased to 49%. Also the weighted average for satisfactory grades in science and mathematics courses increased from 47.5% to 59.3%. In the case of Engineering courses, the weighted average increased from 74% to 83%. For Phase III PR-LSAMP proposes the following additional strategies to complete the construction of permanent pathways to graduate studies in SMET: 1) the development of interactive web-based learning to master hard to teach concepts in science and mathematics; (2) the development of electronic modules to expand the interdisciplinary capabilities of undergraduate SMET students to further enhance their preparation for graduate studies; 3) the scaling-up of the teaching/learning strategies that have proven successful in improving student performance in SMET courses, through ongoing academic and technical assistance to faculty and an Annual Best Practices Conference; and 4) the development of Information Technology skills in SMET students so they are capable of making effective and more critical use of accurate and valid information in their professional lives. To increase the number of students pursuing undergraduate degrees in SMET, PR-LSAMP will develop a Pre-College to College Bridging Component that will induct students into research experiences, and to further enhance the number of students entering graduate school and completing a PhD in SMET, PR-LSAMP will expand its research and mentoring program to provide a larger number of students with key skills and guidance to improve their preparation and motivation for graduate studies, in coordination with the Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program. The results of the project will be disseminated widely in the professional community through presentations at regional and national scientific meetings. Curricular materials developed will be available to other institutions through CD format and the WWW. The general public will have access to updated information on the PR-LSAMP through its website. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Gomez, Manuel Ana Pinero University of Puerto Rico PR Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5419071 9133 SMET 9178 9133 7204 0114649 August 1, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Girls for Planet Earth (DEM). The Wildlife Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo seeks NSF funding to develop an exciting new three-year program designed to engage girls and young women in science. Operated with the Girl Scouts of the USA, the National 4-H Council, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Girls Inc., and the Children's Aid Society, the program will reach thousands of girls across the U.S. over the grant period and thousands more thereafter. The WCS is uniquely qualified to run this program, having on its staff many women science professionals who are national and international leaders in their fields, and having conducted a number of pioneering programs for young women in the recent past. The 36-month program will consist of: - An Annual Earth Summit that will introduce 80 girls ages 14-17 to environmental science, including key environmental issues in regions across the U.S., as well as to careers and women role models in environmental science. (The girls will attend the Summit in teams of two or three.) -A series of service-learning projects through which the Earth Summit participants will be strongly encouraged to apply what they have learned in a community-based project that combines knowledge, service and reflection. -A program of technical assistance, through which the participants will be provided with ongoing assistance that will enable them to more effectively plan and implement their service- learning projects; and - A ``Virtual Club House,'' through which the girls will be able to communicate with each other and WCS staff about the program and environmental issues. The clubhouse will also showcase projects that the Earth Summit participants will conduct and explain how other young people might undertake similar community outreach and research projects. The proposed program represents a unique means of increasing the participation of girls and young women in science. It will capitalize on the enthusiasm young people have for animals, nature, and for visiting informal science centers, such as the Bronx Zoo, to excite girls and young women about science learning. The program will also seek to increase involvement through a focus on ecology and environmental science, subjects that are of immediate relevance to students. With their world being increasingly altered by human activity, what happens to the environment is of tremendous importance to the daily lives of girls and young women today and will become even more so in the future. By focusing on content that is immediately relevant, we believe the program will significantly increase participant involvement. The program will build on a hugely successful Wildlife Science Careers Program that the Wildlife Conservation Society has been undertaking over the past three years in conjunction with the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York. This extremely popular program has involved 315 eighth- and ninth-grade Girl Scouts and trained many of them to introduce thousands of younger Girl Scouts in New York City to career opportunities in science. The new program will allow the WCS to reach girls across the U.S., to involve girls in science projects that will be of benefit to local communities, and to broaden the emphasis of the Wildlife Science Careers Program from science careers to a more general focus on environmental science and local environmental issues. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Berkovits, Annette Wildlife Conservation Society NY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 601461 1544 SMET 9177 0114669 June 1, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Girls Re-designing and Excelling in Advanced Technology (GREAT!). The Miami Museum of Science proposes to design and implement an innovative model program to increase the confidence, interest and preparedness of girls to pursue academic and employment opportunities related to high end careers in the field of information technology (IT). Titled GREAT! (Girls Redesigning and Excelling in Advanced Technology), the project will build on the body of research related to girls and IT to develop and model effective methodologies for engaging girls as designers - - as opposed to simply users -- of IT applications. The overall goal of GREAT! is to raise interest and skills in advanced technology applications among middle school girls, particularly girls of color, resulting in increased representation of females in academic programs and employment opportunities leading to high end IT careers. Specific objectives of GREAT! are to build girls' confidence and expertise with advanced technology applications; to engage them in the use of advanced technology to solve real world problems; to strengthen girls' communication and presentation skills; to contribute to and inform the field through a comprehensive evaluation of project outcomes, and to disseminate project methodologies and findings among informal science education institutions and other interested parties. The Museum will collaborate with Miami Dade County Public School's Urban Systemic Program to recruit 40 middle school girls each year, for a total of 120 girls over the duration of the project. Over the course of a two year period, participants will assume the roles of IT designers, acquiring progressively complex technology skills culminating in the creation of a fully interactive 3 D virtual Museum exhibit experience. Girls will begin by participating in a 12 week Saturday Technology Workshop which will take place over the course of the academic year. Following completion of the Technology Workshop series, girls will take part in a 4 week intensive summer Design Studio in which they will use state of the art virtual reality (VR) technology to create a VR production showcasing an invention of their own design. Girls will work in teams of four, with each team assigned a mentor (a female college student majoring in computer technology or a related field) who will provide technical guidance and serve as a role model. Upon completing their productions, girls will strengthen their presentation skills and increase self esteem and self confidence through Family Night presentations and by exhibiting and interpreting their work to visitors in the Museum galleries for a one month period during the subsequent academic year. The Museum will contract with VR Visions and the Center for Children and Technology to provide design support. Kathleen Tyner of Media Analysis & Practice will serve as the project's external evaluator, responsible for formative and summative evaluation of project activities. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Brown, Judy Miami Museum of Science Inc FL Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 899960 1544 SMET 9177 0114680 June 15, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Reengineering Operation SMART. Girls Incorporated seeks a planning grant of $30,000 from the National Science Foundation's Program in Gender Equity to develop a plan and proposal to reengineer our Operation SMART program. With the proposed grant, Girls Inc. will compile and assess the research, technology, and our own experience relative to girls and science, math, engineering, and technology. We will then convene a meeting of experts to discuss this body of knowledge and help map out are engineered program design and demonstration plan for Operation SMART. This will enable us to provide an informed, relevant, accessible, and exciting new program to capture and retain the interest of a new generation of girls in the areas of science, math, engineering, and technology. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Martinez, Joe Heather Johnston Nicholson Janet Stanton Girls Incorporated NY Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 30002 1544 SMET 9177 0114683 September 1, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): DEM-Girls Exploring Mathematics through Social Sciences (GEMS). This demonstration project grows out of planning grant activity, which designed a multi-level approach to adapting a successful, intensice two-week summer program to reach a broader audience of urban girls. The present project (GEMS, or Girls Explore Mathematics through Social Science) encompasses an integrated set of three programs designed to strengthen middle-school girls' interest, competence and confidence in mathematics and mathematics-related activities through engaging them in social science research on adolescents. All three progams offer a curriculum that is attractive to middle-school girls, and that encourages their interest in mathematics, science and technology through their pre-existing interest in social issues. All three programs enhance girls' technical skills and itnerests by building on their preference for collaboration and connection; and all three encourage contact with older, relevant model-mentors. The project includes a 10 week, Saturday morning version of the program (GO-GIRL or Gaining Options: Girls Investigate Real Life) that can be offered to urban girls, but retains the key features of high interest, hands-on experience, collaboration, and intergenerational mentoring; and a web based version of the program (SMART-GIRL or Surveys Mathematics and Research Technology: Girls Investigate Real Life) that expands the capacity of a popular existing website to teah girls how to gather and analyze survey data online. At both the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, this project will provide opportunities for the pre-service teachers of mathematics and social studies who are also students, to observe, train, and teach girls on a small scale. The project will yield an economical version of the GEMS curriculum that is usable in urban settings, a teacher professional development program that is exportable to other institutions, as well as appropriate support materials to enable others to implement this curriculum in other cities. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Reid, Pamela Abigail Stewart University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 942756 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0114712 November 1, 2001 Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMO): Phase III: Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities. Phase III Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities (WAESO) LSAMP proposes to (1) institutionalize its highly successful LSAMP Phase II activities, (2) double once again the degree rate from our current baseline to achieve 2,260 underrepresented minority science, mathematics, engineering, andtechnology (SMET) BS degrees in the year 2006, and (3) expand and link LSAMP graduates and Phase III LSAMP participating underrepresented minority SMET undergraduate students to our MGE@MSA AGEP and other AGEPs with high technology products that will help our students and graduates both in our service region and nationally. The Phase III WAESO LSAMP is the undergraduate component of a comprehensive, concerted, sequenced effort that helps students beginning in secondary school throughundergraduate, graduate school, and beyond, including the transition of college sophomores, juniors, and seniors toward graduate school and the development of high technology products with application or dissemination both regionally and nationally. Although, our LSAMP NSF funds will focus solely on undergraduate students, we will use non-NSF funds to support thousands of pre-college students and use both NSF AGEP and non-NSF funds to help hundreds of graduate students and graduates of Ph.D. or Master level programs beginning in the 7th grade and going through the doctorate and even beyond to faculty status or careers in the corporate or government sectors. Some of the unique and highly effective features of our Phase II LSAMP that will be institutionalized in Phase III WAESO lie within the sequence and integration of the various levels of the project. For example, (1) Integrating pre-college and graduate study with our core undergraduate project in a coherent and effective way; (2) Giving scientists, specifically faculty members who are currently working with students in classrooms and laboratories and who review and rank projects which in turn also come from the field and need to compete for funds, primary control over project activities and the allocation of funds, including the flexibility to make mid-course corrections in the funding of deserving (or undeserving) projects, through their participation in the operational committees; (3) Using high-technology to produce and distribute underrepresented minority-focused SMET materials as well as to coordinate project components over great distances through the use of DVDs, CD-ROMs, the Internet, and the World Wide Web; and (4) Developing and maintain special programmatic initiatives directed toward each of our participating student populations, including American Indians. Thanks to strong long-term institutional support, we have the ability to not only meet the basic LSAMP cost-sharing requirements but, even more importantly, to meet the institutionalization costs of the new, third phase of the LSAMP program. Based on the successes of Phase I in doubling the number of graduates per year of our target population and being above a similar doubling goal in Phase II, we propose to take on the formidable task of achieving B.S. degree rates reflective of the substantial underrepresented minority population of our region which is 25.8% American Indian, African American, and Hispanic. Thus, our long-term numerical goal in the year 2011 of 2,858 SMET B.S. degrees awarded to American Indian, African American, and Hispanics as accomplishing parity with our regional population of these Americans. For the purposes of Phase III, we are establishing a goal of doubling the degree rate once again from our current baseline to achieve 2,260 degrees in the year 2006, which is well on the way to achieving parity. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Garcia, Antonio Milton Glick Albert McHenry Alfredo de los Santos Gary Keller Arizona State University AZ Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5244000 9133 SMET 9178 9133 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0114723 September 1, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): DEM:Women on the Prairie: Bringing Girls into Science through Environmental Stewardship. This demonstration project, a collaborative network of faculty, public school teachers and counselors, and professionals in both private sector/non-profit organizations will deliver and evaluate activities designed to bolster and reinforce the interest of middle-school girls in SMET disciplines and careers. These activities are based on research showing that access to role models, career information, and hands-on activities have beneficial effects. A hands-on summer workshop, industrial site tours, classroom activities, visits with women scientists and engineers, activities developed in conjunction with commercial and service organizations, and a web site characterize the intervention for the 6th and 7th grade girls who participate. Furthermore, in response to research showing that professional development for teachers, interactions between teachers and scientists, and implementation of methods to address diversity and gender equity issues are of paramount importance in creating more gender equitable classrooms, middle-school and high-school teacher in science and mathematics will be invited to partner with University faculty in developing the summer workshop activities. In addition, they will be invited to participate in a graduate-level course on gender equity in science and mathematics education and conduct action research projects that can be shared within the collaborative network. Finally, packets with information on both various SMET careers and on women who are currently employed in these fields, will be distributed to school counselors, the parents of girls in Girl Scout troops, and the parents of those girls who participate in the project activities. Summative evaluation will focus on the comparison of SMET course-taking patterns and course grades of participants in the project activities compared to a matched sample of girls who did not participate. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Montelone, Beth Jacqueline Spears Ruth Dyer Kimberly Douglas-Mankin Lisa Freeman Kansas State University KS Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 875343 1544 SMET 9177 0114741 June 15, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Dis: Science, Gender and After School: Creating a Research/Action Agenda. Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Dis: Science, Gender and After School: Creating a Research/Action Agenda Educational Equity Concepts, Inc. (EEC), in collaboration with the Directorate for Human Resources and Education at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Academy for Educational Development (AED) requests $100,000 over 18 months from the National Science Foundation Program for Gender Equity for a dissemination project to create a research/action agenda around SMET programming for girls in the informal, out-of-school learning arena. The overall goal of the project is to use after-school programming as a vehicle to both engage and sustain girls= interest in pursuing education and careers in SMET. Specific objectives are to: (1) bring together a multi-disciplinary group of researchers and practitioners in a working conference setting; (2) develop a research/action agenda; (3) develop an action plan to carry out the agenda; and (4) disseminate the conference proceedings to researchers, practitioners, gender equity activists, policy-makers, and funders who are involved in informal and SMET education. Research focusing on girls at this juncture is critical because although there are a growing number of SMET programs, we do not know which programs are effective and which are not, especially with regard to engaging and supporting girls interest in SMET. The out-of-school learning arena encompasses community and school-based after- school programs; summer camp and Saturday/weekend programs; museum programs; programs at community technology centers; college/university science programs; on-line science clubs and competitions; and programs offered by girl-specific organizations. After-school as an educational field (rather than child-minding or purely recreational) is both new and growing. Moreover, we are moving rapidly toward a technology-based economy where women are an increasing part of the workforce. This conference will take advantage of a ground floor opportunity to create a research/action agenda and inform the development of SMET programs that are free of gender and other forms of bias--race, ethnicity and disability that have traditionally contributed to educational inequality. The agenda created at the conference will be distributed to a broad audience of researchers, practitioners, gender equity activists, policy-makers, and funders. In doing so, the conference will extend awareness and information about the participation of girls and women in SMET education; catalyze new thinking on the subject; and serve as a springboard for research and action. Dissemination will take place via journals, publications, web sites, listservs, and professional association conferences. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Froschl, Merle Barbara Sprung Educational Equity Concepts Inc NY Margrete S. Klein Continuing grant 100249 1544 SMET 9177 0114747 November 1, 2001 Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP): LSAMP Pacific Alliance. The LSAMP Pacific Alliance proposes to initiate a collaborative that will effect a systemic change in the hiring patterns of Alaskan Natives, Native Americans, and Pacific Rim Islanders in the fields of SMET. The goals would be achieved by increasing the number of individuals who can access SMET careers through the increased recruitment, retention and placement within partner communities. The specific target is to double the number of Indigenous American students graduating annually, with 50% going on to graduate school. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Schroeder, Herb University of Alaska Anchorage Campus AK Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2078752 9133 1515 SMET 9178 9133 0114756 November 1, 2001 AMP: SUNY Alliance for Minority Participation: Developing,Testing and Disseminating Effective Educational Models. In Phase II, SUNY LSAMP will be building on the infrastructure, research base and replicable models from Phase I and will scale up those programs with approaches that work and advance new initiative to address those areas of greatest challenge. The goals of SUNY LSAMP are to double the number of underrepresented minority students getting bachelors degrees in SMET disciplines; to encourage students to graduate study, into the professoriate and into the SMET workforce; to encourage curricular and pedagogical change in SMET disciplines and to institutionalize SUNY LSAMP goals. Strong emphasis will be placed on strengthening the program at key transition points (high school to college, 2- to 4-year college and undergraduate to graduate study), on replicating innovative program models, providing comprehensive student support services, continuing to build undergraduate research experience and strengthening the SUNY LSAMP Alliance. SUNY LSAMP is a coalition of sixteen four-year and community colleges within the State University of New York (SUNY) system and program partners. Key program partners are Computer Associates, BP Amoco, Brookhaven National Laboratory; the New York State Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP), and the SUNY Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (SUNY AGEP). ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Kenny, Shirley C. Robert Emerson SUNY at Stony Brook NY Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2604900 9133 SMET 9178 7204 0114855 November 1, 2001 AMP: Heartland's Alliance for Minority Participation. The partners of the Louis Stokes Missouri Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-MoAMP) are proposing to move the consortium into a Phase II initiative. The new phase focuses on increasing baccalaureate production by fifteen percent annually over a five-year period. A primary strategy proposed to support that objective is to include all four-year public institutions in the partnership for Phase II, increasing the collaborative by four institutions: Truman State University, Missouri Western State College, Missouri Southern State College, and Northwest Missouri State University. This addition is expected to increase participation by twenty-five percent. The alliance's baseline and degree target is adjusted to reflect this addition. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Sampson, Charles University of Missouri-Columbia MO Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2518842 9133 SMET 9178 9133 0114859 June 15, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Girls Online: GO Team!. Through funding provided by the National Science Foundation, the Nature Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with El Valor and James Ward School will create Girls Online: GO Team! , an innovative after-school science and technology program that targets girls between the ages of eleven and thirteen living in underserved areas of Chicago. This pilot program will offer engaging science activities and real-world applications to teachhands-on science and technology to approximately 450 girls over a three-year period. Each semester, between forty-five and ninety girls will join the GO Team! at locations in their own neighborhoods. Of the girls who excel in this after-school program, six will be selected every semester to return and team teach with Academy staff to a new group of participating girls. As the girls grow in competency and skills, they can attend a more advanced GO Team! the following semester. The participating girls will attend weekly lab sessions taught by educators and scientists from the Academy, have fun with their families at a Kick -Off celebration and a Graduation Ceremony, learn about science and technology careers during a job shadow day with museum staff and outside professionals, and learn how science and technology impact their everyday lives. Successful women mentors will function as teachers and role models to help build the girls' science knowledge, career choices, and self-esteem. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Widener, Douglas Rafael Rosa Chicago Academy of Sciences IL Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 562484 1544 SMET 9177 0114882 September 1, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): LCP: Middle School Students' REALM (Really Exploring and Learning Meteorology). The Meteorology Department and Science Education program of Florida State University, in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will carry out a school-site meteorological project to be located in Miami/Dade County Public Schools. This new collaborative project is entitled Middle School Students' REALM (Really Exploring And Learning Meteorology). The project's foci are: (1) to expose more middle school girls to meteorological science content, (2) to develop a positive and supportive learning environment for participating girls and boys, (3) to provide on site technical assistance to participating science teachers for content implementation, and (4) to provide a vehicle for greater parent-girl participation in science activities. In order to maximize resources, available meteorology resources (weather stations) that are in demographically dispersed middle schools will be used. Involvement in this project will enhance girls' awareness of career opportunities for women in the field of science in general and meteorology in particular. This project will also increase middle school girls' self-esteem and confidence in learning science concepts, which integrate the use of mathematics and technology. This project model aims to reduce the attrition in advanced level science, mathematics and technology coursework that typically occurs as girls move from middle school to high school, which carries over into higher education. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Gallard, Alejandro Paul Ruscher Mara Hernandez Florida State University FL Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 887322 1544 SMET 9177 0114917 August 1, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): (DEM) Bringing Up Girls in Science. Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS) is a demonstration project in the Department of Technology and Cognition at the University of North Texas (UNT). The goal of this project is to provide educational experiences in an outdoor learning lab for girls in grades four and five that will increase girls' interest, participation, self-concept, knowledge, and achievement in the environmental sciences. During Year One, thirty 4 th and 5 th grade girls (BUGS participants) will participate in an after school outdoor science lab at Sam Houston Elementary in the Denton Independent School District in Denton, TX. Participants for the project will be recruited from across the district. BUGS participants will be mentored by female high students enrolled in the Texas Academy for Mathematics and Science (TAMS). BUGS participants and mentors will be joined the second and third year of the project by girls in special populations at distance sites through the use of two-way audio-visual desktop conferencing tools, a project WEB site, chat rooms, and computer ``pen-pals''. For the second and third year special populations joining the project will include: (1) students with emotional and behavioral problems attending Rose Street Day Program and Therapeutic School in Wichita Falls, TX; (2) a school district which serves large numbers of Hispanic and Native American students in Bernalillo, New Mexico; and (3) students from a rural school district in Decatur, Texas. BUGS participants at distance sites will be able to use ``electronic field trips'' developed from activities that were videotaped during Year One to increase their opportunities to participate in the ``outdoor science lab experience.'' Family involvement will be ongoing throughout the project. Career awareness and educational opportunities materials will be housed by a local public library for the parents of BUGS participants. Three parent meetings per year will be provided to ``showcase'' student work and provide educational and career information. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Tyler-Wood, Tandra Mark Mortensen Jane Pemberton University of North Texas TX Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 900001 1544 SMET 9177 0114945 July 15, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Early influences on gender differences in mathematics achievement. This project over a year period, will examine gender differences in the ways strategy use, speed of retrieval, spatial skills, confidence in mathematics, and conceptual understanding predict mathematics achievement. The longitudinal study beginning in the second grade and ending in the fourth grade, will document whether gender difference found in early strategy use, spatial skills and confidence continue through three years of elementary school and whether they promote each other's development and mathematics achievement. The elementary school years have been selected for study because although gender differences in strategy use, spatial skills, and confidence have been documented in elementary school age children, it is not clear how these differences may impact mathematics achievement. If mathematics achievement and conceptual understanding are affected by these early emerging gender differences that would suggest a need to intervene in girls' mathematics in the early elementary school years as opposed to waiting until the middle school and high school years when gender differences become more pronounced.This project over a year period, will examine gender differences in the ways strategy use, speed of retrieval, spatial skills, confidence in mathematics, and conceptual understanding predict mathematics achievement. The longitudinal study beginning in the second grade and ending in the fourth grade, will document whether gender difference found in early strategy use, spatial skills and confidence continue through three years of elementary school and whether they promote each other's development and mathematics achievement. The elementary school years have been selected for study because although gender differences in strategy use, spatial skills, and confidence have been documented in elementary school age children, it is not clear how these differences may impact mathematics achievement. If mathematics achievement and conceptual understanding are affected by these early emerging gender differences that would suggest a need to intervene in girls' mathematics in the early elementary school years as opposed to waiting until the middle school and high school years when gender differences become more pronounced. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Carr, Martha University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc GA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 134432 1544 SMET 9177 0115042 November 1, 2001 Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMO): Northeast Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. The proposal initiates a partnership to support an LSAMP Phase I alliance of institutions to increase enrollment, retention, and graduation of underrepresented minority undergraduate students in SMET. The partnership institutions are University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Northeastern University, the University of Rhode Island, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The goal of the alliance is to double the current SMET student enrollment by underrepresented minorities (845) in five years, and to significantly increase (toward doubling) the number of SMET degrees awarded (120 in 2000). ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Cunningham, John Charlena Seymour University of Massachusetts Amherst MA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2100000 9133 SMET 9178 9133 0115050 November 1, 2001 Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP): LSAMP: Colorado Alliance for Minority Participation Co-AMP -- Phase II. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Elhakim, Omnia Colorado State University CO Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2550000 9133 SMET 9178 0115115 November 1, 2001 Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMO): LSAMP-California Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Phase III. One of 28 national alliances, CAMP is entering the ninth year of a ten-year cooperative agreement between the National Science Foundation and UC Irvine, the lead campus and administrative center. The primary numerical goal is to double the number of B.S. degrees granted to underrepresented students in SMET (science, mathematics, engineering, technology) majors at the University of California. Offered at the eight general UC campuses, CAMP has created a systemwide network of faculty, program staff and students working toward a common set of measured outcomes. Goals include completion of the B.S. degree, preparation for and transition to graduate school or the professional workplace. The program serves undergraduates through enrichment opportunities and faculty mentored research supported by stipends. This effort has contributed to a 78% increase in B.S. degrees granted by UC from the baseline year (1990-91). Activities center on faculty mentored research experiences, collaborative learning, presenting at scientific conferences, science writing and co-authorship, technology literacy, and preparation for graduate school. Student achievement is disseminated through the Quarterly and on-line, www.camp.uci.edu. A permanent allocation through the UC Regents Diversity Initiative supports program infrastructure, administration, and expansion. Using a synergistic approach, the California Alliance collaborates with affiliated initiatives such as UC LEADS and AGEP (Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) that enhance baccalaureate degree completion and continuation to advanced study. Responding to the paucity of minorities in faculty positions in the university and nationwide, special emphasis is being placed on encouraging students to prepare for a career in academia, and entering the professoriate. The CAMP mission: Scientists and engineers are best prepared by other scientists and engineers who exhibit and expect scholarly excellence. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Drake, Michael Debra Richardson University of California-Irvine CA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5244000 9133 SMET 9178 9133 0115807 November 1, 2001 Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP): Mississippi Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Program (MLSAMP). After nine years of this alliance, we have learned what the needs of our students are, and acted to produced desired results. We will continue many of the strategies put in place over the past nine years, since they are producing excellent results! GOALS: The aims of the Mississippi Alliance in Phase III will be to: 1. Increase the number of SMET graduates from an estimated 661 to 825 by 2007; 2. Increase the number and percentage of minority students enrolled in SMET; 3. Increase retention rates of minority students in SMET; 4. Increase the annual graduation rate of enrolled seniors; 5. Track progression of baccalaureates into graduate and professional programs and careers; 6. Double the number of baccalaureates enrolling into graduate programs in SMET by 2007; 7. Double the number of minority students who earn Ph.D. degrees in SMET by 2007; 8. Develop institutional cultures that value diversity; 9. Forge partnerships with business and government across the state and region; 10. Leverage the federal dollars into institutionalized programs; We will continue to emphasize undergraduate education but will develop productive bridges to graduated education. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Perkins, James Jackson State University MS Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 4275076 9133 SMET 9178 9133 7204 0116000 November 1, 2001 Mid Eastern Alliance for Minority Participation. The proposal initiates a partnership to support an LSAMP Phase I alliance of seven institutions to address the problem of underrepresentation of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans in technological education and enterprises. The partnership institutions are Elizabeth City State University, Fisk University, James Madison University, Johnson C. Smith University, St. Augustine's College, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The goal of the alliance is to double the current number of SMET degrees earned by underrepresented minorities (371) in five years. To achieve this the alliance will incorporate regionally focused orientation programs for first-year students, oversee program management and technical assistance aggressively, and measure progress toward the outcomes through internal and external evaluation. Skill development activities including undergraduate research experiences and mentor guidance will be provided for LSAMP participants, and enrichment activities will be provided to improve the analytical skills of K-12 students. The program will also pursue goals for graduate school matriculation by LSAMP graduates. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Franklin, Bernard Harry Bass Phillip Archer Virginia Union University VA Martha L. James Cooperative Agreement 3388541 9133 SMET 9178 9133 0117261 September 1, 2001 Tribal Colleges and Universities: Technical Assistance Support to the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) is an organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, which has as its members 32 Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCUs) from throughout the United States. AIHEC has a history of administering programs and providing technical assistance on a variety of matters. A Board of Directors composed of the presidents of all member colleges governs AIHEC. A full-time staff is located at the AIHEC Central Office in Alexandria, Virginia. AIHEC has a long-term commitment to improving technology and the use of technology at TCUs. This application is for a special project award to provide technical assistance to TCUs, Alaska Native and Native-Hawaiian-serving institutions to be funded under NSF's Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). Under the two-year TCUP technical assistance proposal described below, AIHEC proposes to assist eligible applicants in developing high-quality proposals to the TCUP Program through a two-day workshop and a web-based technology collaborative and to provide on-going technical support to ensure achievement of TCUP goals and objectives. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Billy, Carrie American Indian Higher Education Consortium VA Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 1108666 1744 SMET 9178 0120249 November 1, 2001 PLN: Attracting and retaining African American females in the computing sciences. Xavier University of Louisiana is using a planning grant to develop a research project aimed at understanding more about African American female students who are drawn to and succeed in computer sciences. The research plan is to characterize students in this group who are interested in computing sciences, find the motivating factors of success, and classify the views they have of the profession. Based on this research, undergraduate programs could be shaped to increase the numbers of African American females entering undergraduate computing sciences and encourage those in the field of study to continue through graduate school. Xavier is developing partnerships with other HBCUs and universities to collaborate in the future project, develop corporate partners, develop graduate school partners (in particular those experience with research procedures and women's issues), establish an advisory board, and obtain definitions of roles and cooperative agreements. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Lopez, Antonio Lisa Schulte-Gipson Xavier University of Louisiana LA Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 30000 1544 SMET 9178 0120450 September 1, 2001 Program for Gender Equity in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (PGE): Increasing the Participation by Women in Undergraduate Physics: What Works?. A team based at Colorado College is conducting a study of undergraduate physics departments with high and average participation by women, in order to learn what works in attracting and retaining women in the undergraduate physics major. Ten schools that offer a bachelor's degree in physics, but no graduate degrees, were selected. Both public and private schools are included, and at least two are HBCU's. The project has several goals: oTo study some of the many things that have been tried by the physics community and learn what works to increase the number of women majoring in physics. oTo investigate the unusual success of some primarily undergraduate institutions in cultivating women physics majors. oTo find examples of common errors in programs and practices that could be corrected if they were recognized and understood. oTo see whether and how innovations in physics pedagogy have improved the climate for women. oTo communicate our results back to the physics community. A team consisting of two physics professors, one social science professor, and one student assistant are collecting demographic information about the faculty and students at each department. The team is making a two-day site visit to each department, which includes interviews with students, faculty, and administrators, and visits to classes and laboratories. The team is investigating departmental climate, the quality of teaching and advising, the style of classes, and other factors that have been proposed to make physics departments more comfortable for women students. The high participation departments will be compared with the average participation departments to determine what works to recruit and retain women in the undergraduate physics major. Results of this study will be reported in a peer-reviewed journal, and publicized in talks, journal articles, and on the Web. It is hoped that the results of this project will help the physics community evaluate its efforts to attract more women, and find ways to further improve its efforts. The physics community has been concerned about the low participation by women for a decade or so, and much progress had been made; the percentage of bachelors degrees awarded to women has more than doubled in the last twenty-five years. But physics continues to lag behind the other sciences; in 1998, 19% of bachelor's degrees in physics were awarded to women, in contrast to 40% of bachelor's degrees in mathematics and chemistry, and more than half in the life sciences. Several national initiatives are devoted to making physics more attractive to women and other members of underrepresented groups. In addition, individual physics departments are trying a variety of formal and informal programs to increase the level of participation by women. These efforts are unevenly distributed among physics departments, and departments vary widely in the percentage of women majors, some departments have as many as 40% women, and others are far below the national average. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Whitten, Barbara Colorado College CO Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 131468 1544 SMET 9178 0120458 October 1, 2001 RES - Women in Information Technology: Pivotal Transitions from School to Careers. The " Women in Information Technology: Pivotal Transitions from School to Careers" project is gathering primary research data for K-12 and university educators, policy makers, and administrators about those pivotal transition points in girls' lives that result in their positive or negative view of information technology as a viable career choice. It is gathering new information about how the total environment - at the high school, community college, and university levels, both inside and outside the school -- helps shape girls' perceptions of technology as friendly or unfriendly to them. It will document longitudinally the impact of family, peers, school, and community on girls' perceptions of IT careers; examine the key transition points in girls' experiences with technology; and determine how the choice of a nontraditional career is associated with the development of self-authorship. The project combines standard interview and survey techniques within the theoretical framework of self-authorship. Methods include a pre- and post-survey; individual interviews; small group interviews; a videotape documentary and case studies of the longitudinal development of girls' career transitions and choices; and group activities using computer programs to stimulate girls' interest in and understanding of IT careers. A set of IT careers workshops are planned as an incentive for participating students and parents, as another data collection point, and as a model for IT career exploration. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty with expertise in the areas of gender and science, quantitative and qualitative research methods in the social sciences, and information technology impacts on children, youth, and families. Dr. Marcia Baxter Magolda, leading expert in the study of how college students' and young adults' self-authorship effects their learning capacity, will act as an advisor for this project. The other advisors include a former school principal and superintendent, evaluation and data analysis expert, educational technology expert, state technology workforce director, and a communications researcher. WORKFORCE RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Burger, Carol Peggy Meszaros Elizabeth Creamer Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 921557 1713 1544 SMET 9178 0120465 October 1, 2001 DIS - Gender Schemas and Science Careers: Tutorials for Change. The project will produce on-line tutorials for SMET students and faculty at colleges and universities, and for anyone else interested in a summary of research about the role of gender in science careers. The tutorials will be developed using Powerpoint slides with voice-over narration. Each will include an annotated bibliography, a questionnaire for site visitors to fill out (voluntarily), the opportunity to send queries and comments to PI, and question and answer material from those emailed messages. The work will be performed at Hunter College - CUNY and the tutorials will be mounted on a Hunter College server. The tutorials can thus be reached by anyone in the world with access to the web. Once a demonstration tutorial is created, the PI will contact educational institutions and groups concerned with gender equity in science in order to invite such groups to evaluate the tutorial and to provide a link to the Hunter College site. As the project continues, more organizations and groups will be invited to create links to the site. Tutorials like these do not currently exist. The PI is uniquely qualified as the author of a published book on women's advancement in the professions (extensively summarizing research), as a cognitive psychologist who has developed new courses related to gender, as a frequent presenter on the topic (having given 100+ presentations to and discussions with science students and educators), and as the developer of a web site for prospective graduate students to Hunter's MA Program in Psychology. The PI in particular will leverage experience giving lectures to diverse audiences. Outcome measures will be evaluated from a) the number of visits to the site and to each tutorial, b) the number of educational institutions and organizations with links to the site, c) analysis of questionnaires and emailed messages. Feedback results that are relevant to the larger community will be posted to the site once they have been analyzed. Science-based information about inadvertent bias in evaluations of men and women is available in technical sources but is not known to most students or educators. The resulting product will provide a suite of 15-minute tutorials that could be incorporated into workshops, briefings, classroom discussions, web sites, and on-line courses aimed at anyone studying the underrepresentation of women in SMET. The content drawing on many research findings and results is a substantive and accessible complement to many briefings and reports that primarily present summaries of statistics. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Valian, Virginia CUNY Hunter College NY Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 101500 1544 SMET 9178 0120492 September 15, 2001 PLN: Women in SMET Undergraduate Programs (WISUP). Middle Tennessee State University is using a planning grant to design a demonstration program, WISUP@MTSU, (Women in SMET Undergraduate Programs @ MTSU). The project team is investigating and identifying the best practices to attract and to retain women in all fields of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology and to to build on successful programs already in place at MTSU. The goal is to design a technology intensive and supportive program to attract and to retain high school senior and undergraduate freshmen women into SMET disciplines at MTSU. The experience, technical and scientific talents of the WISUP Team and the strong support from the College of Basic and Applied Sciences and the university will result in a successful planning grant and the submission of a full demonstration proposal in the next NSF/PGE funding cycle. MTSU is currently graduating slightly less than the national percentage of women in the SMET disciplines, yet university-wide the majority of both undergraduate and graduate students are female (54%). The institution is uniquely situated to serve rural and urban, low-income, and first generation students. MTSU also graduates more teachers than any university in Tennessee (more than 25% of all teachers in the entire state). The full program to be proposed should reach not only potential SMET students but also public school teachers who can encourage their student to consider SMET majors and careers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Iriarte-Gross, Judith Judith Hankins Chrisila Pettey Ginger Rowell Brenda Parker Middle Tennessee State University TN Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 29792 1544 SMET 9178 0120642 October 1, 2001 (RES) Assessing Women in Engineering Programs: Developing Exportable Tools for Success.. This project will develop standardized, exportable and comparable assessment instruments and models for Women In Engineering (WIE) programs nationwide, thus allowing them to assess their program's activities and ultimately provide data for making well-informed evaluations. To accomplish this goal, the principal investigators at the University of Missouri and Penn State University will work over a three-year period with their institutions' WIE programs and three cooperating programs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Georgia Tech, and University of Texas at Austin. With these five programs that collectively represent a variety of private and public, years of experience for WIE directors and student body characteristics, the investigators will pilot, revise, implement, conduct preliminary data analysis and disseminate easy-to-access, reliable and valid assessment instruments. The principles of formative evaluation will be applied to all instruments and products. All institutions will use the same set of instruments, thus allowing them to have access to powerful benchmarking data in addition to the data from each of their respective institutions. A prior project, the Women's Experience in College Engineering Project (WECE) sought to characterize the factors that influence women students' experiences and decisions by studying college environments, events and support programs that affect women's satisfaction with their engineering major, and their decisions to persist or leave these majors. In contrast to WECE's macro-level and student focus, this proposal's target audience is WIE directors, with a focus on WIE programs, not students. Women in Engineering programs around the United States are a crucial part of our country's response to the need for more women in engineering professions. There are about 50 WIE programs nationwide. Half have expressed interest in this effort. WIE directors will benefit by having ready-made assessment tools that will allow them to collect data on programs, evaluate these programs, and make decisions on how to revise programs and / or redistribute limited resources to maximize overall program effectiveness. Data from these instruments will also provide substantiated evidence for administrators, advisory boards and potential funding agencies. Finally, because these instruments will be available nationwide, programs will have the opportunity to take advantage of powerful benchmarking data for their decision-making processes. This project provides the next logical step in the national movement to recruit and retain women in engineering. PROGRAM EVALUATION RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Marra, Rose Barbara Bogue University of Missouri-Columbia MO Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 1175301 7261 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0120762 October 1, 2001 PGE: PLN: Moving Mountains: A Strategy to Facilitate Appalachian Women's Pursuit of Science and Math Careers. West Virginia University at Parkersburg will partner with Ritchie County High School and Williamstown High School to provide research experiences for female high school students in the Appalachian region known as the Mid-Ohio Valley. Mentoring and peer groups will be important components of the project. In West Virginia, women are less likely to seek a college education let alone pursue a career in science or math. One of the most exciting experiences that a female high school student interested in the sciences can have is one that involves interaction with a teacher and peers in a group setting participating in a scientific project. This is particularly valuable for women students in Appalachia who have attended K-12 schools in isolated areas where there is little opportunity for advanced study of science, who have not had personal role models or do not picture themselves doing science. The research component is the key to the project's impact on high school students and their decisions regarding entering the sciences as a career. It will give students their first experience with original research, teach them how to deal with the open-ended nature of the research process, and give them the self-confidence to see themselves not just as students, but as actual researchers. It is anticipated that lessons learned from the project will inform a full proposal for an expanded Women in Science program at additional public schools in partnership with WVU Parkersburg. The goal is to impact how young women perceive careers in science and mathematics and encourage their pursuit of a college education in these studies. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Kronberg, Joyce West Virginia University/Parkersburg WV Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 30000 1544 SMET 9178 0120774 October 1, 2001 DIS: A Guide for Recruiting and Advancing Women Scientists and Engineers in Academia. The Committee on Women in Science and Engineering (CWSE), National Research Council, of the National Academy of Sciences is preparing a guide to the best policies and programs that academic institutions have implemented to recruit, retain, and advance women in science and engineering in academia. The guide is meant to be a practical tool in the replication of successful programs at many academic institutions across the country. CWSE will use both formal and informal networks to identify the most successful programs for each level, e.g., undergraduate recruitment, reducing attrition in freshman and sophomore years, graduate student recruitment and retention, transition to postdoctoral fellowships. This will include contacting granting organizations, disciplinary societies, academic administration societies, faculty groups, and non-profit advocacy organizations. Programs from different size institutions, both public and private, will be reviewed. Identified programs will be asked to provide data on the increased participation of women resulting from the implementation of their programs. From this group a subset of programs will be selected for site visits. The project will include up to five site visits to institutions with successful programs to interview the students, faculty, and administrators involved. No institution will be identified by name in the guide. The target audience for the guide includes college and university presidents, deans, provosts and other administration officials, department chairs, faculty, and other individuals with the interest and capacity for establishing a successful program that promotes the participation of women in science and engineering. Other guides produced by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) have had a wide impact. Tens of thousands of copies of previous NAS guides have been disseminated worldwide. On Being A Scientist, the NAS guide on science ethics, has been reprinted in several languages. The NAS guide on mentoring, on which this guide will be modeled, Advisor, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering, is distributed by some institutions to all their faculty, and serves as the basis of their mentoring efforts. Many other faculty mentoring programs are based on the mentoring guide. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hahm, Jong-on National Academy of Sciences DC Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 100000 1544 SMET 9178 0120786 October 1, 2001 DEM-Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE): Linking Undergraduate Female Students in SMET Fields and Female Faculty Mentors. The University of Maryland is testing an educational intervention program designed to address aspects of both external (contextual) and internal (individually based) barriers to success and persistence of women in science and engineering. The program -- called RISE: Research Internships in Science and Engineering -- offers a hands-on introductory orientation program for freshmen (Level One) and an enhanced team research experience for upper class students (Level Two) . The enhanced team experience consists of participation in all-female research teams, mentoring by female faculty members and advanced female students (undergraduates and graduate students) who are paid and trained to perform significant mentoring and teaching of undergraduate women. The female faculty member's own research program is the setting for the student teamwork and mentoring. Specifically, the intervention addresses the external factors of the "chilly climate" of science, the lack of female role models and mentors, and the lack of a female "critical mass" among students and faculty in SMET academic departments. Regarding "internal barriers," we identify underestimation of abilities as operationalized by "self-efficacy" as the most useful psychological construct for understanding the ambivalence related to career choice and persistence in SMET undergraduate majors. Self-efficacy describes the notion that students develop beliefs about their personal capabilities at different academic pursuits (e.g., whether or not they can "do math"). Self-efficacy has been the basis for a large body of findings in the vocational literature, much of it focusing on the debilitating effects of low self-efficacy on the selection and persistence of career options including engineering and science fields. Female faculty are supported in their mentoring of young women (both in terms of training and finances), and at the same time make progress in their own research program. The entire research team (consisting of the faculty member, RISE Fellows and up to four RISE participants) is taking part in training on mentorship, team functioning, and psychological constructs key to enhancing the successful learning of women students This demonstration program has the potential to bring some of the advantages of an all-female learning environment, epitomized by women's colleges, into more mainstream higher education such as the University of Maryland College Park. Replicable features include: role model hierarchies, mentor training, and all-female research teams. Also replicable is the notion of a two level program, beginning with a front end experience that excites and prepares entering female college students, moving on to an extended research internship in the later years that involves close contact with successful woman scientists and engineers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Schmidt, Linda Janet Schmidt Paige Smith University of Maryland College Park MD Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 1079200 1544 SMET 9178 0120794 October 1, 2001 DEM/RES: Small Group Mathematical Modeling Approaches to Improved Gender Equity in Engineering (SGMM) Project. The Small Group Mathematical Modeling Approaches to Improved Gender Equity in Engineering (SGMM) Project is a collaboration between the engineering and mathematics education faculty at Purdue University. The plan is to demonstrate that innovations in collegiate engineering courses have the potential to address gender differences in interest and persistence, and that the implementation is systemic. The proposed effort will be designed to address mathematical topics that have been identified as foundational to engineering and likely barriers for women in these courses, and to design environments where skills and abilities women bring to engineering are rewarded and valued. The modeling activities will be incorporated into selected early engineering courses at Purdue University, including those required of all incoming freshmen engineering students. Those involved are over 3000 engineering students (~600 women) in freshman engineering courses, all instructors in freshman engineering (including faculty and graduate assistants), and a number engineering faculty teaching sophomore level courses. During Phase I, a small technical team, realistic, modeling activity will be a required of all freshmen. The activity will be delivered via WebCT, an internet-based instructional tool [www.webct.com]. During Phase II additional realistic modeling activities will be incorporated in sophomore-level materials engineering courses. Complementary research efforts will be used to build a case study of this innovation. The purpose of the research is to inform (1) how these modeling activities are used to identify emerging student talent, (2) how the various constituencies react to the use of these activities (male and female students, instructors), (3) how these activities address the targeted mathematical areas, and (4) how students' vision of their future engineering career and their gender identity interact. The information will provide insights into the potential effects of the small technical team, realistic, modeling activities in engineering courses, the dynamics of gender-equity issues of the Purdue engineering program, and factors outside the engineering program that may influence the interest and persistence of students (especially women) in the field. The proposed project studies gender-related issues at the student, the instructor, and the programmatic level. The activities and supporting materials will be available to other universities on a web site already sponsored by Purdue University, and linked to the Purdue Women in Engineering Program web site. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Bowman, Keith P.K. Imbrie Heidi Diefes-Dux Brenda Capobianco Purdue University IN Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 951301 1544 SMET 9178 0120809 November 1, 2001 RES - AnimalWorld: Enhancing High School Women's Mathematical Competence. Some national assessments show that the gender gap in math achievement has narrowed dramatically in the last decade, and that there has been a significant increase in the number of mathematics courses taken by high school women. However, other data indicate that female students do not confront the critical transition from high school to college with deep, conceptually based mathematical competence that supports entry into STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) careers. Specifically, female students perform much less well than males on complex problem solving, when they must apply novel problem solving approaches, and when they must work under time pressure or transfer skills to problems not previously seen. Other research points to differences in female and male students learning styles; female students require more structured, concrete and repetitive instruction whereas males do equally well with more abstract hints and help, suggesting that they have a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts. A related concern is that female students increased math course taking has not translated into a higher number of women in the pipeline towards careers; that is, women are taking additional math but are not planning to utilize it in their careers. The consequences are seen in the continued under-representation of females in STEM majors and careers, and the critical lack of mathematically sophisticated workers in numbers sufficient to meet our nations needs. This project is designed to investigate the factors that contribute to female students shallower mathematical competence, as well as the learning styles that characterize male and female students at the critical transition from high school to college. Our investigations take place in the context of a multimedia, multi-component simulation environment: AnimalWorld. AnimalWorld provides high school women (and men) with 1) an intelligent tutor for high school mathematics (fractions; algebra; geometry; ratios/proportions/decimals; probability) that provides gender adaptive instruction and allows for analysis of male and female learning styles; 2) a virtual mentor component, in which students who are solving math problems in the simulated world can meet real female researchers and experts (through video clips embedded in the simulation) who discuss their training and the importance of math for their careers; 3) a math at your fingertips module in which students periodically rehearse math facts to free cognitive resources for higher-order problem solving, predicting increased math test scores; 4) a module to enhance students spatial cognition through dynamic manipulation of objects in simulated three-dimensional environments, which will allow us to provide a strong test of the hypothesis that females poorer math achievement reflects less well developed spatial cognition; and 5) an SAT-Math preparation module designed to narrow the striking gender gap on this critical achievement test. Our prediction is that female students who work with AnimalWorld will show significant increases in their complex math problem-solving skill, including their SAT-Math exam performance; that gender adaptive instruction will foster greater conceptual understanding in female students; and that virtual mentors will encourage female students to report greater interest in STEM careers. The results will increase our understanding of male and female learning styles, as well as provide new approaches to effective mathematics instruction for all students. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Beal, Carole James Royer Beverly Woolf University of Massachusetts Amherst MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 900284 1544 SMET 9178 0120825 November 1, 2001 DEM-Changing Faculty through Learning Communities. The Dwight Look College of Engineering and the College of Science at Texas A&M University will conduct a demonstration project aimed at changing faculty knowledge, personal vision, commitment and interactions with students, through learning communities. The project will help faculty improve four strategic disciplines that underpin improvement of learning environments for women, underrepresented minorities and all students: 1) Development and invitation -- Faculty members examine mechanisms through which women and men develop intellectually and motivationally, and understand the role of invitation in the development process. 2) Mental models -- Faculty members understand and make explicit how they build chains of reasoning from observable data through assumptions to action. 3) Personal vision -- Faculty members improve their capacity to imagine and act in ways that maximize their individual self-fulfillment. 4) Personal commitment -- Faculty members improve their capacity to move from creating a personal vision to recognizing that they have power and responsibility to realize it. The critical element of learning environments on university campuses is the faculty; therefore, development of learner-centered educational environments rests on helping faculty develop the mental and interpersonal disciplines that provide the foundation for such environments. Changing how women are treated, how the classroom is managed, how teaching is performed, how graduate students are mentored, all depend on numerous individual faculty. However, university campuses are not analogous to neural networks that can be trained by feeding back quantitative error measurements through algorithms such as the back-propagation method. Instead, university campuses more closely resemble complex adaptive systems in which diversity, interaction and selection of numerous and complicated agents gives rise to observable, emergent properties. If the aim is to create learning environments that are both more inviting and more welcoming, it is not sufficient to bombard faculty with messages such as "Be inviting!" or "Be welcoming!". Instead, it is important to identify disciplines that should be nurtured and developed across the entire faculty with the conviction that if faculty members practice these disciplines, then they will create learning environments that are inviting and welcoming. As faculty members become more proficient in the four strategic disciplines, the project should observe changes in attitudes about learning, teaching and the role of women and minorities in SMET. The project also should observe increasing participation in the workshops and faculty learning communities sponsored by the project. Finally, the project should observe improvement in retention of women in undergraduate physical science and engineering; improvement in the enrollment in graduate study; and improvement in retention of women in graduate physical science and engineering. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Watson, Karan Jeffrey Froyd H. Joseph Newton Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 918750 9133 1544 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0120860 November 1, 2001 DEM - OPTIONS. OPTIONS is a demonstration project designed to create small-scale learning communities that assist girls in achieving in advanced science and mathematics courses at the high school level, and encourage them to pursue science and math college degrees and business careers. The project targets high school girls, who have demonstrated average to above average abilities in math and science and who are enrolled in one of the seven Shelby County Schools (SCS) high schools. In the OPTIONS program, 70 students per year for four years are forming learning communities. Teachers are studying how to craft proactive approaches to math and science for girls. The objectives of the program are to: 1 ) increase the interest, confidence, knowledge and test scores of girls in science and math concentrations 2) train high school math and science teachers and guidance counselors in gender-equitable approaches to decrease barriers and assist to aid girls in pursuing science and math majors or careers; and 3) increase the number of all students who plan to enroll in classes, choose college majors, or pursue careers in science or math related fields. In order to obtain the objectives, SCS is creating learning communities of students, teachers, and mentors who engage in specific after school, professional development, and summer camp activities. The program includes professional development workshops to modify teacher and counselor attitudes and skills; project-based, problem-solving exercises to stimulate girls interest in science and math; mentoring by professional women; exploration of college options; and internships at local corporations and organizations. The project has broad implications. For educators, OPTIONS will identify factors for women that inhibit their academic pursuits and career choices in science and math areas, and begin building new approaches to encourage those choices. Participating female high school students will achieve a new understanding of the vast opportunities available in science and math-related industries and learn to work in a small group to solve real world problems. Corporations that rely on these disciplines will interact with educators in the design and evaluation of industry specific intern programs to prepare the next generation of workers and to generate enthusiasm for that work. Schools, school systems, and local communities will benefit from the increased emphasis on science and math classes and the career opportunities that come from that focus. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Jones, Lorraine Sheryl Maxwell Shelby County Schools TN Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 710938 1544 SMET 9178 0120865 September 15, 2001 DIS: Una Mano al Futuro: Making Science Accessible to Latino Communities. The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) will develop a guide to mentoring aimed at the Latino community, called Una Mano al Futuro. Studies demonstrate that students are more likely to pursue science if they have mentors, have opportunities to explore potential careers, and learn in a supportive environment. Una Mano al Futuro will focus on reaching high school Latino girls at a critical stage and providing resources that can be used by the young women, their parents, teachers, and community leaders to create the environment that allows the women to explore their interest in science and technology careers. For the past 10 years, AWIS has established and improved community mentoring programs for pre-college, undergraduate and graduate students with funding from the Sloan Foundation, NSF and the NEC Corporation. AWIS's prior projects built on the knowledge and success of the Sloan mentoring program and produced a new publication: Creating Tomorrow's Scientists: Models of Community Mentoring. AWIS will edit and revise their award-winning mentoring books, including A Hand Up: Women Mentoring Women in Science and Mentoring Means Future Scientists, and produce Spanish language editions with on-line companion materials in both English and Spanish. AWIS will work with several partners in developing materials and in dissemination to the Latino community: ASPIRA, a non-profit organization committed to Latino youth issues, and Minority Women in Science (MWIS). Members of AWIS, throughout its 76 local chapters, will distribute materials and assist in planning community-based events to reinforce the message of the materials. PRES AWDS FOR EXCELL IN SCI HRD EHR Didion, Catherine Association for Women in Science, Inc. DC Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 97034 1593 SMET 9178 0120878 November 1, 2001 DEM: FUTUREBOUND: Identification of Effective Strategies to Increase Placement and Success of Women in Science and Engineering. University of Arizona (UA) in partnership with Pima Community College (PCC; a multi-campus institution) proposes a comprehensive program to increase the enrollment, retention, and graduation of women especially minority women of Hispanic and American Indian origins, in tracks leading to BS and graduate degrees in astronomy, biosciences, chemistry, physics, engineering and related fields. This project strengthens previous activities by 1) building on collaboration between PCC and UA science departments in research internship programs, extending these efforts to highlight the needs of women especially minority women students; 2) integrating community college level programs into UA's Women in Science and Engineering K-12 and university programs; 3) paying new attention to differences within groups and fields; and 4) identifying and initiating strategies for long-term institutional changes. PCC's multifaceted program will include 1) increasing recruitment; 2) individual student mentoring and academic advising; 3) enrichment efforts to strengthen students' preparedness and widen their knowledge of career choices; 4) improvement of institutional instructional and support programs focusing on interactive learning, classroom climate, enhanced outreach to high school science teachers, and coordination of minority and support programs; and 5) financial support for students. Activities at the UA will include new efforts to enhance students' motivation, performance and financial support and will foster their use of existing units serving minority and women undergraduates. Collaboration with the Graduate College and Women of Color Consortium will address advancement to graduate education. We will compare students' GPAs and progress towards BS and Graduate education for the target group to those of all PCC science and engineering students. The prime target group is women who have been consistently highlighted as most underrepresented and most difficult to retain and advance in science-related areas. We will address different needs and issues across fields and among groups, reflecting the multiple intersections of gender and ethnicity. The most underrepresented of all -- minority women, will be a special focus. Strategies that work with these populations can be applied to all students. The project offers a potential model for improving on articulation of community college students into four-year undergraduate and graduate institutions. Since nationally, community colleges are an entry into higher education particularly for women and minorities, increased articulation with a focus on science and engineering could increase participation of these groups at higher levels. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Reyes, Marie University of Arizona AZ Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 918268 1544 SMET 9178 7204 0120884 January 1, 2002 DEM Project PRISM. Project PRISM promotes the success and persistence of girls and ethnic minority students, particularly Native American students, through sustainable reform focusing on gender and cultural issues in secondary math and science classrooms and a university course for education students. The project is initiating changes that will increase the recruitment of women and ethnic minority practitioners into the SMET workforce. The target populations include pre-service teachers at Washington State University (WSU) and Lewis-Clark State College (LCSC), in-service teachers, counselors, and administrators from eight school districts, five of which serve the Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT), and CCT secondary students. This collaborative demonstration project uses a powerful, multi-faceted approach to achieve changes in teaching and curriculum and in student success. The project promotes an increased secondary teacher and counselor awareness of gender and cultural issues that affect the learning and persistence of students, particularly girls and Native American students, in science, math, engineering and technology (SMET) classrooms. It likewise stimulates commitment to inclusive teaching and curricula and facilitates ongoing reform. Teachers and counselors participate in interactive in-service development opportunities on gender, culture, and education and a summer institute focused on the process of SMET classroom and curriculum reform. Participants in faculty development components are supported in their revision and reform efforts by faculty learning communities. A university course for pre- and in-service teachers introduces students to issues of gender, culture, and science as well as foster increased computer skills and SMET teaching abilities. All faculty development components are designed and developed by teams of secondary and university faculty in cooperation with Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT) personnel and a CCT Advisory Council. Cultural awareness and appreciation events are ongoing at the schools serving CCT students. Through field trips, hands-on projects, community service projects, and career planning, CCT students are developing an increased awareness of and interest in careers, especially SMET careers, and increased persistence in the education necessary to succeed in those careers. Local leadership for and commitment to the project efforts are being developed, so that project components will be sustained after the life of the grant. Manuals detailing the faculty in-service workshops and the summer institute teaching and curriculum reform process will be produced and disseminated. The project is yielding important information on the efficacy of these intervention strategies incorporating both gender and cultural issues. In particular, it adds information to the knowledge base on the success of these strategies with Native American students, and especially Native American girls. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Cooper, Sandra Judy Meuth Washington State University WA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 886505 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0122809 September 1, 2001 Tribal Colleges and Universities: Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Enhancement. Project Summary Fort Peck Community College (FPCC), a tribal college, is located on the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana. FPCC provides academic and vocational programs and community service to the 10,000 members of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes and area residents. In 1999-2000, FPCC had an average enrollment of 233 students. Approximately 85% of the students are Native American - nearly all are enrolled members of the Sioux and Assiniboine Tribes. In June 2000, there were 30 graduates with Associate Degrees. Of these, only 4 (13%) were in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) disciplines. Curriculum Enhancement: Objectives and Anticipated Outcomes 1-1. By Fall 2003, all entering students will be advised to enroll in appropriate levels of SMET courses based on assessment scores and previous achievement. 1-2. By Fall 2004, instructors will have integrated technology into 6 introductory SMET courses. 1-3. By Fall 2005, instructors will have integrated technology into 6 advanced SMET courses. Faculty Development: Objectives and Anticipated Outcomes 2-1. Each year, two SMET instructors will attend one regional or one national conference specifically focused on integrating technology into courses according to national standards. 2-2. By Spring 2005, all eight SMET instructors will have completed one semester of faculty exchange or sabbatical at another academic institution or national laboratory. 2-3. By Fall 2003, each SMET instructor will have designed and implemented a Web- based course based on national standards. Undergraduate Training: Objectives and Anticipated Outcomes 3-1. By Fall 2003, student enrollment in SMET courses will increase by 10%. 3-2. By Fall 2004, ten students will be selected for internship placement in local sites. 3-3. By Spring 2005, five students will graduate with SMET majors and/or transfers to four-year institutions. 3-4. By Spring 2006, five students will enter SMET careers. Expected Impact. This project will impact the college and reservation in several ways. Implementation of an appropriate system of assessment and student placement in beginning SMET classes will increase the completion rate to 70%. The addition of the computer laboratories and wireless communication will increase the FPCC capacity to offer additional SMET classes and research and increase enrollment in advanced SMET classes by 10%. As a result of the student internships, the percent of SMET majors entering math, science and technology careers is expected to increase by 10%. The students assigned to internships will become aware of career opportunities in math, science and computer technology especially in the region. The addition of the Web-based courses, especially advanced courses, will further increase enrollment and course completions. Involvement of the Advisory Committee will increase potential training and service opportunities. FPCC will enter into partnerships with tribal businesses and private companies for training and education especially in computer applications. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Shanley, James Fort Peck Community College MT Michael D. Fredenberg Cooperative Agreement 2306562 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0122965 October 1, 2001 Stone Child College SMET Planning Grant Application. Stone Child College NSF 01-61 Planning Grant Application Stone Child College National Science Foundation Tribal Colleges and Universities Program NSF 01-61 Project Summary PROJECT TITLE: SCC-SMET Institutional Planning Grant Project FUNDING SOURCE National Science Foundation PROJECT LOCATION Stone Child College, Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, Montana LENGTH OF PROPOSED PROJECT January 1, 2002 - December 31, 2002 SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE POPULATION TO BE SERVED BY THE PROJECT The proposal will serve primarily American Indian students currently attending or projected to attend Stone Child College. PROJECT OBJECTIVES The overall goal of our project is to ``to measurably increase'' the number of graduates in SMET and related fields at SCC by providing a high quality learning environment capable of meeting or exceeding the instruction received at four-year institutions. SCC is adamant in our belief that in order to attract more students into these disciplines, our instructional methodologies, as well as advanced teaching devices, are the key to induce student curiosity and eventual enrollment into SMET fields. By developing a five-year plan based on research, we believe we can successfully pursue other resources for the implementation of our SMET plan. Therefore, SCC has developed the following major objective which will guide us during this initial 12-month planning process: Major Project Objective During the project period of January 1, 2002 through December 31, 2002, SCC will develop a researched-based five-year institutional plan to enhance our SMET program as measured by internal and external evaluation results and the plan being formally adopted by the SCC Board of Regents prior to the end of the project period. COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS Stone Child College will coordinate this project with our Packard Foundation project, DoD project, MSEIP projects, as well as other proposed projects SCC has currently written and are awaiting approval/disapproval. TOTAL FUNDS REQUESTED $50,000. (NSF funds) PROPOSAL NO.: 0122965 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Stamper, Edward INSTITUTION NAME: Stone Child College TITLE: Stone Child College SMET Planning Grant Application NSF RECEIVED DATE: 04/30/2001 TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Stamper, Edward Ligia Arango Stone Child College MT Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0122968 November 1, 2001 Planning Grant for Restructuring Math Delivery Systems at Fort Belknap College. Planning Grant for Restructuring Math Delivery Systems at Fort Belknap College The goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive plan for increasing student success in mathematics at Fort Belknap College (FBC). The college will achieve this goal through the successful completion of three specific project objectives. During the one-year planning period, project personnel will: (1)perform a thorough self-assessment of the current math curriculum in place at FBC; (2)conduct an in-depth review of alternative instructional methods, curricula and delivery systems that have proven successful with minority students (and, specifically, American Indians) across the country; and (3)develop a comprehensive planning document for designing and implementing a math program that addresses specific local and institutional needs, while incorporating best practices from model programs. The results of these planning efforts will provide the basis for developing an implementation/design proposal to be submitted under NSF's 2003 TCUP solicitation. Ms. Mary John Taylor, Dean of Academic Affairs, and Ms. Billie Jo Foote, Math/Science Instructor, will serve as co-principal investigators for the project. Fort Belknap College is requesting $50,000 to carry out this project over a 12-month period. PROPOSAL NO.: 0122968 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Taylor, Mary INSTITUTION NAME: Fort Belknap College TITLE: Planning Grant for Restructuring Math Delivery Systems at Fort Belknap College NSF RECEIVED DATE: 04/30/2001 TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Taylor, Mary Billie Brown Fort Belknap College MT Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 49999 1744 SMET 9178 0123059 October 1, 2001 Planning Grant for SMET Opportunities at College of Menominee Nation. A number of opportunities exist for COLLEGE OF MENOMINEE NATION that require further development of SMET programs currently offered at the College. To forward its 8,000 years of stewardship and expertise in sustainable forest management, the Menominee Nation is committed to ensuring that future generations are prepared as stewards well-schooled in sound sciences and best practices in Menominee autochthony. Our challenge is to assure that quality in SMET education is commensurate with that stewardship. COLLEGE OF MENOMINEE NATION will enhance student opportunities in science, math, engineering and technology through a planning process that will provide assessment of the SMET infrastructure and the development of an institutional plan to enhance its SMET program. The process will also assess the needs of the communities on the Menominee Reservation, as well as the Oneida, Mohican and Potowatomi Nations and neighboring non-Indian communities to determine the constellation of SMET programs that will promote sustainable development in the communities of northeastern Wisconsin. In addition, assessment of the current math offerings as a necessary interface is a priority. We envision such an analysis as the key to our delivery of student research opportunities in eco-toxicology, environmental science and environmental health. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Fowler, Verna Holly Youngbear-Tibbetts College of the Menominee Nation WI Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0123121 September 1, 2001 The Fond du Lac Tribal Technology and Science Infrastructure Project. This project was developed as a result of a technology and science planning process that Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (FDLTCC) initiated in 2000 and is still continuing. This planning effort involved a large number of college and community stakeholder groups and provided both the underlying concepts for this proposal as well as the outline for specific curriculum programs and hardware/software infrastructure needs. The project proposed has several interrelated elements. High performance computing assets, including Internet2 hookup, cluster installation, and visualization panels, are put into place to support both curriculum and research agendas. The research agenda is centered in ongoing research efforts at the college in environmental science, soil mapping, computational science, and information technology (IT). The research effort is designed to provide students with experience in research, experience with the collaborative research environment, and experimential activities related to what they are studying. The grant also proposes to build a partnership with the University of Minnesota's Laboratory for Computational Science and Engineering, both to provide help with constructing the high performance infrastructure, as well as a research agenda that will involve students in computational science, physics, and other SMET-related curriculum areas. Other collaborative efforts will be implemented with current partners involved in FDLTCC research projects. At the proposed project's heart are curriculum development and implementation activities designed to not only build on the enhanced research projects, but to also initiate new SMET degrees. Research with FDLTCC's target student population has indicated that these degrees and a one-year certificate program will increase the number of Native American students majoring in SMET-related programs. These degrees are all designed to launch a new curriculum track design, which provides a core of Information Technology courses that students can use to build either baccalaureate or associate degrees in a number of different disciplines. The degrees and certificate initiated through the project will include: A GIS/GPS certificate which can be earned in conjunction with the environmental science, computer science, and law enforcement associate degrees; a baccalaureate in computer science with the IT core; an associate degree in E-Crime and Computer Security that can be earned with the IT core, the GIS/GPS certificate, and the college's current Minnesota Transfer or Law Enforcement associate degrees in order to complete the requirements for a baccalaureate. The new IT core will also be available to baccalaureate students in Elementary Education at FDLTCC. By the end of the grant, enrollment in these curriculum areas will support continuation of each program based on the timetable described in the grant. The last two elements of the grant include the plan to develop an associate degree online for students located at FDLTCC's Augsburg Offsite program that serves the Native American community in St. Paul/Minneapolis. This effort will also use the high performance computing resources built through the project. SMET related faculty and staff development activities are also included designed to increase IT sophistication at FDLTCC as well as to increase the number of MS and Ph.D.-qualified faculty in SMET-related areas. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Davis, Tom Ted Wetherbee Andrew Wold Michael Gillespie Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College MN Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2456041 1744 SMET 9178 0123131 September 1, 2001 Expanding SMET Higher Education for Native Americans in the 21st Century. Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in partnership with the National Science Foundation will increase the number of Native Americans matriculating into science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) baccalaureate programs and/or entering the science and technology workforce. This will be accomplished through a comprehensive program, irVision-21le which includes: a) curriculum development in calculus, physics and chemistry; b) standards-based faculty development in problem-solving instructional strategies and in the use of instructional technologies; c) two-year student experiences in research; and, c) an expanded program for networking professionals leading to industry certification to address the need for information technology workers in Native American communities. The project is designed to improve student-learning outcomes in calculus, physics, and chemistry. Students will participate in inquiry-based learning strategies delivered through a technology-enriched curriculum that is delivered/facilitated by a skilled faculty. Native American undergraduates will also participate in meaningful research experiences that will lead to improved diverse career opportunities, particularly in the SMET fields. Students will learn and write about the research process, and develop presentations for professional student forums. This is a learning experience that is rarely afforded to two-year undergraduates. Finally to address the need for certified information technology professionals in the U.S., and especially among Tribal Nations, SIPI will expand its networking training program, allowing for industry certification. Project staff in collaboration with faculty will develop an extensive evaluation and assessment program. Staff will encourage and monitor student enrollment and success in college courses that will prepare students for science, mathematics, engineering and technology careers. Curricula products will be packaged and shared with Native serving institutions, and evaluation and assessment results will be electronically disseminated. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Lujan, James Ronald Hooks Jerry Simmons Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute NM Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2500000 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0123147 September 1, 2001 Hutlee Umyuarchdelee. The Hutlee/Umyuarchdelee proposal (Athabascan/Yupik words for leader, boss, a good thinker)is a five-year project based on a hybrid of models with proven success in educating minoritystudents. The project will include academic enhancement for gatekeeper math and sciencecourses integrating active learning pedagogies, intensive sessions, and relevant ways of learningfor Native students. To sustain student success the project will provide faculty "sponsorship," vigilant student support skills, incorporate a "Master Learner" curriculum to strengthen students-social contexts, and integrate job shadowing and internships with industry and Native organizations. The Interior-Aleutians Campus and Bristol Bay Campus service area comprises 235,000 squaremiles and 74% Native population. Less than .5% of the students enrolling through these two campuses are full time students. Recruiting students from 90 (of Alaska's 220) villages, this project proposes to enroll five cohorts in a two-year village-based program. Through course work and intensive weeklong sessions during the semester as well as intensive math summer sessions, student cohorts will build an academic learning community. This learning community will carry on after students complete project coursework and transition to urban-based four-year SMET degree programs. Strategic goals of this project are: * To increase Alaska Native participation and success in SMET degree gatekeeper courses. * To significantly increase the number of Alaska Native students who pursue baccalaureate degrees in SMET disciplines or enter SMET careers. * To develop a collaborative program among the University of Alaska Campuses, industry, and Tribal organizations to strengthen SMET academic infrastructure for Alaska Native students. * To provide faculty and students with the tools and education to actively use technology in academic courses. The Hutlee/Umyuarchdelee method of delivering gatekeeper math and science courses will include curricular enhancements that employ active learning pedagogies and include a holistic pedagogical philosophy. Methods of curricular enhancements are: * Additional faculty contact time extending math courses from three to five days by adding math labs which integrate methods for active learning such as hands-on manipulatives. * Six and eight weeks summer math intensives with relevant industry internships. * Weeklong semester-based intensive sessions that integrate academics, problem solving, and Master Learner curricular activities. * Building a student cohort academic learning community. Potential impacts of the Hutlee/Umyuarchdelee project are: * To develop SMET knowledgeable Alaska Native engineers. * To develop SMET knowledgeable Alaska Native leaders who will participate in making decisions about tribal lands that will forever change the lifestyles, economics, and existence of rural Alaskan communities. * To develop curricula and a delivery model which will impact not only students and communities affected though this program, extend to other SMET students in different geographical areas. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Johnson, Clara Julie Maier University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus AK Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2026592 1744 SMET 9178 0123149 September 1, 2001 Sustained Economic Growth of the Oglala Lakota Nation through Development of the Technological Infrastructure. Oglala Lakota College (OLC) is a tribally controlled and community governed four-year academic institution with 1300 students located in ten college centers across the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota (SD). The student base is approximately 90% American Indian. As one of six NSF-designated Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE), OLC has developed the infrastructure to offer Science, Engineering, Math and Technology (SMET) degrees and increase the number of Native Americans continuing on to graduate school. We currently have general collaboration agreements with the SD School of Mines & Technology (SDSM&T) and SD State University. Since 1995, the MIE Program at OLC has developed five new accredited degrees in the SMET areas. Presently the Oglala Lakota Nation is forced to outsource all analytical work to off- reservation labs due to the lack of qualified facilities and expertise. Our long-term goal is to train a pool of highly skilled scientists and lab technicians who will serve their communities as self-employed entrepreneurs or hired employees. Also, one of the major shortcomings of our SMET programs is the lack of lab facilities with modern analytical equipment. This creates a disadvantage for our students at every level of their career. We propose a multifaceted approach to develop the technological infrastructure of our institution and the reservation as a whole. We will build a research center housing several federal and state certified labs that will provide us with the capacity to conduct research and routine analytical work in the areas of chemistry, environmental science, and biology. Collaboration agreements with three faculty members at SDSM&T and Black Hills State University in these areas are procured for this proposal. We will actively seek partnerships with tribal agencies to provide research and analytic services. This insures that a significant portion of the funding allocated by tribal agencies would be re-infused into the reservation economy. This would also sustain the project beyond NSF funding. Our faculty and students will be trained on the equipment by the collaborators and through industrial short courses, workshops and seminars. Both collaborators and faculty will initiate research projects involving our students utilizing the new equipment. We will strengthen our curriculum by developing new analytical lab classes and by enhancing existing sciencecourses. Finally, students and faculty will reach out to reservation communities to help them address their concerns about economic development and the environment. Students and faculty will also teach SMET classes at reservation schools and will open up the labs for teachers and students to stimulate scientific knowledge and curiosity . TEACHER ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Phelps, Stacy Adel Heriba Oglala Lakota College SD Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2833000 7300 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0123214 September 1, 2001 Northwest Indian College TCUP Project. The mission of Northwest Indian College (NWIC) is to provide post-secondary educational opportunities for Native Americans that is sensitive to their worldviews, background, and academic needs and goals, and prepare them for the challenges of leadership in their tribal communities. In addition to providing effective opportunities for students to develop academic competence, the NWIC mission is to infuse students with clear communication skills, critical thinking skills, and a developed sense of civic responsibility. The Northwest Indian College Division of Math and Science is proposing implementation of a SMET learning community educational plan that begins with entering freshman and supports them through to the completion of an AA or AS degree. The first-year goal of this program would be to generate student interest and growth toward further education in math and science. Building on this foundation, the overall goal would be to have these students then obtain associates and baccalaureate degrees in science or math-related fields. The first year would be a "developmental year" for students whose test scores indicate that this is necessary. (Note: The majority of students entering NWIC would have test scores reflecting this need. It is often the lack of a growth or preparation period that contributes to student failure in math and science.) During the first year, the plan would be as follows: * Each eligible student would enter into an integrated academic group or cohort. * A testing specialist would evaluate math and science competencies for each student. * All students would be enrolled in the following courses: Public Speaking, Introduction to Computers, Native American History/Philosophy, and Introduction to Successful Learning during fall quarter and throughout their first (or developmental) year. These courses, which are required for graduation from Northwest Indian College, would be fully integrated among each other while also being integrated with introductory science and math courses in which students are placed according to their initial test scores. Example: The cohort would be assigned a relevant science topic such as iswater quality.lo Individually and as a group, students would research the topic, using math to compute statistics, the Internet to find background material and group discussions to enhance individual research. Students would give oral and written presentations using the principles discussed in the cohort instruction. (Note: A somewhat different form of this schedule and approach has been used successfully with our NSF funded Tribal Environmental and Natural Resource Management program (TENRM). The result has been much higher than average retention and completion for students lacking needed skills.) By combining required courses where NWIC students typically do well (i.e. Speech), with developmental science and math courses, students will be more likely to successfully complete essential coursework for graduation. Northwest Indian College students have demonstrated they must be immersed in their culture, history, and philosophy if they are to effectively understand and build upon their role inthe Native communities. The college knows they must also develop the science and math skills necessary to help their culture survive and intends to meet these needs by offering introductory science and math courses fully integrated with curriculum related to Native culture, history, and philosophy. As they build increased self-esteem while finding success in the classroom, students will recognize their capacity to do science and math. They will then feel comfortable pursuing further science and math-related courses as they eventually enter baccalaureate programs and the SMET workforce. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Williams, Ted Northwest Indian College WA Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2341054 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0123215 October 1, 2001 Dull Knife Memorial College TCUP Planning Grant. The purpose of this planning grant is to conduct an assessment of Dull Knife Memorial College's SMET curriculum and infrastructure in order to develop an institutional SMET action plan that will be used as the basis for a full TCUP grant to be submitted by May 2002. In addition, the College will develop assessment instruments to determine the effectiveness of its SMET instructional programs and to develop a system to track SMET graduates that transfer to 4-year colleges and universities. The planning period will be for 12 months and will include three phases: Phase 1 (October 1, 2001 - December 15, 2001) assessment of SMET infrastructure. Phase 2 (January 1, 2002 - May 1, 2002) development of institutional plan and full TCUP proposal. Phase 3 (August 15, 2002 - September 30, 2002) development of assessment instruments. By the end of the grant period Dull Knife will have developed an assessment of its SMET programs, developed an institutional plan to enhance its SMET program, submitted a full TCUP grant, developed instruments to evaluate its SMET courses, and developed a student tracking system. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Littlebear, Richard Robert Madsen Jerred Seveyka Chief Dull Knife Memorial College MT Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 45406 1744 SMET 9178 0123235 September 1, 2001 Faculty And Curriculum Enhancement Project. Statement of Objectives. The Fort Berthold Community College Technology and Instruction Enhancement Project is proposed to increase the numbers and persistence of American Indian SMET majors and potential majors - The technology infrastructure of the college will be strengthened by expanded band width and high tech access for students, faculty and staff. - The SMET curriculum will integrate constructivist methods and technology applications to improve SMET student learning outcomes and persistence rates. - The college faculty and staff will build teaching and learning capacities through constructivist methodologies and techniques and technology applications. - American Indian SMET students persistence will be increased by 10% per year through a student retention model called Family Based Education. - SMET students will have expanded internships and community service placements, workforce placement and transfer opportunities through formal community outreach relationships. Methods to be Employed. The Technology and Instruction Enhancement Project of Fort Berthold Community College will focus on the recruitment and retention of American Indian Students toward graduation and transfer or workforce placement. First, the technology infrastructure will be expanded by improving the band width to speed up and broaden technology capacities. The student access to high tech equipment and applications will include the additionof high tech laboratories for student learning Web-conferencing capacities will be installed in theMentor Sites in three remote satellite campus locations. Second, constructivist teaching/learning methods and techniques that heightened student experiential learning and active discovery based activity; and increased technology applications will be integrated across the curriculum. The computer science networking program will deliver professional certificationsand two full time faculty members will make this a technology centerpiece in the curriculum. Third, the curriculum and college services will be vastly improved through faculty and staff development opportunities in constructivist teaching/learning methods and technology applications. Faculty development opportunities will include individual professional conferences and mini-grants for research projects that involve SMET student interns as assistants. Fourth, to improve student retention rates, the student services division will acquire a full time retention officer to implement an aggressive, pro-active retention strategy called the Family Based Education Model. Pressure points in the family based American Indian students lives are identified and through a team analysis, referral and intervention strategies are prescribed to each student itat-risk.ln Community outreach will expand SMET student opportunities for internship and community service placements. Project Outcomes. The project outcome will be increased American Indian SMET student retention rates, 10% increases annually during the project period. The technology infrastructure will advance according to campus-wide plans. The faculty and staff will have long term capacities and skills reflecting constructivist methods and technology applications. The Family Based Education Model will have intervened with at-risk SMET students, to heighten retention rates. Broad-based community relationships will support SMET majors and graduates and the college as an educational institution. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Baker-Big Back, Clarice Fort Berthold Community College ND Michael D. Fredenberg Cooperative Agreement 2388733 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0123236 September 15, 2001 Sitting Bull College Planning for Improvement in Science & Mathematics. This planning project is designed to improve mathematics science and learning opportunities for Sitting Bull College students, "to each according to his/her needs". The planning process will identify the needs of four distinct groups of students. Group one: students whose career fields do not require extensive mathematics and science preparation. Group two: students entering science and engineering fields. Group three: students entering fields such as human services and business where mathematic curriculum can be taught to make use of quantitative methods in decision making. Group four: students entering the elementary and middle school teaching, and must be aware of North and South Dakota performance standards. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Ressler, Koreen Sitting Bull College ND Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0123238 January 1, 2002 ADVANCE Leadership Award. This Leadership Award is to recognize and support the role of Prof. Richmond in increasing the participation and advancement of women in the chemical sciences through her leadership role in COACh. The funds will allow her to maintain her very active research program at the University of Oregon while providing her with more time to direct the COACh activities at a level appropriate for the demands and needs of women chemists, chemical engineers, and the chemical community in this country. Over the past twenty years the number of women getting undergraduate degrees in chemistry, entering graduate school in chemistry and obtaining doctorate degrees in chemistry has been increasing. Women currently receive ca. 41% of the bachelor's degrees and almost one-third of the Ph.Ds granted in this field. Unfortunately, this increased number of women in the pipeline is not resulting in the significant changes in the chemical workforce that many had predicted. This is particularly noticeable in the academic workforce. Women make up approximately 16% of chemistry faculty in four-year colleges and less than 10% of the chemistry faculty at doctoral granting institutions. Given the profound role of academic institutions in shaping the workforce in the chemical sciences and the expectations of future, efforts to enhance the numbers, success, and visibility of women chemists in academia are essential to improving the participation of women in the broader chemical sciences workforce. With the anticipated high turn-over in faculty positions in the coming decade, it is imperative that swift action be taken to assure that underrepresented groups are actively recruited and promoted into these vacated positions to produce a more balanced representation of gender and race in academia in the chemical sciences. COACh was developed in response to these concerns. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Richmond, Geraldine University of Oregon Eugene OR Laura Kramer Standard Grant 185000 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0123244 September 1, 2001 Planning Grant For Assessment And Improvement Of Alaska's Tribally-controlled College's Science, Mathematics, Engineering And Technology Programs. Ilisagvik College in Barrow, Alaska is the lead college in the Consortium for Alaska Native Higher Education, Inc. (CANHE), a non-profit group of Alaska Native organizations creating and supporting new Alaska Native-serving colleges in Alaska. CANHE was established, in part, because only 4% of Alaska Natives (1990) have achieved baccalaureate degrees. Alaska Natives are poorly represented as students in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) programs in Alaska's universities and colleges, as teachers in the Alaska schools, and in the occupations requiring these skills. Data on Alaska Native higher education achievement is not well collected. It is obvious to Alaska natives, however, that different techniques must be used to attract and retain Native and rural students in SMET programs than those used for years by the state university. Ilisagvik will serve as the lead and mentor institution for the planning and assessment effort over the10 months of the project. Ilisagvik will engage a project manager to conduct the assessment. A CANHE member task force will create a mission statement defining the planning goals, priorities and project milestones. An external advisory board will be chaired by Dr. Edna MacLean, the president of Ilisagvik College, and will review the planning effort and evaluate the progress. The task force and manager will gather data from each of the six members and examine their missions, their long-term goals and priorities. The regional needs and strengths will become part of the CANHE SMET master plan which will include the colleges' resources, governance, culture, technology requirements, and funding strategies. The plan will include assessment of faculty needed and the skills available for staff instruction, and inventory the technology requirements and the infrastructure support needed in each region. Beyond the specific benefits of the assessment to Ilisagvik College, the benefits will multiply by involving all the CANHE members in the process and the ultimate implementation of the plan. The group will design practical cost-effective methods to create, expand and collaboratively improve SMET programs for the dispersed potential student body including collaboration with other regions, some centralizing support activities, and integrating incentives to be involved for faculty and students. Given the vast roadless distances between communities, the primitive state of rural Alaska telecommunications and information infrastructure and the high cost of such services when available, there are numerous problems of distance delivery to be identified, understood and resolved. Ilisagvik developed a new Information Technology A.A.S. curriculum and acquired some of the infrastructure to carry out the classes through previous funding from NSF, the American Association of Community Colleges, the M. J. Murdock Foundation, and the Microsoft Corporation. Other programs are being developed by CANHE members. These assets can be shared across the state to improve SMET delivery. Collectively the colleges can register a greater number of students for these courses from the multi-regional Native student body and deliver them with a smaller number of faculty also taking administrative advantages of cross-registration benefits. The data, assessment, and draft plan will be reviewed with the board and organizational leadership of each regional colleges prior to adoption to affirm, and modified if required, so that it addresses the needs, direction and resources of each region. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Helfferich, Merritt Edna MacLean Ilisagvik College AK Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49989 1744 SMET 9178 0123247 October 1, 2001 Leech Lake Tribal College Technology Planning Project. The proposed project will establish a SMET task force to assess the current state of the math/science program and its facilities at Leech Lake Tribal College in order to identify current strengths and weaknesses. The project will also involve conducting surveys to determine student enrollment, completion, interest in, and satisfaction of students with relationship to SMET programs. In addition, the project will serve to identify issues LLTC students face when they transfer to four-year institutions, and to identify programmatic trends and opportunities to which the college should respond. The project will identify: State and federal funding opportunities for SMET programs; Bridges-type programs that are available to faculty and students; regional research programs that could involve faculty and students; online SMET-content courses that are available to faculty and students. As a result of the above, a set of goals will be identified and a SMET development plan will be drafted to target identified department needs, partnership opportunities with schools, regional, tribal and other baccalaureate and graduate-degree institutions, private sector, and federal agencies. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Ross, Lenee Valkyrie PenDragon Leech Lake Tribal College MN Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0123454 September 1, 2002 ADVANCE Leadership Award. This award supports the development and implementation of a workshop for prospective and current female professors in science and engineering fields as part of the NSF ADVANCE Leadership Awards Program by a group of researchers from the George Washington University and Gallaudet University who have collaborated for the past five years on projects to increase the numbers of women and other underrepresented minorities in advanced Science, Engineering and Mathematics (SEM) careers. Using experience from earlier efforts to bring together students from different institutions, large and small, local and far away, specialized communities (e.g. women's colleges, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and comprehensive, to consider and be prepared for graduate school in science, engineering and math (SEM), the PIs propose to develop and run a similar workshop for potential and current female faculty members in SEM. The proposed activity will benefit from the pipeline created by the FORWARD program: participants from this program started in 1997 will be reaching graduation and the stage of securing a faculty position within the proposed timeline of the award. Participation will be solicited from across the country and will feature speakers from successful programs and careers in SEM. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Sorensen, Charlene David Snyder Gallaudet University DC Laura Kramer Standard Grant 80943 1739 OTHR 9251 1739 0000 0123493 October 1, 2001 ADVANCE Leadership Award. The proposed activity aims to improve the recruitment and retention of women in engineering academia and to enhance career development of women engineering academics by addressing publications in refereed scholarly journals. This project will develop a CD ROM that demystifies the journal publication process. The CD ROM will contain both text material and digital video. An overview of how the system works and the differences, both in procedure and in impact, of journal articles, journal short papers, journal notes, refereed proceedings and book chapters will be documented in clear and general terms. How the editorial board of a journal operates from editor-in-chief down to individual reviewers will be explained with suggestions on how to become involved with a journal in an editorial capacity. Then, a set of best practices case studies that follow engineering papers from first submittal through publication will be included. These will take the user through the review and revision process step by step and at least one case study will involve a rejected paper that is successfully transformed for another journal. The video clips will provide comments and discussion by article authors, journal editors and reviewers, using women engineering academics where possible. While the focus is on journal papers, this CD ROM will assist the users in developing other peer reviewed publications including proposals. Dissemination will be in two phases and will be aligned with assessment efforts involving surveys and interviews. This project will benefit a large number of women academics and potential academics by addressing an issue vital to scholarly success. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Smith, Alice Auburn University AL Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 175000 1739 OTHR 9251 9150 7218 1739 0000 0123532 October 1, 2001 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) proposes an integrated approach to institutional factors that will support the full participation and advancement of women, and provide a model of best practices, in academic science and engineering. Georgia Tech will build upon previous activities and momentum for the advancement of women. The Georgia Tech ADVANCE team includes: the Provost and the Deans, faculty, and campus leaders from four cooperating Colleges: Computing, Engineering, Sciences, and Ivan Allen College, representing a full range of science and engineering fields. Through this project, Georgia Tech will emphasize organizational features and factors that shape outcomes for women in science and engineering, and will clarify and portray the ways in which resources, processes of evaluation, organizational culture and climate, including leadership, and family policies affect the full participation and advancement of women by field, career-stage, and family/parental status. In doing so, they will address critical transitions to senior status, and the meaning of full participation in academic science and engineering. Proposed activities include1) creating an inter-college network of termed professorships that promotes the goals of ADVANCE; 2) institutionalizing a formal training process for committees involved in tenure and promotion; 3) collecting and using resource-allocation data for equity and development of best practices; 4) holding annual retreats of women faculty, provost, deans, and school chairs to review and refine goals and progress; and 5) strengthening and extending the scope and impact of family-friendly practices. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Chameau, Jean-Lou Mary Fox Sue Rosser GA Tech Research Corporation - GA Institute of Technology GA Laura Kramer Cooperative Agreement 3702006 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0123552 October 1, 2001 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. The University of Washington (UW) recognizes the important contributions that women make in science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM), and the factors that still inhibit women's full participation. The University proposes to create the Center for Institutional Change (CIC) to design and implement programs to help eliminate obstacles to women's full participation and advancement in the SEM disciplines. Many of these challenges occur in departments, so changing departmental culture will be a part of the CIC mission. The CIC will focus on these issues in SEM on campus: Leadership development for chairs and deans Department cultural change Policy change Leadership development Short-term support program for faculty in times of transition The work of the CIC will seve all groups (men, women, underrepresented) and improve the environment for everyone in SEM. UW will share its experiences with other institutions, professional societies, and industrial partners that are addressing the issues of low representation of women faculty in engineering and science. A network will be established to facilitate dissemination, and UW will work with Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, CH2M Hill, and REI to share best practices. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Cauce, Ana Mari Suzanne Brainard Ronald Irving Eve Riskin Joyce Yen University of Washington WA Laura Kramer Cooperative Agreement 3750000 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0123571 January 1, 2002 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. The University of Michigan proposes to undertake three different types of interventions to improve the opportunities and circumstances of tenure-track women faculty in basic science and engineering fields. These include: (1) a campus climate initiative, which will focus on activities (e.g., workshops, focus groups, climate surveys, consultation on increasing pools of female applicants in searches) that have been identified, or will be created, and made available to any interested science or engineering unit (a department or college) throughout the University; (2) a gender equity resource fund, which will provide new types of direct support to individuals; and (3) a departmental transformation initiative, which will permit a sequenced program of activities to be developed and tailored to a small number of units on a competitive basis. This sequenced program (including internal review or self-study, goal-setting, and a series of targeted activities addressing recruitment, retention and/or climate issues) will enable a sustained, committed intervention within a single department, as well as provide a model of change for other institutional units. All three sets of programs will be evaluated by independent researchers. Evaluations will be conducted throughout the course of the Award, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Results of early evaluations will be used to revise Programs. This multi-level program is designed to improve the campus environment for women faculty in science and engineering at the University of Michigan, and as a result to increase the successful recruitment, retention and promotion of tenure-track women faculty in basic science fields. The presence and success of these women faculty will in turn affect the expectations and attitudes of the many women and men who are graduate and undergraduate students in science and engineering fields. Many of these individuals will go on to have science and engineering careers themselves; because UM trains so many students, it is anticipated that the impact of this program will reach well beyond this university. Creation of a more equitable climate at UM will affect other campuses through the next generation of science and engineering faculty who will themselves train students, as well as non-academic work settings in which scientists and engineers trained at UM are employed. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. PROGRAM EVALUATION PROGRAM SUPPORT ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Stewart, Abigail David Munson Pamela Raymond James Woolliscroft Terrence McDonald University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 3946508 7261 1980 1738 OTHR 9177 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0123574 October 1, 2001 ADVANCE Leadership Award. This award supports the development of a new database of science and engineering department chairs and the development and administration of a comprehensive survey of department chairs. The department chairs survey will collect information about the respondents' personal and professional background, their career-related perceptions and attitudes, and the institutional setting of their department. This data will support detailed multivariate analysis examining the determinants of women's entry into, or lack of movement into, positions of departmental leadership. The lack of demographic data on department chairs and the processes by which they are chosen represents a significant gap in the knowledge about the progress of women in assuming a key academic leadership position. To address this gap in knowledge, project objectives are to develop and implement a department chairs survey and to construct a new database of demographic and career-related information on science and engineering department chairs. This study will help to achieve significant change by bringing to light the criteria and processes used to select chairs. Institutional accountability and presence of public data on the proportions of female chairs can make a profound difference in the level of attention paid to the appointments. Systemic change must include not only increasing leadership diversity in the upper administrative levels, but also at the local level (i.e., the department). The chair is also critical to initiating other change within the department. This project is jointly supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program and the National Institutes of Health. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Niemeier, Debbie Kimberlee Shauman University of California-Davis CA Laura Kramer Standard Grant 200000 X988 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0123581 January 1, 2002 ADVANCE Leadership Award. This award is to continue the work of Bryn Mawr College in the promotion and support of the next generation of women in the mathematical sciences. The award supports the outreach, mentoring, and research projects of Professor Rhonda Hughes of the Department of Mathematics. This effort builds on previous efforts of the Principal Investigator and the College, aims to further identify and replicate effective structures that promote the successful advancement of women mathematical scientists, so that they might eventually assume positions of leadership in the science, engineering, and mathematics community. A significant portion of the work involves collaboration with Professor Sylvia Bozeman of Spelman College, as well as cooperation between Spelman and Bryn Mawr Colleges. The activity involves four major components:(1)The EDGE Publication Program, which would provide for the broad dissemination of information about successful strategies for increasing the retention of women in graduate programs in mathematics, and supporting the advancement of their careers;(2)The Capacity Building Program for Women, which would establish a three-tiered mentoring program in order to increase the capacity of women to advance to positions of leadership in the academic community;(3) The EDGE Symposium 2003,which would provide a forum for identifying and disseminating information about institutional and individual paradigms that contribute to this advancement, and include an EDGE Reunion and mentoring workshops; and (4)The Re- search Program of the Principal Investigator, which would enable the Principal Investigator to intensify her research program in functional analysis and operator theory, and permit the increased involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in timely areas of mathematical research, with the long-range goal of their pursuing careers in the mathematical sciences. This project is supported by the National Institutes of Health through the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Hughes, Rhonda Bryn Mawr College PA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 187000 X988 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0123582 September 1, 2002 ADVANCE Leadership Award. This award supports the development and implementation of a workshop for prospective and current female professors in science and engineering fields as part of the NSF ADVANCE Leadership Awards Program by a group of researchers from the George Washington University and Gallaudet University who have collaborated for the past five years on projects to increase the numbers of women and other underrepresented minorities in advanced Science, Engineering and Mathematics (SEM) careers. Using experience from earlier efforts to bring together students from different institutions, large and small, local and far away, specialized communities (e.g. women's colleges, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and comprehensive, to consider and be prepared for graduate school in science, engineering and math (SEM), the PIs propose to develop and run a similar workshop for potential and current female faculty members in SEM. The proposed activity will benefit from the pipeline created by the FORWARD program: participants from this program started in 1997 will be reaching graduation and the stage of securing a faculty position within the proposed timeline of the award. Participation will be solicited from across the country and will feature speakers from successful programs and careers in SEM. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Mavriplis, Catherine Rachelle Heller George Washington University DC Laura Kramer Standard Grant 171227 1739 OTHR 9251 1739 0000 0123592 November 1, 2001 ADVANCE Leadership Award. This award provides support for reconfiguration and revitalization of a project called Women in Linguistics Mentoring Alliance (WILMA). WILMA was started in 1996 to provide women in linguistics with mentors to help them acquire general survival skills and guide them through the early stages of their careers, thus increasing the numbers of women in linguistics. WILMA grew out of discussions among members of COSWL (the Committee on the Status of Women in Linguistics) and others which indicated a need for consistent mentoring practices for women in linguistics. In this project a new program which makes use of the internet for identifying and arranging mentorships will be initiated. The goal is to create a self-sustaining website where women in linguistics can go to search for mentors who share their interests and attributes. Effective mentoring is critically important for academic advancement and personal development in any field of study. WILMA is based on a model that supplements rather than replaces other mentoring, on the premise that students and faculty benefit from exposure to a range of points of view and alternative responses to practical questions. There is also additional benefit to developing contacts beyond the home department and campus. Thus, the kind of mentoring provided through WILMA can be useful even to women lucky enough to have good mentors and advisors at their home institutions. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Macaulay, Monica University of Wisconsin-Madison WI Laura Kramer Standard Grant 31461 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0123604 July 1, 2002 ADVANCE Leadership Award. This is a proposal to support an expansion of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Project in the Women's and Gender Studies (WGS) Program at North Carolina State University. The WISE project promotes the advancement of women and people of color in science and engineering through the integration of women's studies into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum via faculty development seminars. The current proposal is for two years of funding to support companion seminars for interested faculty and graduate students. The immediate goals of the proposed seminar project are to foster community among the participants, address their interests in theory and research from women's studies, and promote informed conversation within science and engineering departments and classrooms. The long-term goals of the proposed seminar project are to provide an institutionally sustainable vehicle for the recruitment and retention of women and people of color as faculty and graduate students in science and engineering, promote the national dialogue about best practices in accomplishing this, and contribute new scholarship by and about women in science and engineering to the field of women's studies. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR Wyer, Mary North Carolina State University NC Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 185000 1739 1253 OTHR 1739 0000 0123609 June 1, 2002 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. With this award, Hunter College will design and implement a program to improve the institutional practices and culture that affect the hiring, retention, promotion, salary, and professional development of women in the natural and social sciences. As part of the largest public urban university in the nation, Hunter College will be a model for the other CUNY colleges and for urban public universities generally. Goals include: a) to develop, test, and disseminate measures for identifying, measuring, and reporting hidden and subtle, as well as visible and obvious, indicators of gender equity; b) to correct unintended institutional practices that work against the advancement of women scientists; c) to educate administrators and other evaluators, via workshops and training manuals, about inadvertent gender biases in evaluating and recognizing scientists' contributions and about strategies for equalizing men's and women's ability to advance; d) to develop interventions to advance junior and mid-level women scientists via a sponsorship program. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Valian, Virginia Shirley Raps Vita Rabinowitz CUNY Hunter College NY Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 3950000 1738 1544 SMET OTHR 9178 1738 0000 0123622 January 1, 2002 ADVANCE Leadership Award. The problem of under-representation of women in engineering and sciences is critical. This is particularly true of senior women in engineering. To address this urgent problem of under-representation and to meet the marketplace demand for the technological workforce in the 21 st century, a program is proposed that provides for mentoring and leadership development. The aim of the Mentoring and Leadership Program is to sustain and broaden the existing initiatives at Syracuse University to promote the advancement of women faculty in engineering and sciences. Some of the existing initiatives are the brainchild of WISE, which the PI co-directs with the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and others are the direct results of the PI's Meredith Professorship initiatives. The proposed Mentoring and Leadership Program will capitalize on the existing initiatives and will introduce new features that reflect current knowledge of leadership development. The ADVANCE Leadership Award will also enable the PI to maintain an active research program while she develops and implements initiatives aimed at the advancement of women students and faculty at Syracuse University. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Bhatia, Shobha Syracuse University NY Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 185000 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0123636 January 1, 2002 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. Through the Leadership Education for Advancement and Promotion Program (LEAP), the University of Colorado seeks to transform the makeup of the science and engineering faculties at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and to increase the number of women trained in the scientific, mathematical, engineering, and technology (SMET) disciplines serving in key administrative positions. The University of Colorado, Boulder seeks to improve the environment for all faculty members, by improving the level of managerial and leadership skills possessed by the faculty. Providing all the tools needed to work effectively will reduce the stresses commonly associated with achieving tenure. LEAP will therefore accelerate the promotion rate of women faculty by increasing retention rates and making their environment more supportive. The program is designed to keep faculty members on track for tenure, to identify potential leaders, and to give people more leadership opportunities. The program is designed to work with efforts already underway at the University of Colorado. Formative evaluation of the program will maximize the effectiveness of the funds used over the lifetime of the program. At the end of the five-year period the University of Colorado, Boulder expects to have more women in leadership positions in the University. In addition, they will have trained a cadre of faculty better able to pursue long term change, and have developed an effective way to continue to train faculty for success. This program will permanently impact the institution and the changes it initiates will be self-sustainable through internal support. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF CROSS-DIRECTORATE ACTIV PROGR HRD EHR Rankin, Patricia Carol Lynch Joyce Nielsen Todd Gleeson Tin Tin Su University of Colorado at Boulder CO Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 3581254 1738 1397 OTHR 1738 0000 0123654 October 1, 2001 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. The Unviersity of Puerto Rico, Hamacao proposes to implement a five year program to increase the participation and advancement of women in the natural and social sciences. The University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Humacao Campus is an undergraduate institution with approximately 4,300 students; 99% of Puerto Rican origin and 65% women. For years UPR has had one of the highest rates of recruitment and graduation of undergraduate women in science, mathematics, and engineering in the United States. At the Humacao campus, 68% of the students in the Biology and Chemistry programs and 50% in Mathematics are women. In Physics, the only program with a minority of women the number has increased to 26% after the efforts of the last 7 years. Although the number of women in science is high compared to universities in the US mainland, women are still underrepresented in the faculty and do not advance to the highest academic ranks at the same rate of male faculty. The proposed project includes the following activities: Investigate the causes and consequences of the participation of women in science in the UPR-Humacao to develop strategies that can be used in UPR and elsewhere. Identify problems that inhibit the advancement of women faculty and determine how they might differ between universities in Puerto Rico and other US universities. Set-up a coordinated campus effort to revise procedures, and to define and implement policies and practices for the recruitment, retention and advancement of faculty to increase the participation and advancement of women faculty. Set-up training for new faculty on career transitions, including on gender related issues and how to advance in academic positions.. Set-up training for administrators on approaches to improving gender equality and diversity. Increase the recruitment of women in Physics and Electronics and Computational Mathematics by providing scholarships for graduate studies (with funds from UPR-H) to talented students. UPR-H will carry out an assessment and evaluation program on the proposed activities throughout the project to develop short and longterm interventions, and to measure the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The program will serve as a model for other Hispanic universities, both in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the US. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Ramos, Idalia Sara BenÝtez University of Puerto Rico at Humacao PR Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 3108958 1738 OTHR 9150 1738 0000 0123659 November 1, 2001 ADVANCE Leadership Award. The primary goal of this proposal is to create a self-sustaining mentoring program for women in the Department of Biology at Arizona State University. SWIS will be based on a vertical integration scheme where faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduates work together in a mentoring network to foster the advancement of women in biological research careers. The project is based upon two key observations. First, in the Biology Department, they have numerous unconnected resources that have not been used to the full advantage of mentoring women, particularly at the graduate and undergraduate level. With this proposal, they plan to consolidate resources in the Department and connect pre-existing resources in such a way that new opportunities for growth and mentoring will be created. Second, although the ASU Biology women faculty are leaders in their field and have been extremely successful at mentoring individual students, no one faculty member has sufficient time and energy to create a self-sustaining organization such as the proposed SWIS program. The SWIS program has 2 components: the development of a mentoring network through a seminar series and invited seminar speakers, and the development of a mentoring workshop focused on issues pertaining to the successful recruiting and retaining of women in science careers. The former is seen as a mechanism to concentrate the efforts of individual women in the Biology Department, and the later as a mechanism to promote permanent cultural change. This project is supported by the National Institutes of Health through the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. HRD EHR Hofmann, Gretchen Allison Whitmer Arizona State University AZ Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 185175 X988 OTHR 1739 0000 0123666 January 1, 2002 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. This proposal presents a comprehensive, multi-layered approach addressing the institutional barriers inhibiting the progress of women in science and engineering. The research questions to be addressed are 1) what are the climate-related factors, barriers, attitudes, and experiences of women in science and engineering at UW-Madison, 2) to what extent are the current programs and the proposed initiatives successful in addressing these factors, 3) to what extent can the eventual institutional transformation model be replicated and extended to other campuses. A National Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI) will be established to centralize collected data, monitor the success of the proposed efforts, implement a longitudinal data system, and ensure dissemination of best practices. In addition to establishing WISELI as a visible entity with campus-wide endorsement, new initiatives will include national workshops for academic women as well as chairs and deans; establishing 10 professorships/chairs to support the advancement of women in science and engineering in the Chancellor's endowment goals; awarding Life Cycle Research Grants at vulnerable career junctures; sponsoring Celebrating Women in Science and Engineering Seminar Series. Existing programs such as the Chancellor's Climate Initiative, dual-career hiring programs, the Women Faculty Mentoring Program, the Committee on Women, Sexual Harassment Information Sessions, and Gender Pay Equity studies will be evaluated for effectiveness and modified as needed for women in science and engineering. While the proposed project focuses on sustainable institutional change, it incorporates interventions to foster networking, mentoring, and role modeling for women graduate and postdoctoral trainees with the goal of filling the academic pipeline. Evaluation, directed by the Learning through Evaluation, Adaptation, and Dissemination (LEAD) Center, will be on-going and will inform development and redirection of initiatives in an iterative process of implementation, evaluation, and modification. Complementing the evaluation, an ethnographic study and linguistic discourse analysis will be conducted by a cultural anthropologist and linguist, respectively. The Chancellor has committed to making the program sustainable beyond the funding period by continuing support for a research position dedicated to the institutional study of the status of women, the endowed professorships, and planned efforts to raise funds to make WISELI a permanent element of the campus. The UW-Madison has all of the scientific, historical, administrative, and cultural ingredients to make it an ideal campus to develop and study innovative initiatives for true institutional change for women in science, both locally and as a model for other campuses. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Carnes, Mary Jo Handelsman University of Wisconsin-Madison WI Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 3748973 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0123669 October 1, 2001 ADVANCE Leadership Award. The PIs propose to educate women geoscientists on the barriers to their progress in academia and on strategies to overcome those barriers. Their goal is to increase the proportion of women in geoscience tenure track and tenured positions in academia in the United States. Project objectives are to: 1) determine the current status of women in academia through a survey of geoscience departments in the United States, 2) conduct focus groups and surveys of students, tenured and untenured faculty and non-tenure track faculty at national geoscience meetings to determine what is the perception of barriers to women's progress in the field, 3) hold a 1-day workshop to investigate the causes of the low representation of women in academic geoscience positions in the United States, and 4) Disseminate the information to geoscience students, junior faculty and to academic administrators to educate women students and faculty on strategies to overcome barriers, encourage women to pursue academic geoscience careers and teach administrators how to recruit and retain qualified women in geoscience. This approach to increasing women's representation in the geosciences takes a 'supply-side' or mentoring approach, with a focus on teaching women what they need to know to become (i) educated in the field without discrimination, (ii) to negotiate salaries and contracts, and (iii) to find out what is required to achieve tenure at their institutions. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES HRD EHR Holmes, Mary Anne Suzanne O'Connell Annabelle Foos University of Nebraska-Lincoln NE Laura Kramer Standard Grant 272224 1739 1733 1575 OTHR 9150 1739 0000 0123681 January 1, 2002 ADVANCE Leadership Award. Over the past thirty years Spelman College has made great strides in its efforts to increase the number of women and the number of African American students who complete bachelor's degrees in mathematics and who enter into and persist in graduate programs in the sciences, mathematics and engineering. Those efforts have resulted in a greater understanding of the academic training and early professional development needs, and the support mechanisms required to attract these students into the higher levels of academic excellence and academic leadership. It has also resulted in a cadre of women faculty who hold leadership positions throughout the SEM areas in their own disciplines. The current ADVANCE project intends to capitalize on past success by pursuing the following goals: a. Use scholarly writings to disseminate information regarding support structures aimed at increasing retention among women in graduate mathematics programs; and information on support mechanisms to advance the careers of women in the scientific community. b. Facilitate the transition of the PI back to a full-time research and teaching position following a period of long-term leadership in efforts to expand the pipeline of academic leaders in SEM areas. c. Increase the capacity of women to assume academic positions in higher education as mathematicians and to advance to leadership roles in the science, engineering and mathematics academic community, with a particular emphasis on minority women. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Bozeman, Sylvia Spelman College GA Laura Kramer Standard Grant 185000 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0123682 October 1, 2001 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. The central administration of UCI is committed to diversity and equity and realizes that to maintain and increase its competitive edge the problems contributing to the low representation of women in academic science and engineering need to be addressed. This sense of urgency is compounded by the impending growth of the campus as a result of 'Tidal Wave II'. With the influx of new students comes a rare opportunity to hire up to 50 new faculty, which added to the turnover in hiring, results in a projection of more than 80 new hires a year for the next decade. UCI intends to seize this opportunity to transform UCI into a diverse campus with flexible approaches and innovative solutions to problems that affect both science and the training of the workforce of the future. UCI's goals are: to increase the recruitment of women into Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET) disciplines, provide a network of support and guidance through to tenure, monitor progress by collecting and analyzing data about the objective and subjective aspects of equity, promote networking and mentoring activities for tenured women to ensure that they develop to their fullest potential, including facilitating nominations for awards at the local, national and international levels. To accomplish these goals, UCI will appoint a senior faculty member as an Equity Advisor in each of the 8 SMET schools, to tailor an equity program for that school that meets its particular needs. Their involvement in recruiting will include assisting search committees to develop diverse candidate pools containing highly qualified women. They will also set up a mentoring program for junior faculty based on a successful UCI model. To increase awareness among administrators and search committees of the ways in which our judgment of individuals is altered by their gender, UCI will make use of workshops successfully implemented in the corporate world by one of the faculty. To encourage networking among women scientists, UCI will organize a series of scientific conferences, focused on different scientific disciplines, at which women scientists will be invited to speak about their research. Workshops will allow an exploration of the issues standing in the way of full participation of women in academia, and all faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows will be invited to participate. Finally, to provide a tangible demonstration of the value of activities that promote gender equity, UCI will establish two ADVANCE Chairs, to be awarded to tenured faculty in the sciences with both excellent academic credentials as well as demonstrated commitment to gender equity. These Chairs will be continued after the period of the grant by funds raised from private donations. To evaluate the success of these strategies, UCI's annual self-assessment surveys will be complemented by two assessments by external evaluators to be conducted in years three and five. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Bryant, Susan Herbert Killackey University of California-Irvine CA Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 3453391 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0123690 January 1, 2002 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. New Mexico State University proposes a five year program to increase by 20 percent (net) the overall number of women in faculty science, math, and engineering tenure-track positions. NMSU is a public, land-grant university with a research focus, diverse student body, and commitment to minority participation in science, mathematics, and engineering (SME). NMSU's program of institutional transformation seeks to create an environment which supports the advancement of women SME faculty to leadership positions in the professoriate and in academic administration. Under this program, a Committee on the Status of Women in SME will form the central administrative unit to bring about these changes. The Committee will include the associate deans of the Colleges of Agriculture and Home Economics, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and the Graduate School, department heads and senior faculty from departments within these colleges, and key advisory personnel with experience in diversity issues in higher education. The NMSU Committee on the Status of Women in SME will: (1) conduct a self-study of the current status of women in SME faculty positions at NMSU and institutionalize an annual review of the status of women faculty at NMSU to insure gains made toward equity under this program continue after the grant period; (2) distribute research, travel, and start-up funds with the goal of recruiting and retaining women SME faculty; (3) establish an endowment and long-term funding campaign to provide financial resources to sustain ADVANCE initiatives after the grant period ends; (4) coordinate Faculty Development and Visiting Scholar programs; (5) serve as consultants to SME Departmental Faculty Search Committees; (6) disseminate programmatic results within NMSU and at professional conferences. As a Hispanic serving institution, NMSU will also encourage participation in SME fields among under- represented ethnic groups. This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Sterling, Tracy Kenneth Paap Richard Hills LeRoy Daugherty Josephine DeLeon New Mexico State University NM Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 3747075 9150 1738 OTHR 9150 1738 0000 0123697 January 1, 2002 ADVANCE Leadership Award. The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) is a recognized national leader and innovator in developing mentoring and leadership programs. AWIS proposes to build on a previous project on academic climate funded by the Sloan Foundation. This project developed surveys for assessing the institutional climate for undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty. In addition to surveys, site visit protocols were developed for campus visits. Nine central issues for faculty emerged from this work: (1) Recruitment, hiring, and retention; (2) Tenure and promotion; (3) Dual careers; (4) Family and work; (5) communication; (6) Mentoring faculty; (7) Mentoring students; (8) Informal networking and socializing; and (9) Career development. Recommendations were developed to address these issues and sample model policies were collected. AWIS has been involved in the dissemination of these materials for the past three years. Recently, with the MIT Report, the demand has outpaced the ability of AWIS to supply materials on an individual basis. AWIS proposes to develop an on-line Institutional Climate Assessment Kit that institutions can use to implement their own programs. In addition to the kit, AWIS will have a section on Model Academic Policies that address many of the nine topics listed above and a bi-weekly on-line column that tackles these issues. As a result of the proposed project, AWIS anticipates three clear and realistic outcomes, including (1) An institutional Climate Assessment Kit that will provide an evaluated and tested model for replication by the institutions; (2) Model Academic Policies that can be used by science societies and institutions; and (3) explicit professional science society linkages that will facilitate replication and sustainability of the project. This project is supported by the National Institutes of Health through the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers HRD EHR Didion, Catherine Helen Davies Association for Women in Science, Inc. DC Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 70000 X988 OTHR 1739 0000 0124198 October 1, 2001 Program for Persons with Disabilities - PPD: RASEM Squared: Advanced Regional Alliance of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics for Students with Disabilities. Proposal # HRD-0124198 Institution: New Mexico State University Principal Investigators: William McCarthy and Ed Misquez Title: RASEM Squared ABSTRACT New Mexico State University will be the lead institution for a Regional Alliance for Students with Disabilities in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET). The project, entitled RASEM Squared (or RASEM 2), is based on the successes of an earlier project named RASEM (Regional Alliance For Science, Engineering, and Mathematics for Students with Disabilities) funded by NSF. The project's primary goal over the five years of the program is to increase the number of students with disabilities who graduate with baccalaureate degrees leading directly to graduate training or to employment in their desired fields. To achieve these goals, RASEM 2 is instituting a comprehensive educational approach composed of six innovative actions, five previously field-tested by RASEM and an additional one that prepares faculty for full participation of students with disabilities in SMET curricula. The actions will affect students throughout the education continuum from K-12, through community colleges, and to universities in New Mexico and far west Texas. The six actions are: 1. Hands-on science experiences in pre-college science education environments. 2. Formal research experiences as undergraduates and graduates. 3. Preparation of faculty for full participation of students with disabilities in a SMET curricula. 4. Bridge programs between academic levels. 5. Mentoring by successful SMET professionals and SMET students with disabilities. 6. Securing co-op, summer internships, and professional employment. Each of the six actions will be evaluated using outcome measures that provide evidence of the program's efficacy. The RASEM 2 Alliance is made up of numerous entities in New Mexico (seventeen 2-year community colleges, six 4-year colleges and universities, and nine school district regional center cooperatives) and West Texas (two universities and two educational service centers representing school districts). The Alliance also includes two national laboratories, the statewide agencies serving people with disabilities, and a national organization for the advancement of science. These entities are located in a region that has a broad spectrum of culturally diverse, economically impoverished constituencies of students with disabilities and student families. RASEM 2 project coordinators in three sub-regions will work to strengthen existing ties (or develop new ones) with public schools in their areas. They will facilitate efforts to provide a bridge between public schools and higher education institutions and promote summer programs in their geographical areas. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR McCarthy, William Joseph Misquez New Mexico State University NM Mark H. Leddy Cooperative Agreement 4141269 1545 SMET 9178 0124841 September 1, 2001 Pikuni Integration of Instructional Technology into Academics. Native Americans continue to be vastly underrepresented in the SMET fields, especially in Information Technology disciplines, and as educators (NCES, 1998). This proposal seeks to address the chronic underrepresentation of American Indian graduates in SMET education in a variety of ways. The primary goals of the proposal are: a) to increase the enrollment of Native American students into SMET disciplines, b) increase the numbers of Native American graduates from SMET fields, especially in education, c) develop the SMET research infrastructure at Blackfeet Community College, and d) build up the Information Technology program at Blackfeet College as the funding force behind the first two goals. Several objectives will be implemented as these goals are realized. New SMET faculty positions will be created and funded in part through the proposal. The collaborative ties between Blackfeet Community College (BCC), and Montana State University-Northern will be strengthened. These two partners will develop a joint curriculum in Information Technology that is friendly to Native American students. The Information Technology degree program at BCC will be enhanced with new courses, new capabilities, and additional personnel. Professional development activities will be conducted for the entire BCC faculty for the purpose of integrating IT across the curriculum. Key SMET programs at BCC, such as the Ethnobotanical Greenhouse, the Weather and Water Lab, and the DNA Mapping Lab, will be targeted as IT supported research areas, and student interns will be funded to help with the research. Research internships will also be set up at MSU-Northern for American Indians who transfer into baccalaureate degree programs in SMET and IT education. A series of Summer Session BRIDGE activities for Blackfeet Reservation high school and college students will be jointly hosted by BCC and MSU-Northern at the MSU-Northern campus in Havre. This is an ambitious project that will serve as a model for others who desire to use some or all of the various activities that this proposal will encompass. The PIITA project will be a five year, $2 million dollar effort that will significantly impact the numbers of American Indian students graduating with SMET related degrees. Specifically, the project staff will assist at least 30 American Indian students to graduate with baccalaureate degrees in SMET fields of study, with an emphasis toward IT and education, during the next five years. These graduates will effectively raise the pool of American Indian IT educators in Montana by 500 percent or more. The proposal has provisions for retaining an external evaluator, and nominal support for an advisory committee. The eight member advisory committee will be recruited from educators and administrators from BCC, MSU-Northern, school disricts in the Blackfeet Reservation area, other Montana tribal colleges, and from the Blackfeet Community. The evaluator and the committee will meet quarterly with the project PI's. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Salois, John Beverly Atwell Blackfeet Community College MT Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2461249 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0128850 September 1, 2001 The Digital Opportunity Partnership: Linking the IT Industry with Minority-Serving Institutions. The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), the nation's leading IT association representing more than 500 corporate members from the information technology industry, proposes a pilot initiative to establish a framework for substantial engagement of its member companies with a core group of minority-serving institutions representing the more than 105 Hispanic Serving Institutions, 203 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and 32 Tribal Colleges and Universities across the U.S. This effort will be directly responsive to the recommendations of the bipartisan Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and Technology (CAWMSET) with respect to improving access to and the quality of higher education for groups underrepresented in science, engineering, and technology. The broad goal is to link the resources and expertise of ITAA and its members with those minority-serving institutions demonstrating the commitment and capacity to improve the technological and pedagogical infrastructure devoted to student learning, faculty and student research, and administrative processes. Through this initiative, ITAA will pursue two major activities: 1. Assist in developing and implementing customized campus technology plans for specific schools through: a) Identification, assessment, and refinement of user needs; b) Recommendation and technical assistance in procurement of baseline systems and technology 2. Provide knowledge enhancement activities through: a) Student and faculty internships in ITAA member firms b) Recommendation of specific curricular and research activity enhancements c) E-mentoring of students, faculty, and administrators d) ITAA practitioners-on-loan as potential academic and administrative consultants The ITAA project will complement other NSF grants, including EDUCAUSE (Award # 9980537) and the Council on Competitiveness (Award# 0110028). This project will also build upon the quality assurance provided by merit review of proposals submitted to the HBCU-UP and TCUP programs at NSF. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Bynum, Marjorie Information Technology Assoc. of America VA Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 249509 1744 SMET 9178 0129901 September 15, 2001 PGE/DEM Edge to Edge - Giving All Girls "The Edge" They Need. Today's Solutions in partnership with the Girl Scouts-Lone Star Council are using a planning grant to build a strong regional and national collaboration with Texas community colleges and five additional Girl Scout councils. The Council is building on a technology curriculum project pilot called "The Edge." The original pilot program was developed for girls ages 6-17 and delivered primarily to elementary and middle school girls. The plan is to modify "The Edge" to address the needs of high school age girls, undergraduate women and women desiring an entry level technology job. The large project will focus on those in rural Texas counties, girls within the 200% of poverty level and girls that have English as a second language, to increase their technology skills and their interest in going to college. Austin Community College distance learning, St. Edward's University, University of Texas and the IC2 institute are eager to partner with Girl Scouts - Lone Star Council . The Council served 12,839 girls and 6,598 adults in fiscal year 99-00. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Woodward, Kathryn LCN, Inc. dba Today's Solutions TX Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 30000 1544 SMET 9178 0130459 August 15, 2002 Compact-AGEP Partnership (CAP). COMPACT-AGEP PARTNERSHIP This proposal seeks to expand a pilot project begun two years ago between the Minority Graduate Education (MGE) program and the Compact for Faculty Diversity's Institute on Teaching and Mentoring. The proposed project would continue and expand Institute participation to all AGEP programs, as well as provide the full array of program activities and services that have contributed significantly to the Compact' s success. The Compact is a nationwide program initiated in 1994 involving three regional organizations, the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). The goal of the program is simple; to increase the number of minority graduate students who earn the doctoral degree and seek careers as college and university faculty. Extending the experiences of the pilot group to scholars in every AGEP program and expanding the services these scholars receive is what this initiative will accomplish. Specifically, the proposed Compact/AGEP partnership will achieve two broad goals: 1) provide AGEP scholars with knowledge, skills, academic mentoring, and support that will increase the likelihood of success in graduate school; and 2) enhance preparation for a career as a college or university faculty member. The project has five key objectives: Objective 1: To provide an array of direct support services to AGEP scholars that will increase the likelihood of completion of the doctoral degree. These services include regular contact by staff; review of student progress and grades; a newsletter; academic counseling and advocacy; mentoring, and professional development opportunities. Objective 2: To provide training in skills and techniques of succeeding in a Ph.D. program in SEM. Objective 3: To prepare AGEP scholars for successful transition from graduate school to a faculty position. Objective 4: To provide expanded networking and academic community building support to AGEP scholars. Objective 5: To provide training to the faculty mentors of AGEP scholars in effective mentoring techniques and practices. The Compact's annual Institute on Teaching and Mentoring is clearly the "centerpiecel" of Compact activity. This three-day, fall meeting of more than 500 participants provide a forum for students and faculty mentors to discuss issues critical to success at the doctoral level. Attendees participate in workshops and seminars that range from how to survive graduate school to what is expected of a junior faculty member, with particular attention given to enhancing research, teaching, and mentoring skills, career preparation, proposal writing, negotiating the first job, and networking. With the majority of Compact scholars representing science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM) disciplines, particular attention is paid to the issues specific to scholars and faculty. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Abraham, Ansley Ken Pepion Southern Regional Education Board GA Lenell Allen Continuing grant 1630347 1515 SMET 9179 1515 0135616 March 1, 2002 Rural Systemic Initiatives in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education - RSI: TCRSI Phase II - Implementation. The Blackfeet Community College-Rural Systemic Initiative (BCC-RSI) proposal is an outgrowth of an earlier effort; namely, the Tribal College-RSI that targeted a larger geographical area. Having been a part of the earlier challenge to coordinate systemic reform efforts for several Indian reservations in five states, BCC-RSI proposes to concentrate its reform efforts on the Blackfeet Reservation, which consists of approximately 1.5 million acres of land located in Glacier County in north central Montana. The current population on the reservation is approximately 9,000 people. Two separate school districts (Browning and Heart Butte) located within the boundaries of the reservation serve approximately 1,900 students. BCC-RSI proposes to service all of the three schools from the Heart Butte School District and five of eight schools from the Browning School District. Of these eight schools, the efforts of BCC-RSI would impact 98% of the K-8 Indian student population and 100% of the Indian high school students on the Blackfeet Reservation. The BCC-RSI proposes to continue to impact student achievement in schools on the reservation by promoting the NSF drivers in addition to addressing the social/cultural needs of the students and teachers that were identified during their development efforts. RURAL SYSTEMIC INITIATIVE PROG HRD EHR Salois, John Helen Augare Blackfeet Community College MT Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 1250000 7366 SMET 9177 0136117 November 1, 2001 Development and Implementation of an Indicator Monitoring System for NSF's Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program [HBCU-UP]. Systemic Research, Inc. proposes to develop and implement a progress indicator monitoring system for the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP). Since the inception of the program in 1998, HBCU-UP has provided a foundationfor sustainable improvements of science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) instructional and outreach programs. Along with other ethnic diversity continuum programs within NSF, the overarching goal of HBSU-UP is to increases the number of underrepresented ethnic minorities well prepared for participation and leadership in the SMET workforce. The program emphasized the implementation of comprehensive institutional approaches to strengthen SMET teaching and learning primarily focusing on improvement of access, retention, and graduation from undergraduate programs, including the transition between high school and college, 2- and 4- year colleges, undergraduate and graduate studies, and from college to the workplace. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA, 1993) mandates that Federal agencies account for program results; the HBSU program has been classified as part of undergraduate support for broadening participation with the primary goal of increasing the number of baccalaureate recipients. The HBCU-UP program also directly aims at the goals defined by the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (November 1, 1993) , "sustainable improvements of science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) instructional and outreach programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities." Within the context of HBCU-UP goals and relevant GPRA requirements, Systemic Research proposes to develop and implement a HBCU-UP indicator monitoring system (IMS) based on HBCU-UP goals and objectives, project activities and components, and self-evaluation and assessment questions designed to assist in self-assessment of the individual sites' progress, as well as overall program effectiveness. The first year will be devoted to the design of the framework, development of prototype IMS instruments, and field-testing with selected HBCU sites. Beginning in the second year, the IMS instruments will be delivered to HBCUs during a workshop. The workshop will also be designed for institutional data managers to share ideas in indicator management and to enhance the integrity of collected data. The data collected during the second year will be compiled into a two volume Fact Book. Since 1995, Systemic Research has had extensive experience working with minority serving institutions, including a few HBCU's, through it's involvement in NSF's Model Institution for Excellence Program (MIE) funded by NSF and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Systemic Research developed a progress indicator database, MSET (MIE Self-Evaluation Template), based on a conceptual and operational framework for MIE program effectiveness. The MIE program goal is very similar to that of HBCU-UP: to strengthen the infrastructure of minority serving institutions (HBCUs, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities) in SMET education and undergraduate research, and to increase the number of students who pursue advanced SMET degrees. Systemic Research will disseminate a two volume HBCU Fact Book: one for overall progress, and the other for individual sites' progress. The published reports will be available in three formats: hard copy, CD-ROM, and web version. Systemic Research will also host a web site to promote communications and networking among the participating HBCUs. PROGRAM EVALUATION HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Kim, Jason Systemic Research, Inc. MA Victor A. Santiago Continuing grant 500000 7261 1594 SMET 9178 0196499 May 1, 2001 PGE/SEP: Science is for Us: An after-school program for junior high school girls. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Roychoudhury, Anita Gerri Susan Mosley-Howard Ohio State University Research Foundation OH Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 75630 1544 SMET 9177 0202169 September 1, 2002 Maryland Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. Project Summary The Maryland Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (MAGEP) is a coalition of three campuses of the University of Maryland dedicated to increasing the number of minorities who earn Ph.D.s in SEM fields. MAGEP has the further goal of preparing our students to be successful in their careers, with a focus on the professoritate. This alliance, led by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), is made up of the three state supported research universities in Maryland: UMBC, the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). MAGEP embraces the notion that we must educate the whole person. Our comprehensive approach will foster excellence in education and research while providing emotional support, peer advising, group study, role models and mentoring. MAGEP builds on a number of initiatives at the undergraduate and graduate levels that have been quite successful on the individual campuses and within partnerships between some of the alliance institutions. The University System of Maryland (USM) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), also led by UMBC in partnership with UMCP, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and the public community colleges, has more than doubled the number of bachelor's degrees awarded to minority science, mathematics, engineering and technology students from 201 to 502 during 1994-2000. Large numbers of these students continue on to graduate schools across the nation. The LSAMP provides partial support for the nationally recognized Meyerhoff Scholars program at UMBC. Both UMBC and UMCP have a large contingent of McNair Scholars who receive strong preparation for graduate school. UMCP has received recognition for its success in graduating minorities with Ph.D.s in SEM fields, including 3 African American women in mathematics in one year. In 1996, a minority graduate training program was initiated at UMBC, supported by a NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) grant. The Graduate Meyerhoff program is focused on biomedical science, and currently has four participating departments. Enrollment in the program has grown from 2 when the program started to 22 today. The Graduate Meyerhoff program has proven to be highly successful and has attracted excellent applicants. Our results demonstrate clearly that a comprehensive approach is successful at the graduate level. The programs and activities of MAGEP will be modeled after the Graduate Meyerhoff program and will incorporate best practices in diversifying graduate education from MAGEP and other universities. To achieve its goals, MAGEP will focus on the following specific and measurable objectives: 1) cultivating new graduate students: including not only increasing the numbers of applicants but also recruiting students with higher qualifications (GPA, undergraduate research experience); 2) retention through degree: increasing the rate of successful completion of the Ph.D. degree; 3) excellence in academic performance: providing support mechanisms to ensure outstanding classroom performance; 4) excellence in research performance: providing appropriate infrastructure and research opportunities to enhance research productivity (including publications and presentations); and 5) pursuit of careers in the professoriate: increasing the number of students who enter and thrive in academic careers by providing preparation in the issues and responsibilities that shape professional life in the academy. MAGEP will institute a comprehensive set of programs and activities that have proven to be effective in pilot efforts at MAGEP institutions and at others around the country. They are clustered into three areas: cultivating new students, building a supportive community, and professional development. Many of the programs span more than one of these areas. Each institution will participate in all of these programs and activities to some extent. However the emphasis on individual campuses will be tailored to the needs of the students and graduate programs. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Johnson, Arthur Janet Rutledge University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 3146323 1515 SMET 9179 1515 0202171 September 1, 2002 The Central New York to Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (CNY-PR) Alliance for Graduate Education. 2. Project Summary: In this age of accelerated technological advances, increasing career specialization and extremely competitive job opportunities, society has a vested interest in promoting graduate and professional education as never before. The need for specialized knowledge and the acquisition of professional credentials place increasingly high demands on all college graduates, yet documented evidence shows that there exists a disparity in the opportunities for certain populations to gain access to programs conferring advanced degrees in science, mathematics and engineering (SME). Member institutions in the alliance spearheaded by Syracuse University with the collaboration of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Cornell University, and Puerto Rico-Mayaguez called the Central New York to Puerto Rico-Mayagilez (CNY-PR) are prepared to confront the challenge of making graduate study more available to reportedly underrepresented populations. The CNY-PR alliance is based on mutual commitment to research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty development programs in an environment where recruitment, retention and mentoring are essential. The CNY-PR alliance brings valuable experience and resources for the enhancement of minority graduate education that will contribute to the diversification of the professoriate. The CNY-PR alliance goal is to use holistic approaches to substantially increase minority SME Ph.D. degree recipients entering academic positions. The CNY-PR alliance proposes the following objectives to achieve its goals: 0 Provide inter-institutional engaging research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students 0 Review and recommend innovative measures and guidelines for graduate admission criteria 0 Aggressively recruit and retain excellent minority students to ' the alliance institutions Provide multi-year funding package for accepted minority graduate students Expand professoriate and mentor training programs to alliance institutions Develop and implement continuous assessment tools to evaluate the alliance's objectives Each component of the program builds on the previous, creating a corridor the student moves through that motivates, guides, and supports from K-12 to Ph.D. to a successful career in academia or industry. The alliance institutions are excited about this program, and have begun laying the groundwork. External funding from industry is already being sought to ensure the continuous . MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Lee-Glauser, Gina Mark Glauser Syracuse University NY Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 2550000 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0202174 September 1, 2002 AGEP: Iowa Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. Iowa Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Project Summary The Iowa Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, a group consisting of faculty in Science, Mathematics and Engineering and Technology (SMET) fields and administrators from all three Iowa State Regents Universities, requests five years of NSF funding under the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate program in partial support of a coordinated series of activities designed to recruit, retain and graduate a substantial number of underrepresented US minority graduate students in SME fields, as well as to change the culture at all three universities in order to guarantee real and permanent access to, through and from Alliance universities and programs. Support is requested for five major program areas: o Buildingpartnerships with minority-serving institutions o An Alliance Summer Research Experience Program for Minority Undergraduates o An Alliance Graduate Teaching Fellowship Program o An Alliance Graduate Student Summer Workshop o An Alliance Campus Awareness Program Partnerships with minority-serving institutions will be built and maintained by a series of yearly conferences in each of three regions in which Alliance universities have been active in recruiting. Undergraduate students from minority-serving institutions will be introduced to the programs and culture of the Alliance universities through anAlliance Summer Research program. Iowa State University and the University of Iowa will each provide support for five.41liance,Teaching Fellows during each year of the program. These five-year Teaching Fellowships will be made permanent at the end of the grant period. The University of Northern Iowa will provide support for two one-year Alliance Teaching Fellows through its teaching assistantship program. NSF will be asked to supplement these positions with an initial one-year traineeship. UNI Teaching Fellows will be encouraged to transfer to one of the other Alliance universities to complete work on the doctorate. A key role in all of this will be played by the Alliance Student Development Coordinator who, together with supporting student development staff at each of the three Alliance universities, will have primary responsibility for faculty and staff training; the development of programs and activities in and out of the classroom to enhance retention and the quest for excellence among students; and the development and administration of a system to assess the progress of the student development aspects of the program. The Director, together with faculty mentors and staff, will design and implement an introductory two-week Summer Workshop for incoming Teaching Fellows as well as academic-year programs designed to promote campus awareness, build community and ensure access. Career counseling and placement assistance will be provided for Fellows as they near the completion of the doctorate. Through these programs and in cooperation with other Alliance University programs and other AGEP Alliance and AMP programs, a substantial number of minority students will complete the doctorate in SME fields at Alliance universities beginning at the end of year five of this project and continuing in subsequent years. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Loh, Wallace Philip Kutzko James Lubker George Jackson University of Iowa IA Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 2672861 1515 SMET 9179 9178 1515 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0202178 September 1, 2002 Graduate Alliance for Education in Louisiana. Graduate Alliance for Education in Louisiana PROJECT SUMMARY We propose to establish an alliance for increasing diversity in graduate education and the professoriate in Louisiana. Alliance partners will include Tulane and Louisiana State University (the two Carnegie Research I universities in the state and the institutions responsible for 94% of the minority doctoral degree production in the state between 1994-2001), Xavier University of Louisiana, Dillard University, and Southern University Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The Graduate Alliance for Education in Louisiana (GAELA) will build upon existing minority SME research training programs at these institutions, and develop new programs to encourage more minority students to pursue SME graduate education and academic careers. One of the goals of the GAELA project will be the early identification and nurturing of promising students during their undergraduate years. A concerted effort will be made to recruit doctoral fellows from participants in LS-LAMP, the College Fund - Xavier AMP, and other pre-graduate training programs in the state. We expect that the nurturing students receive in these programs, and the familiarity they gain working with faculty at Tulane and LSU will increase their chances of successfully completing their doctoral training. The second major goal of the GAELA Program will be to affect significant change in the culture of graduate education at the State of Louisiana's top research universities in order to significantly increase minority SME doctoral degree production. We have set a numerical goal of 45 Ph.D. per year by 2006, more than triple the 2001 annual output on minority doctoral degrees. The project has a strong component of recruitment and early exposure of students to academic career opportunities focused on participating HBCU's, and a variety of retention activities focused on the two graduate research institutions. The recruitment component consists of exposing students at HBCU's to study and academic career opportunities at LSU and Tulane through recruiting visits by LSU and Tulane faculty, annual recruitment fairs on Tulane and LSU campuses, and involving HBCU students in Tulane/LSU faculty-mentored research. We will establish GAELA campus programs at Xavier, Dillard, SUBR and SUNO to coordinate these activities. The retention component will consist of mentoring workshops for Tulane and LSU faculty, awarding research funds and professional travel grants to doctoral students that are making satisfactory progress toward completing their degrees, SME academic career training sessions, and #I survival sessions" for helping minority students cope with the majority graduate educational environment. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Bernstein, Michael Henry Bart Su-Seng Pang Isiah Warner Calvin Mackie Tulane University LA Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 2595000 1515 SMET 9179 9178 9150 0204116 September 15, 2002 Evaluative Study of Model Institutions for Excellence [MIE] Based on MIE Self-Evaluation Template [MSET]. This project will combine summative and formative evaluation techniques to apply to completed Phase 1 and ongoing Phase 2 Model Institutions for Excellence awards. The evaluative study will interpret the quantitative and qualitative outcomes and the elements of the program that led to success or failure to accomplish the goals of the MIE program. The outcome of the study will be a document describing the successes and failures of the MIE projects, the factors that led to success and failure, and a summation of the MIE projects that can be used to guide other institutions in developing models to increase participation of under represented groups in SMET undergraduate and graduate programs. This research will be of value in determining how to assess and disseminate successful models that lead to institutional change in promoting the participation in SMET careers of under represented groups. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Kim, Jason Linda Crasco Systemic Research, Inc. MA Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 607419 1582 SMET 9177 7177 0205803 September 1, 2002 Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures. There is a keen interest in developing advanced ceramics and innovative composites for a wide variety of applications including structural components, energy-efficient environmental and thermal barriers, and high performance electronic and sensor materials. Structural ceramics have unique properties that can be used to great advantage in advanced high temperature applications (diesel engines, turbines). Innovative ceramic composites are also being developed for use in high-temperature applications, wear resistant materials, and novel sensor and smart structure applications. Smart ceramics and piezo ceramic patch sensors may be attached to the external surfaces of structures, or directly embedded within materials to provide in-situ measurements of structural behavior. Thin film oxide-based structures and ferroelectric perovskites, are needed for fabrication of electronic devices such as sensors, transducers, nanomagnetics, filters and non-volatile memories. This continuation proposal focuses on the basic science issues affecting both advanced structural ceramics and composites and electronic ceramic materials in a synergistic manner using innovative materials processing methods including nanoengineering. The subproject areas of particular interest to the Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures (CAMSS) include: o Nanoengineered and surface engineered coatings and materials (functionally gradient coatings, fuel cell materials,environmental and thermal barrier coatings, and metal-ceramic joining) o Nanocomposites and other innovative composites (nanostructured ceramic composite coatings, self-reinforced Si3N4 composites, nanomagnetics, and advanced oxide based fiber composites) and o Electronic and smart materials and structures (advanced electronic materials, novel sensor materials and health monitoring-smart structures) The proposed center continuation activity will develop strong research and education programs in the science and technology of nanostructured and other advanced materials. Nanoscale science and technology is expected to revolutionize next-generation technology ranging from structural materials to smart structures, microelectronics tomedicine. To position US industry strategically in a leadership role, we need to equip students with the multidisciplinary skills needed for nano and other innovative engineering fields. We seek to create a crossdisciplinary infrastructure that transcends departmental barriers and lends itself to the integration of research and education in this vital field of advanced materials and smart structures. The primary goals of this program are: (1) continue to promote advanced materials engineering as a unifying research and education discipline; (2) continue to develop multidisciplinary curricula for training the new generation of graduate students; and (3) continue to recruit talented undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups into this field of immense technological importance. All the subproject areas of this continuation proposal listed above will emphasize the following aspects of advanced and nanocrystalline materials in a coherent way, utilizing the complementary skills of the research teams at NC A&T SU, NCSU, ORNL, industry and other educational partners: 1) synthesis and processing; 2) characterization (macro, micro and nano); 3) structure-property correlations; and 4) modeling. Research facilities associated with NSF/CREST, NCSU-NSF/Atomic Resolution Electron Microscope Facility, NSF/ERC -University of Florida (connectivity) and the ORNL/ High Temperature Materials Laboratory facilities will play a pivotal role in the research based training of these students. The NSF Atomic Resolution TEM Facility at NCSU under the direction of NCSU Co-PI (JN) represents a unique research facility in the country, where students can be trained in atomic-level characterization techniques that are essential for nanoengineering of novel materialsand structures. The above research facilities (mechanical test equipment, innovative processing facilities and various characterization facilities) will provide a unique platform to foster multidisciplinary approaches for integrating graduate education and research, recruiting minority graduate and undergraduate students, and introducing new course curricula in this field of vital importance. The results of these fundamental studies will be used to develop models to explain novel advanced materials and unusual properties of the nanostructured materials.The eventual aim of these activities will be to develop predictive tools for designing advanced and novel nanostructured materials with unique properties so that a knowledge base for "creating materials by design" will be established. Strong outreach and technical transfer efforts targeted towards the local and global community will also continue as a part of the center activity. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Sankar, Jagannathan North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University NC Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 3871172 9131 1594 SMET 9179 9178 7218 7204 0206028 September 1, 2002 Center for Systems Science Research. During the last four years, Tennessee State University has established an interdisciplinary NSF CREST center, the Center for Systems Science Research (CSSR), which consists of components from mathematics, physics/astronomy, and electrical/mechanical engineering. Research niches have been firmly established in each of these areas and, at present, the existing research base has matured enough to permit continued significant contributions to the body of scientific knowledge. These science/engineering niches form the four research thrust components of this renewal proposal: (1) optimal and robust control (electrical engineering), (2) modeling of complex astrophysical systems (physics/astronomy), (3) large-scale stochastic dynamic systems (mathematics), and (4) modeling of complex flows (mechanical engineering). These four research components from diverse science/engineering disciplines seek to understand the behavior of complex physical systems by utilizing mathematical models. CSSR researchers in each thrust component have worked independently and side by side for the last four years, and fruitful collaborative interactions have resulted in cross discipline approaches to problem solving. The Center for Systems Science Research has as its primary goals (1) the establishment of a permanent research base at Tennessee State University which produces new knowledge and quality, publishable, peer-reviewed research relevant to NSF research goals and (2) the enhancement of participation and substantial involvement of minority students and faculty in SMET research areas. In reference to Goal 1, the TSU CREST Center has published 171 articles, 139 of these in refereed journals or conference proceedings, during its first four years. Each thrust area has produced significant new knowledge, e.g. the control systems group introduced the concept of controller "fragility" which resulted in a special session at the 1999 American Control Conference, the astrophysics group confirmed the existence of extra solar planets by discovering the first planet in the star system HD 20945,the applied math group has expanded the probabilistic analysis and computational methods for large-scale stochastic dynamic systems, and the CFD groups collaboration with the NSF ERC at Mississippi State University has resulted in a model which predicts the effects of icing on the aerodynamics and structural characteristics of aircraft. During the same time period, the pursuit of Goal 2 has resulted in the support and participation of 35 undergraduate and 7 graduate African-American students on average per year. During the past four years, support for both graduates and undergraduates has averaged over $200,000 per year for various combinations of tuition, fees, room and board, and stipends, and this same level of support is requested for the renewal period. The CREST Student Program Coordinator matches student participants with CREST researchers. Students present their work at the TSU University Wide Research Symposium and at the NSF/NASA/TSU Student Research Symposium. Students have also been co-authors with CREST researchers on journal/conference papers. Thus far eight underrepresented minority students have received their MS degrees, five of whom are now pursuing a Ph.D. In the Fall Semester, 2001 the university began enrollment of students in the newly established Ph.D. program in Computer Information Systems Engineering which is housed in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science. The NSF HRD CREST program was the catalyst that "fast-tracked" this initiative through the university, the Tennessee Board of Regents, and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Keel, Leehyun Joel Eaton Sivapragasam Sathananthan Yong Tao Tennessee State University TN Patrick F. Mensah Cooperative Agreement 4146582 9131 1594 1515 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0206162 September 1, 2002 CREST Center for Mesoscopic Modeling and Simulation. The NSF CREST Center for Mesoscopic Modeling and Simulation"(CMMS) will be established at the City College of the City University of New York (CUNY), in partnership with Hunter College of CUNY. The center will be reinforced by the active participation of CUNY diversity partners, Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, and by key external scientific and educational outreach collaborations. The scientific focus of the proposed center will be devoted to physicochemical modeling, simulation and analysis at the mesoscale level of several distinct, but physically related, condensed matter and materials systems. The mission of CMMS will be to significantly advance scientific knowledge of complex mesoscopic condensed matter and materials systems and the capability for their simulation and to increase the numbers of persons from underrepresented groups entering research careers in areas related to CMMS's scientific focus. CMMS will bring together researchers from chemistry, physics engineering and computer science departments into five highly interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs), with each IRG responsible for one of the Center's five research subprojects/thrusts. All five IRGs will focus on mesoscale modeling and simulation of complex condensed matter without a crystal lattice structure. IRG I is concerned with polymeric materials interfaces. IRG II investigates soil as an unconsolidated granular material. IRG III concerns biomolecular electron transfer processes. IRG IV concerns large biomolecules in membranes. IRG V deals with superfluids. All of the IRG topics share the unifying and computationally challenging characteristics of multiscale phenomena, highly nonlinear behavior, nonequilibrium with the surroundings and complexity. The educational activities of CMMS for graduate students will include: specialized courses in mesoscopic modeling, interdisciplinary courses in computational science, seminars, internships and training in administration of the Beowulf cluster that will be the Center's primary student training machine. CMMS will also implement a multi-faceted diversity recruitment, retention and outreach plan. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Watkins, Charles Joel Koplik Godfrey Gumbs James Hammonds CUNY City College NY Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 2266299 9131 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0206200 September 1, 2002 CREST - Center for Tropical Applied Ecology and Conservation at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras. The CREST Center for Applied Ecology and Conservation is designed to create a research environment where multidisciplinary groups work together to solve the complex environmental problems facing the Neotropics. The major goal of the Center is to utilize our unique position within the Caribbean and strong ties with Central and South America to become a dominant research center in applied tropical ecology and conservation. To achieve this goal, we will promote research programs that synthesize multiple levels of biological organization, from genes to landscapes. Specifically, the Center will 1) increase the research productivity of our faculty in the field in applied ecology and conservation, 2) strengthen the participation of our undergraduate and graduate students in research activities, 3) expand the research infrastructure of the University, 4) foster long-term research collaborations among scientists within Puerto Rico and with national and international government and academic institutions, and 5) ensure that funding continues after the CREST funding period. The research activities of the Center will focus on four levels of biological organization: individuals and their genes, populations, ecosystems, and landscapes. Research in Molecular Ecology, Evolution, and Genetics (MEEG) group will integrate high-definition molecular markers with field ecological research to address key questions about the mating systems, reproductive success, and population biology of endangered or fragmented populations. The Species Population Management (SPM) group will focus on the impact of exotic species on the native flora and fauna of Caribbean islands. Initially the SPM group will concentrate research efforts on two key projects that focus on biological introductions of global relevance: introduced feral ungulates and Africanized bees. Research in the Landscape Ecology Group (LEG) will investigate the differential responses of species to landscape variation. The group will initially use two animal assemblages, Caribbean frogs and Andean birds, to examine how body size reflects spatial and temporal discontinuities in ecosystems at large-scales (textural discontinuity hypothesis). Finally, critical to the future development of the CREST Center is an Ecosystem Processes Group (EPG). This group will be established with the addition of new Center faculty members. Their research will initially be funded through University of Puerto Rico matching funds but in year 4 and 5 they will receive full funding through the CREST Center. The Center will take a series of concrete steps to foster cross-disciplinary collaborations and ensure research productivity. There will be bi-monthly scientific meetings and a yearly Center conference with invited and Center speakers. These meetings are designed to encourage group member productivity, and stimulate interactions and collaborations within the group and with researchers from other institutions. In addition, the Center director will create a research environment conducive to the production of high quality research and training. The director will hold quarterly meetings with the CoPIs, administrative assistant, and system administrator to discuss logistic, administrative and financial issues related to the Center. Participants are expected to meet project milestones, publish one to two peer-reviewed manuscripts per year, and incorporate at least two graduate and two undergraduate students during the period of the project. Funding for the initial group of CoPIs will be reduced in years 4 and 5, and shifted to new faculty members. An external scientific advisory panel will monitor progress of all Center researchers. The continuation of the Center, after CREST funding expires, is a key goal of this project. To realize this goal, the director and CoPIs will apply for external funding that builds on research and collaborations established during the initial funding cycle. The administration of the University of Puerto Rico has also demonstrated their commitment to the continuation of the Center by returning 18.75% of overhead on all grants submitted through the Center. The ultimate goal of the Center is to train a new generation of scientists with strong education and research experience in applied ecology and conservation, and to better integrate university research activities with societal needs. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Cuevas, Elvira Carla Restrepo William McMillan Elvia Melendez-Ackerman University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras PR Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4999999 9131 SMET 9179 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0206259 September 1, 2002 Research on Environmental Sustainability of Semi-Arid Coastal Areas (RESSACA). Dr. Andrew Ernest, PI, Texas A&M University-Kingsville Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) seeks NSF support for a CREST for Research on Environmental Sustainability of Semi-Arid Coastal Areas (RESSACA). The center will be organized around three core research subprojects thematically integrated: Environmental Systems Modeling (ESM), Environmental Informatics (EI), and Living Laboratories for Academics and Research (LLAR). LLAR will serve as the principal mechanism for transferring environmental sustainability research into other educational domains, both formal and informal, along the K-PhD continuum and to the public. The center will be located in Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering at TAMUK, for over a decade one of the top ten universities nationally in the production of Hispanic engineers at the baccalaureate level, graduating 72 in 2000. The department offers the only Ph.D. program in environmental engineering in South Texas and one of the few serving the 2,000 mile U.S./Mexico border. Dr. Andrew Ernest, Chair, Department of Environmental Engineering, and Director, South Texas Environmental Institute, will serve as PI. Serving predominately Hispanic South Texas and the border region for environmental sustainability research, RESSACA will provide, access for Hispanics to MS and PhD programs in environmental engineering, research/education integration, and research transfer to the public policy decision makers and stakeholders engaged in development of economic, social, and physical infrastructures necessitated by the dramatic growth related to NAFTA. Partners include Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M International University (Laredo), University of Texas-El Paso, University of Texas (UT)-Pan American, and UT-Brownsville. RESSACA will be a major research partner with institutions along both sides of the U.S./Mexico border on sustainability research to establish a more integrative and connected research enterprise in semi-arid coastal zones along the entire U.S./Mexico border, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Partnerships have been established with three major NSF funded initiatives with research capacities aligned with this objective: Science and Technology Center for Sustainable Semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas at the University of Arizona (Dr. Soroosh Sorooshian, Director); Center for Environmental Analysis of the California State University, Los Angeles (Dr. Carlos Robles, Director); and San Diego Supercomputer Center, Dr. David Stockwell, Head of The Bioinformatics And Biodiversity Program. Dr. Felipe Rubio Castillo, Deputy Director, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT), National Council of Science and Technology Research of Mexico, has agreed to serve on the centers External Advisory Group to advance binational research partnerships. The research subprojects and strategically aligned research partnerships will enable TAMUK to achieve national competitiveness in sustainability research and become a top producer nationally of Hispanics earning the PhD in environmental engineering. NSF support will allow the development of a critical core infrastructure at TAMUK and in South Texas that will foster fundamental research and development for promoting the concepts of sustainability of ecological and environmental systems in the semi-arid coastal areas of South Texas. These border research issues of sustainability of systems and the related technology development and transfer and knowledge transfer into the intersections of technical, economic, and social systems are of national importance. They provide a critical context in which NSF funding under CREST can serve as a dynamic catalyst to advance both our national research capacity and capacity to address the significant underrepresentation of Hispanics at the PhD level in these nationally important sustainability disciplines. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR John, Kuruvilla Kim Jones Alvaro Martinez Venkatesh Uddameri Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Patrick F. Mensah Cooperative Agreement 5246500 9131 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0207235 July 1, 2002 Planning Grant for Enhancing SMET Teaching and Learning. Dillard University will develop a strategic plan to guide the systemic reform of its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum with the goal of preparing students for entry and success into the STEM workforce. Achievement of this goal will result in increased numbers of African-American students pursing advanced degrees, obtaining doctoral degrees, and entering the workforce and professoriate in STEM fields. Impacted disciplines include biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, physics, and pre-engineering. The proposed systemic reform plan includes the following objectives: - Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of STEM programs, curricula, instruction, and research practices at Dillard University; - SWOT analysis of current and potential university partnerships and programs for student and faculty research collaborations; - SWOT analysis of current intervention and outreach programs that impact STEM educational programs; - Development of an implementation plan for the systemic reform of the STEM instructional and research enterprise at Dillard University. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Smith, Bettye John Wilson Andrew Talmadge Abdallah Darwish Reginald Stanton Dillard University LA Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 49737 1594 SMET 9178 0207554 July 1, 2002 Planning Grant for Infrastructure in Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Science (ITEMS) at Lawson State Community College (LSCC). The Planning Grant for Infrastructure in Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Sciences (ITEMS) will enable Lawson State Community College (LSCC) to assess the current status of its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) infrastructure; provide the institution the opportunity to identify and describe the challenges and barriers to SMET infrastructure development; and, develop a plan of action to engage more community college students in STEM fields. This planning grant will lead the way for a more focused effort designed to fill the STEM infrastructure gaps at LSCC and help prepare proficient STEM professionals for the current and future workforce. Proposed efforts involve partnerships with business and industry. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Crawford, Bruce Lawson State Community College AL Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 0207616 August 1, 2002 Quality Enhancement in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (QUEST). Through the QUEST program, Central State University (CSU) will enhance STEM access, student retention, curricula, undergraduate research, transition to graduate school and faculty development positively impacting its largely African - American student population. STEM student learning will be improved by the adoption of a hybrid combination of the Learning Communities and the Peer-Led Team-Learning systems. Student and faculty research opportunities and student internship opportunities will significantly increase through arrangements with partner institutions. Program activities will impact more than 1000 on-campus students and 150 pre-college students through bridge programs. QUEST efforts will result in a 60% increase in freshman STEM enrollment, an increase in freshman retention from 63% to 70%, and STEM graduation rates of at least 54 students per year above current rates, including an additional 22 students per year graduating with GPAs of 3.0 or higher. CSU STEM students in the graduate school pipeline will increase by a factor of 3 above current levels. The number of students engaged in research projects and internships will increase by at least 20% per year. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Glass, Terrence Subramania Sritharan Central State University OH Claudia M. Rankins Cooperative Agreement 2274877 1594 SMET 9178 7204 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0207965 August 1, 2002 Talladega College HBCU-UP. The "Talladega College Science and Mathematics Improvement Program" addresses the problem of low levels of African American participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and workforce through enhanced STEM teaching and learning that will result from sustainable improvements of the institution's STEM instructional and research infrastructure. Infrastructure enhancements will address (1) student recruitment, enrollment, retention and graduation; (2) curriculum reform and improvement, infusion of technology to enhance instruction, undergraduate research; and, (3) faculty development. Curriculum reform efforts include revision and enhancement of STEM gate keeper courses, development of honors courses in biology, chemistry and computer science; and the establishment of an Environmental Science Program. Faculty will be provided professional development opportunities to enhance their competence and currency within STEM disciplines and to effectively incorporate technology and active learning techniques into the learning process. Students will be provided opportunities to engage in research activity on-campus and at research institutions under the tutelage of research scientists. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Bacon, Arthur Talladega College AL Claudia M. Rankins Cooperative Agreement 1999998 1594 SMET 9178 0207971 August 1, 2002 STARS: Science and Technology Academicians on the Road to Success. Norfolk State University will implement "Science and Technology Academicians on the Road to Success" (STARS), a robust program encompassing undergraduate recruitment, pre-entrance preparation, advising, mentorship, research, and curricula enhancement to address the low graduation rates of students of historically underrepresented groups. Project activities are based on the hypothesis that providing students an environment that ties all the components of student success into a coherent path with a clear purpose will significantly increase success rates in STEM disciplines. STARS will first provide faculty training on advising, mentoring and teaching and learning best practices and opportunities to enhance and/or initiate research endeavors; second, it will merge recruitment, pre-entrance preparation, advising, and mentorship efforts to create a seamless environment, and third, it will provide students superior advising, interdisciplinary research mentoring and exciting ways to learn. STARS will provide a coherent undergraduate student experience, which will result in a significant increase of the success rate of STEM students. STAR Objectives: double STEM graduates attending graduate school in 5 years; provide STEM students a seamless environment of recruitment, pre-entrance preparation, advising, mentorship, and research; provide experiential learning experiences to 90% of the STEM graduates where students develop independent research skills. implement teaching and learning approaches such as: Inquiry Based Learning, Peer Instruction, and Cooperative Learning to promote student learning. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Barnes, Elsie Sandra DeLoatch Norfolk State University VA Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2277178 1594 SMET 9178 7204 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0207994 August 1, 2002 Programs for the Retention and Enrichment of Science, Engineering and Mathematics students. Claflin University, the oldest Historically Black College & University in the state of South Carolina will implement the project entitled: "Programs for the Retention and Enrichment of Science, Engineering and Mathematics Students" (PRESEMs). This five-year project consists of a comprehensive approach to strengthen Claflin University's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research infrastructure with the goal of broadening the participation of underrepresented minorities in the STEM disciplines and workforce. PRESEMs will focus on approaches that enhance student learning in STEM, such as peer-led instruction, problem-based learning, and a research-based curriculum. Aggressively recruiting students, offering effective pre-college outreach and summer enrichment programs, implementing programs to increase successful completion of gate-keeper courses, enhancing undergraduate STEM curricula by modernizing instrumentation, laboratories and classrooms, utilizing undergraduate research as a teaching tool - these are the strategies required to bring about institutional reform while preparing students for graduate study and successful careers in STEM fields. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Miller, George Angela Peters Claflin University SC Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2500000 1594 SMET 9178 0208091 August 1, 2002 Planning grant for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. With National Science Foundation support, Xavier University of Louisiana will implement institutional self-assessments and develop an action plan to strengthen the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research infrastructure. The objective of the proposed effort is to better prepare STEM graduates for entry, successful careers and leadership positions in the STEM workforce. Project activities include (1) evaluation and improvement of student recruitment strategies with the goal of increasing enrollment in SMET programs; (2) identification of current impediments to successful completion of STEM gate-keeping courses and development of strategies to increase completion, retention and graduation; (3) evaluation of STEM curricula to discover methods to better prepare students for success in the STEM workforce; and, (4) development of strategies to integrate research and education. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Vincent, Harold Murty Akundi Xavier University of Louisiana LA Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 49627 1594 SMET 9178 0208265 August 1, 2002 Wilberforce University STEP-UP (Science, Technology and Engineering Preeminent Undergraduate Program). The Wilberforce University Science, Technology, and Engineering Preeminent Undergraduate (STEP-UP) Program addresses the underrepresentation of minorities in Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) by enhancing minority access, retention, graduation and successful transition to graduate study in STEM fields. The program starts with a Pre-College Summer Institute addressing deficiencies in mathematical reasoning, problem solving, critical reading, verbal reasoning, technical writing and vocabulary building. During the freshman year, all STEM majors will be housed on the same floors of the men's and women's dormitories to foster a sense of community and shared goals as well as to enhance performance rates. Freshmen will enroll in a series of seminars focussing on careers in STEM and the importance of graduate school. During the summer between the freshmen and sophomore years, undergraduates will participate in an intensive Summer Program focusing on STEM content, study skills and problem solving. A series of activities will be put in place to ensure that undergraduates successfully matriculate through the STEM curricula and prepare for graduate school. These include a peer tutoring-mentor program in all gatekeeper courses including a mandatory two-hour drill session for each course each week, Summer research opportunities in collaboration with Florida A&M University, and a GRE-Preparation Course. A Science and Engineering Graduate School Fair will allow juniors and seniors to examine various graduate programs and to network with faculty at other universities. In addition, the biology program will be revised and restructured. A course in experimental biology will be developed with a focus on emerging techniques required in the biotechnology area. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Trivedi, Abhay Wilberforce University OH Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2256817 1594 SMET 9178 0208286 July 1, 2002 Accentuating the Integration of Math and Science at Fayetteville State University. Through the Accentuating the Integration of Mathematics and Science (AIMS) program, Fayetteville State University will evaluate variables that contribute to low graduation rates and the steady decline of underrepresented minorities majoring in the mathematics and science fields. Comprehensive approaches will be developed to enhance student performance and progress in mathematics, computer science, chemistry, physics, and biology. The infrastructure enhancement plan will include the following components: (1) mathematics and science curriculum reform, improvement of gateway courses, and research training; (2) strengthening partnerships with industry, government, and other academic institutions to enhance the development of research programs on campus; (3) faculty development focusing on teaching/learning models, instructional delivery and assessment; and, (3) evaluation and dissemination of project outcomes and best practices. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Massey, Perry Vanere Goodwin Shirley Chao Fayetteville State University NC Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 49935 1594 SMET 9178 0208661 July 1, 2002 Revitalizing Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education at Knoxville College: A Planning Proposal. Through this planning effort, Knoxville College will develop comprehensive approaches to increase the number of undergraduate students graduating in good standing in science, mathematics, and technology (SMT), as well as the number of non-SMT majors who develop basic science literacy as undergraduates. Specific objectives for this planning initiative include the development: o of strategies to improve the Knoxville College undergraduate SMT curriculum and its delivery including content, faculty development, equipment and facilities, and technology; o of a strategy to provide students with meaningful internship opportunities that complement their undergraduate SMT experience; o of entrepreneurial science and technology partnerships with industry; and o a comprehensive multi-year implementation plan outlining a vision, needs, resources, and outcomes for the objectives above. This initiative addresses the Nation's need of to broaden participation in science and technology, and to expand the scientific literacy of all citizens. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Grohman, Donald Knoxville College TN Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 49890 1594 SMET 9178 0209341 July 1, 2002 Allen University's Undergraduate Planning Grant. Allen University HBCU-UP supported planning efforts will focus on three aspects of the institution's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research infrastructure: (1) STEM teaching and learning; (2) undergraduate and faculty research opportunities; and, (3) partnerships with industry and other institutions of higher learning. The assessment plan includes evaluations of student performance and progress toward STEM degree completion. Impediments to student successful completion of core STEM courses and participation in research will be identified and remedied. Particular emphasis will be placed on (1) enhancing teaching strategies; (2) increasing undergraduate research opportunities; (3) faculty development; (4) curriculum reform; (5) infusion of technology to enhance instruction; and, (6) the adaptation of best practices to broaden the participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM fields and the STEM workforce. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Bozzelli, Craig Allen University SC Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 0217007 September 1, 2002 PLN - Creating the Next Generation of Women Leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). PLN - Creating the Next Generation of Women Leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) The Pima County Superintendent of Schools, a local education agency (LEA) will develop and pilot an after school program for Hispanic 5th and 6th grade girls -- Creating the Next Generation of Women Leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Creating Leaders combines innovative leadership training with enhanced STEM programming. The Creating Leaders program is innovative and builds on research that has identified elements of successful programming for Hispanic girls. Innovative components of this program include: 1.combining leadership development training with STEM enrichment; 2. teaching practical applications of mathematics in finance and investment; 3. linking STEM with politics and public policy; 4. developing partnerships between women in STEM careers, 5th and 6th grade girls and their parents; and 5. awarding STEM mini-grants to elementary and middle school girls. Outcomes of the planning grant will include: 1. A more extensive literature search to inform curriculum design and program planning; 2. The development of curricula for the after school program to be utilized with Hispanic girls in 5th and 6th grades and their parents; 3. The development of an Advisory Board; 4. The development of partnerships for implementing the program at multiple sites; 5. A pilot test of the after school program in one elementary school; 6. Focus groups with participants in the pilot; and 7. The development of a full proposal for the Creating Leaders program. The Creating Leaders after school program will be piloted in the Elvira Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona. The culturally relevant program components are designed to work synergistically to make SMET fun and relevant to real life, raise SMET literacy, reinforce learning through hands-on activities, allow girls to practice their newly acquired skills and knowledge through community problem solving, and inspire girls to pursue STEM coursework, careers, and leadership positions in STEM fields. Program activities include: 1. Playing the Real Game which teaches students about the global economy while reinforcing the importance of teamwork and cooperation. 2. Raising financial literacy by playing the Cashflow Game which teaches about investing, rate of return, business ownership, and calculating cash flow; 3. Attending field trips to organizations which employ women in STEM careers and local colleges and universities. 4. Utilizing women in STEM careers and high school students to serve as role models and mentors. 5. Leadership development activities. 6. Teaching girls to develop proposals for funding and receive mini-grants to solve a community problem using STEM. 7. Learning about the relationship between STEM, politics and public policy. 8. Developing STEM educational and career goals through academic and career planning. 9. Involving family members in supporting girls STEM educational and career goals. 10. Developing on-line e-tools for teachers and girls in the program. This multi-disciplinary program will provide significant advances in knowledge in the fields of education, leadership development, public policy, and the wide range of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math fields. The activities proposed will broaden the discovery and understanding of how to successfully reach underrepresented groups and will promote teaching, training, and learning among K-12 staff and administrators, students, families, women in STEM careers, and organizations which employ them. Creating Leaders will impact knowledge capital through the creation of a curriculum for use with Hispanic 5th and 6th grade girls and their families, social capital through the creation of a community-based partnership designed to improve the STEM achievement and career attainment of Hispanic girls, and human capital in the improvement in STEM educational and career attainment of Hispanic girls. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR D'Amore, Debbie Stephanie Parker Pima County School Superintendent's Office AZ Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 29940 1544 SMET 9177 0217033 August 15, 2002 Explanatoids: Gender-Sensitive Signage to Seed Science Talk in Public Places. Children can develop a wealth of knowledge about science and technology from their everyday experience. When visiting museums, watching educational TV, surfing the Web, or reading science-oriented books, children are actively developing proto-scientific reasoning skills, nascent theories for scientific domains, knowledge of interesting science facts, knowledge about famous scientific narratives, and early ideas about what different kinds of scientists do in their professional work. When children encounter science instruction in elementary and middle school, when they dream about what they might do when they grow up, and when they make choices about the courses they want to take in high school and beyond, those with experience and interest practicing scientific and technical thinking are more likely to seek it out and to succeed. Virtually all children and their parents come equipped with the tools needed to cultivate early math or scientific literacy, but these conversations and activities need to start from a seed a simple observation, an unexpected outcome, a question. For families with high levels of scientific literacy and interest, these seeds can be sown from personal experience. Indeed, more than three quarters of scientists in a recent National Science Foundation survey reported developing their passion for science in early, out-of-school activities such as nature walks with their parents, family visits to museums, or taking apart radios or launching rockets at home. We have no doubt that museum-based and media-based informal science infrastructure will have a positive effect on scientific literacy and science achievement, but the biggest effects will be for those who already are most likely to enter the educational and professional pipe-line for science and technology--the children of families that go to museums, watch educational programming, and visit educational web sites. Interestingly, boys more than girls are most likely to reap these benefits within highly motivated families. There is evidence to suggest that parents are less likely to bring their daughters to science museums than their sons, and that even among museum-going families, parents were more than three times more likely to explain the science of an exhibit to boys than to girls (true even when the boys and girls were as young as one to three-years old). What of families who may not be as comfortable with or as interested in pursuing science? These parents, already less likely to visit science museums for family recreation, may also not be aware of how many "teachable moments" exist in everyday life to prompt conversations with their children about math, science and technology, and especially so if they're parents of girls. Building on a successful pilot project we propose to seed the development of scientific and technical literacy by developing, placing, and maintaining engaging gender-sensitive science-oriented signage in the places where the broadest cross-section of Pittsburgh's children and families gather. We call these signs "explanatoids." While science museums and science-oriented media are important forces for informal science education, children and their families must seek them out over other forms of leisure activity. In contrast, our explanatoids bring science to the people, in a way that includes girls fully in that outreach. We are asking for support for three years to develop our pilot work into a full-scale regional project that can be replicated elsewhere as a gender-sensitive model for enhancing math/science literacy within a community. The project will include the development and installation of gender-sensitive signage as well as the production of associated support materials for parents and teachers throughout the Southwest Pennsylvania region. The project will leverage unique partnerships already built between Family Communications, Inc. (producers of Mister Rogers Neighborhood), local foundations, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research & Development Center, Kennywood Amusement Park, The Pittsburgh Teachers Institute, The Pittsburgh Children's Museum, and The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. Formative and summative evaluation will provide quantitative and qualitative measures of the ways that the project (1) counters negative stereotypes about girls and women in math, science and technology; (2) enhances girls' interests and successful participation in those arenas in schooling and career aspirations; and (3) advances the recognition that math, science and technology are integral to the regions future economic well-being. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Stocks, Janet Family Communications, Inc. PA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 904492 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0217038 September 1, 2002 Aiming for Algebra. Aiming for Algebra is a project of Girlstart, a nonprofit organization in Austin, Texas. Its goal is to prepare middle school girls for and support their completion of Algebra 1 in the eighth grade as a means of readying them for college preparatory math and science classes in high school that lead ultimately to completion of the college majors required for SMET careers. The primary objectives of the initial 36-month demonstration period include improving girls self confidence and academic self-esteem; increasing girls' awareness of SMET careers and the high school and college coursework required to enter such careers; enhancing girls knowledge of and ability to use algebra in their lives; improving parents awareness of SMET careers for women; and increasing parents' awareness of ways to encourage their daughters' success in algebra and subsequent math and science courses in high school and beyond. The proposed intervention methods to achieve these ends include participation in an integrated continuum of activities as part of a ifgirls-only science math clublc over a three-year period, as well as involvement in a range of other community- and Internet-based math and science experiences with parents and other adults. The intellectual merit of this project derives from its translation of a significant portion of the body of previous research on the best practices for addressing gender inequities in SMET careers and the disparity in the mathematics and science achievement of girls in the United States into a single, cohesive informal program approach. Moreover, the project will employ a cohort design that will facilitate an understanding of what parts of the intervention model have the most impact on the intended outcomes. A rigorous evaluation component and a strong dissemination plan further strengthen the likelihood that Aiming for Algebra will result in a better understanding of how specific programmatic activities affect girls mathematical skills and their attitudes about and aspirations for math and science careers. The straightforward, unwavering focus on the completion of Algebra 1 in the eighth grade is another feature that makes this project meritorious. By tying its success to a single, observable goal and directing all of its energies to achieve this one purpose, the project sets itself up for rigorous comparison with other efforts with an identical goal. Aiming for Algebra intends to make its methodologies so transparent and so well documented that future research and demonstration projects can be erected squarely on the intellectual capital it creates and disseminates. Insofar as its broader impacts, the project will contribute to an improved understanding of the ways girls can be best prepared for taking and making good grades in Algebra 1 before they reach high school; it will advance understanding among teachers and teacher preparation programs of how girls' expectations of their science and math performance in high school and beyond can be improved; it will provide empirical evidence of ways that female members of groups underrepresented in SMET careers- including but notlimited to those who are ethnic and racial minorities, low-income, linguistic minorities, and differently abled- can be included in informal programming designed to redress the inequity; and, perhaps most importantly, the project will benefit society by improving the nation's ability to identify and remedy long-standing social, economic and academic practices that have disadvantaged its female population and created obstacles to their full and equal participation in scientific, mathematical, engineering and technological professions. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Muir, Rachel Girlstart TX Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 899908 1544 SMET 9177 0217109 September 1, 2002 The Case of Missing Human Potential. This project will produce a one-hour general audience television program for Ohio and the surrounding region designed to raise the awareness of the viewing audience to the problemof gender inequity in our sciences, mathematics, engineering and technology workforce. Wewill engage our audience by tracking the root cause of this inequity back into our schools by examining the research done by NSF on women in SMET and exploring the ways that teaching methods can be either a window of opportunity to young women or a closed door. To maintain the attention of this general TV audience, the problem will be presented as a fast-paced mystery, why are we missing all this human potential in SMET? A top-selling mystery writer, Les Roberts, will host our audience in this investigation and he will be assistedby a young woman of high school age. His special guide in this quest will be Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, the first woman to walk in space. The program will examine NSF-identified researchthat will introduce and examine the problem. We will then explore a variety of efforts by school, community, and businesses to correct this inequity. The program will conclude with suggestions on what the viewing audience - - parents, community members, business, and educators -- can do to channel the future potential of girls into SMET. Once it has been broadcast in this region, The Case of Missing Human Potential will be offered to the national PBS network for national distribution. An interactive Web site designed to provide further information, suggestions for improving the situation, and links to existing summer camps and programs will be promoted during the show. All participating stations will be encouraged to set up "call-in" sites staffed by local SMET teachers and researchers to address questions from the viewing audience. This special effort will be addressed during pauses in the broadcast and will be designed to help the audience take action as a result of the interest stirred up by this broadcast. To draw new viewers we will publicize the show on all the PBS stations in Ohio; use the state designated TIMSS Consortia of schools (representing about 500,000 Ohio students) to advertise the importance of this problem to parents and community members and to invite their involvement; highlight the upcoming show through OhioDL one of the primary communications means for schools using distance learning in Ohio; and advertise the problem of gender inequity and the need for family and community action revealed in this TV program via the communication networks of the Ohio Mathematics and Science Coalition. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Wilson, Frank WVIZ/PBS OH Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 111196 1544 SMET 9177 0217110 December 15, 2002 4 Schools for WIE. 4 Schools for WIE is a consortium of four engineering colleges in Massachusetts (MA) united in commitment to gender equity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Each partner institution Northeastern University (NU), Boston University (BU), Tufts University (Tufts) and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has a strong record of K-12 outreach and program delivery, K-12 teacher training and programming for girls and women in STEM related areas. Each partner institutions brings varied strengths and successes to the collaboration. By joining forces will be developed model to demonstrate how engineering concepts become part of the middle school curriculum in ways that encourage girls as well as boys to continue along the engineering pathway. As an important step toward achieving this mission, a unique intervention system centered around highly-trained STEM Teams consisting of all-female engineering faculty, students, teachers and practitioners will be developed and implementated. STEM Teams including middle school teachers will be trained together and then utilize their unique strengths to best implement the curriculum in eight different public school districts in the greater-Boston area. The STEM Teams will educate middle school teachers about engineering and gender-inclusive practices in addition to serving as role models in the middle school classrooms. The present situation in MA is opportune for developing this beneficial intervention system since the MA Department of Education recently adopted the Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Frameworks. Beginning in September 2001, MA became the first state in the nation to introduce engineering as part of mandated PreK-12 education frameworks. These frameworks reflect achievable and age appropriate learning standards that will provide strong background knowledge for students. In the middle schools, questions testing the engineering frameworks will be incorporated into the compulsory Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in 2002. STEM Teams will help middle schools implement the new engineering strand of the Massachusetts Frameworks. STEM Teams will help middle school teachers prepare students for the engineering strand MCAS exams. Simultaneously, STEM Teams will serve to build the conviction among the middle school students that engineering is an appropriate career choice for females. An important feature of the STEM Team concept is that each team will be composed of women only, yet this attribute will not be announced to the students prior the team's arrival. The participation of STEM Teams of engineering savvy women at participating middle schools, where team members will serve as coaches, mentors, and role models for middle school teachers and their students, will have a profound impact on gender attitudes toward engineering as a career. Simply put, STEM Teams composed solely of females will demonstrate to girls and boys that women do engineering. Some anticipated project outcomes are: * Girls and boys in implementation classrooms will think differently about engineering and will understand that engineering is not just for boys. * They will score higher on the engineering strand items in the MCAS, than children in the same school before the implementation of STEM Team support. * Participating teachers will feel comfortable with these materials and will look forward to working with them. Over the three-year program, the intervention systems will be finely tuned for national dissemination. The STEM Teams approach is highly replicable at low cost. However, members need to be educated about national science standards, age-appropriate and gender-inclusive curriculum activities, serving as positive role models, and other issues pertaining to encouraging middle school girls in the STEM fields. This training will be available through a hard copy manual, the web, and because so many middle schools do not have convenient access to the Internet, on videotape. STEM Teams nationwide has the potential for significantly increasing the number of girls who continue interest in STEM areas during the middle school period as well as into STEM careers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Ziemer, Katherine Stephanie Blaisdell Anna Swan Northeastern University MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 899768 1544 SMET 9177 0217138 September 1, 2002 DEM: Hear Our Voices: Girls and Technology at the Computer Clubhouse. Hear Our Voices is a Demonstration initiative that links twenty Clubhouses from the Computer Clubhouse Network in creating new opportunities specifically for girls and young women, to develop fluency with computer technology, and to learn valuable career and life skills as well. Hear Our Voices will serve as a model for the future in other Computer Clubhouses in the Network, as well as like-minded informal educational programs for girls and young women at other institutions. Founded at the Computer Museum in Boston in 1993, the Computer Clubhouse has grown into a Network of 48 Clubhouses in 13 states and the District of Columbia, plus 11 Clubhouses overseas, touching the lives of thousands of young people. The Computer Clubhouses provide a successful, innovative, andempowering after-school learning environment for young people (ages 8-18) from underserved communities. A safe and welcoming milieu, skilled and caring mentors, and high-end hardware and professional software tools help Clubhouse youth become confident learners through a variety of creative computer applications. The flagship Computer Clubhouse moved to the Museum of Science in 1999, when the Computer Museum joined forces with the Museum of Science. Since then, the Network of Clubhouses has grown rapidly; with the support of Intel Corporation and other sponsors, more Clubhouses are now being planned and implemented. Based on community interest and the success of the Clubhouse learning model in transforming young people's lives, current plans call for growth to more than 100 Clubhouses by 2004. Located primarily in youth-serving organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs and Urban Leagues, Computer Clubhouses serve inner-city neighborhoods as well as smaller communities with a high proportion of under-served populations. The Computer Clubhouse community is diverse, made up of African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, recent immigrants, and Whites. In an effort to recruit and retain more girls and young women in a field that has a dearth of participation by women -computer technology - the flagship Computer Clubhouse in Boston since 1995 has pioneered several programs especially for girls, providing them with access to rich technology resources, female mentors and role models, a community of peers, and a positive, creative, and supportive learning environment. The new Hear Our Voices program will significantly expand the flagship Clubhouse's programming for girls and young women, to 20 new venues and with new, locally-designed programming. Specifically, it will enrich opportunities for girls in four ways: *Twenty of the Computer Clubhouses within the United States will receive funding and support to hire and train staff dedicated to gender equity and girls programming, and to launch locally-based Hear Our Voices programs at their Clubhouses, including at least one component of girls-only hours or days at each participating Clubhouse. *Leveraging the experience gained at the flagship Computer Clubhouse, Network staff from the Museum of Science will provide professional development and program assistance for girls'programming to Clubhouse Coordinators across the Network. *Building on the momentum and resources of the growing Clubhouse Network, a digital network called the Clubhouse Village will support both a real and a virtual community of Clubhouse youth. An area on the Village will be designated especially for girls' activities, and the Village will also support interaction among staff and mentors for mutual support and for sharing best practices. The Clubhouse Village will consist of a secure, private Intranet, using Internet technology and tools to enable Clubhouse youth to communicate with each other and collaborate on creative projects. *The virtual community will be made more viable by a face-to-face gathering of participating youth and staff at a Computer Clubhouse Youth Summit in the summer of 2004. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Breslow, Gail Museum of Science MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 894733 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0217144 September 1, 2002 RES: Bringing Young Girls Into Science With Books And Inquiry. This project will study the gendered nature of learning science in the elementary grades. Standards-based science instruction largely consists of students engaging in first-hand investigation of scientific phenomena. This is in contrast to traditional science instruction that relies heavily on textbooks. The justification for investigation-based instructional design has typically been that the authority for scientific belief ought to reside in the actions of children rather than the authority of text. However, this unfortunate dichotomy between investigation and text undermines the potential uses of both. Girls are typically strong readers- an attribute that ought to make them strong in science. After all, at some point they must be able to read scientific text to excel in science classes. Unfortunately, research on text preferences shows that although girls are strong readers, they prefer to read fiction rather than nonfiction. The primary objective of the project is to learn how science-related text embedded in inquiry science instruction can be used to engage girls. The first year of this three year study willbe spent in four third grade classrooms to observe how science-related texts are used. This will include documentation of text experiences created by teachers and created by girls in encounters with text supplemental to regular instruction (e.g., library visits, classroom-reading centers, books from home). This will be supplemented by classroom observations and interviews with girls, teachers, librarians and parents to collect additional data on the use of and interest in science books. The second year of the project will consist of design experiments in the classrooms during which the teachers and researchers work together to analyze classroom activities and design instruction in cycles that allow research and teaching practice to influence one another. Data from the first year will be used to better understand how girls may engage with science text and design instruction to maximize girls interest in science and learning from science inquiry instruction that includes the use of text. The research questions are as follows: 1. What role does text play in girls classroom science experiences? 2. How do teachers view the role of text in girls' learning of science? 3. What texts are present in girls' homes and how are they used? 4. What science texts do girls prefer when exposed to a large range of text genres and uses? 5. How do girls uses of text enable and/or constrain their engagement and development of scientific ideas? The final year will be spent analyzing results of the design experiment and conducting cross-year analyses, preparing research papers for submission to science and literacy education journals, and developing a web-based curriculum unit for use in teacher education programs, including our own NSF-sponsored science teacher education reform effort. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Ford, Danielle Nancy Brickhouse University of Delaware DE Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 333585 1544 SMET 9177 0217146 January 1, 2003 DEM: Girls Under the Hood. Girls Under the Hood is a demonstration project designed to encourage teenage girls in rural Madison County, New York, to achieve excellence in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET) fields. Central to the success of this project is the hands-on experience that will demonstrate the relationship of SMET to the participants everyday lives. Using the automobile as a vehicle for inquiry-based scientific learning, 24 girls ages 14-17 will explore topics such as the science of internal combustion, the mathematics of fuel economy, the engineering of the power train, the technology of computerized diagnostic equipment, and the integration of all these fields. In addition to exploring and learning many scientific principles behind the various systems of the automobile, participants will acquire practical skills that they can share with their families. During a seven-day residential summer camp, participants will experience two different college campus settings a mere five miles apart: Colgate University, in Hamilton, New York, a nationally-ranked liberal arts institution; and in America's Most-Wired; two-year school, the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology, in Morrisville, New York. Morning sessions will be held in the new automotive technology building at the SUNY Morrisville campus, where participants will engage in hands-on exploration of the automobile. Meals, lodging, and most of the afternoon and evening sessions will take place at Colgate University, where the girls will further explore the basic scientific principles behind the operation of automobiles and how those same principles can be transferred to a variety of other applications. Girls Under the Hood will capitalize on the natural curiosity of females in a non-threatening (cooperative, welcoming, and predominantly female) environment at a critical time in their lives when they are focused on getting their driver's license. Through exposure to female role models (teachers, undergraduate teaching assistants and successful industry practitioners) and solicitation of parent, school, industry and government support, this project will seize opportunities to relate course content to SMET careers, and to challenge students' ideas about gender appropriate careers. The confidence that girls gain in their ability to understand the science and technology of automobiles will carry over into confidence that they can succeed in other areas of SMET, and the applications they will see of SMET courses will encourage them to take more courses in those areas. The intellectual benefit of this project is that it will serve as an educational model for the application of contextualized science education, as well as provide a better understanding of gender-fair learning opportunities in SMET education utilizing a unique combination of rural public high schools, public and private universities, community, industry, and government. Broader impacts of the project include positive changes in participants' interest in SMET, confidence in their ability to do math and science, and election of upper level math and science courses. An added benefit will be the establishment of an educational collaboration between a four year and a two year college. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Parks, Mary Karen Harpp Colgate University NY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 377966 1544 SMET 9177 0217172 September 1, 2002 PLN: Developing a Women Interested in Mathematics and Science Advancement (WIMSA) Network in a Rural Community. Developing a Women Interested in Mathematics and Science Advancement (WIMSA) Network in a Rural Community Women's deeply ingrained negative perceptions of science and mathematics are directly linked to their underrepresentation in these and related fields (Gottfried, 1993). The goal of our project is to increase the participation of women from rural communities in the fields of science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET). To achieve our goal, we will initiate a program that involves women throughout the community in a sustained network of support. This is an exciting, complex, long-term project. This proposal is for a PGE Demonstration Planning Grant, which will enable us to prepare a strong, comprehensive proposal for a full PGE Demonstration Grant. Our full grant will address the inequities experienced by girls, particularly in low-tech rural areas. The full grant will be used to create a program, called Women Interested in Mathematics and Science Advancement (WIMSA). The WIMSA program will consist of a network of people and organizations, all with the goal of increasing the participation and success of females in mathematics and science. The full proposal will address recruitment of WIMSA network members, sustaining their membership, and expanding the WIMSA program. The PGE Demonstration Planning project will focus on the design of all aspects of the WIMSA program. One of the two main planning grant objectives will be to design our pilot project, the annual WIMSA Summer Program (WSP) for middle school girls, which will have the dual purpose ofbeing the initial impetus to bring people into the WIMSA network, and of increasing the skill level of middle school girls and teachers. A planning committee, consisting of two K-12 teachers, two college students, and the two Principal Investigators, will be formed to develop the summer program. The committee will determine the size and scope of the program, design program activities and curriculum, and will collaborate with community organizations regarding WSP field activities. The program design will build on the successes of other SMET intervention programs for women across the country. Our other main planning grant objective will be to design the WIMSA network connections and activities. We envision this network bringing together Mesa State faculty and students, K-12 teachers and students, private businesses, government organizations, educational associations, community leaders and any local programs involved with science and mathematics. Our first activity will be a WIMSA kickoff meeting, hosted by Mesa State, which will include people from all target organizations and will introduce them to the WIMSA concept. We will create a WISMA Advisory Board that will oversee all aspects of the WIMSA project, including writing the full PGE Demonstration Grant. We will design college courses to provide ongoing SMET activities and training for WIMSA members, including a graduate credit component for K-12 teachers. We will collaborate with local businesses and professionals to design activities for the WSP, internship opportunities for WIMSA college students, job-shadowing opportunities for K-12 students, and presentation opportunities at Mesa State. In order to sustain such relationshipsand collaborations, there will be WIMSA meetings at least three times per year. Although there are no programs in our area addressing the lack of females in SMET fields, there are programs and organizations committed to improving our community, and many people who wish to make a difference. The WIMSA program will provide an incredible opportunity to harness and coordinate these resources and create a very effective program that will have long-ranging impact. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Arledge, Jane Anne Spalding Mesa State College CO Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 30000 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0217188 September 1, 2002 DEM (Informal) Science on Patrol. Science on Patrol (SOP), a demonstration project of the Institute for Schools of the Future and the Police Athletic League in collaboration with the Manhattan Robbery Squad, the Crime Scene Unit, the Arson and Explosion Squad and other units of the New York City Police Department Detective Division, selected New York City public schools, community outreach organizations, science professionals and database and Web designers, is designed to promote interest and achievement in science by providing youngsters compelling problems ('crimes') they can solve by applying the scientific processes and skills actually used by crime scene investigators to solve crimes. This approach capitalizes on the interest in high profile crimes treated in the popular press, movies and current television programs. The informal science project is aimed squarely at raising the level of participation and achievement in science for adolescent females and other members of underrepresented minority groups by achieving thee goals: 1. using research-based strategies to attract and retain underrepresented minorities, particularly females, in informal science programs; 2. increasing their interest and achievement in science knowledge and skills; and 3. raising their awareness and interest in science-based careers. This project will roll out through an existing structure, PAL centers in the Bronx in Year One, in PAL centers throughout New York City in Year Two and in PAL centers across the country in Year Three. Interdisciplinary teams comprising PAL center instructors, educators, police detectives, instructional designers, and scientists will work collaboratively to: (1) develop, field test and revise a minimum of 12 crime scenarios for the youngsters to solve; (2) develop additional course materials, including a Facilitator's Guide, the Science on Patrol website, a Student Activities Kits which include case folders for each of the 'crimes', and a manual for mentors and/or volunteers; (3) increase the participants' capacity to apply science knowledge and processes to solve real world problems; and, (4) build the capacity of faculty to implement compelling and challenging problems in environments that are gender-neutral, promote collaboration, encourage problem-solving and reflect both research and best practice for increasing participation and achievement in science-based areas. Decades of research on the root causes and outcomes of the under representation of females in mathematics, science and technology have amply demonstrated that the culture and context of K-16 schooling clearly lies at the heart of the issue. Yet the literature shows the very factors that constrain participation and achievement of females and other underrepresented minorities in higher levels of mathematics and science are alterable. Science on Patrol is an innovative project that links science knowledge and skills with the real world applications of forensic specialists in a highly motivating course of study for middle and high school students. The key element, however, is the comprehensive use of research-based findings to shape learning environments specifically designed to attract and retain females and other underrepresentedminorities to advanced study of science and science-related careers. Science on Patrol does not single out specific research-based factors that promote success for female and other underrepresented minorities. Instead, it integrates all in an integrated and coherent manner to create learning environments that are friendly to the target population. Information about the culture and context of these learning environments will be disseminated broadly and serve as a model for other informal science efforts and for school-based K-16 classrooms. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Brownstein, Bonnie Institute for Schools of the Future NY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 899925 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0217196 September 1, 2002 DEM: Girls in Science. The University of Kentucky will to establish a demonstration project called the Girls in Science Program (GIS), to encourage young women from rural southeastern Appalachian Kentucky to pursue careers in science, math, engineering and technology (SMET). This three- year project, to begin in September 2002, targets 120 girls entering the seventh-grade from 21 rural Kentucky Appalachian counties, parents of these girls, and a minimum of 30 rural Kentucky Appalachian middle school teachers from these 21 county school districts. This project targets a select group of middle school girls with a program that involves: 1) Weeklong Summer Institutes for each girl at the University of Kentucky campus for two years, 2) Saturday/After-school sessions throughout two academic school years, and 3) Mentoring relationships with University scientists and community mentors. The project also the project targets middle school math and science teachers through professional development courses focused on engaging each girl in science and math for two years. This project will include parental involvement with a series of workshops. The project team will also develop and disseminate a model middle school curriculum manual focused on institutionalizing the program in rural Appalachian Kentucky. Girls and teachers who enroll in the program will be the primary beneficiaries; however, the program is designed to have a broad-based impact on other students, teachers, relatives, and ultimately rural Kentucky and Appalachia. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Leukefeld, Carl University of Kentucky Research Foundation KY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 899085 1544 SMET 9177 9150 0217197 January 1, 2003 Does Involving Girls as Designers Result in Girl-Friendly Science Education Software? Comparing Processes and Outcomes of Same-Sex 5th and 8th Grade Girl and Boy Design Teams. OBJECTIVES: Virtual environments are increasingly being called upon to advance science learning. With possibilities for interactive multimedia displays and learner customization, these environments hold great promise. But are these environments friendly to girls? Computer games, designed by young men for boys and young men, epitomize technology's exclusion of girls, their interests, and values. Less obvious but more devastating, this technological estrangement exacerbates girls' lack of interest and self confidence not just in computers but in science. Technology itself and even the design of technology-enhanced science experiences may disadvantage girls, turning them away from SMET instead of engaging them. Experts urge more women and girls to become involved in software and hardware design, to begin to transform computer culture. The ihInvolving Girls as Designerslg (IGD) project will look at what can happen when girls design their own technology-enhanced science learning experiences. Do girls and boys approach the design process differently? If so, what are the characteristics of a girl-friendly design process? Do all-girl design teams create products that are more appealing to other girls than products designed by all boy teams? Are gender differences more strongly polarized by the end of middle school, or are they equally evident even in fifth grade? METHODS: IGD will invite small teams of girls to experience and critically assess a series of high quality science-learning experiences diverse in their technology and extent and form of interactivity, ranging from planetarium show to role play simulated mission to Mars, from CD-ROM games to exploring space science on the web, television to immersive virtual reality. These young, newly expert technologists will then design their ideal science learning experience, with the goal of teaching science and inspiring kids to be interested in SMET. IGD will profile girl reactions to the diverse forms of science learning. The design process and design outcomes of the all-girl design teams will be analyzed and compared to all-boy teams. IGD will compare fifth grade girls (whose enthusiasm for science parallels boys) with eighth grade girls (whose enthusiasm and self confidence in science has declined), looking for similarities and differences in technology attitudes, design process, and design outcomes. Professional software developers will create visualizations of each team's prototype. With no indication of the gender of the designers, each set of visualizations will be shown to same-age students to discover whether boys and girls prefer prototypes developed by their own gender. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: IGD will test the assertion that involving girls as designers can impact design process and product and describe gender and age differences. IGD will contribute concrete understanding of girls' attitudes toward diverse forms of technology-enhanced science learning. BROADER IMPACTS: IGD could provide compelling evidence to software developers about the critical importance of involving girls as designers and ways of enabling girl-friendly design processes. IGC could provide guidance to teachers and curriculum designers about choosing among technology-enhanced science learning experiences. The PIs teach graduate design research classes (in education and digital media design). They will involve their students in the research and integrate findings into their courses. New understanding about girl-friendly science education designs will be incorporated into the Mars Pioneer Learning Adventures initiative and into the overall Comm Tech Lab software design process and College of Education and Digital Media Arts curricula. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Heeter, Carrie Michigan State University MI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 768919 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0116000 Human Subjects 0217199 October 1, 2002 TECH TEAM: A Project Based Technology Sequence for Middle School Girls. The Educational Television Endowment of South Carolina, in collaboration with the South Carolina Educational Television Network (SCETV), will carry out a program to increase middle school girls' enthusiasm for and understanding of technology and introduce them to women who work in science and technology fields. The project is a three-year pilot program called TECH TEAM that consists of afterschool technology clubs, workshops in computer applications at SCETV and Summer Technology Day Camps. Partners include the Girl Scouts of the Congaree Area, Inc., the Girl Scout Council of the Pee Dee Area, and the College of Education of the University of South Carolina. In addition to the girls themselves, TECH TEAM will train the club facilitators - teachers and Girl Scout leaders - in video and computer-based technologies, project based curriculum development and techniques for gender equitable education in an annual series of Saturday workshops. The TECH TEAM project will take place in three South Carolina school districts - the School District of Fairfield County, Richland District One and Marion District One - all of which are considered critical needs districts. Fairfield is a rural county in which 40.8% of the adults have less than a high school education and unemployment is at the second highest level in the state. Marion District One is in a poor, rural area in which 76% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, over 50% come from single parent homes and 75% are minority. Richland District One is an urban district. 80% of students are minority and 58% qualify for free or reduced lunch. TECH TEAM is designed to increase girls' technological fluency through a progressive sequence of technology applications in a hands-on, project based setting. In the first year, 2002-2003, the girls will videotape interviews with local women who work in the fields of science, math, technology and engineering. To locate their interviewees, they will learn and use research skills, including both informal and Internet-based techniques. The girls will edit their videos using a computer-based editing program, and broadcast them to schools across South Carolina via SCETV's Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS). They will host two-way call-in shows on the ITFS, allowing students anywhere in the state to respond and ask the girls questions. In the second year of the project, 2003-2004, the girls will create a Web site about TECH TEAM that will be integrated into www.knowitall.org, SCETV's Web portal for teachers and students. The girls will design the layout of their site and publish writing, post videos and contribute to a threaded discussion that will be developed for the site. In TECH TEAM's third year, 2004-2005, the girls will create a searchable database of their videos for inclusion on the site, adding dynamic elements that require the use of computer codes, so that they extend their fluency in the use of computer technology. They will learn about SQL (Structured Query Language), and they will develop CFML (Cold Fusion Markup Language) to make their databases Web accessible. In addition to the afterschool clubs, they will attend a series of Saturday workshops taught by SCETV programmers. During each summer of the project the TECH TEAM girls will attend a Summer Technology Day Camps at SCETV's Telecommunications Center in Columbia. The camps will allow all the participants to meet each other, work in SCETV's computer labs, and present their work to an invited audience. Throughout each year a video crew will document the progress of TECH TEAM on videotape and interview the participants. This material will form the basis of a CD-ROM to be produced for teachers' professional development. The CD will be mailed free of charge to every middle school in South Carolina and will be made available nationwide through SCETV's marketing division. Evaluation and assessment of TECH TEAM will be conducted by Dr. Kenneth Stevenson of the College of Education of the University of South Carolina. The impact of TECH TEAM goes beyond gender equity considerations to universal issues of technology education, teacher training, adolescent development, the design of afterschool programs, and partnerships between schools and informal education providers; TECH TEAM will advance understanding of these areas as they apply not only to girls but to all students and teachers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Newman, Betsy Urica Floyd ETV Endowment of South Carolina, Inc. SC Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 755257 1544 SMET 9177 0217200 September 1, 2002 (DIS) Think Again...Girls Can!. The goal of this dissemination project is to develop a model public service ad campaign that will advance the participation of women and girls in SMET through effecting a positive shift in attitudes among parents, educators, students and others in the community regarding girls' pursuit of interests / careers in SMET. The projects lead institution is Stony Brook University and collaborating organizations / institutions include the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls, Briarcliffe College, and television stations WLIW21 (PBS) and WLNY55. This informal education project will develop a series of dynamic television spots, to be disseminated through local television broadcasts and through online links. The target audienceconsists of parents, educators and other authority figures, as well as peers, who have a great deal of influence over young peoples' perceptions of their educational and future professional options. Spots will reflect research findings that illustrate current gender inequities in SMET education and careers, and "de-bunk" some of the commonly accepted beliefs regarding gender-related causes for these disparities; information about often ignored or unremarked historical and current contributions of women in SMET; and national statistics on professional shortages in the SMET employment pool. This video campaign will attempt to re-shape public attitudes regarding the gender appropriateness of girls' SMET pursuits. Using psychosocial research as a guide, the project will disseminate information in ways that may directly alter attitudes among individuals in the targeted groups, as well as encourage new behaviors that may then trigger compensatory attitude changes. This is a novel approach which combines technology-based applications, marketing strategies, and psychosocial research to target change in specific underlying public attitudes that hinder the participation of girls and young women in SMET. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Grackin, Janice Diane Cohen SUNY at Stony Brook NY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 96734 1544 SMET 9177 0217212 September 1, 2002 Northwest Girls Collaborative Project. Throughout the Pacific Northwest there currently exist numerous organizations providing valuable but uncoordinated activities and support services related to motivating and supporting girls interest in SMET careers. Twenty such organizations in Washington State alone. The activities of these groups are not coordinated and in fact, some groups appear to be in competition for access to girls and to resources, particularly for resources from the corporate community. This funding source, in the face of recent layoffs, is less inclined to support such programs. Under these circumstances it becomes increasingly important to coordinate existing and evolving activities to effectively utilize resources. This project includes three primary activities: Dissemination and Outreach: In partnership with the Northwest Girls Coalition, document and promote coordination and collaboration among girl serving SMET programs in Washington and Oregon and establish an on-going communication system linking these organizations. Creation of a Program Evaluation Rubric: In collaboration with the Northwest Regional Educational Lab create a program rubric reflecting best practice models and program assessment tool based on the rubric. Mini-Grants: With the support of Washington and Oregon MESA, we will offer mini- grants to a minimum of twenty-two girl-serving STEM focused programs to support collaboration, assessment activities and projects related to addressing gaps and overlaps in service. The project is under the guidance of a Champions Board made up of individuals such as Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington, current presidents of the state Math and Science teacher associations, and representatives from both the Washington and Oregon state education departments. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Peterson, Karen Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology WA Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 99982 1544 SMET 9177 0217221 September 15, 2002 Girls Creating Games: Increasing Middle School Girls' Interest in Technology. The vast success of products like the "GameBoy" sends a clear message that technology is the domain of boys. The Girls Creating Games Program is a demonstration project designed to challenge this message by teaching girls to design and program a computer game. This project is unique in its approach: it puts girls in the role of producers of technology, rather than simply consumers. One hundred eighty middle school girls will participate in a study to determine whether producing technology (computer game design) can increase girls' fluency, interest, active participation and persistence in technology studies. The specific project goals are to a)increase girls' knowledge, interest, attitudes, and confidence with computers, b) increase adults capacity to support girls in technology, and c) add to research on the kinds of programs and technologies that increase the interest and persistence of middle school girls in technology studies and careers. The proposed project will take place with small groups of girls after school and during the summer in a small, urban county (70% White, 21% Hispanic) in California. It involves an unusual partnership between four entities: 1) researchers and program developers from a non-profit health promotion agency (ETR Associates); 2) school personnel and students from New Brighton Middle School; 3) staff and youth from a Boys & Girls Club; and 4) female technology students, teachers, and professionals from local colleges and companies. This partnership is essential for building knowledge (e.g., identifying effective program strategies to increase girls interest and persistence in technology studies), and increasing social capital (e.g., building the capacity of adult female role models, teachers, and staff to provide a supportive environment). Teaching computer game design holds great promise as an intervention strategy for increasing girls' interest in technology. Indeed, interactive games have an early influence on theskills and attitudes that are the best predictors of future technology-related behavior (Greenfield & Cocking, 1996; Levine & Donitsa-Schmidt, 1998; Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 1998). Only two other known programs (with elementary and high school students) have used game creation as an intervention strategy or as part of a research-driven agenda (Kafai, 1995; Miller, Chaika, & Groppe, 1996). Our work extends that research by working with middle school students in an informal learning (out of school) environment, and using theoretically and empirically-based program activities that build on girls development research. Our project is also innovative in that it includes identity formation as part of the program as a way to transform, not simply respond to existing gender roles (Cassell & Jenkins, 1999). Our program strategies are designed to appeal to girls. They include having fun with computers; linking technology with its real-world application; focusing the game content on social issues; using a collaborative instructional model; involving technical female role models, school teachers and program staff; and assessing the impact of game design on participants as well as the teachers and staff. The proposed intervention will be evaluated using a quasi-experimental, pre-post test design. Two hypotheses will be tested. First, compared to the control group, the participants in the intervention group will report a greater increase in problem-solving and computer skills, interest in computers, positive attitude toward computers, intention to pursue computer studies, confidence using computers, knowledge about tech careers, and support to pursue a career in technology. Second, the instructional model that uses collaboration with peers and guidance from teachers, staff, and female role models will increase the adults' capacity and interest to support girls active participation in technology, and challenge stereotypes about who is good at computers. Data will be collected using surveys, interviews, and student notebooks. The findings will result in a replicable version of the program that can be used to increase girls interest in technology and adults capacity to support them in other school and after school settings. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Denner, Jill ETR Associates CA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 892552 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0217247 September 15, 2002 PLN: POWER SHIFT: A Proposal to Augment the Performance of Girls in SMET Studies. POWER SHIFT: A Proposal to Augment the Performance of Girls in SMET Studies In keeping with the mission to educate children and families, encourage creativity, and challenge all learners in new and innovative ways, the Maine Discovery Museum plans out-of-school-time programs that will increase competence in science and mathematics and promote technological fluency for middle school students. With the passage of a landmark initiative by the 119th Maine State Legislature that equips all 7th and 8th grade students with laptop computers, MDM plans programs that will expand the use of laptop computers beyond the school day, encourage parent involvement, and convey fresh ways of learning and teaching math and science. With a history of providing exhibits and educational programs that are based on recognized learning theories and that accommodate a wide-range of learning styles, we have an excellent opportunity to implement project-based activities that encourage creative problem solving, social interaction, and group communication. We believe these program ingredients, along with staff development workshops that focus on gender equity issues, will foster improved achievement and greater participation by females in SMET professions. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Stark, Andrea Maine Discovery Museum ME Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 29928 1544 SMET 9177 0217542 November 1, 2002 City University of New York LSAMP Phase III. City University of New York LSAMP Phase III The New York City Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in Science, Engineeringand Mathematics (LSAMP) was initiated within CUNY in 1992 to promote interest in science engineering and mathematics among underrepresented minority students. The main goal of LSAMP Phase III is to build a permanent CUNY infrastructure through augmentation of our demonstrated productive capacity and output built in Phase I and Phase II, with a coordinated program of summer and academic year research, teaching and service opportunities for participants. The NYC LSAMP Phase III will continue to work for systemic changes that will ensure the increased production of minority SMET graduates, and address the areas delineated by the NSF as national priorities. The areas are: 1) The Educational Continuum; 2) Institutionalization and Best Practices; 3) Undergraduate/Graduate Transition; and 4) Mentoring. Since 1992, minority undergraduate enrollment in science, mathematics, engineering and related technology courses has increased from 4,216 to 6,976 in 2001, an increase of 65 %. In that same period, those earning baccalaureate degrees increased from 404 to 755 per year, an increase of 86 %. The total number of minority graduates since 1992 exceeds 5,800. LSAMP programs now serve more than 14,000 CUNY undergraduates annually. Clearly, the LSAMP has had a positive impact in the University during a period when CUNYs overall total enrollment, both minority and non-minority, decreased from about 230,000 to 200,000, and is testimony to the success of the LSAMP initiative. NYC LSAMP Phase III will augment and make permanent the following systemic changes and reforms: - A hierarchical organizational structure to foster delivery on its goal. - Restructuring of gatekeeper calculus, chemistry and physics courses. - Science and mathematics learning centers on CUNY campuses. - Seamless academic transitions at all critical points, from high school to graduate school. - The universitys investment in undergraduate research as integral to the undergraduate experience. - An undergraduate student and faculty research program across college boundaries. - Sustainable agency and industry collaborations. - Joint planning and resource commitment with other systemic initiatives. - Tracking individual student persistence to the baccalaureate and graduate level. - Producing a steady stream of high school students entering SMET curricula. Alliance activities in Phase I and Phase II centered on curriculum reform (Phase I), and integrating research into undergraduate education (Phase II). The strategy of increasing the enrollment in the SMET disciplines via curriculum reform in Phase I, led in a systemic manner to positioning students to take advantage of the increased research opportunities in Phase II. The Alliance Course Restructuring for gatekeeper calculus, chemistry, and physics courses included an emphasis on collaborative learning, a non-competitive approach to problem solving, and workshops conducted by specially trained peer tutors and faculty members. For the period 1997-2001, CUNY enrolled over 46,000 students in NYC LSAMP institutionalized or restructured courses. It was in this context that over 5,800 students graduated with SMET degrees at the BS level, with increased numbers of students participating in LSAMP activities as research assistants. Phase III activities will involve a systemic approach to increase the number of participants that continue on to graduate school or teacher education at the graduate level. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS HRD EHR Parker, Neville Leon Johnson Louise Squitieri CUNY City College NY Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 7258393 9133 7172 SMET 9178 9177 7204 0217571 November 1, 2002 North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation - Phase III. North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation - Phase III The North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (NC-LSAMP) requests support for continuingits efforts during Phase III. The LS-NCAMP Alliance includes eight partner institutions - North Carolina A&T State University (lead institution), Fayetteville State University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Charlotte, University of North Carolina - Pembroke, and Winston Salem State University. The Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at North Carolina A&T State University will lead the project with assistance from key administrators at all Alliance institutions. This will ensure the effective institutionalization of the strategies proposed here. The work proposed caps a decade long series of activities aimed primarily at increasing undergraduate degree production in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET). Underrepresented minorities comprise 30 percent of the college-age population but they represent only 11 percent of the baccalaureate engineering graduates resulting in a "parity gap" of 19 percent. The parity gap is even more pronounced at the master's and doctoral level. Clearly, more needs to be done to reduce this parity gap, more out of economic necessity and to meet global competitive pressures than any other reason. The efforts outlined in this proposal are aimed at meeting this challenge. The activities proposed in this proposal are driven by the need to increase substantially the number of underrepresented minorities who will contribute significantly in science, mathematics, engineering and technology areas. While the baccalaureate degree programs will receive continued attention, special emphasis will be placed on amplifying the flow of minority students in the graduate and research pipeline. The primary goals of the proposal are (i) to increase the pool of competent underrepresented SMET graduates with bachelor's degrees (specific objectives include increasing the number of SMET graduates from bachelor's degree programs by 10% from allAlliance partner schools by 2007 and increasing the quality of SMET bachelors degree graduates from all alliance partner schools based on their performance in college courses and national examinations by 50% by 2007) and (ii) to increase the number of students who matriculate into SMET graduate schools (specific objectives include increasing the number of SMET students who express an interest in graduate studies by 100% by 2007, increasing by 100%, the number of SMET graduates who are academically qualified for admission to graduate programs by 2007, increasing the number of SMET graduates from alliance partner institutions who are enrolled in graduate SMET programs by 100% by 2007, and increasing the retention rate by 10% of underrepresented students in graduate SMET programs). An additional goal of the project is to identify significant factors that promote baccalaureatedegree attainment, retention in academic programs and entry into graduate school in SMET areas (specific objectives are to identify significant factors that promote and hinder retention of minority students enrolled in SMETbaccalaureate degree programs, and to identify significant factors that promote and hinder entry of minority undergraduate students into graduate SMET degree programs). Strategies for accomplishing project goals are based on published techniques that have proven successful in smaller samples. Specifically, the approaches to be employed include focused recruitment from school; bridge programs to manage the school-college transition; supplemental instruction, cohort scheduling and workshops for undergraduate students during the first year to enhance retention and preparation for upper-class coursework; undergraduate research and professional development workshops aimed at motivating and preparing students for graduate study; and the development of networking and mentoring systems to improve retention in the first year in graduate school. A key emphasis during Phase III will be Alliance-wide institutionalization of proven strategies that have been known to improve the success rates of students in SMET. The Alliance partners together awarded over a thousand degrees and currently enroll over six thousand undergraduate minority students in SMET programs. In addition to students in the Alliance, dissemination activities under this proposal have the potential to impact several thousand students each year. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Thompson, Alton Joseph Monroe North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University NC Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5908047 9133 SMET 9178 9177 7204 0217602 November 1, 2002 Louis Stokes South Carolina Alliance for Minority Participantion (LS-SCAMP). Louis Stokes South Carolina Alliance for Minority Participantion (LS-SCAMP) The Louis Stokes-South Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-SCAMP) has become a keystone for undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) retention and a catalyst for degree completion within the state. Committed leadership from top- level administrators is paramount to the successful implementation of the goals proposed herein.The new LS-SCAMP Phase I will be lead by South Carolina State University (SCSU),nationally ranked for African American/Minority SMET degree completion and the largest producer of underrepresented minority SMET degrees in the state. Currently all of SCSU's SMET baccalaureate degree programs are ranked nationally as a result of African- American/Minority degree completion. Biology , Mathematics and Engineering Technology are ranked 4 th in the nation while Computer Science is ranked 13 th and Physics is ranked 21 st . LS-SCAMP includes all seven of the HBCUs in the state of South Carolina and represents a new beginning and a new era of support for the success of underrepresented minorities in SMET. To meet the strong demand for higher education and to combat the persistent barriers toaccess, the new LS-SCAMP will build on the foundation established during the prior SCAMP phases. Specifically the following Phase I goals will be achieved: 1. Increase underrepresented SMET baccalaureate degree production at a rate that is 40% higher than the national SMET degree rate. 2. Strengthen and expand undergraduate research opportunities for SMET students. 3. Provide opportunities for SMET students to develop knowledge and skills that will improve their qualifications and enhance their preparation for graduate studies in SMET fields. 4. Build a transfer bridge to increase by 100% SMET majors from 2-year institutions. The outstanding track record for the production of minority graduates at many of the Alliance institutions, the unprecedented level of support for the AMP program in South Carolina and the new statewide infrastructure, will allow the goals of Phase I to be met. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Cooper, George South Carolina State University SC Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5000000 9133 SMET 9178 0217615 November 1, 2002 Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Indiana. Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Indiana The LSAMP Indiana project is a result of collaboration among Ball State University; IndianaUniversity, Bloomington; Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis; Purdue University, Calumet; and Purdue University, West Lafayette. Each university surveyed existing studentretention and minority programs. At many of our universities, there are a substantial number of K-12 outreach programs designed to enhance initial interest in Science, Math, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) disciplines, as well as numerous programs to help freshmen transition from high school into college. In addition, there are a substantial number of programs to support research projects by upper-division students in SMET disciplines. However, there are fewer (if any) programs across the participating universities to help first-year students identify with their SMET discipline and help them to sustain that initial identification through research and mentoring experiences over their next two years of college. In response to this finding, the involve institutions formed an alliance to increase the number of minorities receiving baccalaureate degrees in SMET disciplines by providing (1) early research enrichment experiences; (2) sustained teaching and mentoring opportunities in gatekeeper as well as upper-level courses; (3) personalized interactions with graduate students and faculty mentors beginning in the students' freshman year; and (4) professional and personal development opportunities. These early experiences with research and teaching are designed to encourage students to forge and sustain an academic and a social identification within their SMET discipline. These goals will be reached by the implementation of the following three programs: Summer Transition and Academic Research Programs (STAR Programs) -- The STAR programs will help LSAMP students' transition from high school to college by exposing them to research and career enrichment experiences designed to enhance the student's initialcommitment to a SMET discipline beginning in the summer before their first year of college. Importantly, to sustain this initial commitment, the STAR programs then continue to provide research and career enrichment experiences from the students' freshman year through the summer after their sophomore year. STAR programs will provide research and career enrichment experiences that include such activities as the following: (1) participation in a summer bridge program with a "hands on" introduction to research experiences component; (2) formal and informal meetings with faculty and/or graduate mentors; (3) visits to laboratories that emphasize the active involvement of students; (4) participation in a higher-level summer research experiences between their first and second years of college; and (5) participation in the annual LSAMP Indiana Research and Alliance Enrichment Conference. Supplemental Instruction (SI) -- SI programs offer participants the chance to lead and/or participate in review and study skill sessions to supplement course instruction. Some of the universities in this alliance have established SI programs for a few of the historically high-risk 100and 200 level "gatekeeper" courses, and they are particularly effective in raising participants'(especially minority participants') G.P.A. and retention rate. As an alliance, therefore, we are interested in the following: (1) beginning the SI program in SMET courses at universities with no SI program; (2) expanding the SI program to (more) SMET courses at universities with an established SI program; and (3) adding SI to upper-level courses known to be difficult for students (i.e., 2 nd level gatekeeper courses). Coordination and Development Programs -- To forge the Alliance, all parties involved in LSAMP Indiana will be invited to conferences in order to: (1) enhance the alliance by sharingdata, program experiences (successes and failures), and ideas for improving programs and the alliance; (2) provide conference experiences that serve academic and social identification needs; (3) build a supportive network of SMET scholars (faculty, graduate students, administrators, and students) working toward a shared goal who can help guide the alliance; and (4) develop diversity competencies among faculty, administrators, support staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students affiliated with LSAMP Indiana by developing new and innovative workshops that are then adapted and administered on each campus. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Sypher, Beverly Pamella Shaw Purdue University IN Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2312116 9133 SMET 9178 0217629 November 1, 2002 Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP). Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP) If America is to prosper in the new millennium, we must build a domestic science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) workforce that uses the talent of all segments of our population. America's prosperity is fueled by the nation's technical enterprise. As evidenced by the tragic episode of September 11, our country must build on the diversity within this country so that an increasingly large share of the work force will consist of women and underrepresented minorities. Many national programs have been identified to enhance the quantity and quality of underrepresented minorities in science and engineering. This proposal describes a program designed to improve the quantity and quality of underrepresented scientists and engineers graduating each year with a bachelor's degree. The partners in the proposed alliance are all from the state of Tennessee. The existing knowledge base relative to minority participation in science and engineering will be the foundation of our efforts. The goal is to build on this foundation and to expand the available options to enrich programs at partner institutions and beyond. Tennessee State University, LeMoyne-Owen College, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Memphis, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and Vanderbilt University will partner to form the Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP). The ultimate success of this collaboration rests in the fact that if there is any student's need, there is an institution within the alliance with the characteristics, experience, and/or resources to meet the needs of the student. The alliance can draw on the strengths and experiences of each of the individual members. The goal of the TLSAMP is to increase the number of the underrepresented SMET students by at least 75% at the end of the five-year period. The objectives to support the goal of the alliance are: 1) to recruit underrepresented students to pursue science or engineering as a career, 2) to improve the quality of the learning environment for underrepresented science and engineering students at all schools, and 3) to ensure that a larger number of undergraduate students are prepared to enter graduate programs. The Alliance will emphasize collaborative learning approaches, mentoring activities via faculty, staff, and upper level students, and hands-on research and internship experiences. Using this approach, three project areas have been chosen as critical focal points for achieving the qualitative and quantitative goals of the project. These project areas utilize strategies with demonstrable effectiveness in the retention of underrepresented students in science and engineering. All project areas will involve faculty, staff, or students during the design phase as well as the continuous quality improvement phase. In this project, assessment will be built into each project area as a result of the formulation of specific, measurable quantitative and qualitative objectives. These objectives will be reviewed and revised on an ongoing basis. An Advisory Committee composed of the Vice Presidents and Deans from the six schools will oversee all aspects of the grant project. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Johnson, Melvin Tennessee State University TN Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 3601992 9133 SMET 9178 7204 0217675 November 1, 2002 Florida Georgia Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program (Phase III). Florida Georgia Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program (Phase III) Florida A&M University in coalition with Albany State University, Bethune-Cookman College, Florida State University, University of Florida, University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, Florida International University, Florida Memorial College, University of Miami, Tallahassee Community College, Miami Dade Community College, and Florida Community College at Jacksonville has developed a program to significantly increase the quality and quantity of minority students successfully completing science, engineering and mathematics (SEM) B.S. degree programs as well as significantly increase the number interested in and qualified for matriculation into Ph.D. SEM programs of study. Subsumed under these goals are the following measurable objectives: at least quadruple the annual entry of minority B.S. graduates into Ph.D. SEM programs from 100 (year 2001 baseline) to 500 over the next five years; (2) increase by ten percent (baseline 2320), the number of B.S. degrees awarded to underrepresented minorities in SEM disciplines by the year 2007; and (3) institutionalize the FGLSAMP Project at each participating institution by 2006 to insure FGLSAMP permanence after NSF funding ceases. The Alliance proposes to utilize a holistic model to transition SEM scholars from high school to college, positively influence their retention in college, enhance their B.S. graduation rates from college and entry into Ph.D. degree SEM programs of study. Project activities to realize these goals and objectives include developing structured relationships with school systems and community colleges to attract students to SEM majors; establishing workshops to increase student academic performance; implementing a pre-matriculation institute; and implementing a pre-junior graduate school orientation program and pre-senior research apprenticeship to stimulate student competence and interest in graduate school. The FGLSAMP Project will form partnerships with AGEP Projects, Ph.D. degree granting institutions, other appropriate NSF agencies, national/governmental laboratories, private foundations and private industry to assist in providing funds for research stipends and graduate fellowships for student participants. The Florida Legislature provides $640,000 in matching funds annually to support participating Florida institutions in the FGLSAMP Project. The results from this project will be shared with other institutions and scientists via reports, newsletters, FGLSAMP EXPOs and published articles. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Turner, Ralph Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5830495 9133 SMET OTHR 9178 7204 0000 0217691 November 1, 2002 The University of Texas System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. The University of Texas System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation The University of Texas System Alliance for Minority Participation (UT-System AMP) brings together all nine academic components of The University of Texas System and ten regional community college partners in an effort to increase the number of under- represented minority students and students from other under-served populations enrolling in and graduating from baccalaureate programs in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology and entering graduate programs in SMET fields at UT-System universities. The activities of the UT-System AMP are supported by partnerships with industry and government agencies, particularly national laboratories. The educational institutions in the Alliance serve a rapidly growing region, where by the decade's end minorities will comprise a majority of the population. Prominent among the institutions are those in the U.S.-Mexico Border regions serving large numbers of Hispanic students and those in metropolitan areas serving mainly commuter students,including many minorities. The UT-System places a high degree of importance, system-wide, on improving retention among undergraduates and providing enhanced opportunities for these undergraduates to enter graduate programs in SMET. This proposal also emphasizes the system-wide sharing of resources to attain these goals. In Phase III, the University of Texas System Alliance for Minority Participation is committed to achieving the following objectives: 1) The UT-System LSAMP universities will enroll a minimum of 200 under-represented minority and other under-served student in their STEM doctoral programs by the fall of 2008, an increase of about 100% over the fall 2000 baseline and 2) The UT-System AMP universities will continue to work towards the Phase II goal of graduating a minimum of 1,374 under-represented minority and other under-served students with B.S. degrees in SMET. It is estimated that we will achieve this goal by 2006. When achieved, this will represent a 244% increase over 1991-1992 baseline. LSAMP program activities will focus on three major areas: (1) retention of students who are STEM majors through the development of strategies at all partner institutions to address retention of second year students in SMET; (2) mentoring and career development opportunities for STEM majors interested in pursuing an advanced degree. Activities will include the development of GRE workshops and career development/mentoring activities at each partner institution; and (3) a summer research academy where rising junior and senior students will have the opportunity to work in a research laboratory at one of the five doctoral-granting institutions in the alliance. Students will receive stipend support, mentoring and training. The UT-System LSAMP has permanently changing the nature of SMET higher education in Texas. Through the UT-System LSAMP, the participating universities have raised the visibility and increased the awareness of the chancellor, presidents and chief academic officers about SMET program outcomes and the status of under-represented minority students. Providing leadership to the UT-System Alliance for Minority Participation will be a Governing Board, chaired by Ed Sharpe, Executive Vice Chancellor of The University of Texas System, which includes presidents, vice-presidents, or provostsof UT-System member institutions and participating community colleges as well as a selected number of experts from industry and the national R&D community. Meeting annually, the Governing Board will continue to provide general oversight of the UT-System AMP. The Academic Leadership Council (ALC), composed of deans, chairs and distinguished faculty are involved in the implementation of AMP activities at their institution. The ALC meets twice ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Flores, Benjamin Helmut Knaust Pablo Arenaz University of Texas at El Paso TX Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5393432 9133 SMET 9178 7204 0220556 September 15, 2002 Bridging the Gap: A Synthesis of Findings from SMET Research and Demonstration Projects in K-12 and Higher Education 1993-2001. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation is producing a summary of what has been learned from projects funded by NSF and the AAUW Educational Foundation from 1993 through 2001. Both organizations have funded research and demonstration projects in education, particularly science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education, that increase the participation of girls and women, and provide equal access to learning. The research team will summarize what is found in a number of areas, including gender differences in math and science skills and performance, differences among girls due to ethnicity and race, successful approaches that engage female students, factors that influence girls and women to pursue study in these fields, critical junctures for female SMET majors in higher education, and determinants to persistence at the graduate level. The study will use findings, evaluation results and accounts of innovative efforts reported in 175 projects funded by NSF and 200 projects funded by AAUW Educational Foundation. The published synthesis of findings and results will be disseminated widely to education policy makers, teachers and administrators via AAUW's publishing and marketing programs. RESEARCH ON LEARNING & EDUCATI RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Lark, Nancy Yasmin Kafai American Association of University Women DC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 218708 1666 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0221668 September 1, 2002 NSF-TCUP Planning Grant. Though this TCUP planning award Little Big Horn College, located on the Crow Reservation, will develop a comprehensive long-term plan for strengthening the institution's Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs. The project will be divided into four phases: assessment of the current status of STEM curricula, infrastructure and student support; implementation of a 2-day planning retreat; development of the detailed long-range STEM plan; and preparation/submission of a TCUP implementation award proposal. The institution feels that the planning process and the development of a long-term STEM plan will provide it with the potential to make significant and sustainable improvements in the STEM programs including better integration and leveraging of information technology. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Yarlott, David Little Big Horn College MT Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49993 1744 SMET 9178 0222078 September 1, 2002 Salish Kootenai College Bachelors of Information Technology Program. Building upon the current two-year Computer Science Associate Degree Program, Salish Kootenai College will develop and implement a Bachelors of Information Technology Program (BIT) using the TCUP five-year implementation award. The structure of the BIT will enable students to obtain the most recent industry certifications such as those developed by Microsoft and Cisco and to pursue different educational tracks including networking, wireless communications, security and database administration. Components of the BIT will be offered online and through summer "boot camps", allowing working professionals the opportunity to upgrade their knowledge. Project activities include development of curriculum, faculty and facilities. Project funds will also support student recruitment, retention and internship programs. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Chumrau, Alice Salish Kootenai College MT Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2546000 1744 SMET 9178 0222488 September 1, 2002 Hawai'i Kumu-Ola: Source of Knowledge Program. The University of Hawaii Manoa, located on the island of Oahu, will implement the project entitled: "Hawai'i Kumu-Ola: Source of Knowledge Program". This five-year TCUP project will adapt a successful Native American recruitment and retention model used at Oregon State University to increase the number of Native Hawaiians and underrepresented students in STEM fields of study. The project will endeavor to increase the number of Native Hawaiian and underrepresented students by: integrating traditional ecological knowledge in core courses; assisting teachers and students in the establishment of math learning communities; providing students with exchange, mentoring and internship opportunities; involving students in "hands-on" field-based learning; assisting students in their transition from high school to college; and involving students in the production and delivery of television and internet media used in program outreach. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Raleigh, C. Barry Judith Vergun University of Hawaii HI Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2003081 1744 SMET 9178 0222546 September 1, 2002 Strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Programs of Study. Title: Strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Programs of Study Turtle Mountain Community College HRD 0222546 PI - Carol Davis With NSF support, Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC) will improve its capacity to enroll, retain, and graduate Native American students in STEM disciplines. The use of technology will be emphasized where it can be directly applied within the STEM curriculum and used as a mechanism to enhance teaching and learning. Faculty professional development will also focus on the infusion of technology into the STEM curriculum. Project goals include strengthening the institution's technological infrastructure and systematically enhancing TMCC's STEM capacity; improving STEM teaching and learning through curriculum development, reform and enhancement; and, broadening student participation in STEM programs through improved outreach, recruitment, retention and graduation. Special emphasis will focus on promoting student success in STEM gatekeeper and bottleneck courses. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Davis, Jim Wannetta Bennett Turtle Mountain Community College ND Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2767057 1744 1582 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0222562 September 1, 2002 Honolulu Community College Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) Planning Grant. Through this award, Honolulu Community College will conduct an assessment of its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum and infrastructure in order to develop an institutional action plan to improve STEM instruction. Project activities include: development of STEM course assessment instruments; development of a plan to recruit Native Hawaiians into STEM programs; outreach to potential industry, community, and/or educational partners to provide student internship opportunities; and, development of a tracking system for STEM students and graduates who transfer to four-year colleges and universities and for those that gain employment in STEM fields. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Ota, Sharon University of Hawaii HI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49887 1744 SMET 9178 0222704 September 1, 2002 PRISM: Program Review In Science and Mathmetics on Navajo Lands. Crownpoint Institute of Technology seeks to broaden the current curriculum with increased emphasis on the quality of its instructional and outreach programs in STEM. The outcome of the project will be a comprehensive study and potential impact assessment of how increased investment in STEM can attract more Navajo students into these fields of study, identification of professional needs of faculty, as well as how these actions will potentially effect the economic status and quality of life of the peoples of the Navajo Nation. The primary goals of the project are to increase STEM resources to allow faculty to encourage and mentor students in scientific study and research, and to develop avenues for students to return to their homelands and help their own people, thus completing the circle of their journey. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Porter, Leon Alvin Young CROWNPOINT INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NM Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0222790 September 1, 2002 A Planning Grant for Assessment and Plan Development of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Curriculum and Infrastructure at Windward Community College. With NSF support, Windward Community College (WCC) will conduct an assessment of its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum and infrastructure, and develop an integrated institutional plan to improve and enhance WCC's STEM curriculum and infrastructure. The proposed 12-month effort will be divided into three phases: Phase I - Development and application of assessment tools for evaluation of WCC's STEM curriculum and infrastructure; Phase II - Development of a long-term integrated STEM enhancement plan including assessment instruments to evaluate progress; Phase III - Identify resources and secure support to implement the STEM institutional enhancement strategies. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Mullikin, Linka David Krupp University of Hawaii HI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49953 1744 SMET 9178 0222896 September 1, 2002 Plan for Comprehensive STEM Program Assessment. Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College (LCOOCC) will enhance the ability of rural and minority populations on and near the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa reservation in northwestern Wisconsin and at two outreach sites that serve the Bad River and Red Cliff bands of Ojibwa to succeed in careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The College will undertake a comprehensive assessment of community needs as well as institutional strengths and weaknesses in STEM fields. Assessment outcomes will drive systemic reform strategies, lead to more effective use of limited resources and further the development of the nation's technologically based workforce. Primary goals of the project are threefold: (1) assessment of community and employer needs and opportunities for STEM-related education and professionals; (2) identification of strategies for increasing student enrollment, retention and graduation in STEM foundation courses and program areas; and, (3) evaluation of STEM student performance to eliminate bottlenecks and strengthen STEM competencies. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Scott, Terri Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College WI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49621 1744 SMET 9178 0222973 September 1, 2002 Pathways In Preparation; Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Chief Dull Knife College, in collaboration with the University of Montana, Montana State University and Northern Cheyenne Reservation high schools, will implement a five-year TCUP project to develop a seamless pathway for students between reservation high schools, Chief Dull Knife College and the two partner universities. The project will enable team members from these institutions to work together and to establish long-term positive relationships and networks. Project team members, including new faculty positions established through program funding, will work together to develop and revise high school and college math and science curricula; provide teacher training; develop capstone research and mentoring experiences; and implement a 2-week STEM workshop for high school students. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Littlebear, Richard Robert Madsen Jeffrey Hooker Chief Dull Knife Memorial College MT Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2405052 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0223033 October 1, 2002 Little Priest Tribal College TCUP Planning. With NSF support, Little Priest Tribal College (LPTC) will conduct an assessment of the institution's science and mathematics curriculum and infrastructure. Project activities include evaluations of science and mathematics course content, teaching strategies, use of technology for teaching and learning, undergraduate and faculty research opportunities, student progress, and S&E programming. An external advisory committee with representation from four-year institutions will assist College science and mathematics faculty in the development of an institutional plan to strengthen S&E teaching and learning. In addition, the College will develop a tracking system to assess the progress of the Colleges' science and mathematics graduates that transfer to 4-year colleges and universities. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Block, John Harry Martyn Little Priest Tribal College NE Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0223040 September 1, 2002 Hawaiian Values, Science and Technology: Advancing a New Paradigm for STEM Education. Title: Hawaiian Values, Science and Technology: Advancing a New Paradigm for STEM Education University of Hawaii at Hilo HRD 02-23040 PI - Rose Tseng University of Hawaii - Hilo (UHH) will significantly increase enrollment and graduation rates of Native Hawaiian students in mathematics and science disciplines and increase their familiarity with and the use of related technology. Elements of the project will take advantage of the extraordinary natural and cultural environment in which the University is situated. UHH will implement a new model for STEM education that is predicated on the integration of assets of culture and natural environment, and which recognizes the importance of early (K- 12 years) and positive exposure if increasing percentages of students are to be attracted to STEM disciplines. The model, called Hawaiian Compass for Advancement in Science and Technology, involves the advancement of faculty development which enculturates Hawaiian values, ways of knowing and learning, and use of current technology, curricula enhancement (technological and pedagogical) in STEM disciplines, faculty research, and outreach to Hawaiian students and communities through special enrichment classes and informational programs. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Tseng, Rose Sonia Juvik University of Hawaii at Hilo HI Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2413120 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0223063 September 1, 2002 Planning Grant To Enhance STEM Infrastructure and Improve Retention of Native Hawaiian Students. Kauai Community College will assess its STEM curriculum, infrastructure, and evaluation procedures and determine a course of action to strengthen STEM instruction through the integration of curricula and research. Central to this effort is a pre-technology project-centered learning community to help address barriers that prevent entry of native Hawaiians into STEM-based career pathways. Research activities will serve as foci for the enhancement of STEM curricula and infrastructure. This approach will engage students in research and strengthen institutional partnerships with private and public sector organizations offering enhanced internship opportunities. An assessment instrument to track project outcomes and the success of STEM graduates will also be developed. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Cha, Peggy University of Hawaii HI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49940 1744 SMET 9178 0223065 September 1, 2002 Assessment of Maui Community College's STEM Programs and Their Efficady for Native Hawaiian Students. With National Science Foundation support, the University of Hawaii Manoa - Maui Community College will conduct a comprehensive self-assessment of current and planned science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. The assessment includes a review of the existing STEM instructional infrastructure, curriculum, faculty professional development opportunities, technology used for instruction, high school to college transition programs, community service, and Native Hawaiian student retention and success in STEM fields. Assessment outcomes will support the development of a strategic plan to strengthen Maui Community College STEM programs to better meet the needs of the community and specifically, the Native Hawaiian population. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR wiger, flo Sally Irwin University of Hawaii HI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 48100 1744 SMET 9178 0223076 August 15, 2002 Providing Technical Assistance to Grantees and Potential Grantees in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP). Title: Providing Technical Assistance to Grantees and Potential Grantees in the HBCU- UP Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network HRD 0223076 PI: Shirley McBay With National Science Foundation support, the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network will continue to provide technical assistance in the Foundation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU-UP) Program. The goal of the HBCU-UP Program is to strengthen the Nation's workforce by enhancing the quality of undergraduate Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET) programs at HBCUs. Support from the Foundation will enable the QEM Network to: (1) Conduct four proposal development workshops (two per year), prior to the HBCU-UP Program's annual deadline, for faculty at eligible institutions to improve the quality of multi-year and planning grant proposals submitted to the Foundation's HBCU-UP Program; (2) Conduct a follow-up workshop for institutions submitting proposals in the annual competition, whether or not their proposals were successful, to discuss next steps; (3) Conduct a workshop for new grantees focused on performance indicators, data collection, assessment, and annual reporting requirements as well as assist grantee institutions in developing an internal capacity for monitoring, assessing, and assisting in both the internal and external evaluation of their respective projects; (4) Provide on-site technical assistance to multi-year HBCU-UP award recipients linked to critical needs identified during implementation of their respective HBCU-UP Projects; (5) Create and maintain at QEM's Website links to potential sources of federal and non-federal support to assist grantee institutions in sustaining and institutionalizing the successful elements of their HBCU-UP projects as HBCU-UP funding ends as well as a listserv for HBCU-UP Project Directors. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 628495 1594 SMET 9178 0223659 September 15, 2002 Development and Implementation of a Self Evaluation and Assessment System for NSF's Tribal Colleges and Universities Program [TCUP]. Systemic Research, Inc. will collaborate with the awardee institutions of NSF's Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) in the development and implementation of a Self Assessment and Evaluation System. Within the context of TCUP goals and relevant Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requirements, the TCUP Self Evaluation System will assist TCUP awardee institutions with progress indicator data collection for formative self-assessment and evaluation. Electronic evaluation instruments will be designed and developed in close coordination with TCUP awardee institutions to collect relevant quantitative and qualitative indicator data. This activity will enhance TCUP awardee institutions' capacity to monitor and assess institutional efforts to broaden participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. Proposed collaborative efforts will enhance institutional database management, evaluation and research capacity at TCUP awardee institutions. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Kim, Jason Systemic Research, Inc. MA Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 612348 1744 SMET 9178 0225023 August 15, 2002 PGE/DEM Computer Science Computing and Mentoring Partnership (CS CAMP). Rice University, in collaboration with the Houston Independent School District, proposes the Computer Science Computing and Mentoring Partnership (CS-CAMP), a demonstration project to enhance the interest and persistence of female students in pre-college computer science. The proposed CS-CAMP is an ambitious yet realistic plan to develop a model that can be used across the nation to make systemic school change while providing enriched learning experiences for underrepresented groups. Even though women are making strides in some areas of science, their participation in computer science is actually declining. Even in high schools, the vast majority of girls opt out of advanced high school computing courses. Through its 2-year program, CS-CAMP will provide high school girls opportunities to learn computing in a female-centric environment outside school and increase enrollment of girls in advanced computer science classes in their high schools. This should give girls in these high schools enough high-quality exposure to computing so that they can make informed decisions about whether to pursue computer science as a college major and a life career. Program Goals are to: -Prepare high school girls so that they will succeed with confidence and enthusiasm in computer science courses; -Increase girls' admission and retention in pre-college computer science courses; and -Improve the climate for girls and instructional experiences in high school computer science classes The proposed program will target eight high schools in the Houston area who will make a strong, long-term commitment to improve their schools' computer science program with the goal that girls comprise 50% of the schools' most advanced computer science classes, and if they are not currently teaching an advanced computing class, to begin to do so. The selected schools will form an implementation team consisting of a counselor, administrator, and computer science teacher to meet bimonthly at Rice with the other schools' teams and CS-CAMP to develop and implement an action plan for their schools. CS-CAMP will seed the effort by engaging 16 girls from each of the eight schools in a two-year program consisting of 2-week summer computer camp and monthly follow-up sessions. Computer camp focuses on community building, computing-career awareness, mentoring, introductory computing courses, and lots of fun. The program will provide professional development on gender equity in technology to the schools' principals, counselors, and computer science teachers. The participating computer science teachers will also facilitate at the girls' computer camp under the tutelage of master teachers. This will afford the targeted teachers (1) solid knowledge of computer science content and curriculum; (2) skill in a variety of approaches to instruction; and (3) the opportunity to plan and reflect on instruction together with other teachers. CS-Camp will create a multi-level (middle school through university faculty/industry worker) community that provides academic support and personal and professional mentoring to girls in the targeted eight schools in the hopes that those eight will become some of the country's premier schools in participation of girls in computer science and provide a model for the nation in this regard. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Tapia, Richard Keith Cooper William Marsh Rice University TX Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 809163 1544 SMET 9178 0225030 October 1, 2002 PGE/DIS: OUT LOUD - Women's Voices in Science and Technology. WAMC Northeast Public Radio (WAMC) will produce, air, and distribute a series of segments on its radio programs 51% and The Best of Our Knowledge that will draw material from projects funded by the NSF Program for Gender Equity in STEM. The show 51% is dedicated to coverage of issues affecting women. The Best of Our Knowledge is devoted to coverage of issues and topics related to education, educational policy, innovation, and research. The program segments will place a national spotlight on gender equity in STEM, specifically in the areas of high school, undergraduate, teacher and faculty development, and educational technologies. They will be delivered in multiple media formats: radio, CD, tape, and the web. WAMC's long-term goal is to play a pivotal role in the national effort to broaden the participation of women and girls in STEM education and workforce. In the shorter-term, WAMC's goals are: 1) to significantly expand education and awareness of targeted audiences and the general public about research and strategies to improve education policies and practices; and, 2) to enhance the image of the STEM professions and their practitioners so that the image is positive and inclusive of women. Results of the project will be: a set of quality radio programs for multiple uses, targeted nationwide distribution, new segments within WAMC's regular programming, and new collaborations between a media organization and women' groups, major science and education institutions engaging in research and demonstration projects, high schools, government agencies, trade associations, and private foundations. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Darcy, Mary WAMC Northeast Public Radio NY Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 107883 1544 SMET 9178 0225078 September 1, 2002 PGE/PLN Spurring the Entry of Women into Information Technology in West Virginia Planning Grant. West Virginia University is teaming with Step-Up for Women to prepare a full proposal. The objective of the proposed project to be implemented beginning in fall 2003 is to increase the number of women entering and remaining in the computer science major at West Virginia University. The research question to be addressed is whether an adaptation of the approaches used by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher at Carnegie Mellon University [Margolis, 2002] and by Jane Zimmer Daniels, formerly at Purdue University and now at The Henry Luce Foundation, are applicable at a university in a rural state with modest admissions requirements. Central to the work is a two semester course sequence which will be discovery-based with a real-world orientation. The results of this work should be transferable to colleges and universities in similar states seeking to increase all students and particularly female students in computer science. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Van Scoy, Frances Janis Gunel West Virginia University Research Corporation WV Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 28594 9150 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0225079 November 1, 2002 PGE/DIS Women and IT Video Project. The Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County UMBC) will: 1) Create a four-minute, high quality video presenting diverse images of successful women in science and technology careers and targeting girls and young women ages 12 - 20. 2) Develop a speakers program involving female UMBC students and faculty and representatives from the business community, who will use the video as an exciting entree to a discussion of women's opportunities in science and technology careers. 3) Once the video is completed, evaluate a speaker's success, with and without the video, in educating a total of 1500 middle, high school, and community students about the opportunities for careers in IT and related science fields, with a focus on women. 4) Develop guidelines for integrating the video and speaker into any venue, including classrooms, after-school and summer programs, assemblies, career fairs, programs for college freshmen, and other programs for young people. Unlike the traditional videos currently available on the topic, this brief, high-intensity video will engage the emotions and interests of young people. Rather than presenting talking heads, this video will combine vibrant rock or pop music, striking color, and flash images and text to create energy and excitement around the topic of women's career possibilities in IT. The video is modeled upon a high-quality, four-minute music video developed by General Motors and used, with permission, as a template for feedback and evaluation by a diverse group of 102 middle school, high school, and community college students ranging in age from 13 to 26. Over 90% of these students, both male and female, believed creating a short video about women and IT modeled on the GM video was an excellent idea. Video Press, a small for-profit arm of the University of Maryland, College Park, and winner of an Oscar for its production "King Gimp" will develop the video under the guidance of the Video Project Committee (VPC). The VPC members represent UMBC faculty and staff and the video project subcommittee of Center's advisory board. Once the video is completed, the project team will work with an external evaluator to assess the effectiveness of the video in enhancing a speaker's success in educating students about career opportunities for women in IT and related fields. A booklet will be developed to support the use of the video and be distributed with 100 videos statewide for additional evaluation. VPC members will disseminate the video and guidelines for use nationally and internationally through the Maryland public school system, Maryland community colleges, national and international listservs, journals, radio and television, local and national conferences, and an internationally recognized website. The External Advisory Board is composed of high level executives from the following companies: T. Rowe Price Investment Technologies; Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development; Maryland State Department of Education; Northrop Grumman; Saraf Software Solutions; Hewlett Packard's Digital Village Project; SM Consulting; Allfirst Bank; the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC); and an entrepreneur and Founder/CEO of WomenCONNECT.com. Maryland Public Television will serve in an advisory capacity on this project. Additional partners in this project include Meade Middle School, Pine Grove Middle School, Parkville High School and Center for Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science, and the Community College of Baltimore County. The Maryland Association of Community Colleges will support the program through the dissemination and assessment of the video project to all 16 community colleges in the state. Summer Days Math and Science Camp for Girls, Inc. will assess the video as a recruiting tool. The Director of the Center for Social and Community Research at Loyola College in Maryland will independently evaluate the project. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Korenman, Joan Anne Spence Claudia Morrell William Shewbridge University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 132285 1544 SMET 9178 0225184 January 1, 2003 PGE/DEM - Seeing Gender: Tools for Change. Kansas State University is developing an interactive CD-ROM/DVD set for use with pre-service and in-service high school teachers, teacher education faculty and college faculty in SMET fields. The set will: (1) introduce the user to the research base on gender and gender socialization, (2) sensitize these educators to the inadvertent gender bias that operates in SMET classrooms and programs, (3) provide classroom strategies and interventions designed to reduce bias, and (4) present school-wide or department-wide efforts to increase the presence of women in SMET classes and programs. Components of the CD-ROM/DVD include: (1) classroom segments or dramatizations of bias, research, or interventions; (2) interviews with female high school and college students about their experiences in SMET classrooms; (3) interviews with high school teachers and college faculty members about the process by which they became sensitized to gender issues and began working towards change; (4) interviews with researchers familiar with the research on gender bias conducted in both psychology and education; (5) abstracts of relevant journal articles; and (6) essays that invite further reflection. The CD-ROM/DVD will be field-tested with the target population and disseminated through existing professional organizations. In addition, guidelines will be prepared for introduction of the CD-ROM/DVD in classroom settings for pre-service teachers as well as in professional development seminars for in-service teachers and college faculty. The project is innovative in its use of an interactive CD-ROM/DVD to provide instruction, in its integration of presentations of gender bias in education with a solid research base, and in its use of student and teacher/college faculty members' voices to explore their own experiences in SMET classrooms and the processes by which change is implemented. Because it can be used both individually and as part of a classroom or seminar, the CD-ROM/DVD has the capacity to reach thousands of pre-service and in-service teachers, teacher educators, and college faculty who work in SMET disciplines. This potential for reaching a broad audience makes this project a cost-effective and efficient method of strengthening the social infrastructure in SMET education in ways that ultimately increase the number of women working in SMET fields. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Spears, Jacqueline Diane McGrath Linda Thurston Kansas State University KS Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 927231 1544 SMET 9178 0225186 January 1, 2003 PGE/RES: Enhancing Women's Experiences with Teamwork in Technical Writing and Computing Environments. The University of Louisville will examine the experiences of over 400 students working on team projects in scientific and technical writing and computer science classes over three semesters. The results of this study should provide technical writing and computer science instructors and researchers with new insights into the different communication styles and values of male and female students, new information about differences in the epistemological styles of men and women and how these affect teamwork experiences, empirical data on the effectiveness of a variety of workshop interventions for improving teamwork experiences, and extensively-tested materials suitable for inclusion in a textbook or CD-ROM on teamwork. Teamwork and collaboration are often proposed as ways to augment the experiences of female students in SMET disciplines. However, in practice, women frequently have negative experiences with team projects that leave them feeling even more alienated than before. Men and women often conflict over their preferences for different types of communication and problem-solving styles, and these conflicts often result in women's silence and frustration. Such silence is harmful not only because women lose out on opportunities to contribute to the project, but also because their silence is often perceived by others as insecurity over their technical competence. In the first research phase, six to ten teams working on technically-oriented writing projects will be observed in detail. Data collection will consist of field notes, video recordings, and written documents. In addition, students will complete questionnaires assessing their attitudes towards teamwork and their favored epistemological styles (i.e., attitudes toward knowledge and authority). Relationships have been found between gender, the ability to manage conflict, and epistemological styles. Team interactions will be transcribed and analyzed for quantity of interaction, interruptions, roles played by different individuals, reactions to different types of conversational interchanges, and different approaches to problem-solving. These analyses will be compared against the questionnaire data to assess how communication, problem-solving, and knowledge styles can affect men and women's experiences in teams. The next phase of the project will draw upon these taped interactions to produce materials that will be used in workshops designed to enhance the team experience. Four different workshops will be compared for effectiveness: (1) analyzing tapes of team interactions; (2) analyzing transcripts of team interactions; (3) analyzing tapes of team interactions followed by role-playing activities; (4) listening to a lecture. It is hypothesized that analyzing the annotated transcripts of team interactions will be the most effective workshop intervention and the lecture will be the least effective. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Wolfe, Joanna University of Louisville Research Foundation Inc KY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 127605 9150 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0225210 November 1, 2002 PGE/DEM An Integrated Approach To Change Attitudes Of College Freshmen Toward Female Participation In SME&T. Illinois State University will shape the awareness, attitudes and knowledge of all freshman students and their parents by enhancing learning about gender issues in STEM before and during the freshman year. The interventions will be conducted within three overlapping spheres -- the family context, the peer context, and the University's curricular and co-curricular structures. It is at the nexus of these three spheres that students make educational choices that affect their careers for decades. Within the family context, there will be a half-day or four-hour workshop that addresses gender equity in STEM, as part of the two-day Summer Orientation sessions for incoming 900 freshmen and their 1500 parents. All the 150 undergraduate advisors at the University will also participate in the workshop. Within the peer context, learning communities will be formed to provide a support group that nurtures freshmen females who express interest (or even mild enthusiasm) in STEM. The learning communities will be modeled on the existing Connections program at the University. Each learning community will consist of a maximum of 30 students (females and males), a science, mathematics, or technology professional on or off campus, who will serve as a role model, and a student leader (university junior or senior in one of the STEM fields) to help guide the students through their first year at the University. Within the context of the University's curricular and co-curricular structures, a four-week "topical excursion" (learning module) will be part of an existing general education course, Foundations of Inquiry (FOI), which all freshmen take during their first semester at the University. In that "topical excursion", the approach to Science/Technology/Society -- current issues in which the science, mathematics, engineering and technology play major roles -- will be combined with a more gender-related subtext -- choosing female scientists as authors, showing female scientists, engineers, and technologists at work, or raising the issue of gender bias in science research. The model exemplified in this project has the potential for replication at comparable institutions since many universities have some form of a summer orientation session for incoming freshmen and their parents, an introductory course that most freshmen take during their first year at the university, a structure for peer support, and undergraduate student advisement. Gender-role attitudes of society are widely thought to deter college age women from STEM college courses, majors, and subsequent career paths. Experiences during the transition to adulthood are particularly strong. The goal is to challenge traditional concepts and definitions of femininity and its relationship with STEM disciplines taking a "whole community" approach at this critical stage in education -- getting male and female students, their parents, student advisors, and faculty involved. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Gokhale, Anu Kenton Machina Illinois State University IL Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 284069 1544 SMET 9178 0225215 October 1, 2002 PGE/RES/PLN: How does Technology Affect Gender Equity in Science Education? A Retrospective and Prospective Study. For the past decade, a variety of courses at Michigan State University (MSU) have used the Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach (CAPA) system, a network tool designed to facilitate and improve the way assignments, quizzes, and examinations are delivered and graded in large enrollment courses (E.Kashy et al., 1993). An instructor uses the system to generate unique assignments for each student in a class. The system then provides immediate feedback to students (and instructors) on conceptual understanding and correctness of solutions and allows students to rework incorrect solutions. Recent analyses of data from introductory physics courses suggest that women are particularly likely to benefit from the broader use of such systems (D. Kashy, Albertelli, E. Kashy, & Thoennessen; 2001). MSU will conduct a planning study with two objectives: 1. Examine the vast database from courses in many areas of the sciences that have used the CAPA system in the past to see whether and to what degree the gender differences found in physics are found in other science fields. 2. Plan a comprehensive study that will attempt to identify the critical elements that promote gender equity in science, mathematics, and engineering education when using this technology. The courses in the study make use of the LON-CAPA system (Learning Online Network with CAPA), an integrated tool that uses network technology for learning and assessment. In addition to providing improved versions of the tools in CAPA, it includes a content authoring and management system that allows new and existing materials to be broadly and easily exchanged among instructors and institutions, an extensive data collection and retrieval system, and a content delivery system that will provide gateways to and from NSF's National STEM Digital Library. The study will investigate whether the use of this widely available and free technology is also a tool for enhancing the success rate of women in science courses. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Kashy, Deborah Gerd Kortemeyer Michigan State University MI Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 29815 1544 SMET 9178 0225227 September 15, 2002 PGE/PLN GenTech South Dakota. The Black Hills Special Services Cooperative, South Dakota, is planning for the development of a research-based professional development model designed to help middle school teachers appropriately integrate technology into mathematics and science content in a way that raises the interest and persistence of female students in STEM. In this model, professional development for technology integration will be the vehicle used to address and apply principles of gender equity at the middle school classroom level. As middle school teachers learn how to appropriately use technology to add value to existing mathematics and science curriculum and methodology, they will do so through the "lens" of gender equity. Target participants in this project will initially include 30 middle school teachers of mathematics, science and computer science in five selected middle schools in western South Dakota which serve approximately 2300 students in grades 5-8. Collaborating partners in the planning proposal are Technology and Innovations in Education (TIE), Rapid City, South Dakota; the Center for the Advancement of Mathematics and Science (CAMSE) at Black Hills State University, Spearfish, South Dakota; the Midwest Alliance for Professional Learning and Leadership (MAPLE), Rapid City South Dakota; and the following pre-K school districts in western South Dakota: Belle Fourche, Lead-Deadwood, Meade, Spearfish, and Todd County. These districts represent a cross section of South Dakota's student population. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Gaspar, Sandra Black Hills Special Services Cooperative SD Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 24775 9150 1544 SMET 9178 0225228 January 1, 2003 PGE/RES: Why Does It Work? A Study of Successful Gender Equity in Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma (OU) will study the factors that impact the retention of female undergraduate majors in its Industrial Engineering program. The program is especially successful: as of Fall 2001, 58% of the undergraduate majors in Industrial Engineering are women. This proportion is strikingly higher than both the nationwide proportion in industrial engineering and the proportion in other STEM degree programs at OU. Furthermore, the proportion has more than doubled in the space of five years, having steadily increased from 27% in 1996. OU did not set out specifically to accomplish this rate of retention of female students. The study will investigate combinations of factors that affect students' choices. For example, one factor is the proportion of female faculty. Industrial Engineering at OU has a high proportion of women faculty (4 of 10 faculty, 40%), which is one of the factors identified by Seymour and Hewitt (1997) as having an impact on retention of women majors. This phenomenon alone is unlikely to account for the present high retention, as evidenced by nationwide trends in other disciplines (e.g., chemical engineering and computer science). The primary source of data will be 600 interviews with students. Students will be sophomore to senior, as well as alumni. During the first year, the team will interview only Industrial Engineering majors at OU. In the second and third years, they will interview students at OU majoring in Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics, in addition. Finally, during the third year, they will include additional interviews of Industrial Engineering majors at Arizona State University, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and the University of Pittsburgh. To assure triangulation, other sources of data will include student transcript records, the Pittsburgh Engineering Attitudes Toward Engineering Survey(copyright), and interviews with faculty, program directors, advisors, and graduate students, all of whom affect student experiences in college. The fifteen-person research team consists of two anthropologists, two educational researchers, two faculty in industrial engineering at OU (one with expertise in engineering education research), one faculty liaison for each of the other participating departments at OU (one with expertise in undergraduate mathematics education research), one faculty liaison with each of the participating institutions, and an experienced project director. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Murphy, Teri Deborah Trytten Teri Reed-Rhoads Randa Shehab Betty Harris University of Oklahoma Norman Campus OK Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 899562 1544 SMET 9178 0225253 January 1, 2002 PPD: FASED: Shaping Vocational Frontiers: Science, Engineering, and Mathematics for Persons with Disabilities in Rural and Remote Areas. Improving education and inclusion of students with disabilities in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) through camps, science fairs and other programs are imperative to the diversification of our future SMET work force. Students with disabilities in remote and rural regions are much less likely to have access to SMET resources because of their geographic location. Additionally, students with disabilities and their families are often strapped financially due to excessive costs in transportation, adaptive technologies, support personnel, personal care, and architectural adaptations. After families pay for these essentials, SMET camps and programs often are a financial burden. As one step in our project, we plan to collaborate with existing SMET camps and programs, to demonstrate that all camps can be appropriate for students with disabilities. This would enable students in rural and remote regions such as Alaska to participate fully in science and math education experiences leading to careers in SMET. The Shaping Vocational Frontiers Project will be directed by Drs. Radtke and Owens with assistance from Access Alaska. Dr. Radtke is a well known scientist and community activist and Dr. Owens is an experienced researcher and teacher, outdoor educator and inventor. Both men have severe disabilities and are intimately familiar with the problems faced by persons with disabilities in SMET related activities. Access Alaska will be instrumental in training, camp accessibility, and network development. The project will create a program that involves a core of students, families, scientists, educators, and university-level science teacher trainers. This amalgam will strive to enhance the opportunities for acquiring SMET education for students with disabilities throughout Alaska. As a group we will work towards this goal through changes in science education curriculum, educational practices, and policy in the state. We plan to identify students with disabilities across the state who can benefit from this program and provide them with hands-on, field-based science. We will emphasize activities that provide for integration of students with disabilities with their traditional counterparts who do not have disabilities. Role models and mentors, many with disabilities themselves, will advise, problem solve, and guide both individual students and heterogeneous teams of students (consisting of both able-bodied and students with disabilities) in these activities. The appropriate assistive technology will be used in concert with Internet to insure that students with disabilities will be fully included in SMET activities, Electronic technology (including the Internet) will be used to encourage networking and information dissemination among student teams, educational organizations, administrators, and members of the community. The project will be carefully documented for public television and Internet venues. All publications produced by the project will be available through fully accessible electronic media. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Radtke, Richard Sea of Dreams Foundation, Inc. HI Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 210000 1545 SMET 9177 0225369 September 1, 2002 PGE/PLN -- Coupling Assessment with Organizational Change Strategies: A Fresh Approach to Promoting Gender & Racial Diversity in Undergrad. Physical & Comp. Science & Engineering. The National Council for Research on Women (NCRW) proposes a 12-month planning project to design a multi-site three-year project aimed at improving the recruitment and retention of undergraduate women students in selected physical and computer science departments, and engineering disciplines. The larger project will focus on women students of color, who are severely under-represented in these fields. The fields that will be encompassed in this project are all areas in which there are increasing opportunities, given the ways technology is transforming whole sectors of the world economy and increasing demands for scientific and technological expertise to extend knowledge and capacity. NCRW will draw on its 95 member centers, and specific SMET departments representative of a wide range of racial and ethnic diversity, where a base of institutional support for such an approach is present. Its aim will be to develop fresh approaches to assessing environments and implementing strategies for change in specific SMET institutions and/or departments through partnerships with women's research centers, and its methodology will focus on the development of assessment protocols and change strategies by the project's partners on each campus. The innovative emphases are: intersections of race, gender; assessment tools and institutional change across a wide range of undergraduatel environments; and partnerships for change across campuses. This project will build on the findings and recommendations of the recent NCRW report Balancing the Equation: Where are Women and Girls in Science, Engineering and Technology?, roundtables and convenings sponsored by NCRW, and on the work of its centers engaged in work on issues related to women and girls in the sciences. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Basch, Linda National Council for Research on Women NY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 31793 1544 SMET 9178 0227992 November 1, 2002 Integrated Accessible Microscopical Workstation for Students with Disabilities. Abstract The goal of this project is to construct an integrated accessible microscopical workstation that will allow students with disabilities to independently perform common biological laboratory techniques, thereby enabling individuals to actively participate in scientific experimentation and the opportunity to pursue a career in the SMET fields. This multi-purpose workstation is to be used primarily by persons with mobility impairments. All aspects of the integrated workstation will be operated from a central computer interface, which will be used to automatically control and monitor external peripheral devices so that biological experiments can be performed. Using a computer as the user interface and central control of the accessible laboratory workstation is ideal, because the personal computer can accommodate various disabilities using different pointing devices and accessibility software utilities. Total keystroke control of the integrated workstation will be emphasized. The intent of this proposal is to develop an accessible laboratory workstation that will allow students and investigators with mobility impairments to perform the majority of microscopical and histological laboratory procedures, most notably in the biological sciences, with minimal assistance and setup. The integrated microscopy workstation will use software to control all features of operation, including an automated microscope, motorized stage, bulk slide autoloader, and digital video camera. The workstation will allow a student with a disability to independently load up to fifty individual slides, focus, change objectives, filter wheels, illuminator and condensor, and position the microscopy specimen translationally in X and Y directions and rotationally using theta control - all controlled through a computer that will also capture images of the histological tissues to be managed and analyzed for anatomical studies. Thus, the only assistance the student with a disability requires is for someone to load the slides. All other phases of microscopy and image analysis can be performed without further assistance. The accessible microscopy workstation will be evaluated both in a classroom setting that performs typical undergraduate and post-graduate biological experimentation and in research laboratory setting that performs sophisticated laboratory procedures. Ten high school and college students with a range of mobility impairments will be assessed in the first year by their ability to use a computer and their specific ergonomics relating to the construction of the accessible workstation. In the second year the students will be tested on their ability to use the workstation to accomplish a variety of laboratory procedures. Educators will also be queried as to their capability of incorporating the workstation into the classroom environment. University and local high school educators and Special Education specialists and statewide organizations, like the Council of Volunteers/Organizations for Hoosiers with Disabilities (COVOH) and Assisting Technology through Awareness in Indiana (ATTAIN), which advocate the use of assistive technologies for persons with disabilities, will be utilized to disseminate findings and promote the use of the integrated microscopy workstation. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Borgens, Richard Bradley Duerstock Purdue University IN Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 100000 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0227995 December 1, 2002 Northwest Alliance for Access to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Abstract The University of Washington (UW) requests funding for the Northwest Alliance for Access to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to increase the quantity and quality of people with disabilities in STEM careers. Intellectual Merit and Qualifications of Partners The lead agency is the UW's award-winning DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) program, which has conducted successful NSF PPD projects since 1992. Regional site teams at the two largest STEM research institutions in the State of Washington, the UW and Washington State University (WSU), will collaborate with K-12 and postsecondary schools, employers, and leading STEM research institutions in neighboring states - the University of Idaho, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and the University of Alaska in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The project will partner with ENTRY POINT! to place STEM postsecondary students with disabilities in paid internships. It will collaborate with MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) adapting for students with disabilities the hands-on science activities and teacher training strategies it uses with racial/ethnic minority and female students. The Alliance builds on established collaborations and brings together practices that have proven successful individually, to create a unique, comprehensive set of interventions. Objectives and examples of interventions include: 1. The Northwest Alliance will increase the number of students with disabilities pursuing STEM academic programs and careers. Interventions: Motivational college/career transition and STEM fairs for precollege students and STEM academic/career activities for college students that identify participants for the AccessSTEM Team in objective 2 interventions. 2. The Alliance will provide on-going support and encourage high school and college students with disabilities who show interest and aptitude in STEM with peer and mentor interaction, work experiences, and other activities as they transition to college, graduate school, and employment. Interventions: Students join the AccessSTEM Team to engage in an on-line community, mentoring, fields trips, research, paid internships, and other activities to assure their success in STEM careers and promote the success of others. 3. The Alliance will provide precollege educators and staff with strategies, tools and support to create more inclusive programs for students with disabilities, where they are encouraged to pursue STEM studies and careers. Interventions: Training and curriculum materials through established networks of MESA, Educational Services Districts, teacher training programs, and professional organizations; provide educators with opportunities to work with students who have disabilities. 4. The Alliance will help STEM postsecondary faculty, support staff, counselors, and employers fully include students with disabilities in their courses and programs and create accessible facilities and electronic resources. Interventions: Opportunities for faculty to receive training and work with students with disabilities in research; assistance in making facilities, equipment, distance learning, and Web pages accessible. Each intervention is associated with measurables that provide evidence of effectiveness. The National Center on Postsecondary Educational Supports (NCSPES) will evaluate project outcomes and impacts, conduct research on factors that promote success for students with disabilities, describe replication models, and help disseminate results. Broader Impacts Resulting from the Northwest Alliance Collaborations with MESA and other programs will broaden the participation of racial/ethnic minorities and females with disabilities in STEM. Wide distribution of a replication model, curriculum materials, and other project products and creation of a searchable Knowledge Base on the project Web site will enhance scientific and technological understanding and maximize project impact. Project outcomes will benefit society by making STEM opportunities available to all citizens and increasing the number of STEM professionals and leaders who have disabilities. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Burgstahler, Sheryl Anjan Bose Matthew O'Donnell University of Washington WA Mark H. Leddy Cooperative Agreement 4154980 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0228007 September 1, 2002 PGE/RES Women's Participation and Experiences in Chemical Business and Industry in the U.S.. University of Maryland College Park will study the experience of S&E-trained women in the chemical industry. There are three areas of study: Contextual Patterns, Individual Experiences, and Effective Interventions. Scientific Issues: * What contextual patterns and influences exist with respect to the role of S&E-trained women in the chemical industry? * What have been the individual experiences of S&E-trained women in the chemical industry, and what vocationally-inhibitory and -facilitative factors can be identified from their reports? * What formal and informal strategies currently are being used to increase S&E-trained women's participation in the chemical industry, and how effective are they? Contextual Patterns will be assessed through quantitative investigation of organizational patterns of women's participation in chemical business and industry in the U.S. over time. This will include identifying a national, representative sample of chemical businesses, gaining access to archival and current organizational data on male and female employment patterns, and administering an organizational survey to management. Individual Experiences will be assessed through both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interview) investigation. A survey will be administered to a large, national, representative sample of women in chemical business and industry to assess their self-reported experiences in occupational preparation, entry, and advancement. A representative sub-sample of these participants (diverse in race/ethnicity, age, work setting, S&E sub-field, and education) will be interviewed to explore more specifically the variables that have inhibited or facilitated their career trajectories in the chemical industry. Effective Interventions will be assessed through both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interview) investigation, as well as literature review. The quantitative portions of Studies 1 and 2 and the qualitative portion of Study 2 will include assessment of formal and informal strategies currently used by companies to increase women's participation; interviews also will be conducted with a sub-sample of management personnel from Study 1 regarding their perceptions of intervention strategies, to compare to the responses from individual women. These data will be combined with a literature review to identify best practices interventions. Science and engineering (S&E) fields are considered crucial to U.S. economic growth and are expanding rapidly. Demographic trends indicate that women and minorities represent the greatest increases in workforce participation; however, the continued under-representation of women (including minority women) in S&E fields is well documented. Much of the attention to women's relative absence from S&E fields has focused on women in academe, and very little is known about women in other S&E settings. Industry is the largest employer of S&E workers, but women are less likely than men to be employed in the industrial sector. Data regarding why women fail to enter industrial settings in predictable numbers and what happens to them there are virtually non-existent. Moreover, very little is known about the prevalence or effectiveness of strategies currently being used to address the paucity of women in industry. The Broader Impacts of the study include: * Providing a model for the study of demographic diversity in one industry * Identification of "best practices" interventions to enhance the careers of women in S&E business and industry. * Training of graduate and undergraduate students in research methods of the social sciences. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR Fassinger, Ruth Sandra Greer University of Maryland College Park MD Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 497384 1544 1253 SMET 9178 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0511603 Societal Aspects 0228116 November 1, 2002 NCAM Dissemination Project to Community Colleges. NCAM Dissemination Project to Community Colleges This Demonstration, Enrichment and Information Dissemination project is a collaboration between the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) and the League for Innovation in the Community College. NCAM will work with the League to disseminate and institutionalize use of resources that can make technology-enabled science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning resources accessible to students, faculty and administrators at community colleges. Project goals are to elevate the issue of accessibility within the community college system; disseminate NSF-funded demonstration models, guidelines, tools and resources that enable creation of accessible STEM content; and encourage the community college system to participate in the development and implementation of accessible specifications for distributed learning platforms. NCAM will conduct presentations and workshops at annual League conferences, offer on-site Accessibility Forums at member colleges, and deliver online training and resources through the League's Web-based learning community, Transformational Learning Connections (LeagueTLC). Products and demonstration models that will be shared include: * distributed learning industry specifications and standards * developers' guidelines to creating accessible content, focused on math and science solutions * accessible online physics curriculum with multimedia lectures, quizzes, and electronic texts * demonstration models of accessible math and science content within software * access authoring tools including shareware and commercial products and tutorials Project activities will strengthen capacity within community colleges to create and utilize accessible math and science content in technology-enabled learning. Guidelines and technical resources will facilitate community college creation, maintenance, control, packaging and presentation of accessible digital content. Results will serve a wide array of users of online community college content " people with sensory disabilities, people with learning or print disabilities who benefit from multiple modes of presentation, and people with physical disabilities who use assistive technologies for navigation and control of content. Accessible content and systems will improve the quality of learning, teaching and/or work life for all of these users, whether they are community college students, faculty members and/or administrators. Through this initiative, the League for Innovation in the Community College will encourage use of its resources to connect and empower learning between innovative leaders and model programs in community colleges that are recruiting and preparing students with disabilities for STEM careers. This Project will also serve to build support and generate strategies within the League to mount a major learning thread on accessibility at one of the League's conferences. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Goldberg, Lawrence WGBH Educational Foundation MA Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 100000 1545 SMET 9178 0228133 January 1, 2003 PPD-DEI: Supporting Youth with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: The SIU SY-STEM Project. This project will contribute to our nation's capacity for increasing the number of people with disabilities employed in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) work force by demonstrating the effectiveness of an innovative combination of person centered career planning activities, ongoing mentoring, and hands on experiences in the sciences. This combination of activities is designed to 1.) increase recognition of the interests and needs of students with disabilities in the STEM career areas, 2.) create a more supportive academic and professional climate for persons with disabilities, 3.) promote accessibility and appropriateness of instructional materials and educational technologies at multiple levels (high school, community college, and university), and 4.) increase the availability of academic enrichment experiences such as mentoring and hands-on experiences in the STEM areas. To meet these broad goals, the SIU SY-STEM project will: *Identify students' preferences and interests for specific STEM-related career areas. *Increase receptivity of educators (secondary and post-secondary math and science educators) and of guidance counselors for including of students with disabilities in STEM-related curriculum experiences. *Impact adaptations, accommodations, and instructional strategies used by educators in STEM classes and labs at multiple levels. *Foster academic and professional development in STEM related career areas by increased access to career exploration experiences and mentoring. A fundamental premise of this project is that the best way to impact employment of persons with disabilities in the sciences is by simultaneously increasing the numbers of people in the pipeline leading to these careers and enhancing the capacity of secondary and post-secondary training institutions to successfully include students with disabilities. Twenty-five teams of students, parents, educators, and guidance counselors from 25 high schools in southern Illinois will participate in intensive one-day workshops on person centered career planning. From these 25 student teams, six students will be selected to participate in an intensive, on-campus Summer Institute at Southern Illinois University. This Institute will expose students to a variety of careers in the sciences and engage them in a series of rotations in various lab sciences. University students with disabilities will be recruited to work in close affiliation with a graduate student mentor and faculty mentors to provide ongoing support for the workshop and Institute participants. The SIU SY-STEM project will impact involvement of persons with disabilities in STEM areas of study at multiple levels, including the personal and professional development of high school and college students with disabilities, and changes in the educational resources, willingness, and capacity to support these students in high school, community college, and university programs. Although this project is designed as a regional demonstration involving high schools, consortia of community colleges, and Southern Illinois University, it is the intention of the applicant to sustain this initiative by building broader, more comprehensive regional/national networks and alliances. To that end, the project includes a comprehensive evaluation component and widespread dissemination plan. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Bates, Paul Karen Renzaglia Southern Illinois University at Carbondale IL Ted A. Conway Standard Grant 76836 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0236425 October 1, 2002 Doctoral Research Capacity Building for Sensor Science Technology. Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AAMU) is submitting a proposal for HBCU Doctoral Capacity Building Grant with a unified research focus on Sensor Science and Technology (SST) in response to the NSF Dear Colleague Letter of June 17, 2002. AAMU initiated the Ph.D. program in physics in 1986. AAMU is one of the first HBCUs to start the Ph.D. program. The proposed projects have a unified focus on Sensor Science and Technology. This fully supports the mission of the university and meets the national standards of research in the area of sensors. Industrial partners and scientists from federal laboratories have endorsed this proposal. To ensure that each critical area based on AAMU strength and the national need is represented, three subproject areas are carefully chosen: Smart Optical Sensors, Fiber Optic Sensors, and Infrared (IR) Sensors. Development of the novel materials and their adaptation in the state-of-the-art sensors is our major scientific goal of the proposal. This will increase the overall capacity and infrastructure of the department and will help in attracting quality faculty, undergraduate and graduate students. A one-week summer workshop and a short course for faculty and UG students from HBCU's and other institutions will be organized every year on sensor science and technology. Eight to ten faculty and students will be invited from local and other universities and colleges. This in turn will motivate and better prepare UG students towards entering graduate schools in the areas of science and engineering. The short course will be later recommended for a graduate course with 3 credit/semester. Alabama A&M University is strategically located in the city of Huntsville amongst major industrial companies, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, US Army Missile and Aviation Command, and US Army Strategic Missile and Defense Command. Several of these have a focus on sensor technology. This NSF grant will help in (a) improving the infrastructure of the department of physics at AAMU and (b) expanding the scientific research being conducted as a result of the previous CREST-Center for Nonlinear Optics and Optical Materials (1988-1998). The proposed grant will strengthen the position of AAMU as a doctoral degree awarding institution among HBCUs and other institutions. The grant will also help in attracting quality faculty and students. The existing external departmental advisory committee will review the impact of this grant on the infrastructure of the department. The committee will report the findings to the PD/PI and to the department chair. The AAMU administration is committed to support the proposal by contributing 31% cost-sharing and a reduction of indirect cost to 25% from a normal 35.5%. The PI/PD and investigators of the proposed grant have many years of scientific and management experience, strong scientific track record and are well recognized in the field of sensor materials and devices. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T DOCTORAL HBCU RSRCH CAPACITY HRD EHR Aggarwal, Manmohan Manmohan Aggarwal Matthew Edwards Anup Sharma Rami Bommareddi Alabama A&M University AL JAMES J. POWLIK Standard Grant 959000 9131 1797 SMET 9179 9178 0236753 October 1, 2002 Infrastructure Building to Develop a Center for Biological and Chemical Sensors Research. Morgan State University is requesting funds to develop the University's research capacity and to increase the number of minority students granted the PhD in its Bioenvironmental Sciences and Doctor of Engineering programs. The funds will be used to develop the research infrastructure necessary to create a Center for Biological and Chemical Sensors Research (CBCSR). The Center's mission will be to advance the fundamental scientific and technological knowledge needed to develop new biological and chemical sensors, in order to enhance research in the bioenvironmental sciences. The Center will be housed in the new science research annex when it is completed in Fall 2003. Faculty and staff of the Department of Chemistry in the School of Computer Mathematics and Natural Sciences will be responsible for coordination and administration of the Center's activities. The Center will focus on the development of novel chemical and bio-analytical sensors to study biological and chemical processes as they relate to homeland security, environmental toxicity, improvement and enhancement of environmental monitoring and investigation of biological processes in living systems from tissue to sub-cellular levels. The Center will implement an integrated approach to sensor science and development that will include interdisciplinary research extending from molecular design, synthesis and characterization of fluorophores and luminophores to the development of microfluidic, sol-gel, and impedance based devices. A synergistic research program will be developed based on the following four areas of investigation: 1) Fluorescence resonance energy transfer biological sensors based on new donor-acceptor pairs of fluorophores and luminophores; 2) Incorporation of luminophores and biologically active molecules in aerogels and microfluidic devices; 3) Application of the Riordan group technique to predict adhesion and molecular expression in RNA secondary structure as an aid in the design of biological and chemical sensors ; 4) Development of dual monitoring bio-analytical sensors based on impedance, fluorescence and near-IR spectroscopy. The three components that will be addressed in this HBCU research capacity building proposal include administration, infrastructure and collaborative research. Funds for this project will be used to facilitate the following specific capacity building activities: upgrade an existing NMR to increase research productivity, upgrade an FT-NIR to perform cross-correlation measurements, purchase a Micro-Thermal Analyzer to characterize variations in sol-gel matrices and laser ablated polymer surfaces, faculty start-up funds, exploratory research on the feasibility of using Riordan matrices to predict RNA secondary structures, travel support for faculty and student to workshops and conferences, support for graduate and undergraduate research students and to hire a consultant, and administrative and technical staff. These activities will significantly enhance Morgan's research productivity and thereby increase the University's ability to effectively compete in a future NSF-CREST DOCTORAL HBCU RSRCH CAPACITY HRD EHR Kennedy, Alvin Santosh Mandal Yousef Hijji Morgan State University MD JAMES J. POWLIK Standard Grant 899765 1797 SMET 9179 0236793 October 1, 2002 Building research capacity and increasing doctoral successes for underrepresented minority students at Tennessee State University. The number of successful ventures to increase underrepresented minorities in STEM-related doctoral programs is low relative to the total number of such initiatives in the past. In 1992, for example, a top NSF official stated "In the past 20 years, the NSF has spent billions on increasing the minority S&E pipeline, but we have little to show for it." Unfortunately, new data suggest that the situation may actually have worsened. Mindful of past lessons-learned, the dual goals of this proposal are to (1) develop and further enhance competitive research capacity and to (2) increase the production of underrepresented minority doctoral students at Tennessee State University (TSU), one of the nations 104 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). These HBCUs enroll 17% of African American undergraduates and award 26% of the bachelors degrees to this group. But most of the fifteen doctoral granting HBCUs need support to enhance research capacity to make them more competitive for funding from the National Science Foundation and other entities. For example, of these 15 HBCUs (three private, 12 public), one is ranked as research extensive (producing 50 or more PhDs per year) and five are ranked as research intensive including Tennessee State University. The doctoral programs at the twelve public HBCU are relatively new with average outputs of one PhD per year, of which 65% are awarded to African Americans. Most also lag in technology-based research facilities. None is ranked higher than a distant 177 out of 615 institutions in research expenditures, 124 out of 1610 institutions in research income, and 168 out of 1610 in graduate student enrollment. Within this scenario, the primary objectives are: 1. To enhance the competitive research capacity in interdisciplinary STEM areas at TSU, and to exploit this new capability to strengthen the embryonic doctoral program under the TSU College of Engineering. This objective is strongly leveraged through links to the TSU CREST program. 2. To significantly increase the number of input doctoral candidates and output PhDs among underrepresented minority students in diverse STEM disciplines at TSU. 3. To integrally fuse education, research, and technology in all STEM classrooms at TSU The broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity. A major impact (outcome) from this proposal will be to help actualize the newly-approved TSU doctoral program in Computer Information and Systems Engineering (CISE), with its first four students (two African American) now enrolled under the TSU College of Engineering; this is a major institutional thrust. Another impact will be to enhance the quantity and quality of research at TSU with a focus on increased faculty productivity in collaborative, interdisciplinary areas, the fusion of academics, research and technology in the classroom, and extensive mentoring of students. At least 36 graduates students will be supported by this project toward doctoral tracks, which will directly engage 13 faculty researchers. A broader national impact is to help ameliorate the systemic shortage of minority scientists and engineers in this country, especially among African Americans that comprise 84% of the undergraduate student population at TSU. Progress toward these outcomes will be assessed and evaluated during this project, and the results documented for wide dissemination and replication. This innovative project will be jointly managed through the College of Engineering, Technology and Computer Science (COETSC) and the TSU Center of Excellence Information and Systems Engineering (TSU-COE-ISEM) with close coordination with the TSU Office of Sponsored Programs (OSR) to assure synchrony with long-term institutional goals. Notably, the TSU COE ISEM, a TSU-research arm that works collaboratively with TSU academic elements, manages the NSF CREST and NASAs Automated Space Science programs, generates $4.3M in annual research, produces over 40 refereed publications per year, supports an intensive mentorship program for undergraduate and graduate students in a wide range of STEM disciplines, and will leverage the project support for students on doctoral tracks. These resources provide a baseline to increase capacity in research and academics, and to significantly increase the participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM areas. DOCTORAL HBCU RSRCH CAPACITY HRD EHR Rogers, Decatur Tennessee State University TN Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 779918 1797 SMET 9179 0239978 September 15, 2002 A National Study of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. With National Science Foundation support, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities will conduct a twelve-month national study of Hispanic-serving Institutions that will produce in-depth information on these institutions, as well as outline their unique role in the higher education of Hispanic students and their unique needs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities represents more than 300 colleges and universities across the United States and Puerto Rico, including 182 Hispanic-serving Institutions. Currently, Hispanic-serving Institutions account for 5% of all institutions of higher education yet they enroll almost one-half of all Hispanic students. The study conducted by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities will contribute significantly to the understanding of the educational capabilities and needs of Hispanic-serving Institutions in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. Project outcomes will include specific recommendations to broaden the participation of Hispanics in undergraduate and graduate STEM study and in the Nation's STEM workforce. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Flores, Antonio Rene Gonzalez John Moder Alexander Ramirez Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities TX Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 100000 9133 SMET 9178 0244858 September 1, 2003 Women in Science and Engineering System Transformation. A long-term goal at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is to increase the number, participation and leadership status of women in academic science and engineering through institutional transformation. Fundamental to this goal is the commitment and active participation of UIC administration at the highest level, leaders working closely with faculty and staff to create and actualize individual departmental programs in the eleven disciplinary areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The practices to be developed for these disciplines will have broader use and implications across campus. Under this award, UIC will focus its energies on instituting practices in the STEM disciplines to promote gender equity and leadership with a special focus on increasing the recruitment, promotion and tenure, and retention rates of STEM women faculty and advancing them into leadership positions. This will be done through the training and efforts of dedicated faculty facilitators in each of the disciplines. In addition, current efforts to improve networking, mentoring, and evaluating support services for women in STEM disciplines will be augmented. This award is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The goal of the ADVANCE program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. To meet this goal, the ADVANCE program provides award opportunities for both individuals and organizations and seeks to support new approaches to improving the climate for women in U.S. academic institutions and to facilitate women's advancement to the highest ranks of academic leadership. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Rao, Mrinalini Claudia Morrissey University of Illinois at Chicago IL Laura Kramer Standard Grant 62500 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0244880 September 1, 2003 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Project UPWARD. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate, and culture. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) proposes to implement a five-year program to remove barriers, transform the culture of the university, and expand opportunities for women. This transformation will increase the representation and advancement of women, and in particular underrepresented women, in academic STEM careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce. Through changes in policies and practices that affect the recruitment, selection, promotion, and transition of STEM women faculty to leadership positions, UMBC seeks to ensure women will be represented in numbers equal to or higher than parity with the pools from which they are selected. Within five years, all policies, procedures, partnerships, and processes will be in place and in motion to ensure this goal is achieved within ten years. Objective 1: With a focus on all STEM departments, UMBC will work collaboratively to develop and institutionalize new policies, practices, and resources that will effectively encourage the recruitment, selection, and hiring of women, and particularly minority women, to the faculty at all ranks. UMBC will identify and develop networking opportunities from which to recruit women graduate and post-doctoral students to the campus, create a new program called Faculty Horizons, modeled on UMBC's successful Graduate Horizons to recruit female faculty to the campus, and define challenging yet attainable goals for each department to recruit, select, and hire a diverse group of women faculty. Objective 2: Establish a system of targeted programs to create a clear and understandable pathway in support of women's efforts in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to achieve tenure and promotion, and transition to leadership positions at the university. Planned programs include a formalized mentoring program, structured leadership experiences, a new faculty track for lecturers who have demonstrated excellence in applied education projects, and time for faculty to balance family and medical needs with preparation for promotion, tenure, and advancement without penalty to their careers. Objective 3: Develop programs for constituency building, such that all levels of administration and each department support all aspects of the project and create new partnerships to connect UMBC to the broader community of research universities leading in the development and advancement of STEM women faculty. Over five years, UMBC will create and institutionalize the complex system of support needed for sustainability, from the grass roots through the top administration. UMBC will identify or hire an individual who will report directly to the president, work collaboratively with STEM faculty, and provide the leadership needed to set the course and maintain it. She/he will work to develop and implement an effective model for gender awareness training that addresses the unique culture of STEM in the academy and develop partnerships with other research institutions across the country to both gather and disseminate effective and sustainable practices. An extensive evaluation process has been formulated to guide the transformation process through outcome assessment, feedback, and continual program improvement. UMBC will chart new territory in supporting women's career options and advancement and believes that these new opportunities will benefit both men and women in STEM, across the campus, and across the country. The ADVANCE team is supported by all levels of faculty, staff, and administration under the leadership of the PI, the president of the university. The full commitment of the university assures that adequate resources are available to achieve the goal and objectives. UMBC is committed to creating a diverse environment for all members of its community. At a minimum, women faculty will be represented in proportion to the available pool of candidates from which it draws. By increasing STEM faculty women's numbers and involvement, the university will better support its female students who in turn will play an important role in addressing the nation's critical workforce shortages. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Hrabowski, Freeman Janet Rutledge Phyllis Robinson Marilyn Demorest Patrice McDermott University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 3198770 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0244916 September 1, 2003 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Virginia Tech. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate, and culture. Virginia Tech proposes a comprehensive program to promote and enhance the careers of women in science and engineering. The project has four major program elements that address institutional barriers that have constrained the advancement of women faculty members in the sciences and engineering (S&E) and target institutional culture, practices, and leadership development needs specific to Virginia Tech. Project Activities include retreats and workgroups for faculty and academic leaders, qualitative assessment of the experience of women faculty in S&E, and review of policies and programs; half-time placements of faculty in leadership roles, research grants, faculty development, a named lecture series, and a flexible work/life fund; intensive work with search committees; programs to prepare the future professoriate and expanded dissertation year/postdoctoral fellowship program. Patricia Hyer, associate provost for academic affairs, will coordinate this project; Nancy Love, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Karen Thole, associate professor of mechanical engineering, will serve as co-PIs. The university will provide a full-time project director and administrative assistant to this project, ensuring its continuance beyond the period of the grant. New academic leadership, restructured colleges, and commitment to an aggressive strategic plan currently position Virginia Tech for a successful transformation. The Virginia Tech ADVANCE initiative will focus on the colleges of engineering and science with the goal of creating an environment that welcomes women and individuals of color and nurtures their success as part of the colleges' own definition of excellence. The proposed strategies draw from an extensive literature on gender equity in science and engineering and organizational change, and experiences of the five-year project will contribute to the understanding of change management on behalf of women in higher education. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR McNamee, Mark Beate Schmittmann Tonya Smith-Jackson Patricia Hyer Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 3757778 5408 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0244922 September 1, 2003 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: ADVANCE-US: Applying a Business Model to a University. National data show that women are under-represented in academic positions, particularly at full professor and in administration; further analyses reveal that negative campus climates are often to blame. Previous funding initiatives have focused on educating or boosting the careers of individual women faculty members, either by providing differential funding opportunities or competitiveness training. Rather than .fixing under-represented individuals, this proposal seeks to improve recruitment, promotion, and retention of women faculty in sciences and engineering at Utah State University by transforming: 1. Departmental Climates. Working at the department level to reduce assumptions and stereotypes that adversely affect women including minority women faculty. 2. Policies and Procedures. Updating university policies to provide support for gender-related conflicts and to provide training for administrators and faculty committees to eliminate biased decisions and procedures. 3. Faculty Support Infrastructure. Creating university-wide structures to foster collaborative research, reduce isolation, improve data collection and reflective evaluation. To achieve these objectives the PIs propose two novel strategies: Dual Agenda Approach. The Dual Agenda Approach is a business model for creating sustainable change by engaging work units in creative dialogs to identify how gender equity and work effectiveness can improve simultaneously. This approach has not been applied in academic settings, and experienced private-sector consultants will help USU adapt dual agenda procedures. Targeting Critical Structural Problems. Faculty encountering junctures where advancement is stymied can most clearly identify needed changes. The PIs interviewed 43 of 50 current and prior women faculty to locate where institutional change is needed, including policies that differentially impact under-represented faculty and critically absent infrastructure, which limit advancement. They will supervise changes to critical structural problems and full adoption by the university. The success of these two approaches in achieving gender equity will be judged in three ways: statistical analysis of faculty representation and survey data, qualitative data collection, and a population modeling approach revealing significant effects of subtle biases. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Hult, Christine Kimberly Sullivan Ronda Callister Ann Austin Robert Schmidt Utah State University UT Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 2998953 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0244984 October 1, 2003 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Institutional Transformation at Kansas State University. The Kansas State University (K-State) ADVANCE project team has a vision of an academic world in which women's concerns, interests, and contributions are recognized and valued, and where women and men work together in equal partnerships for the benefit of society. The intent is to create a transformed institution that purposefully attracts, retains, supports, and advances women in the disciplines of science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM). Six SEM departments have agreed to engage in the transformation initiatives described below. The project goals are: * Institute changes in existing departmental policies, procedures, and practices, and develop new ones as needed, to foster a gender-equitable climate within partner departments; * Expand and enhance departmental recruitment practices to attract more women applicants and ensure that candidates are not subject to subtle bias in the search and hiring process; * Implement effective programs that foster the careers of faculty and encourage their retention through tenure and promotion; and * Propagate the successes achieved in partner departments to all SEM departments. Achievement of these goals will move reality closer to the vision and will be accomplished through a set of integrated initiatives that address three primary barriers to the advancement of women faculty in SEM: lack of effective recruitment; exclusion from networks; and subtle biases. The project's initiatives are (1) Equity action workshops; (2) Departmental policy development and review; (3) Recruiting strategies; and (4) Mentoring and networking activities. These initiatives include university-wide, college-wide, and department-specific elements. They address every stage of an academic career, with programs for students and for tenure-track and tenured faculty members. Faculty members will examine and make changes in departmental policies, procedures, and practices to create a gender-equitable environment. Successes and lessons learned in partner departments will then be disseminated within K-State and to other universities. Together, these components form an integrated program of institutional transformation of SEM at K-State. Intellectual merit The new tools, policies, and procedures resulting from this project will foster retention and success of both women and men faculty in SEM at K-State and can be used as models for institutional transformation elsewhere. The proposed project includes a balance of top-down and bottom-up approaches. The project team includes the K-State Assistant Provost, the Director of the Women in Engineering and Science Program, an associate director of Biology, and the deans of the four colleges that include most of the SEM departments. Six SEM department heads have made a commitment to engage in this project. Innovative aspects of this project include: a seminar series connecting new faculty members with disciplinary leaders; formal group mentoring; an academic career exploration program for undergraduate students; creation of inclusive departmental web sites that appeal to faculty candidates of both sexes and all ethnic backgrounds; and career mapping that spans faculty life from "hire to retire." Broader impact The direct emphasis of the proposed project is on fostering a gender-equitable climate and enhancing the participation of women, who are an underrepresented group in SEM. While the primary focus of the project is on faculty members, we have included aspects that deal explicitly with undergraduate students. This is part of K-State's responsibility to prepare the next generation of faculty members in SEM. A network of partnerships within and among departments at K-State, and among SEM faculty at K-State and elsewhere, will be created. The partnerships will function to connect new faculty members with disciplinary colleagues and promote efforts toward gender equity. The PIs will disseminate information about the project internally through college-wide retreats, at the University's department head workshop series, on K-State's ADVANCE project website, in presentations at national conferences, and through publication in refereed journals. This project will enhance the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women, resulting in an increase in the SEM talent pool and the creation of an intellectual workforce that is more representative of society. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Dyer, Ruth Beth Montelone Stephen White John English Ralph Richardson Fred Cholick Kansas State University KS Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 3500000 1738 OTHR 9150 1738 0000 0245014 June 1, 2004 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Earth Institute of Columbia University. The Earth Institute at Columbia University's ADVANCE program is based both on a study of the status of women at Columbia and research on the progression of women in science elsewhere. The five major targets of the Columbia ADVANCE program are to (1) change the demographics of the faulty through intelligent hiring practices, (2) provide support to women scientists through difficult life transitions including elder care and adoption or birth of a child, (3) enhance mentoring and networking opportunities, (4) implement transparent promotion procedures and policies, and (5) institutional self study. The impact of these efforts will be determined by an evaluation team lead by Peter Messeri and Mary Clare Lennon of the School of Public Health. The Earth Institute ADVANCE program addresses issues that tend to manifest themselves in the earth and environmental fields, such as extended field programs, which lay the foundation for leadership positions, but which may be difficult for young faculty. The strategy is to use the Earth Institute as a test bed for institutional climate change, and then expand the successful programs to other Columbia Science and Engineering Departments, as appropriate. Columbia's administration is committed to changing policies and supporting successful programs beyond the completion of the NSF grant. Earth Institute ADVANCE programs include (a) a self study including a climate survey modeled after the 1999 MIT study, (b) a senior faculty working group that will facilitate recruitment and retention by providing support for searches, faculty development, and retention, (c) internal funding competitions designed to recruit and retain women scientists and engineers, and (d) focused workshops and conferences. The ADVANCE program will establish offices both on the Morningside and Lamont campuses. With these and other interventions, the Earth Institute seeks to create a scientific community within the Earth Institute that at each scientific level is comprised of at least 30% women. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. Despite increases in the number of doctorates earned by women in science and engineering over several decades, women scientists and engineers continue to be significantly underrepresented in some science and engineering fields and proportionately under-advanced in science and engineering in general in the Nation's colleges and universities. There is increasing recognition that the lack of women's full participation at the senior level of academe is often a systemic consequence of academic culture. This institutional transformation project contributes to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce by supporting the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. This project involves the implementation of a coordinated campus effort to achieve needed institutional transformation in order to increase the participation and advancement to senior and leadership positions of women faculty in the science, mathematics and engineering disciplines within the Awardee Institution. During and at the completion of this project, new knowledge will be made available, assessed and disseminated to inform the academic community of the fundamental institutional issues inhibiting the advancement of women faculty and of effective approaches academic institutions can implement to address such issues. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Bell, Robin Mark Cane John Mutter Stephanie Pfirman Patricia Culligan Columbia University NY Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 3499899 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0245039 September 1, 2003 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: A Change in the Culture at the University of Rhode Island. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate, and culture. The University of Rhode Island (URI) proposes to use the ADVANCE Institutional Transformation initiative to increase the number and facilitate the career advancement of women STEM faculty, and improve the institutional climate for women scientists. Through a 5-year, multi-level approach, URI will: 1) increase the number of ranked women faculty in the STEM departments, 2) provide existing STEM faculty with career development and training opportunities, 3) improve social support services for faculty, 4) systematically educate and promote awareness of women-in-science issues at the individual, departmental, and administrative levels, and 5) develop and utilize a broadly applicable collaborative organizational change model. The ADVANCE program at URI features a Pre-Faculty Fellows Program, in which qualified doctorates will conduct research (with options for teaching) while being mentored and trained for a 1 - 3 year period, with the intent that they will fill tenure-track STEM faculty positions as they become available. Congruent with this program will be an infrastructure of enhanced support and training, which will also be offered to other STEM faculty. This includes a yearlong series of career workshops, a mentor training program, a topical lunch series, a social networking program, and visiting speakers. The ADVANCE Incentive Fund, eventually fully supported by URI, will provide awards to research endeavors that include women faculty collaborators, especially Pre-Faculty Fellows and junior faculty, and departmental or individual efforts that promote relevant climate or policy changes. In addition, proactive efforts will be made to provide quality support services for balancing work and family, including trailing spouse placement assistance and coordination with an ongoing childcare assistance program. Overseeing the multiple efforts at URI will be an Advisory Committee, a Program Coordinator, a Leadership Team, and auxiliary faculty and staff who have demonstrated a commitment to these issues. Support from top administrators and a permanent ADVANCE Resource Center office with many sponsored campus activities will provide the foundation for a visible, influential presence on campus. Developing a database through a comprehensive self-study will be the first step in a 5-year process of evaluation, action, and reporting, that will culminate in an organizational model for change potentially applicable to other institutions. The theoretical underpinning of the proposed program is the Transtheoretical Model of Change, one of the most influential stage-change models currently in use. Its fundamental premise is that organizational and behavioral change must be welcomed before it is to be successful. At the departmental and administrative levels at URI, meetings, workshops, and speakers aimed at diversity education and awareness will be implemented, using a collaborative framework. The efforts from the ADVANCE initiative will benefit all faculty at URI, will serve as a model for progressive action in Rhode Island and the Northeast, and will be a step towards the inclusion of expanded perspectives in science nationwide. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Silver, Barbara Karen Wishner Lisa Harlow Helen Mederer University of Rhode Island RI Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 3500000 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0245054 September 1, 2003 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate, and culture. Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) proposes a multifaceted project called Academic Careers in Engineering and Science (ACES) to increase the number of women faculty in science and engineering at all academic ranks. The ACES project will operate on 3 levels: (1) At the highest levels of leadership of the University, including the President, Provost, and Deputy Provost. This leadership is committed to fundraising for 5 endowed chairs to attract senior women scientists and engineers and to annual evaluation of deans' progress toward transformational change. (2) At the school and departmental level with intensive coaching, mentoring, networking, and training and development of deans, chairs, faculty, and students in 4 test departments in Phase 1, and extension of the best practices to all science and engineering departments in Phase 2. (3) At the campus-wide level with distinguished lectureships for senior women in science and engineering, mentoring opportunities, a spousal hiring network, and a unique minority pipeline initiative including faculty exchanges with Fisk University and summer research internships. The outcome of the proposed institutional transformation will be increased transparency and accountability as well as more equitable practices, procedures, and structures. Throughout the ACES project, CWRU will self-study, evaluate, and disseminate the findings so that other private institutions can benefit from their work, building on a resource equity study begun two years ago. Case Western Reserve University is at a pivotal time in its history, and is poised to make transformational change at every level of the university. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Singer, Lynn Mary Barkley Diana Bilimoria Case Western Reserve University OH Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 3499580 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0245071 September 1, 2003 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: An Initiative for Transforming Climate and Opportunities to Foster Academic Diversity. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) proposes to implement an Initiative for Institutional Change with the goal to serve as a model for other institutions that desire to increase the representation and advancement of women, including underrepresented minorities, in academic science and engineering careers. Because of its talented faculty and Hispanic-majority student population, UTEP is the ideal setting to create, implement, and document interrelated processes for diversifying the academic workforce and contributing to the national goal of creating positive and sustainable change in academic climates. To increase the total number of female faculty, in particular those from underrepresented groups, in tenure-track and tenured positions, UTEP will establish an Initiative with three integrated and mutually supportive components: 1) a policy and recruitment process that formulates faculty support and retention policies, supports recruitment efforts, and provides research support; 2) a faculty development process that expands an existing faculty mentoring program for women, introduces a seminar series to help faculty develop plans for career success, and fosters synergy between tenured and tenure-track faculty; 3) a collaborative leadership process that works with departments to remove barriers to recruitment, retention, and advancement of women faculty by assessing departmental climates and sharing best practices that encourage diversity and promote leadership. To sustain the components and provide for continuous refinement of processes, an Institutional Action Board will initiate and define change policies and offer advice on grant initiatives. A multi-faceted evaluation process will include both formative and summative self-assessments and review by an external Advisory Board. This innovative structure weaves together processes, relationships, and multiple lines of communication among all ranks of faculty and administration. The five co-PIs bring broad leadership and coalition-building experience to the Initiative: Dr. Evelyn Posey is Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Elizabeth Anthony is the past President of the Faculty Senate, Dr. Tine Reimers is Co-Director of the Center for Effective Teaching and Learning, Dr. Ann Gates is Associate Chair of the Computer Science Department and Chair of the President's Advisory Committee on Diversity, and Dr. Patricia Witherspoon is Chair of the Department of Communication and Director of the Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies. Through implementation, documentation, and on-going assessment of the Initiative, UTEP will contribute to a better understanding of how to create collaborative climates that result in greater diversity. The intellectual merit of the Initiative is the breadth of its integrative structure, involving university administration as well as coalitions of change agents at the individual, departmental, college, and institutional levels. In this process, decision makers at the "grass roots" drive institutional change. The Initiative is designed to promote a holistic view of faculty life, address the different stages of faculty careers from entrance into the academe to advancement to leadership positions, and to develop faculty for each of these stages. The Initiative is designed for broad impact. It is a series of processes that includes involvement of all ranks of faculty as well as participation by individuals at the highest level of the institution. It is built with knowledge of universities' structures and interrelated processes that can be easily adapted to universities throughout the UT System and those around the country. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Posey, Evelyn Elizabeth Anthony Patricia Witherspoon University of Texas at El Paso TX Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 3461000 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0245090 September 1, 2003 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. Despite several decades of steady progress in obtaining Ph.D.s in science and engineering (S&E), women remain underrepresented in academia, particularly at senior academic ranks. Since many members of underrepresented minority groups receiving Ph.D.s in all fields are women, the obstacles to racial and ethnic diversity of university faculty include obstacles to gender diversity. At UAB, few women can be found at any academic rank in many science and engineering departments. The specific aims of the project are to increase the visibility of the problems that women face in academic science and engineering careers, to increase the number of women recruited to science and engineering positions, and to develop a campus climate in which practice and policy recognize and support the needs of women so that women are retained on the faculty of the institution. The proposed project seeks to enhance both UAB's long-term commitment to faculty diversity and the institution's newer efforts in professional development of young investigators. The project will be institutionalized by changes in policy and by the evolution of the project into a center for the study of women and minorities in science and engineering. To bring focus to the needs of women, the project will establish an Office for the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering with an internal advisory board of campus leaders and an external board of individuals recognized for their leadership in the advancement of women and minorities in academia. The direction of the project will be driven by qualitative and quantitative data collected and analyzed throughout the project to evaluate the needs of the campus and the effectiveness of activities undertaken. The project also seeks to stimulate basic research that will broaden understanding of the issues affecting women and minorities in science and engineering and lead to better informed policy decisions. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Peel, Claire Lowell Wenger Wendy Gunther-Canada Eli Capilouto University of Alabama at Birmingham AL Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 3499913 9150 1738 OTHR 9150 1738 0000 0245094 September 1, 2003 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: The University of Montana Partnership for Comprehensive Equity. The University of Montana Partnership for Comprehensive Equity (UM PACE) is an alliance of central administrators, deans, department heads/chairs and faculty has been formed to bring about lasting change in the following: Institutional policy, the number of tenure-line women on the faculty, the empowerment of faculty, and the creation of a statewide network of women scientists. Each of these goals will be reached through a coordinated series of activities. The efficacy of these activities will provide a national level model for change in universities located in small, rural communities. Policy change will result from three major initiatives: * The PI of this proposal will be appointed as Special Assistant to the Provost for Comprehensive Equity. Provost Lois Muir will oversee and support this project. * A campus-wide policy committee of representatives from all components of our alliance, with legal advice, will tackle hard issues such as spousal hires and adjustments in the tenure clock to develop a consistent and clear policy. * Each science department will undertake a self-evaluation with the assistance of the UM PACE staff. This evaluation will provide detailed information to be used in development of department-level diversity enhancement plans. These two committees will also serve an all-important training function as faculty members learn experientially, and through materials provided by the staff, about the place of women in science at UM and nationally. UM PACE will create three new tenure-line faculty positions to increase the number of tenure-line women scientists at UM. These positions will be filled opportunistically at the request of departments and deans for new expansion hires that increase the number of women scientists on the UM campus. In addition, there will be a partnership with expansion programs now in place at UM. UM PACE will work proactively with recruitment issues through training of faculty and preparation of .best practices. guidelines for recruiting both junior and senior women. UM PACE will provide information and networking for the partners/spouses of all candidates interviewed for science positions. Accommodation of spouses is a central issue for UM which is located in a small, rural community. Increasing the total number of women faculty in the sciences also requires retention. Faculty will be empowered through a carefully developed mentoring component for women scientists. A keystone, annual, three-day workshop will cement the gains made through on-campus activities. Leadership training will be emphasized. Retention will also be enhanced through training of deans, department heads, and key faculty. UM PACE will create a statewide network of women scientists through outreach to Montana.s seven tribal colleges (nearly 1/4 of the nation.s total). Through visits to tribal colleges, visits of tribal college faculty to UM, involvement in the summer workshop, and internet communication, faculty from these institutions will become involved. The place of women scientists at UM parallels the place of women at the national level. The higher education system in Montana is directly comparable to that of 14 other rural states. In addition, UM can also be compared to public institutions of moderate size located outside of urban centers in more populous states. Universities in small communities have unique problems in recruiting and retaining diverse faculty. UM PACE will provide a national level model for change in such universities. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Kukuk, Penelope Daniel Pletscher Diana Lurie University of Montana MT Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 3500000 1738 OTHR 9150 1738 0000 0302524 October 1, 2003 Alabama Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate II. The Alabama Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) II is being funded to increase significantly the number of underrepresented minority students receiving doctoral degrees in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and entering the professoriate. The Alabama AGEP II is a partnership between The University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Auburn University, seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in Alabama; Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Miles College, Oakwood College, Stillman College, Talladega College and Tuskegee University, and one HBCU in Mississippi; Tougaloo College. The members of the Alliance are members of the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and have a track record of working together successfully to implement minority student programs. The HBCU undergraduate partners will serve as feeder schools for the graduate university partners. The Alabama AGEP program has developed and will implement an innovative model for recruiting, mentoring, and retaining minority students in STEM doctoral programs using the following strategies: 1. Graduate School Awareness and Preparation Activities, 2. Recruitment and Admission Initiatives, 3. Graduate Bridge Programs, 4. Mentoring and Advising, 5. Creation of a Supportive Environment / Retention and Support Network, and 6. Degree Completion and Job Placement. Intellectual Merit: The implementation of the proposed activities will advance the knowledge and understanding of innovative methods to attract underrepresented minority undergraduate students to graduate school and eventually to careers in the professoriate. A well qualified and diverse team of experienced mathematicians and scientists serving as PIs at participating universities and colleges will explore and implement creative activities designed to increase the number of minority students earning Ph.D. degrees in STEM disciplines and entering the professoriate. Broader Impacts: The proposed activities will broaden participation of underrepresented minorities and benefit society by providing an increase in the number of citizens prepared to assume high-level positions in the nation's scientific and educational workforce. In addition, project activities will advance discovery and understanding through the integration of research and education by providing research experiences for undergraduate students at participating institutions. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. URBAN SYSTEMIC PROGRAM MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Dale, Louis Mary Braswell University of Alabama at Birmingham AL Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 2764400 9133 7347 1515 SMET 9179 9178 9150 7204 0302696 July 1, 2003 University of Puerto Rico System Proposal For Phase II of the UPR Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP). The University of Puerto Rico's UPR goals are to meet Puerto Rico's PR demands for excellent, highly trained science and technology S&T professionals, and assist in meeting the nation's need for diverse S&T perspectives. To those ends, UPR is being funded through NSF's AGEP program to attain the following: Increase the average number of STEM Ph.D.'s to 40 per year Increase enrollment in STEM Ph.D. programs by 25% Increase the number of stateside students in UPR STEM Ph.D. programs by 22 Increase the number of women in engineering and chemical physics by 10 Increase the number of STEM Ph.D. graduates opting for academic careers by 15 Institutionalize PR-AGEP's policies and practices. To attain the objectives, UPR will build on PR-AGEP Phase I successes by doing the following: Enhancing PR-AGEP Phase I "bridging" TA, scholarly productivity, and peer mentoring workshops, Continuing the recruitment of minority and female students by systematically working with PR and Mainland U.S. REU programs, Establishing a centralized tracking form to follow the progress of each graduate student, Providing twenty awards of $20,000 each year to attract talented students into academia and areas with a particular shortage, and Completing the institutionalization of workshops, the tracking system, and recruitment guidelines. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Gomez, Manuel Brad Weiner L. Antonio Estevez Ana Guadalupe Moises Orengo University of Puerto Rico PR Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 2500000 1515 SMET 9179 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0302788 October 1, 2003 Howard/UTEP Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Project. Abstract Howard University and the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) are being funded to jointly develop an Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) project to address the issues of producing underrepresented minority Ph.D. recipients who are prepared to become future members of the professoriate. The objectives of the Howard-UTEP Alliance are to: 1) increase the numbers of underrepresented students entering doctoral education at Howard and UTEP through "Introduction to STEM Graduate Study" workshops; 2) decrease time-to-degree and prepare entering STEM doctoral students through a Summer Pre-Doctoral Research program; 3) prepare underrepresented doctoral students for future faculty careers through the PFF program; 4) increase the likelihood that underrepresented doctoral students will complete their degrees through systematic and structured retention and mentoring services; 5)increase opportunities for underrepresented students to obtain research university faculty positions and their familiarity with post-doctoral fellowships through annual "Introduction to the Post-Doctorate" workshops;6) enhance a sense of institution-wide STEM community engagement among doctoral students through interdisciplinary activities, distance learning, and a STEM honor society; 7) improve the oral and written communications skills of STEM doctoral students through "Communications Skills for Scientists" workshops; and 8) encourage participation among STEM departments and faculty through the AGEP Faculty Advisory Council. Intellectual Merit: These activities address NSF's Intellectual Merit criteria by addressing the preparation of doctoral students and the educational process in an innovative and creative manner, and through the expertise of the faculty and administrators who will be engaged in the project. Broader Impact: The program addresses NSF's Broader Impact criteria in any number of ways, most generally in its attention to underrepresentation in doctoral education and the professoriate, and its intended impact on that issue. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Taylor, Orlando Stephen Riter Emmanuel Glakpe Charles Ambler Howard University DC Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 2727560 1515 SMET 9179 9178 1515 0303651 September 1, 2002 ADVANCE Leadership Award. The primary goal of this proposal is to create a self-sustaining mentoring program for women in the Department of Biology at Arizona State University. SWIS will be based on a vertical integration scheme where faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduates work together in a mentoring network to foster the advancement of women in biological research careers. The project is based upon two key observations. First, in the Biology Department, they have numerous unconnected resources that have not been used to the full advantage of mentoring women, particularly at the graduate and undergraduate level. With this proposal, they plan to consolidate resources in the Department and connect pre-existing resources in such a way that new opportunities for growth and mentoring will be created. Second, although the ASU Biology women faculty are leaders in their field and have been extremely successful at mentoring individual students, no one faculty member has sufficient time and energy to create a self-sustaining organization such as the proposed SWIS program. The SWIS program has 2 components: the development of a mentoring network through a seminar series and invited seminar speakers, and the development of a mentoring workshop focused on issues pertaining to the successful recruiting and retaining of women in science careers. The former is seen as a mechanism to concentrate the efforts of individual women in the Biology Department, and the later as a mechanism to promote permanent cultural change. This project is supported by the National Institutes of Health through the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. HRD EHR Hofmann, Gretchen Allison Whitmer University of California-Santa Barbara CA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 139141 X988 OTHR 1739 0000 0308747 August 1, 2003 Program to Enhance Academic Excellence in STEM Disciplines. Title: Achieving Academic Excellence in STEM Winston-Salem State University HRD 0308747 PI: Melvin Johnson Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) will enhance academic excellence in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines and increase the institution's graduation rate of minority students by 50% in selected STEM disciplines. This five-year effort consists of a comprehensive approach to strengthen WSSU's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research infrastructure with the goal of broadening the participation of underrepresented minorities in the STEM disciplines and workforce. To achieve this goal, WSSU will: (1) enhance the institution's technology infrastructure by establishing a Testing and Tutorial Center, integrating technology into STEM curricula, training faculty in the use of technology, and developing technology rich curricula; (2) establish a six-week Summer Outreach Science Academy to provide 40 highly motivated high school graduates per year with intensive training in physical science, mathematics, technology, and communication; (3) engage STEM students in undergraduate research and facilitate their successful transition to graduate study in STEM disciplines; and, (4) provide student support, mentoring, research assistantships, and other academic enhancements. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Martinez, Pedro Abdul Mohammed Winston-Salem State University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2500379 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0310083 June 1, 2003 Planning Grant for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Title: Planning Grant to Assess STEM Programming at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff University of Arkansas Pine Bluff HRD - 0310083 PI: Mary E. Benjamin Through an HBCU-UP Planning Grant, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research infrastructure. Outcomes of the assessment will enable the university to develop a comprehensive institutional plan to enhance the quality of the institution's STEM enterprise and to increase of number student graduates from science, technology, engineering and mathematic fields of study. Special attention will be placed on strategies to improve student retention past the sophomore year. Planning and enhancement efforts will be managed through a STEM Advisory Committee, faculty, and a community forum. STEM program enhancements will include faculty/staff/student seminars, K-12 outreach, evaluations of model university programs and other strategies. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Benjamin, Mary William Willingham University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff AR Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0310163 July 1, 2003 Seeds of Success: A Comprehensive Program for the Retention, Quality Training, and Advancement of STEM Students. Title: Seeds of Success: A Comprehensive Program for the Retention, Quality Training, and Advancement of STEM Students Delaware State University HRD 0310163 PI: William B. Delauder Delaware State University (DSU) will implement comprehensive approaches to strengthen the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research infrastructure. The University will use NSF support to provide: (i) a Pre-Freshman Summer Program that will assist students in the transition from high school to college and provide a solid academic foundation for success in gatekeeper courses; (ii) faculty mentoring that will initiate STEM students into a culture of learning; (iii) undergraduate research opportunities at DSU, other universities, industry, and national laboratories; (iv) curriculum reform and enhancement to emphasize investigative, hands-on approaches in science and math courses and to encourage the development of inter-disciplinary courses; (v) faculty development; (vi) development and implementation of an electronic early warning system and expert advising system to identify at-risk students in gatekeeper classes early in the semester; (vii) modern instructional delivery systems in the classroom; and, (viii) a Science Resource Center to provide peer tutor-mentoring, group study, workshops and seminars, and bridging initiatives to address the transitions to graduate school or to the STEM workforce. PROGRAM EVALUATION HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Parikh, Rajeev Mazen Shahin Marwan Rasamny Melissa Harrington Delaware State University DE Claudia M. Rankins Cooperative Agreement 2548376 7261 1594 SMET 9178 9177 7582 0310317 July 1, 2003 Bethune Cookman College STEM Enhancement Program. Title: Bethune Cookman College STEM Enhancement Program Bethune Cookman College HRD - 0310317 PI - Taylor-Green Over a five-year period, Bethune Cookman College (BCC) will implement comprehensive approaches to strengthen the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research infrastructure. The college will increase STEM offerings, improve STEM teaching and learning, increase the number of students earning baccalaureate degrees in STEM disciplines, and improve the quality of preparation and learning for STEM students. Curriculum enhancement activities include the establishment of a new Baccalaureate Degree program in Computer Engineering, development of an interdisciplinary Minor in Environmental Science, offering interdisciplinary courses in Instrumentation, Bioinformatics & Applied Calculus, and infusing technology in classroom teaching. Research experiences will be provided for STEM undergraduate students and faculty via university and industry partnerships. In order to increase the pool of applicants for science-related careers, the Bethune Cookman College HBCU-Undergraduate Program includes K-12 outreach efforts geared toward making high school students aware and better prepared for science-related study and careers. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Sutton-Haywood, Marilyn Munir Rahmani Theodore Nicholson Morrison Obeng Thomas Richardson Bethune-Cookman College FL Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 3258419 1594 SMET 9178 7204 1594 0310321 July 1, 2003 Langston's Integrated Network College for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Title: Langston's Integrated Network College (LINC) for STEM Langston University HRD - 0310321 PI - Jean Manning Langston University will implement comprehensive approaches to strengthen the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research infrastructure. With NSF support, the University will to (1) increase the number of underserved students who enter college, receive undergraduate and advanced degrees in STEM disciplines, and choose STEM careers through a coordinated, linked network of existing and new programs and systems, and (2) expand the opportunities and number of STEM faculty who are involved in mentoring and integrating research and education activities. The project's objectives by 2008 are to: (1) increase the number of Langston's STEM graduates 15% annually; (2) increase Langston's STEM graduates who receive postgraduate degrees 40% annually, and 3) significantly expand opportunities and the level of participation of STEM faculty involved in mentoring and in the integration of research and education activities. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Manning, Jean John Coleman Nathaniel Goodman Langston University OK Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 2609428 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0310328 July 1, 2003 Minority Access to Graduate Education and Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - MAGEC-STEM. Title: Minority Access to Graduate Education and Careers in STEM Savannah State University HRD - 0310328 PI: Joseph H. Silver Savannah State University (SSU) will implement a five-year comprehensive approach to strengthen the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research infrastructure. The University will use a combination of NSF and intramural resources to increase STEM enrollment, attain a STEM undergraduate student retention rate of 80% and transition 30% of STEM graduates to graduate study. The project will cut across biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, engineering and technology. Physical infrastructure improvements and expansions will accommodate new STEM programs and improve the quality of instructional delivery in existing STEM programs. Project objectives include the following: STEM graduation rate will increase to 40% by 2008 30% of STEM graduates will pursue graduate study by 2008 80% of STEM graduate students will complete their graduate degrees STEM student enrollment at SSU will increase by 20% annually STEM retention through graduation will be no less than 80% 40% of computer science, electronics engineering technology and electrical engineering students will be Yamacraw certified by 2008 Equal number of GTREP students will graduate from SSU campus as from the other two GTREP satellite campuses by 2008; and 80% of STEM graduates will join the STEM workforce by 2008. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Wyatt, Mary chellu chetty Savannah State University GA Claudia M. Rankins Cooperative Agreement 2496132 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0310426 July 1, 2003 HBCU: Stenghtening Minority Access to Research and Training (SMART) in Science, Education, and Mathematics (SEM). Title: Strengthening Minority Access Through Research Training (SMART) Southern University and A&M College HRD 0310426 PI: Mildred R. Smalley Southern University will implement comprehensive approaches to strengthen the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research infrastructure. The University will (1) increase by 30% the number of STEM baccalaureates; (2) significantly increase the number of these baccalaureates who pursue doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines; and (3) increase the number of these STEM doctorates who enter the professoriate and the STEM workforce. Project efforts cut across the disciplines of architecture, agricultural sciences (animal, plant, soil, and urban forestry), biology, chemistry, computer science, physics, electrical engineering technology, engineering (chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical), mathematics, and science education in chemistry, biology, physics, and mathematics. The design of the SMART program operates on the proven thesis that the scope, depth, and quality of undergraduate training and participation of students in undergraduate research have a strong bearing on the desire and ability of undergraduate students to attend and to succeed in graduate studies. ARCTIC NATURAL SCIENCES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Stubblefield, Michael Mildred Smalley Southern University LA Marilyn J. Suiter Cooperative Agreement 3145602 5280 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7582 0313593 August 15, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Initiative for Minority Female Environmental Faculty. This proposal seeks to develop an ADVANCE Leadership Initiative for Minority Female Environmental Faculty (LIMFEF) that is aimed at enhancing the presence and stature of minority female faculty in American academic institutions. The initiative will focus on Black, Hispanic and Native American faculty in environmental departments and schools, and will pursue the following goals in addressing barriers faced by minority women in developing professional careers in academia. o Conduct a national study to determine the status of female minority environmental faculty, o Develop a national database with contact information of minority female environmental faculty, o Develop a clickable e-book of minority female environmental faculty featuring profiles of "pioneers" in the field and "rising stars," o Convene a national conference of minority female environmental faculty to discuss the results of the study, network, develop mentoring relationships, and craft leadership strategies. The goal of the ADVANCE program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. Through this program, NSF seeks to support new approaches to improving the climate for women in U.S. academic institutions and to facilitate women's advancement to the highest ranks of academic leadership, thereby broadening participation in the Nation's science and engineering enterprise. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Taylor, Dorceta University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI Laura Kramer Standard Grant 300000 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0317607 September 1, 2003 CREST Center for Nanomaterials Characterization Science and Processing Technology. HRD- 0317607 CREST Center for Nanomaterials Characterization Science and Processing Technology Howard University PI - James W. Mitchell Howard University (HU) will establish the CREST Center for Nanomaterials Characterization Science and Processing Technology. The Center will advance the chemical knowledge base underpinning the determination of the chemical status of nanomaterials, providing the intellectual foundation for verification of directed synthesis, and development of methods for fabricating new nanomaterials with definable chemical identities and technologically useful properties. In collaborations with investigators at Lucent Technologies, HU faculty will innovate processes for converting nanomaterials into thin film structures for device applications. HU efforts involve the formation of a core group of research faculty that focuses on the chemical, rather than the physical, characterization research of nanomaterials. The research and technology objectives of the CREST Center at Howard University include: (1) executing the characterization science research required for determining the chemical status of nanomaterials; (2) developing methods for generating novel nanomaterials and elucidating the vapor phase chemistry underlying the synthesis of nanomaterials; (3) innovating processes for fabricating nanostructured materials and devices with record setting performances; (4) enhancing research collaborations between multidisciplinary teams at HU, Lucent Technologies, and NIST; (5) broadening characterization research support across multiple disciplines at HU; (6) supporting research collaborations in nanoscience throughout the region, and (7) increasing the opportunity for undergraduates and graduate student participation in research and laboratory experimentation. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Mitchell, James Clayton Bates Steven Richardson Gary Harris John Harkless Howard University DC Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4598840 9131 SMET 9179 9178 0317678 August 1, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Research: Women in Cognitive Science. Women in Cognitive Science (WICS) is an organization created by the Co-PIs of this proposal in 2001 and is affiliated with the Psychonomic Society. The goal of WICS is to enhance the success of women scientists who are pursuing careers in cognitive science, experimental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. The proposal describes a program which aims to sustain and extend WICS. The planned activities have the following objectives: * to organize its structure more formally, * to sustain its presence, * to engage the participation of other senior women cognitive scientists in its leadership, * to plan events to take place around the yearly meeting of the Psychonomic Society, * to create a set of ongoing programs that will promote the advancement of all women in the field, * to ensure the recognition and representation of senior women, and * to address the needs of younger women facing the challenges of negotiating the initial stages of beginning a career. The program proposed addresses both of NSF.s impact criteria. It encourages the participation of young scientists in professional meetings, promotes the mentoring and professional development of women and minorities, and aims to increase the visibility of senior women cognitive scientists who have been historically underrepresented in positions of leadership. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Kroll, Judith Pennsylvania State Univ University Park PA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 109769 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0317692 August 1, 2003 CREST: Center of Emerging Technologies for Advanced Information Processing and High-Confidence Systems. HRD 0317692 CREST Center for Emerging Technologies for Advanced Information Processing and High-Confidence Systems Florida International University PI: Yi Deng Florida International University (FIU) will establish the CREST Center for Emerging Technologies for Advanced Information Processing and High-Confidence Systems. This multidisciplinary research and educational center will serve as a resource center for the education of underrepresented minority students as well as a driving force to increase diversity in graduate education, especially at the Ph.D. level in computer science and engineering. In addition to the educational component, the Center will pursue four major research subprojects. (1) High-Confidence Reactive Software Systems will build high confidence reactive software systems by developing efficient and scalable methods for modeling, specifying, analyzing, and implementing such systems. (2) Multidimensional-Multimodal Data Modeling and Query Research focuses on the intelligent use of databases for data mining, modeling, and analysis through effective queries. The querying support process will yield efficient access over multidimensional multimedia data sets and effectively address the issues of interpretation and visualization of such complex data sets. (3) Assistive Technology Research is based on the design and development of real-time assistive systems that focus on Visual Impairments and Blindness, and Motor Disability, which are achieved through integration of highly dependable and sophisticated real-time software and databases to hardware designs. (4) Advanced Information Processing with Neuroscience Applications will focus on signal and imaging techniques that have significant real-world applications, while the Neuroscience research aims to meet the impending needs for new developments in bio-signal processing and neurorehabilitation as the functional mapping of the brain and the causality of key brain dysfunctions are elicited. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Deng, Yi Naphtali Rishe Xudong He Malek Adjouadi Armando Barreto Florida International University FL Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4608999 9131 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0317722 September 1, 2003 Center for Photonic Materials Research. HRD 0317722 CREST Center for Photonic Materials Research Norfolk State University PI: Carl E. Bonner Norfolk State University (NSU) will continue to build the research competitiveness of the physical sciences faculty and national recognition in the area of photonic materials through the CREST Center for Photonic Materials Research (CPMR). This renewal award will strengthen competitive activity in the areas of photonics, spintronics, and nanotechnology. Research efforts will focus on integrated micro- and nano-structured materials with organic/inorganic and dielectric/metal phases, and their unique nonlinear optical, photovoltaic, and spin-related properties. These efforts build upon NSU's established research strengths in the design, synthesis, processing, and characterization of inorganic and organic optical and magnetic materials. Research subprojects include: (1) study and engineering of basic physical and spectroscopic properties of random lasers and nano-composite photonic materials; (2) novel nano-structured organic materials for opto-electronics; and (3) study of electron-nuclear spin dynamics in high-spin systems for new spintronic and photonic applications. Educational goals of the Center are to increase the number of underrepresented minority students trained in the field of photonics and nanotechnology and to prepare them for positions of leadership in emerging areas of science and technology. NSU will build upon the strengths of the existing MS Program in Materials Science to develop a MS program in Optical Engineering and Electronics Engineering and to initiate a Ph.D. Program in Materials Science and Engineering. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Bonner, Carl Norfolk State University VA Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4100000 9131 1594 SMET 9179 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0317739 August 1, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Research: Women in Cognitive Science. Women in Cognitive Science (WICS) is an organization created by the Co-PIs of this proposal in 2001 and is affiliated with the Psychonomic Society. The goal of WICS is to enhance the success of women scientists who are pursuing careers in cognitive science, experimental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. The proposal describes a program which aims to sustain and extend WICS. The planned activities have the following objectives: * to organize its structure more formally, * to sustain its presence, * to engage the participation of other senior women cognitive scientists in its leadership, * to plan events to take place around the yearly meeting of the Psychonomic Society, * to create a set of ongoing programs that will promote the advancement of all women in the field, * to ensure the recognition and representation of senior women, and * to address the needs of younger women facing the challenges of negotiating the initial stages of beginning a career. The program proposed addresses both of NSF.s impact criteria. It encourages the participation of young scientists in professional meetings, promotes the mentoring and professional development of women and minorities, and aims to increase the visibility of senior women cognitive scientists who have been historically underrepresented in positions of leadership. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Martin, Randi William Marsh Rice University TX Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 111041 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0317741 September 1, 2003 Synthesis, Manufacturing and Characterization of Structural Nanocomposites. HRD 0317741 CREST Center for Synthesis, Manufacturing and Characterization of Structural Nanocomposites Tuskegee University PI: Shaik Jeelani In this CREST renewal, Tuskegee University continues development of the science and technology of nanocomposites. The institution will expand the Ph.D. program to graduate significant numbers of minority students with advanced degrees in the materials science area. A diverse team of researchers has been assembled to study the entire spectrum of technology related to synthesis, fabrication, and characterization of structural nanocomposites. The three research subprojects of the CREST center are: (i) Synthesis and Analysis of Structural Nanocomposites, (ii) Modeling and Manufacturing of Structural Nanocomposites, and (iii) Performance Evaluation of Structural Nanocomposites. These research activities constitute a systematic and logical expansion of studies of the synthesis, modeling, and manufacturing of advanced composites (including nanocomposites) performed by the research team under the current CREST Center. The intellectual merit of this proposal lies in the fact that the benefits of nanoparticle infusion into a polymer are being harnessed for the manufacture of nanophased structural composites using a comprehensive approach. These structural composites will consequently have significantly superior mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties. Fulfillment of the stated objectives will expand knowledge of the science of nanoparticle-polymer interactions as well as provide, in the short term, comprehensive technical information on a new generation of structural materials. The broader impacts resulting from the proposed activities include the fact that a large number of African American graduates, including many at the Ph.D. level, will be produced in an emerging area of materials science and engineering. Such graduates should become role models for many young minority science and engineering students in years to come. Moreover, these graduates will help bring much-needed diversity to the nation's advanced technological workforce. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Jeelani, Shaik Hassan Mahfuz Adriane Ludwick Derrick Dean Mahesh Hosur Tuskegee University AL Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4939842 9131 1594 SMET 9179 9178 9150 7204 0317755 August 1, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: CeMENT: Workshops for Female Untenured Faculty in Economics. In 1971 the American Economic Association (AEA) created the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) with the goal of increasing the number and stature of women in economics. While CSWEP has recorded, and in some cases facilitated, many gains, there remains a significant difficulty in increasing the representation of women in the ranks of senior (tenured) faculty. A study by Ginther (2002) finds that, controlling for measured characteristics, gender differences in promotion rates are considerably larger in economics than in both the humanities and in the natural sciences. This suggests that women in economics have a particularly difficult time making the transition from untenured to tenured professor, compared both with men in economics and with women in other fields. This proposal is designed to aid in this transition and bring economics to parity with other sciences in this area. The proposal involves workshops at the national (ASSA) meetings and at regional economics association meetings that will be attended by selected junior faculty, and which will serve to connect them with senior and mid-career researchers and to each other. These workshops will offer resources, information, and networking opportunities to enhance careers and improve the chances of professional success, and will create and cement relationships between senior and junior faculty and between and among junior faculty as well. The proposal seeks to put in place an institutionalized process that will rely on the commitment of the AEA and CSWEP for its continued and ongoing success. The proposal's broader impacts stem from the impact on the economics profession that these workshops will have. The objective is to increase the tenure rate for women in economics to the rate we observe for men, and to bring economics to parity with other sciences in this regard. This improvement will benefit not just the participants in the proposed workshops, but the field as a whole. First, it will increase the perceived and actual promotion likelihoods for women, attracting more and better-qualified women to economics as a career. Second, it will increase the number of tenured female faculty in economics, who can then serve as mentors and role-models in their own right for future generations of junior women. This proposal's intellectual merit stems from the random assignment methodology proposed to allow us to evaluate the impacts of this program. While there has been some research on the importance of mentors, there has been little rigorous evaluation of these types of programs, and no evaluations that use random assignment. As in the medical domain of drug testing, random assignment is considered to be the "gold standard" for evaluation of an intervention's impacts. By establishing conclusively the impact of this program, it is anticipated that it will be perceived as a model on which similar interventions can be based, both in other fields and in economics for other underrepresented groups. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP ECONOMICS HRD EHR Croson, Rachel Janet Currie Francine Blau KimMarie McGoldrick John Siegfried American Economic Association TN Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 350000 1739 1320 OTHR 1739 0000 0317772 September 1, 2003 Cea-Crest: The Center for Environmental Analysis of the California State University, Los Angeles. HRD - 0317772 Center for Environmental Analysis of the Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CEA-CREST) California State University, Los Angeles PI: Carlos Robles California State University, Los Angeles will continue operating the Center for Environmental Analysis of the Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CEA-CREST). CEA- CREST's mission is threefold: (1) to increase the numbers of minority citizens embarking on careers in the environmental sciences; (2) to conduct innovative, multidisciplinary environmental research; and (3) to provide a technical and personnel resource for the many academic, governmental, and industry environmental programs of the Southwestern United States. Under the unifying theme of spatially structured dynamics, CEA-CREST will expand partnerships with major national research centers, enhance graduate degree programs helping still greater numbers of CEA-CREST graduates to enter doctoral programs, and ultimately elevate a coalition of CEA-CREST research teams to national competitiveness. To provide more educational opportunities for the diverse pool of CEA-CREST Student Fellows, the Center will revise an existing interdisciplinary Master's program and couple it with an initiative to establish a joint doctoral degree between California State University, Los Angeles and partner institutions. Center research components include: Marine Population Dynamics; Ecosystem Carbon Flux; Genetics and Evolution of Marine Populations; Biogeochemical Cycling in Watersheds; and, Hydrology of Arid Lands. Intellectual merit: The Center's five research components outline plans for an impressive series of discoveries at various stages of realization. Established components led by senior investigators will disseminate significant research findings within the context of their expanding partnerships. Newer components led by young investigators will receive support to ensure that their very promising projects reach fruition. Broader impacts: CEA-CREST presents a vision of a fully integrated science community in which minority faculty and students lead significant intellectual enterprises. The vision inspires the efforts of other Minority Serving Institutions and encourages the allegiance of majority research universities in the causes of educational and environmental justice. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Robles, Carlos California State L A University Auxiliary Services Inc. CA Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4228149 9131 SMET 9179 9178 9131 0317858 August 1, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Research: Women in Cognitive Science. Women in Cognitive Science (WICS) is an organization created by the Co-PIs of this proposal in 2001 and is affiliated with the Psychonomic Society. The goal of WICS is to enhance the success of women scientists who are pursuing careers in cognitive science, experimental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. The proposal describes a program which aims to sustain and extend WICS. The planned activities have the following objectives: * to organize its structure more formally, * to sustain its presence, * to engage the participation of other senior women cognitive scientists in its leadership, * to plan events to take place around the yearly meeting of the Psychonomic Society, * to create a set of ongoing programs that will promote the advancement of all women in the field, * to ensure the recognition and representation of senior women, and * to address the needs of younger women facing the challenges of negotiating the initial stages of beginning a career. The program proposed addresses both of NSF.s impact criteria. It encourages the participation of young scientists in professional meetings, promotes the mentoring and professional development of women and minorities, and aims to increase the visibility of senior women cognitive scientists who have been historically underrepresented in positions of leadership. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Rajaram, Suparna SUNY at Stony Brook NY Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 78670 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0318020 October 1, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Research: Leadership Skills and Community Building Program for Junior Women Engineering Faculty in Engineering. The goal of this proposed work is to establish a regionally-organized, self-sustaining leadership training program for junior women faculty in engineering disciplines. By simultaneously training women engineering faculty in leadership and constructing a regional peer-mentoring network, the investigators hope to increase job performance and satisfaction for academic women in engineering, thus increasing both retention and advancement. The proposed activity is based on a pilot program conducted in the Northeast and will fund a three-year series of regional meetings in the mid-Atlantic that will provide leadership training, facilitate networking, and will be used as a model for other regions of the country. The specific objectives of this proposed program are to: 1. Train junior women engineering faculty in leadership, communication and conflict management through an experiential learning program; 2. Educate women about the academy through an "insider's perspective" from a senior woman academic engineer; 3. Enable and foster peer-mentoring and regional networking among junior women faculty in engineering; and 4. Promote the expansion of the program throughout the United States. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Guerlain, Stephanie University of Virginia Main Campus VA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 49387 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0318129 August 15, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Tulane University. This Leadership Award will support the PI's goal of providing advancement programs for women and minority faculty in science and engineering at Tulane University. The University has a strong commitment to advancement of women faculty, indicated by the Strategic Plan, the recently established Presidential Task Force on Diversity and Equity, and an equity climate survey recently undertaken by the Task Force. Moreover, the PI, Professor Marian Walters, has extensive experience in developing similar programs for women faculty in science and medicine at the Health Science Center. This award will support expansion of Professor Walters' efforts for underrepresented faculty to provide mentoring/networking and career development programs for women and minority faculty in science and engineering on the "Uptown" campus, as well as provide a graduate assistant for her research program. Mentoring/networking programs will include opportunities to participate in one-on-one mentoring, networking sessions at several faculty levels, seminar opportunities and faculty development sessions. Communication will be facilitated by establishing a women faculty Listserv. A biannual newsletter distributed throughout the university will highlight the accomplishments of the targeted women faculty. A limited number of travel and achievement awards will further enhance the advancement/recognition of the targeted faculty. In conclusion, this NSF ADVANCE Leadership award will allow the PI to provide programs directed at improving diversity among the faculty in the science and engineering departments at Tulane University through activities that empower the targeted faculty members to best navigate the system and successfully advance through the faculty and administrative ranks. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Walters, Marian Tulane University LA Laura Kramer Standard Grant 296384 1739 OTHR 9150 1739 0000 0318248 August 1, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Senior Women Faculty. 0318248 O'BANNON The proposed activity is to create an annual leadership institute for senior tenured women faculty in NSF-supported disciplines with the purpose of increasing the representation of women in higher education leadership positions (chair, dean, etc.), and supporting the ADVANCE goal of facilitating women's advancement to the highest ranks of academic leadership. The leadership institute will increase the accessibility for such training for faculty in the midwest by providing low cost workshops within that geographic area. The leadership training will focus on the business and leadership skills needed for women to make a successful entry into department chair and dean positions. This proposal addresses the need for women to have opportunities to cultivate leadership skills and goals in a structured setting in order to capture the benefits of such training that is often made available to male faculty in informal, less structured and more 'on the job' settings. The goal of the ADVANCE program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. With this award, NSF seeks to support new approaches to improving the climate for women in U.S. academic institutions and to facilitate women's advancement to the highest ranks of academic leadership BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR O'Bannon, Deborah University of Missouri-Kansas City MO Laura Kramer Standard Grant 230962 5345 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0318258 October 1, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Research: Leadership Skills and Community Building Program for Junior Women Engineering Faculty in Engineering. The goal of this proposed work is to establish a regionally-organized, self-sustaining leadership training program for junior women faculty in engineering disciplines. By simultaneously training women engineering faculty in leadership and constructing a regional peer-mentoring network, the investigators hope to increase job performance and satisfaction for academic women in engineering, thus increasing both retention and advancement. The proposed activity is based on a pilot program conducted in the Northeast and will fund a three-year series of regional meetings in the mid-Atlantic that will provide leadership training, facilitate networking, and will be used as a model for other regions of the country. The specific objectives of this proposed program are to: 1. Train junior women engineering faculty in leadership, communication and conflict management through an experiential learning program; 2. Educate women about the academy through an "insider's perspective" from a senior woman academic engineer; 3. Enable and foster peer-mentoring and regional networking among junior women faculty in engineering; and 4. Promote the expansion of the program throughout the United States. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Hobson, Rosalyn Virginia Commonwealth University VA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 190613 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0318372 August 1, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: From associate to Full Professor with Distinguished Faculty Leading the Way. The Computer Research Association proposes to address the problem of too few full professor women faculty by creating the Associate Professor Cohort Program. This program aims to increase the percentage of women faculty holding degrees in Computer Science and Engineering with the rank of full professor by forming and mentoring a cohort of women from the associate professor ranks. The cornerstone of the Cohort Project will be the involvement of 15 senior women, appointed as CRA-W Distinguished Professors, who will actively participate as role models, mentors, and advisers. The project will build a community of associate professors, and provide them with mentoring, leadership training, encouragement and ongoing peer-support activities. The program will include an initial Professional Development Workshop, a series of smaller meetings in conjunction with technical conferences/seminars, and ongoing electronically-based support activities. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Soffa, Mary Lou Computing Research Association DC Laura Kramer Standard Grant 299778 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0318387 March 15, 2004 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Strengthening Our Academic Foundations. This project focuses on improving the hiring, promotion and retention of women faculty members in academe. To achieve this goal the best practices currently in use will be identified by conducting site-visits at 35 Research Extensive and Intensive universities and by publicly recognizing departments of chemistry and chemical engineering having positive environments supportive of women faculty members. In addition, participating schools will be given confidential feedback on the environment for women at their institution as well as the general findings from this study. A toolkit will be developed for all institutions to use to identify strengths and weaknesses in their practices with respect to women faculty and to suggest ways they can assist new and mid-career faculty members. Overall assessments of the data from the on-site visits will be prepared for publication, highlighting successful best practices, and presentations will be given at national meetings of the American Chemical Society (ACS). PROJECTS ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP ADVANCE - FELLOWS HRD EHR Chapman, Sally Nancy Tooney Natalie Foster Felicia Dixon Deborah McCarthy American Chemical Society (ACS) DC Jessie A. Dearo Continuing grant 300000 1978 1739 1681 OTHR 1739 0000 0318391 September 1, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Women Faculty in STEM Fields: The HBCU Baseline Study. Although literature exists which describes the general dearth of women faculty in STEM academic programs, no specific or current data describes the status of women at HBCUs. It is the purpose of this one-year ADVANCE Leadership Award to propose to investigate the status of women STEM faculty at the 106 Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Specifically, this project will seek to determine if (a) Clark Atlanta University, one of only three doctoral granting HBCUs, is representative of other HBCUs, and if (b) HBCUs, as a group, reflect the status of women faculty in science and engineering at majority institutions. Additionally, this project will seek to identify through the development and dissemination of a national database, the STEM faculty women at HBCUs, as well as their areas of specialty and research. Finally, Clark Atlanta University proposes to convene the first national conference of HBCU women STEM faculty designed to focus on the best practices for advancing women in science and engineering at HBCUs. A team of nationally recognized experts, including representatives from the original nine ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Awardees, will be invited to lead and facilitate these discussions. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Cook, Deborah Clark Atlanta University GA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 292910 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0318510 August 15, 2003 ADVANCE Leadership Award: MentorNet ACE: Academic Career E-Mentoring for Women in Science and Engineering. MentorNet (www.MentorNet.net) was founded in 1997 as an innovative large-scale electronic mentoring strategy, pairing women studying engineering and related sciences at colleges and universities with female and male professionals in industry for yearlong, structured mentoring relationships, conducted via email. MentorNet has grown into an online community, leveraging its extensive web site, email, and other electronic communications technologies and related systems and software to offer structured one-on-one, group and peer mentoring for its members on a large scale. Over the last five years, MentorNet has matched nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students with e-mentors working in industry and government in its One-on-One mentoring program; it has also received numerous requests from both students and faculty to support academic e-mentoring. Based on results of past work, evaluation findings and other research, the PI proposes to expand MentorNet into MentorNet ACE, a new project focused on substantially refining and expanding MentorNet.s programs to include e-mentoring services addressing the needs of women students and untenured faculty seeking or pursuing academic science and engineering careers. To that end, MentorNet plans to develop specialized components of its One-on-One Mentoring Program, enabling one-on-one mentoring relationships based on 1) matching graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with tenured faculty members as mentors, and 2) matching untenured faculty with tenured faculty mentors. MentorNet will develop a comprehensive approach for this project, with programmatic features tailored to the needs of the specific protege-mentor populations. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Muller, Carol San Jose State University Foundation CA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 299847 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0318519 September 1, 2003 Computational Center for Molecular Structure and Interactions. HRD - 0318519 CREST Computational Center for Molecular Structure and Interactions Jackson State University PI: Jerzy Leszczynski Jackson State University (JSU) will continue expanding research and educational programs in Computational Chemistry and Physics through continued operation of the CREST Computational Center for Molecular Structure and Interactions. Consisting of faculty members from the JSU Departments of Chemistry and Physics and a member from the Department of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, the Center will maintain the status of a research center in high-performance computational studies. Five programs, focusing on the application of high-performance computational techniques to problems of importance for chemistry, physics, molecular biology, and technology will be carried out at the Center. These programs will target the prediction of such phenomena as properties of new carbon and silicon clusters, ultra fast carrier dynamics in metal nanoparticles, the development and application of advanced coupled-cluster methods, studies of cyclodextrin complexes, conformational studies of anhydrides, thioanhydrides, and several cyclic systems using combined NMR/computational methodologies, and predictions concerning the structures and reactivity of DNA building blocks. Center activities focus on graduate students entering the recently approved Ph.D. program in chemistry and on lectures, workshops, seminar series, and research summer programs for undergraduate students from HBCU and Minority-Serving institutions. Collaborative activities of the Center include the organization of annual international conferences on Current Trends in Computational Chemistry and Southern Schools on Computational Chemistry. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Leszczynski, Jerzy Jackson State University MS Patrick F. Mensah Cooperative Agreement 4546029 9131 1594 SMET 9179 9178 9150 7204 0323096 August 15, 2003 Planning Grant for the Enhancement of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at Dine College. Planning Grant for the Enhancement of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at Dine' College Project Summary Dine' College seeks a TCUP planning grant to evaluate its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum with the objectives of: (a) improving as needed upon existing strengths in the health, biological and physical sciences together with mathematics; (b) expanding our capabilities in engineering and computer science, and (c) working with the College's Center for Dine' Teacher Education and articulating universities to develop an effective discipline-based STEM Education curriculum. That study will then be used as the basis of an action plan for developing a full implementation grant--to be submitted the following year--leading to an improved and expanded STEM program, ranging from a revised curriculum to improved classroom and laboratory infrastructure, added faculty, and an upgraded working relationship with Reservation employers and regional universities. The planning period will be for 12 months and will include four phases. * Phase 1 (August 15-November 15, 2003): An overall assessment of the present STEM program within the College infrastructure. It will include the aggregate impact on students of course offerings in STEM; of STEM faculty; and of such physical resources as laboratory and classroom space, laboratory equipment, and computer resources. * Phase II (November 16-February 14, 2004): A course by course evaluation of the STEM curriculum, including content, student preparedness and achievement, student demand, and teaching effectiveness. * Phase III (February 15-May 15, 2004): Development of an institutional plan leading to the preparation of a full implementation grant to facilitate growth and improvement. * Phase IV (May 16-August 15, 2004): A preliminary analysis of Phases I, II and III, leading to the development of a plan for evaluating progress during the implementation period. This planning process and the implementation to follow will have the intellectual merit of advancing STEM literacy within a significantly underserved population, Native American students. Their broader impacts will be derived from the development of a model academic STEM program that other Tribal Colleges will be able to use as a template in developing their own programs. HUMAN RESOURCES TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Manuelito-Kerkvliet, Cassandra Janel Hinrichsen Marnie Carroll Dine College AZ Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 55916 7226 1744 SMET OTHR 9178 0000 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0323171 October 1, 2003 Sheldon Jackson College TCUP Planning Grant. ABSTRACT Title: Sheldon Jackson College TCUP planning grant The purpose of this planning grant is to assess Sheldon Jackson College.s (SJC.s) current STEM curriculum and infrastructure and to develop an institutional action plan to be used as the basis for a full TCUP implementation grant to be submitted February 2005. SJC is a 4-year liberal arts college, accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges and Universities, offering associate and bachelor degrees in Business Administration, Elementary Education, Human Services, Outdoor Leadership, Individualized Studies, Secondary Education and Environmental Science. SJC is committed to its founding mission to serve the needs of all students, with an emphasis on Alaska Natives and students from rural communities. SJC needs to evaluate its current STEM program to determine the effectiveness of its STEM instructional program in preparing students for success throughout their education and careers. SJC requires 12 months and 2 phases for STEM program assessment: * Phase 1 (October 1, 2003 . June 1, 2004): assessment and evaluation of current STEM infrastructure and offerings. * Phase 2 (June 1, 2004 . October 1, 2004): creation of an institutional plan to increase enrollment and retention in STEM programs and development of full TCUP proposal. At the end of the 12 months SJC will have conducted an assessment of its current STEM course offerings, evaluated the effectiveness of current teaching practices, developed an institutional plan to increase and retain students in STEM courses, written a full TCUP implementation grant, and created an assessment system to further evaluate STEM course effectiveness for SJC.s unique student body. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Harrington, David Jaclyn Schnurr Sheldon Jackson College AK Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49797 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0323208 September 1, 2003 Fostering Student Success in STEM Disciplines through Engaged Learning Opportunities and Comprehensive Program Development. Abstract This proposal is submitted by Fort Belknap College (FBC), a tribally-controlled community college located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in northcentral Montana. The overall goal of the project is to increase student participation and success in FBC.s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degree programs. To accomplish this goal the project will provide STEM students with an integrated continuum of learning opportunities in mathematics, science and technology, while, at the same time, strengthening the institution.s STEM programs through curriculum reform, faculty development, and infrastructure enhancement. Student-centered activities include an active outreach and recruiting program, pre-college summer sessions, expanded tutoring and in-class assistance in STEM course offerings, research and internship opportunities, and a bridge program with Montana State University-Northern. At the same time, STEM faculty and staff will participate in a series of activities designed to improve the quality of STEM instruction, increase faculty knowledge in both teaching methods and course content, and enhance institutional resources needed to effectively deliver STEM classroom, laboratory and field-based instruction. Through the implementation of this comprehensive strategy, the project will achieve five student-centered performance objectives and build the college.s capacity to offer high quality STEM courses and degree programs. Evaluation activities will provide project personnel with the information needed to effectively monitor the project.s progress, improve its ongoing effectiveness, assess its success in achieving project goals and objectives, and communicate its outcomes to a variety of stakeholders. Ms. Mary John Taylor, dean of academic affairs at FBC, will serve as principal investigator for the project. INTELLECTUAL MERIT The project addresses NSF's review criteria of intellectual merit in several ways. Students at FBC will advance their knowledge and understanding in STEM disciplines through participation in pre-college summer enrichment sessions, reformed STEM course offerings, research and/or internship opportunities, and bridge program activities. Faculty will increase their understanding of effective pedagogy and content knowledge through professional development opportunities and faculty-student research projects. Data gathered through evaluation activities will expand the body of knowledge concerning the effectiveness of project strategies among American Indian students. While the effectiveness of many of the learning/teaching strategies and activities employed in this project have been documented in the research-based literature, their modification for use in the unique context of Fort Belknap College is both creative and original. Recruitment and outreach efforts targeting non-traditional students, innovative pre-college STEM enrichment programs, alternative approaches to .remediation,. and integration of GrosVentre and Assiniboine cultures within STEM program offerings represent highly original and creative components of this project. Other factors contributing to the intellectual merit of the project include the qualifications and experience of project leadership and the project.s unrestricted access to the institution.s full range of STEM resources. The project was conceived during a two-year planning process, and its multiple components are clearly organized to achieve specific and measurable student-centered goals and objectives. BROADER IMPACTS Project activities will achieve many of the broader impacts described in NSF.s Grant Proposal Guide. Pre- college enrichment sessions and reformed STEM course offerings will employ inquiry-based instruction to energize students with a spirit of discovery that will be reinforced through research and/or internship experiences addressing locally relevant, .real world. issues. The project also will increase the participation of underrepresented minorities, specifically American Indians, in STEM academic programs and professions. To encourage the success of American Indian students (who represent 85% of FBC.s student body), the project will employ instructional methods and learning activities that have proven effective among minority students, especially American Indians. The broader impacts of the project will be felt far beyond Fort Belknap College through the project.s dissemination activities and through the societal impacts of faculty-student research projects and the project.s anticipated impact on the local work force. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Taylor, Mary Daniel Kinsey Fort Belknap College MT Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2425000 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0323637 October 1, 2003 Little Big Horn College TCUP Implementation Grant. Abstract Little Big Horn College's Mission with this endeavor is to significantly improve our recruitment and retention of STEM majors, provide them with an excellent education and career skills, double the number of our STEM majors who graduate or transfer on into four year institutions, and assist them in making a successful transition to bachelor's degree program or into the workforce, so that they succeed in achieving their educational and professional goals in STEM fields. Greater infusion of technology throughout the STEM curriculum will be a major tool for accomplishing our goals. To improve retention, our STEM Student Advisor will support and advise STEM students in navigating LBHC; supervise them in jobs as peer tutors and community workers; lead "Bridge" visits to transfer campuses, coordinate the Honors Academy and, overall, will be committed to their success. We believe that solid academic preparation, informed by good advising, is also critical to our STEM students' success. We will have an active program of course and curriculum revision, based on current research in Native American education, which gives priority to revising bottleneck courses, and develops our new forestry curriculum as well as courses which "round out" our current STEM degree programs. We will invest in the professional development of STEM faculty, both in discipline and in pedagogy. With the Center for Learning and Teaching in the West (CLTW), will host an annual STEM education research conference, emphasizing Indian education, for our STEM faculty and area teachers to learn and to share ideas and materials. To promote high student engagement in science courses, we will increase field and lab activities, and add residential field camps for incoming freshmen and for sophomores. Peer tutoring will support students in improving their academic performance. Financial incentives help retain students; STEM majors will have competitive opportunities to tutor or perform community service work; and will be assisted in identifying and applying for external scholarships, summer internships, research opportunities, and relevant summer jobs. These training opportunities will be another avenue for active learning, and will help students develop valuable job skills and/or an appreciation for research. How can the infusion of technology help our students to succeed? We.ll use technology to improve communication, e.g., by adding course information to the LBHC website, along with a database of scholarship and internship opportunities. Students will be given the option of computer assisted instruction for their lower level math courses. STEM students will have every opportunity to develop the technical skills they will need: in addition to the required I.S. course (3 cr.), we will develop 1-2 cr. courses in GPS, scientific presentations, graphing calculators and information literacy. A variety of upper level courses will have assignments that will require students to use their technology skills. We will also use CD-ROMs and Smartboards to enhance instruction. In order to accomplish these technology infusion objectives, we will upgrade and expand our technology infrastructure, and provide training and technical support to our faculty in the use of educational technology. Finally, we will ensure the effectiveness of this TCUP endeavor through excellent project management, including collaborative planning, effective evaluation, broad dissemination of results and attention to long term sustainability, and with the guidance of an external Advisory Committee. Broader Impacts: LBHC serves a 98% Native American student body. Since we expanded our I.T. curricula and added natural resource and environmental science (NR/ES) degree programs in 1996, our alumni have gone on to double the number of Crow Tribal professionals in NR/ES and IT fields. They are beginning to expand the sense of what is possible for students who are coming up behind them; we are seeing and feeling a significant ground swell of interest in these career fields, as well as the first small cohort of math/engineering majors. The broader impact of this project will be to support, sustain and expand this movement towards careers in STEM fields among our Crow and other Native American students. Our alumni are starting to bring their skills back to our community, working for the Tribe and LBHC, and are also changing the region, e.g., by diversifying the professional staffs of BLM and BOR. In addition, we are building relationships between LBHC, our area teachers, and CLTW. With CLTW.s assistance we plan to offer area teachers the option of taking our STEM short courses for graduate credit, and will open our annual STEM educational research conference to them as well as to our STEM majors and pre-service teachers. We are working to create a future in which our Crow children are learning from Crow STEM teachers, and have Crow role models in STEM professions. Although each Tribe is unique, what we learn here will likely be useful to other Tribal Colleges, and perhaps also to other colleges and universities with significant Native American enrollment. These audiences will be the focus of our dissemination efforts.. Intellectual Merit: This project addresses a significant nation wide shortage of Native American STEM professionals, and takes an innovative, integrated approach towards increasing the numbers and improving the preparation of TC STEM graduates. The piloting of computer assisted instruction (CAI) in TC math courses, the integration of traditional ecological knowledge into TC science courses, collaboration with our regional CLTW, and the use of DACUMs for TC curriculum development are all innovative project components - which will advance our knowledge and understanding of effectively educating TC STEM majors. The Project leadership & STEM faculty bring many years of TC teaching and program administration experience to this project, including managing earlier LBHC grants for STEM curriculum development, faculty development, undergraduate research & scholarships. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Yarlott, David Margaret Eggers Lois Howe Everall Fox Little Big Horn College MT Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2497645 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0323742 October 1, 2003 College of Menominee Nation STEM Curriculum Enhancement Project. Abstract To address the shortage of under-represented ethnic minority participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) College of Menominee Nation (CMN), a 1994 Land Grant institution designated as a Tribal College and University under Executive Order 13020 proposes in partnership with the National Science Foundation to enter a cooperative agreement designed to remedy that circumstance through a four-tiered STEM CURRICULUM ENHANCEMENT PROJECT. The proposed program would refine the 4 STEM related learning outcomes articulated in the college.s eleven Guiding Principles for demonstrable student learning, through a multi-faceted curriculum revision designed to integrate mathematical and computational sciences across the curriculum in General Education Requirements; assure their integration in Breadth curriculum, and significantly impact Emphasis (major) requirements through refinement of existent programs, and development of two new STEM majors unique to the site and situation of the regional and reservation economy: Environmental Health; and Materials Science. In respect to the latter initiative, CMN brings to the project collaborative public partners: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) an agency within the National Institutes of Health, Center for Disease Control, Department of Health and Human Services; and the National Forest Products Laboratory of the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, respectively. Led by Vice-President of Academic Affairs, a Menominee descendant, who will serve as Principal Investigator for the project, day-to-day operations of the project will be facilitated by a Project Coordinator and Curriculum Development Specialist and an Administrative Assistant to be hired under this cooperative agreement. The Vice-President will convene a project management team representing the units under her supervision including the Deans of Student Services and Auxiliary Sites, The Assessment of Student Learning (ASL) Coordinator and her assistant, and STEM faculty (9 of the full-time faculty of 15.) The proposal seeks support to augment faculty in Mathematics and Computational Sciences with two additional full-time faculty hires, as well as funding for STEM faculty release time at .20, and support for adjunct hires necessary to fulfill schedule requirements. Assessment of Student Learning (ASL) will be a significant component of this project, and a .60 dedication of ASL Coordinator.s and support staff time is included as an in-kind contribution by the college. A position in Student Services will be created under this proposal for .50 STEM Tutor/Advisor and Student Records Specialist. Student stipends for 15 participants in an STEM Honors Leadership Program are included in the proposal as well as STEM faculty summer support totaling 3.0 FTE to conduct the summer Honors Leadership cohort program and related program costs. Modest support for instructional materials and supplies is included in the budget of $2,388,886 over a five-year period. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Fowler, Verna Holly Youngbear-Tibbetts Diana Morris College of the Menominee Nation WI Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2474854 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0323815 August 1, 2003 Assessing and Planning for STEM Development at Kapi'olani. Abstract Kapi'olani, one of ten public colleges in the University of Hawai.i (UH) system, is an urban institution offering comprehensive programs in integrated liberal arts and 21st century career education. The College is now widely recognized for learning-centered excellence and for integrating a coherent curriculum that connects and reinforces learning across classroom, campus, community and cyberspace. Our Goals and Objectives for this TCUP Planning Grant are: Goal 1 To conduct a detailed institutional assessment of STEM infrastructure. Objective A Identify specific areas of strength and weakness in the institutionalization of STEM at the College using an existing and proven .Institutional Assessment Rubric.. Objective B Assess strengths and weaknesses in the retention and academic performance of Native Hawaiian students in STEM programs at the College. Objective C Conduct a thorough literature review of STEM programs at Tribal Colleges, Native Alaskan, and Minority-Serving Institutions. Objective D Conduct a thorough literature review related to the strengthening of STEM infrastructure in American higher education. Objective E Identify existing UH system databases that can provide cyclical assessment data in monitoring STEM strengths and weaknesses, gains and losses. Objective F Identify gaps in existing UH system databases and engage in UH system dialogs to eliminate these gaps. Objective G Develop a campus site visit protocol to gather consistent and comparative data on STEM programs and active learning strategies during campus site visits. Objective H Employ the protocol instrument in examining exemplary STEM programs and active learning strategies at identified leadership colleges and universities. Goal 2 Develop an institutional plan to enhance the College.s STEM program. Objective A Identify STEM curriculum development needed to enhance student achievement of Quantitative Reasoning and Information Retrieval and Technology learning outcomes. Objective B Identify STEM curriculum developments needed to enhance student academic success in STEM majors. Objective C Identify best practices in enhancing the STEM academic performance of Native Hawaiian, Native American, Native Alaskan, and Minority students. Objective D Identify best practices in STEM faculty professional development. Objective E Explore and determine most appropriate and effective active learning strategies (inquiry-based, web-based, community-based, learning communities) for integration into STEM program. Objective G Identify key UHM faculty, community and business partners, and their roles in strengthening the STEM program at the College. Objective H Identify key K-12 school collaborations in STEM learning. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Richards, Leon University of Hawaii HI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0323826 October 1, 2003 TCUP Planning Grant: University of Alaska Fairbanks - Northwest/Chukchi Campus. Abstract TCUP Planning Grant: University of Alaska Fairbanks Northwest & Chukchi Campuses The purpose of this planning grant is to conduct an assessment of STEM infrastructure, student needs in science, technology, and math, plus transitional factors in student advancement. Based upon this information an institutional plan for STEM programming will be developed and a STEM implementation grant written, including tools for evaluation and student tracking. The planning period will occur for 12 months and will include four goals with overlapping timelines: Assessment of STEM Infrastructure (October 01, 2003 - March 31, 2004) Assessment of Student Needs (October 01, 2003 . March 31, 2004) Assessment of Transitional Factors in Student Advancement (October 01, 2002 . March 31, 2004) Creation Of An Institutional Plan & Implementation Grant (April 01, 2004 . August 31, 2004) The results of this planning grant will be the assessment of Northwest and Chuckchi campuses ability to provide a 2-year STEM transfer program; an assessment of Alaska Native student retention in science, technology, and math coursework/programs; an assessment of high school to 2-year and 2-year to 4- year science, technology, and math skill transition; and finally an institutional plan for STEM courses and programs out of which a full TCUP grant proposal will be written including the development of instruments for STEM program evaluation and student tracking. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Wolter, Bjorn Margaret Wood Lincoln Saito University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus AK Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49999 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0323831 September 1, 2003 "Mending the Net" Helping Alaska Natives to Achieve in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics(STEM). Abstract Ilisagvik College of Barrow, Alaska is the lead college in the Consortium for Alaska Native Higher Education, Inc. (CANHE), a group of six developing tribally-controlled colleges which were established because Alaska Natives have not achieved proportionate success in higher education despite years of effort by mainstream institutions. Alaska Natives are particularly poorly represented in STEM programs and in related professions. Research resulting from a TCUP planning grant in 2002 that clarified the extent of the problem, and lessons learned from the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, form the basis for CANHE.s .Strategic Plan for Tribal Colleges in Alaska.. CANHE institutions will implement the plan, which includes special efforts in STEM fields, including this .Mending the Net. project. The project.s intellectual merit has two fronts. First, there are new certificate and degree programs which incorporate STEM field learning into training that meets the needs of natural resource development industries. That this learning, for three of the four CANHE institutions, explicitly blends indigenous knowledge with western science to gain a two-perspectives understanding of the natural environment, makes the project interesting. That the training qualifies Alaska Natives for needed employment in economically viable technical industries, makes the project both practical and critical. Second, the project uses regional differences as a strength. The .one size fits all. approach of most colleges and universities fails to employ different instructional techniques pertaining to STEM fields appropriate to each region. .Mending the Net. introduces placed-based STEM programs. Ilisagvik College, for instance, applies local people.s knowledge of the Arctic in an applied science program leading to employment in land management and wildlife biology. The Interior Athabascan Tribal College program, on the other hand, includes Native knowledge of the boreal forestry. The project.s broadest impacts include that because the grant recipient and other CANHE members are tribally-controlled institutions, almost all students involved are Native American/Alaska Natives . vastly underrepresented ion STEM fields. CANHE is a statewide organization with connecting networks to Alaska.s 100,000+ Native peoples. Two of the programs coordinate closely with school districts and will develop program templates for CANHE-district collaborations in other regions. A third program partners with the University of Alaska and includes faculty development trainings that can be replicated throughout the UA System by the three UA Affiliate Members of CANHE. On the industry side, the Bristol Bay Native Association program expands the infrastructure for web-based course delivery to villages in preparation for internships and possible employment with VECO, Inc., a primary contractor on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Some project results, like new academic programs and their curricula, will be available on CDs and the web. Others, like .best practices. in STEM teaching and learning for Native students, will be shared through conference presentations of Native and other educators. Yet other results, like the availability of STEM-trained Native interns in wildlife biology, forestry and fisheries, will be widely publicized, and discussed at industry-related conferences and in the halls of collaborating organizations like the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Wenning, E Linda Merritt Helfferich Ilisagvik College AK Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 1119155 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0327904 August 1, 2003 GDSE/RES Study of the Role of Gender in the Training and Career Paths of Women and Men in STEM. Seton Hall University will determine factors influencing the differential training and career patterns of women graduating in physics, engineering, and mathematics. The study will permit a comparison of the academic development, particularly at the graduate level, of women and men and will identify reasons for their different career choices. The path from a bachelor's degree to a faculty position in STEM loses women every step of the way. Women are less likely to be awarded a doctorate degree in chemistry, physics, engineering, and mathematics than men. No research has examined explicitly the reasons for this under-representation of women among doctoral recipients. A questionnaire will be sent to doctoral recipients who graduated during the years 1988-1992 from the top 10 ranked universities (as identified by the National Research Council) in physics, engineering, and mathematics. (A similar study of chemistry graduates is already underway.) These elite universities were chosen because their graduates have the greatest probability of being future leaders in science and technology in America. Participants will be asked to evaluate in detail their graduate training, identify the criteria used in making various choices, and state the reasons for their career decisions. In addition, quantitative data will be obtained for the first time regarding the number of employment positions sought and secured by graduates. In all analyses, the study will identify any statistically significant differences between the responses of women and men, as well as the magnitude of any differences. Findings will be communicated widely and especially to the administrators at the elite academic institutions in the sample. The findings will potentially form the basis for thoughtful and critical discussion of the status of women, and will lead to institutional self evaluation and reform at the elite schools and others producing STEM graduates. The desired outcome is to decrease the under-utilization of women in academe and industry. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR Kuck, Valerie Cecilia Marzabadi Janine Buckner Susan Nolan Seton Hall University NJ Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 387814 1544 1253 SMET 9178 0330660 November 1, 2003 Alabama LSAMP Research Project. The Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ALSAMP) proposes to engage in a research project on departmental/institutional factors which promote retention and baccalaureate degree attainment in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (STEM) fields and persistence to graduate study by members of underrepresented minority populations at urban institutions. The Alabama Alliance, established in 1991, is one of the six oldest National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances in the nation and has been in the forefront of efforts to increase the quantity and the quality of underrepresented minorities receiving baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields. Thus, because of this successful experience in developing and implementing programs that promote retention and baccalaureate degree attainment of minorities, Alabama is uniquely qualified to engage in a research project of this nature. While the Westat Study (March 2000) did an outstanding job of identifying LSAMP programs that work, the questions of why they work has not been addressed. This project will be a follow-up the Westat Study and will provide a complete and comprehensive picture of LSAMP program activities. The goal is to generate general information that builds on the Westat Report and logically extend this work in order to efficiently and logically guide effective implementation of best practices in diverse institutions. The objectives include the following: 1. To determine departmental and institutional factors facilitating undergraduate access to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, including baccalaureate degree attainment and persistence to STEM graduate study by members of traditionally underrepresented racial/ethnic groups ( specifically the keys to LSAMP success cited by the Westat Study), and 2. To generalize these factors and disseminate resulting findings and measures to the scientific and education communities. The Alliance will employ the services of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Educational Accountability to assist with the research. The Center is uniquely positioned to conduct the research activities of the proposed project. The Center has a number of ongoing projects that relate directly to the goals of the project. The project will begin with an in depth review and evaluation of 1. All LSAMP activities at each of the twelve ALSAMP institutions, and 2. Student performance data in SEM courses. Appropriate surveys and interviews will be conducted, data will be analyzed, and research findings will be published in an appropriate Educational Research Journal. Intellectual Merit - The project is an important step in advancing knowledge and understanding of why the LSAMP programs for underrepresented minorities in science technology, engineering, and mathematics are successful. Education faculty will work with mathematics and science faculty in this educational research project to find answers to these important questions by collecting and analyzing data resulting from surveys and individual interviews. The research results will add to the knowledge base in educational research and evaluation. Broader Impacts - The project broadens participation of underrepresented groups by the inclusion of a large number of African American students in the target population for the research surveys and interviews. In addition, a large number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities are included in the Alabama Alliance and the research efforts will involve a diverse pool of students and faculty. Discovery and understanding are advanced by the collaboration between disciplines and institutions. Evaluation and assessment findings will be documented and disseminated to other researchers in education and at national meetings. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Braswell, Mary Louis Dale Scott Snyder University of Alabama at Birmingham AL Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 209132 9133 SMET 9178 0331446 November 1, 2003 New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation-Phase III. New Mexico AMP, established in 1993, is a partnership representing the state.s public two-and four-year postsecondary institutions. The program concentrates its efforts in three strategic areas: Outreach and Recruitment, Undergraduate Education, and Undergraduate Research and Graduate School Preparation. Core components include a multi-institutional freshman learning seminar, undergraduate research, and an annual student conference. New Mexico AMP also manages several leveraged student support and curriculum/faculty development programs. Collectively, these programs represent a comprehensive portfolio to develop multiple lines of inquiry into the issues of effective STEM education. Since inception of the New Mexico AMP, the number of B.S. degrees awarded in STEM fields to underrepresented minorities rose from 253 in 1992/93 to 455 in 2001/02 . an 80 percent increase. The percentage of B.S. STEM degrees awarded to minority students increased from 23.1 percent in 1992/93 to 37.1 percent in 2001/01 . a 61 percent increase. Demonstration of the intellectual merit and broader impacts of the program are exemplified by the SMET 101 Project and the Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program. SMET 101 is an innovative freshman-learning seminar for pre-transfer and first-year university students that has resulted in significant changes to teaching and learning processes at ten participating institutions. Through the Undergraduate Research Program, faculty from across the state are now actively engaging undergraduate students in research and using the program as a way to identify potential graduate students. Through these and other projects, we will continue to ask meaningful and, oftentimes, cross-disciplinary questions concerning student achievement and to develop increasingly effective approaches for enhancing student and faculty performance. In Phase III, continued focus on the primary program objectives will allow this success to continue. Phase III objectives are to: Establish meaningful partnerships with colleges and universities, school systems, government agencies, national laboratories and centers, industry, private foundations, and STEM professional organizations to support student development and success and to achieve proposed New Mexico AMP objectives. Incorporate academic, curricular, and co-curricular enrichment activities designed to improve instructional performance as well as increase the motivation, performance, and progression of talented students within undergraduate degree programs. Provide direct student support as necessary to enable students to attend academic year and summer enrichment activities without unnecessary loss if income. Demonstrate an increase in movement of undergraduate students to graduate school degree programs. Maintain program visibility and student access at New Mexico 2-year colleges to 4-year degree programs. Establish sustainability of the SMET 101 project at 50% of New Mexico community colleges. These objectives will contribute significantly to meeting the goals of the New Mexico AMP program, fostering the continued integration of research and education, expanding access and participation, and broadening the base of opportunity and support available to STEM students. Management of the New Mexico AMP program will continue under the guidance of a multi-sector Advisory Board representing Grade 6-12 education, community colleges, universities, state government and educational agencies, and industry. Additionally, partnership with the University of Arizona Graduate School to provide summer research experiences, and collaborations with the New Mexico AGEP, the NMSU Center for Learning Assistance, libraries and reference staff, and other organizations will provide information and workshops on available opportunities and resources to encourage and prepare students for graduate study. Program evaluation activities are comprised of both formative and summative components driven by a comprehensive set of key evaluation questions. Adherence to the evaluation plan has led to formative improvements in program activities that are increasingly responsive to stakeholder needs as well as to evolving program goals and objectives. Successful program practices and results are disseminated statewide and nationally through a monthly one-page electronic bulletin (200 recipients), a bi-annual newsletter (nearly 1200 recipients), a program website (www.nmsu.edu/~nmamp) and conferen presentations and publications. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Cruzado-Salas, Waded Ricardo Jacquez Rudi Schoenmackers New Mexico State University NM Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 6439239 9133 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0331537 November 1, 2003 CSU Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, Phase III. California State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program, Phase III nitiated in 1994, the California State University-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program (CSU-LSAMP) is a comprehensive, statewide program dedicated to increasing the number of students from underrepresented minority groups (URM) graduating from campuses of the California State University (CSU) with baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The CSU-AMP Alliance includes 47 public postsecondary institutions: 19 CSU campuses plus 28 California Community Colleges (CCC). With past NSF support, CSU-LSAMP contributed substantially to broadening participation of underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines. If the annual number of STEM degrees awarded to URM students had remained at the 1993 pre-CSU-LSAMP baseline of 750, the total number of degrees awarded between 1994-95 and 2001-02 would have been 6000. Instead, a total of 11,601 degrees were awarded over the past eight-year period, an increase of 5,601 URM- STEM degrees. The potential for CSU-LSAMP to further increase overall participation of URM students in STEM is strengthened by projections for changes in the number and proportion of URM students graduating from California public high schools. In Phase III, CSU-LSAMP proposes to engage approximately 2,000 URM students/year in activities that sustain or further improve individual student retention and progression rates achieved during Phase I and Phase II, and proposes to increase the number of URM-STEM degrees awarded from the 2001-2002 level of 1,485 to 2,528 in 2007-2008. Hence, the CSU-LSAMP goal is to award over 1,000 more STEM baccalaureate degrees to URM students by the end of the project period. Since California Community Colleges enroll approximately 63% of college-going students in California, partnership activities that improve transfer rates are critical to achieving the degree production goal. Therefore, during Phase III, CSU-LSAMP will complete construction of .bridges. between CSU and CCC partners that facilitate student advancement through this critical decision point. Since many of the strategies initiated in Phase I and Phase II for lower division students have already been institutionalized, CSU-LSAMP will also introduce activities in Phase III that are designed to enhance graduate school preparedness of upper division students with the goal of improving aggregate student progression to STEM graduate programs. Phase III activities provided by each CSU campus will focus on four common objectives: (1) increasing transfer rates of URM students from the community colleges to STEM majors in the CSU; (2) enhancing first and second year retention rates and overall academic performance of URM students in STEM majors to levels comparable to levels for non-URM students; (3) enhancing performance of URM students in math and science courses; and (4) increasing the number of URM students interested in pursuing graduate study in STEM disciplines, and enhancing graduate school preparedness of upper division URM-STEM students. The types of activities that will be offered to support each objective have consistently been shown to facilitate retention and progression of URM students in STEM, and represent a set of well-established .best practices. for accomplishing the objectives. These activities include: course articulation between CSU and community colleges; individual transfer agreements with community college students; advising/orientation programs; peer mentoring; faculty mentoring; intensive summer or academic year programs designed to prepare students to excel in calculus courses; supplemental academic year workshops designed to enhance performance in specific math and science courses; graduate information workshops; AY or summer internships and research experiences; GRE preparation workshops; participation in scientific and professional conferences; interactions with other URM-STEM serving programs; and Interactions with URM- STEM serving prog ms at Ph.D. granting institutions. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Sheley, Joseph Juanita Barrena Laurel Heffernan University Enterprises, Incorporated CA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 7948000 9133 SMET 9179 9178 0331559 November 1, 2003 Greater Philadelphia Region Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation - Phase III. Drexel University, as a representative of the Greater Philadelphia Region Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Philadelphia AMP), seeks continued funding as an AMP Phase III project, to intensify its on-going efforts to substantially increase the quantity and quality of African American, Hispanic and Native American students receiving baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and subsequently, entering graduate school to attain doctoral degrees. Philadelphia AMP represents a diverse alliance of public and private, 2- and 4-year, research and non-research, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and majority institutions. A salient feature of this proposal is the fundamental manner in which the proposed AMP Phase III project rests on a solid foundation of partnerships, resources, effective practices and experience derived from eight years of collaboration, cooperation and concerted efforts focused on minority student achievement under the current Philadelphia AMP Phase II project. Over the past eight years of Philadelphia AMP.s existence, the Alliance has contributed over $7.9 million in matching funds to the project through the use of college/university, foundation, state government, and corporate funds. As a result of Philadelphia AMP.s efforts, a mechanism has been developed to catalyze changes in institutional, departmental, and organizational culture and the practices that will result in significant increases in recruitment, retention, STEM degree production, and graduate school entry for all students. In support of this AMP Phase III project, 170 tenured STEM faculty, academic department heads, and senior administrative personnel from the 9 member institutions will actively participate in recruiting, advising and mentoring AMP students. In this proposal "minority" refers to African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Greenberg, Mark Stephen Cox Drexel University PA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 6572336 9133 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0331560 November 1, 2003 LSAMP: The Ohio Science and Engineering Alliance. The Ohio Science and Engineering Alliance Summary The Ohio Science and Engineering Alliance is a coalition of fifteen universities working together with federal, state, and community agencies1. It will significantly enhance the STEM infrastructure within Ohio and will serve as a catalyst for change, innovation, and resource enhancement throughout the state. The primary goal and broad impact of the Alliance is to double the number of underrepresented minority students who earn bachelor.s degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and to significantly increase the number who pursue graduate study in these fields. This goal will be accomplished through the integration of new and existing campus-based and statewide programs; the monitoring of student progress through their undergraduate degrees and beyond; and the promotion of the Alliance to students, their parents, faculty, and the general public. The Ohio Alliance will focus on a comprehensive series of effective recruitment and retention initiatives that address key transition points from undergraduate recruitment through preparation for graduate school. These transitions include: A. Transition to College . Effective Coordination and Quality Programming; B. First-Year and Beyond Student Programming; C. Research Experiences for Rising Juniors and Seniors; and D. Professional Development for Students, Faculty, and Staff. NSF funds will be used to support Alliance-wide initiatives (e.g., cooperative recruitment, research internships, professional development, Alliance Forum) as well as individual campus-based programs (e.g., mentoring, bridge programs, tutoring, supplemental instruction, drop-in centers, workshops). Research faculty will continue to be involved in program planning and will play an active role in the selection of student participants, matching students with their research projects, mentoring, and assessing the quality of individual student performance. STEM students who receive competitive funding will be referred to as Glenn-Stokes Scholars. Ohio State University will serve as the lead institution on behalf of the Alliance, and President Karen Holbrook, a research scientist herself, will serve as the principal investigator and chair of the Governing Board. Together with the Board, Steering Committee, and research faculty, she will provide intellectual leadership to the Alliance. The co-PI, Susan Huntington, Dean of the Graduate School, will provide its organizational home. The project director, Jean Girves, has served as the associate director of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) for fifteen years, where she coordinated and raised funds for numerous collaborative projects among the 12 member institutions, including the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) for minority students, the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Initiative, and the Graduate Minority Fellows program. In 2000, she accepted the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring on behalf of the SROP. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Gee, E. Gordon Patrick Osmer Cyndi Freeman-Fail Ohio State University Research Foundation OH Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 3499123 9133 SMET 9178 0331686 November 1, 2003 LSAMP: Texas A&M System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, Phase III Program: Cultivating the Future. The Texas A&M System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Phase III (TAMUS LSAMP III) program proposes to nurture the future. The program will endeavor to sustain and extend hard-won academic gains in retention and learning outcomes for under-represented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines, which have been achieved in partner institutions during TX LSAMP Phase I and II. However, the foremost aim of the proposed program will be, to advance the preparation of under-represented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields for progression to STEM graduate degree programs and to K-12 teaching in STEM subjects. Led by three veteran TX LSAMP partners, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Texas A&M University System (TAMU System) the proposed Texas LSAMP Phase III program will extend participation in its central activities to the students of six additional TAMU System universities. The proposed TAMUS LSAMP III will be a five-year, three-pronged program. The first prong of the program features initial two-year pilot strategies for conducting and modeling new, and institutionalizable .Pipeline Repair. tactics, which are intended to help renew endangered URM STEM enrollment of new students at TAMU and Prairie View, because these institutions enroll and graduate the largest populations of URM STEM undergraduates in the TAMU system. The second prong of the TAMUS LSAMP III program will include the core .Undergraduate Student Development. strategies, which will be open to students of all Alliance institutions. The strategies of this prong will operate throughout the five years of the TAMUS LSAMP III program. This prong will aim first, to advance retention, and academic attainment by improving the self-direction (self efficacy) of STEM URM students, and then, to improve the quality of learning for URM STEM students, and hence their persistence toward graduation, and progression, through undergraduate research and teaching experiences. The third prong may be characterized as .Graduate School and Teaching Articulation.. It will consist of strategies for proactively negotiating an assisted transition of TAMUS LSAMP students to STEM graduate programs, and preferably those with strong systems to support URM student success, as well as encouraging and assisting URM STEM students pursue professional K-12 teaching. These strategies of this prong will be implemented in years three through five and will be made available to target population students from all TAMU System LSAMP campuses. What all three- program prongs will have in common is the commitment to seeding URM STEM students with forward-looking, ambitious perspectives toward life-long learning. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Watson, Karan Karen Butler-Purry Kendall Harris Frank Pezold Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5421413 9133 SMET OTHR 9178 7204 0000 0332602 January 1, 2004 GDSE/RES: Women's Science Equity Online. TERC proposes to study the characteristics of online science courses for teachers that correlate to positive learning outcomes for women. There are now hundreds of science courses offered online for teachers, yet there are very few aggregate studies or meta-analyses of online courses. At the same time, women teachers are the largest users of online education, and there are no large-scale research studies focusing on women learners in online professional development courses in science. The first phase of the project is a descriptive survey and analysis of 100 online science courses for teachers. The second phase will use the analysis of course characteristics to select a subset of 20 courses for in-depth examination. Finally, the team will develop a set of guidelines for online course developers that include general recommendations on issues of alignment to national professional development standards, interactivity, and accessibility, along with examples and vignettes from courses. TERC has been a leader in research and development of telecommunication-supported learning since the 1980's. The project staff and the advisory committee comprises highly experienced online developers, science educators, teacher professional development experts, and educational researchers with experience in diversity and gender issues. Among the course providers interested in participating are the National Teacher Enhancement Network (NTEN), University of North Carolina, and the American Museum of Natural History. Potentially, the research will inform organizations who are currently investing in online professional development for science teachers with little benefit of research underpinnings. Improving the science skills of teachers - mostly women at this time - indirectly improves science education for all students and builds national capacity in education. TERC's research will promote higher quality learning experiences for teachers by identifying best practices (suggested elements of program structure, format, and facilitation) and design factors in online learning that are particularly effective for women as learners. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Asbell-Clarke, Jodi Elizabeth Rowe TERC Inc MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 964124 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0332765 October 1, 2003 GDSE/DIS: HER-STORY: Women Pioneers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics--Then and Now. WAMC will produce 20-30 (bi-weekly) 2-minute radio modules on historical and contemporary women in STEM fields and careers (Women STEM Pioneers in History); and 6 (bi-monthly) 7-15 minute radio segments covering current gender diversity in STEM mentoring and professional development programs, with a priority on coverage of programs serving minority women. These segments will have a specific focus on program participants (Creating the Women STEM Pioneers of the Future). Both series will be produced for national radio broadcast and targeted dissemination to young women, parents, educators and institutions (with a priority on reaching minority populations) via the Internet, print media, and distribution of tapes and CDs. The first all new Women in STEM radio website will also be created with audio archives of the radio programs. The intellectual merit of the proposed project lies in the research, production and presentation of quality radio programs that: 1) depict the lives of successful women in STEM fields and careers; and 2) provide in-depth coverage of successful and replicable projects addressing gender gaps in STEM fields. Multiple venues will maximize access to the shows, for use in formal and informal educational settings for adults and students. The broader impacts of this work include reaching and educating the general public and target audiences nationwide, providing them with information and tools for promoting greater participation of women--including those from traditionally underrepresented populations--in STEM education and careers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Darcy, Mary Glenn Busby WAMC Northeast Public Radio NY Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 105484 1544 SMET 9177 0332780 September 1, 2003 GDSE/RES: A Study of Gender-based Differences and Ethnic and Cultural Models in each of the Computing Sciences. Xavier University of Louisiana proposes to: (1) Scientifically investigate by gender, ethnicity, and culture the under-representation of women in Computer Science (CS), Computer Information Systems (CIS), and Computer Engineering (CE) -- collectively referred to as the computing sciences, (2) Increase the knowledge-base of gender, ethnic, and cultural models, creating newer models that lead to a more equitable and inviting CS, CIS, or CE education, and (3) Increase national capacity in the field of gender diversity and education in the computing sciences by encouraging new researchers and research-oriented education practitioners. The research proposed in this project is an investigation with a mixed design. It is primarily a three-year longitudinal study. The primary theoretical and empirical approach will be the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) model. There has been limited exploration of SCCT's utility in explaining choice actions or goal implementation relative to STEM majors. Subjects are 210 first year, male and female undergraduates in computing sciences (over three successive years) at each of 50 institutions of higher education from across the nation: 25 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and 25 non-HBCUs. As a control/baseline for the study each year at each institution, Xavier will also survey 30 first-year undergraduates who are from a non-computing sciences group. By participating in this research effort, several of the faculty members from the 50 institutions of higher education should become more interested in gender diversity and education. Microsoft Research and Science and Engineering Associates, Inc. (Louisiana's largest information technology company) will be corporate partners. Intellectual Merit: Based upon a large, nationwide sample, the team expects to be able to scientifically support from survey evidence some of the anecdotal or small sample findings previously put forth by other researchers. They expect to greatly improve the granularity of the current knowledge regarding gender, ethnicity, and culture in the computing sciences and to better support understanding of the computing sciences across the fields of psychology, sociology, and education. The comprehensive study features a multidisciplinary, culturally diverse, collaborative team capable of conducting the research. Broader Impact: The results of the study could have a profound impact on teaching and learning in the computing sciences. It will inform new approaches to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups, creating new networks and partnerships crossing disciplinary and geographical lines. Finally, it will give a scientifically sound basis from which others in society might work to increase the numbers of women obtaining bachelor's degrees in CS, CIS, or CE. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Lopez, Antonio Marguerite Giguette Lisa Schulte-Gipson Xavier University of Louisiana LA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 920598 1594 1544 SMET 9178 9177 9150 0332841 October 1, 2003 GDSE/DIS: Tech Savvy Girls Resource Dissemination Project. When educators read the AAUW Educational Foundation's Tech Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age (2000) report they generally have two responses, We must change the way we teach, and then How can I change the way I teach? The report highlights the critical need to encourage girls in technology from early childhood through middle and high school. It was instrumental in creating a movement to change technology education. Tech Savvy summarizes research that shows that girls do not perceive technology as interesting nor technology careers as appealing. The way technology is currently taught often dissuades them. A new Tech Savvy video and teacher's resource guide were designed as tools for educators, parents, students, and community-oriented professionals to change girls' experience of technology. AAUW Educational Foundation will use its national network of 100,000 members (parents, educators, students), 1,300 Branches, and 600 College/University member institutions to distribute copies of the video, guide and the report. In addition, the video will be broadcast via Fairfax County Public School satellite television network and others. The dissemination project will leverage the value recognized in the original Tech Savvy report and intensify its reach, with the ultimate aim of closing the gender gap in technology education and in the information technology workforce. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Eynon Lark, Nancy American Association of University Women DC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 99850 1544 SMET 9177 0332843 August 15, 2003 GDSE/DEM: Teaching Science with the Social Studies of Science for Gender Equity. The Biology Department at Virginia Tech will put in place a strategy to overcome the decrease in the participation of women in biology during their undergraduate years. Metaphorically referred to as the leaky pipeline, women and girls leave science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as they move from elementary school to professional careers. Increasing numbers of women are recruited into science but they are not retained, even though the metaphor assumes that they will persist under current pedagogical practices, that they will be successful within the social constraints of scientific careers, and that they will assimilate into the current practice of science. However, the pipeline itself and the pond into which it empties may not be neutral; may promote females' leaving science. If these cultures developed in the absence of a wide variety of participants and perspectives, it is perhaps not surprising that it is alienating to those who have been excluded. The goal of this demonstration project to investigate the hypothesis that the cultures of science are responsible for alienating women and minorities. By integrating the social studies of science into science education, the team will reveal these cultures and then assess whether this novel pedagogy increases women's retention. The team will teach a sophomore-level Cell and Molecular Biology course that makes scientific cultures visible alongside traditional material, e.g., mechanisms and regulation of DNA replication, transcription and translation, protein trafficking. Students will have supplementary readings, writing assignments and discussions that use the social studies of science to see the assumptions, concepts, and practices of science in a new way. Writing assignments and oral responses (obtained in semi-structured interviews) will be assessed for progressively deeper understanding of the social characteristics of cell and molecular biology, for students' increasing competence and sophistication in using the social studies of science to examine the paradigms and practices of cell and molecular biology, and for their attitudes toward studying cell and molecular biology from this perspective. The benchmarks for the assessment are the epistemological stages (silence, perceived knowledge, subjective knowledge objective knowledge, contextual knowledge) developed by Belenky et al., (1986). These stages were constructed using women's experiences, and their use is appropriate in this project since we are giving women a perspective on the epistemology of science that is different from the predominant masculine model. This assessment, along with a measurement of self-efficacy in traditionally male-dominated occupations (Betz and Hackett, 1998), will be correlated with persistence in science education and progression to scientific careers. If the approach has the desired effect, students' awareness of the cultures of science will give them the ability to develop strategies for persistence within the status quo or strategies for change. Either result would have broad impact. Our human and social capital in the scientific workforce would be augmented by increasing the representation of under-represented groups, by fostering gender and racial equity in science, and by bringing fresh viewpoints and creativity in order to solve problems in science, engineering, and technology. As well, it opens a completely new area of theory and practice in science teaching and teacher preparation that benefits all learners. Consequently, the strategy and the assessment of the strategy will be disseminated nationally and internationally, within the university, at meetings of professional societies, and through several publications and web sites. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Lederman, Muriel Jill Sible Rebecca Scheckler Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 152426 1544 SMET 9178 0332852 October 1, 2003 GDSE/RES - Gendered Pipelines? Sex Segregation in Engineering and Math/Computer Science Fields of Study. In discussing women's under-representation in mathematics-intensive educational programs, social scientists often invoke the analogy of a (leaky) pipeline, focusing on the characteristics of individuals and their immediate social environments that promote or hinder successful passage through the science pipeline. The proposed research aims to supplement such individual-level analyses by considering the cultural and structural factors that constitute this pipeline's context and determine its contours. Aggregate-level data from 44 developed, developing, and transitional countries are employed to examine how cultural ideologies and features of national educational and economic systems are related to levels of female participation in engineering, mathematics and information technology fields of study. Intellectual Merit: Previous research by the PIs and others has identified cultural attitudes about gender roles as one of the most important determinants of cross-national variability in educational gender segregation. The current project aims to explicate these cultural effects. Detailed data on eighth-grade boys' and girls' math/science attitudes and math/science achievement in 44 countries, collected through the Third International Math and Science Surveys (TIMSS), allows evaluation and comparison of different explanatory mechanisms. In addition, structural determinants of sex segregation in higher education, including overall female enrollment rates, features of national higher education systems, female economic opportunities, and national economic development will be considered. The team, from University of California San Diego and Western Washington University, will employ a new log-linear modeling approach, which allows distributional patterns to be compared across educational systems characterized by different rates of overall female enrollment and different programmatic structures. Broader Impact: There is a growing consensus among researchers and educators that female under-representation in math and science cannot be understood with attention to individual-level attitudes and interests alone. If they are to fundamentally change the gender composition of these fields, policymakers must also attend to the role of broader cultural ideologies and organizational practices. Cross-national research of the sort proposed here is an excellent way of exploring effects of cultural and structural variables and of identifying the appropriate locus for policy efforts aimed at integrating these fields. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Charles, Maria University of California-San Diego CA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 100022 1544 SMET 9177 0332862 September 1, 2003 GDSE/RES - Programming with a Purpose: An Experimental Investigation on the Role Narrative Plays in Supporting Girls' Understanding of Programming Concepts. The Center for Children and Technology at the Education Development Center will conduct a two-year experimental research project to systematically investigate the power of narrative in enabling girls to learn key programming concepts and skills. The hypothesis is that when girls are given the opportunity to learn programming situated in a meaningful narrative context their understanding of core programming skills will be enhanced. The experiment consists of teaching an introductory programming curricular unit to a treatment and control group of ninth grade students attending computer application classes in a predominantly Latino urban high school, Union Hill High School in New Jersey. The basis of the curricular unit involves students using a research tool built on top of an object-oriented programming language, such as JAVA, which is easily customizable. The research tool will consist of a flexible drag and drop software environment that uses the metaphor of choreographing ice-skating routines to make the task of learning computer programming more familiar to girls. In the treatment group, the research tool will enable users to design ice-skating performances by combining and shaping various routine elements into an executable, cohesive program. In the control class, students will use the same research tool and assemble identical subroutines as the treatment class, but instead of a graphic interface that shows skaters dancing in a rink, the research tool will be customized to enable students to work with abstract shapes moving across the screen (as in a screen saver). Using pre-post surveys, clinical interviews, and transfer tasks, the study will investigate whether girls' understanding of core programming skills and concepts (i.e., sequential thinking, understanding parameters and variables, and the structure of code) are increased when exposed to programming tasks within a rich narrative context. According to research, programming is not intrinsically interesting to many girls. They are more likely to be attracted to learning skills situated in a meaningful context, and especially as a way to solve a genuine social, personal or environmental problem. With the advent of object-oriented programming languages (such as JAVA), it is possible to make programming more accessible to girls since object-oriented languages allow one to program by manipulating the relationships between objects in a narrative context rather than executing abstract, linear code. The broader aim of the study is to investigate whether girls can learn as much or better if a traditional programming curriculum is reverse-engineered to provide a meaningful context for the investigation of core programming skills and processes (i.e., reading, using, modifying, and implementing aspects of code) advocated by the Advanced Placement Computer Science curriculum and the Association for Computing Machinery. Findings from this study will help drive the future development and reform of computer science curricula for youth, particularly as Advanced Placement guidelines move toward the use of JAVA programming as the basis for introductory computer science at the high school level. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Brunner, Cornelia Dorothy Bennett Education Development Center MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 465953 1544 SMET 9177 0332874 August 1, 2003 GDSE/RES: Increasing the Participation by Women in Undergraduate Physics: What Can We Learn from Women's Colleges?. Colorado College proposes to study the factors that explain the success of women's colleges in producing women scientists at about twice the rate of coeducational schools, with a particular focus on physics departments. The study will look at how the colleges recruit and retain physics majors, the departmental culture, faculty attitudes, curriculum, pedagogy, and student experience. The project builds on a study just completed that surveyed nine coeducational undergraduate physics departments, including two HBCU's, to learn what works to encourage women to major in physics. Key factors appear to be particularly female-friendly departmental culture, the presence of adult female role models, an emphasis on cooperation rather than competition, and a strong connection with alumni. These factors tend to be strong in women's colleges. By visiting physics departments in women's colleges, PI will study the effect of their culture of achievement on the production of female physics majors, and learn if there are methods that can be adapted to coeducational schools. The findings will contribute to a fruitful dialogue between single-sex and coeducational institutions, and find ways to help all physics departments improve on how they recruit and retain women students. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR Whitten, Barbara Colorado College CO Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 113954 1544 1253 SMET 9177 0332898 November 1, 2003 GDSE/RES: Realtime, Applied Programming for Underrepresented Students' Early Literacy. New York University and University of Oregon Eugene propose a three-year research project to build a successful software environment for realtime, applied programming for underrepresented students' early literacy (RAPUNSEL) in order to address the critical shortage of women in Computer Science (CS) careers and degree programs. The goal is to develop an engaging system with which to teach computer programming to middle school girls. The system is designed to become a scalable, approachable simulation game that appeals to girls' sense of communication, curiosity, and play while boosting confidence and developing programming expertise. Specifically, the project aims to study three areas related to gender and CS. First, how do the design of the programming software environment and the role of the peer group within such an environment affects girls' motivation and engagement to learn programming? Second, what is the depth to which middle school girls are able to learn programming concepts such as procedural thinking? Third, can we increase girls' overall confidence and self-efficacy levels in a software environment? RAPUNSEL addresses these issues through the design of a JAVA-based networked play environment in which girls can alter and create original characters, scenes, and scripts to build collaborative narratives online. Using 4 web-based modules, girls will learn programming progressively through manipulating the objects in the modules and receiving immediate feedback. RAPUNSEL allows girls to share their creations and gradually gain access to programming through guided hint systems in the form of character agents. No previous initiatives have focused specifically on the tiered use of a commonly used programming languages for middle school girls within an online software environment, and no other project has empowered girls to create their own programmatic objects for others to use. The team will build prototypes to fit into a larger framework for what they call "unfoldable environments" which motivate girls to unwrap the characters and worlds presented to them, manipulate them, and create new objects and environments. They will work with small groups of Oregon and New York girls as users, testers, informants, and design partners. Large-scale assessment will occur in the Eugene Oregon 4J school district. The research team includes experienced, award-winning scientists, artists, designers, and educators with a unique blend of academic and industry experience. Industry-related consultants on the project include Will Wright, the founder of Maxis Entertainment and creator of The Sims games, and Lindsay Gupton, Executive Studio Director of Know Wonder, maker of the Harry Potter, American Girl, and Magic Schoolbus games. Educators serving as consultants are middle school teachers in Eugene, Oregon as well as the 4J school district in Eugene. When completed, RAPUNSEL will be distributed online as a user-friendly environment and will also be available as open source for other researchers to use. It has potential to influence technology education at the middle school level, addressing the national need to invite more female students to develop technical and design skills. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Perlin, Kenneth Jan Plass Mary Flanagan New York University NY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 897724 1544 SMET 9177 0332903 December 1, 2003 GDSE/DEM: Women at CENS: A Research System. University of California Los Angeles, Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), proposes to design a model undergraduate research experience maximizing those features and components of other undergraduate research programs that are most effective in promoting women's longer-term commitment to science and engineering. The design will be based on a survey of many examples of research experiences for undergraduates (REU's) implemented to date, and, based on published research and evaluation results of REU's. The project will exhibit a model of "REU best practices." CENS has chosen the disciplines of engineering, computer science, and the physical sciences to focus efforts because of the low representation of women in these three doctoral fields. Students will be recruited from Mills College and Harvey Mudd College, in partnership with the UCLA Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity. It is widely accepted that REU's are a significant positive experience for students, but the reasons why are not well known. The project will test its model by conducting a program for female students at CENS, and evaluate the results. The expected outcomes for students include: increased hands-on skill set and research experience; improved teamwork, problem-solving, presentation, and content skills as identified by project; improved self-confidence and increased positive attitudes towards respective disciplines; increased number applying for and participating in undergraduate research experiences; increased retention through graduation in respective disciplines; and increased interest and participation in pursuing graduate study. The project will use a systems approach as a framework for the three main components of programs currently being implemented at institutions across the country: 1. Environment: A research environment that offers women undergraduates experiences in leading research with direct societal implications (e.g., environmental, safety, educational). The connection between the research environment and the societal implications generates a medium through which successful recruitment can occur. 2. Experience: A research experience structured so as to promote successful and productive outcomes for students. 3. Engagement: A vital support structure to ensure academic and social integration for each student. The model program proposed in this project will allow for a more comprehensive understanding regarding which engagement strategies are most effective for women. Broader impacts: The work will provide faculty members and administrators of undergraduate research programs in engineering, physical sciences and computer science with tools for developing successful undergraduate research programs for their students, with particular effectiveness for female students. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Estrin, Deborah Christine Borgman Linda Sax University of California-Los Angeles CA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 899689 9131 1544 SMET 9177 0333316 October 1, 2003 EAST: Eastern Alliance in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. In accordance with its proposal submitted April 18, 2003, the University of Southern Maine (USM) requests $2,400,000 from the National Science Foundation over a 48-month period for a Cooperative Agreement in the program's Regional Alliances for Persons with Disabilities (RAD) track. These funds will be used primarily to increase the participation of students in science and mathematics and change the prevailing attitudes of teachers, counselors, and parents. Seed grants, tiered mentoring, bridge programs, field trips and research experiences will complement the Alliance's efforts. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Langley-Turnbaugh, Samantha Jean Whitney University of Southern Maine ME Mark H. Leddy Cooperative Agreement 2548094 1545 SMET 9178 9150 1545 0333381 November 1, 2003 CityLab Experiences for Youth with Disabilities. In accordance with its proposal submitted April 18, 2003, Boston University (BU) requests funding from the National Science Foundation over a 24-month period for a continuing grant in the program for persons with disabilities' demonstration, enrichment, and information dissemination (DEI) track. These funds will be used primarily to make its existing summer biotech program more accessible to students with disabilities. Partnering with a local non-profit group will bring science experiences to both disabled and non-disabled students as these groups work in tandem. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Romney, Carla Carl Franzblau Donald DeRosa Regina Snowden Trustees of Boston University MA Ted A. Conway Standard Grant 174599 1545 SMET 9178 0333396 October 1, 2003 Conference Information Dissemination on Science for Students with Disabilities. In accordance with its proposal submitted April 18, 2003, Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC) requests $56,829 from the National Science Foundation over a 21-month period for a standard grant in the program's demonstration, enrichment, and information dissemination (DEI) track. These funds will be used primarily to use national conferences to disseminate targeted information to teaching practitioners about methods and resources for teaching students with disabilities. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Milchus, Karen Edward Keller GA Tech Research Corporation - GA Institute of Technology GA Ted A. Conway Standard Grant 56829 1545 SMET 9178 0333452 October 1, 2003 PPD-FRI: Ubiquitous Environment to Facilitate Engineering Education for Blind Persons. Arizona State University (ASU) requests funds from the National Science Foundation over a 24-month period for a continuing grant in the program for persons with disabilities' focused-research initiatives (FRI) track. These funds will be used primarily to integrate hardware and software, including a wireless handheld computer, a microphone, a text-to-speech module, a digital audio recorder, and a refreshable Braille device for delivery of material for science, engineering, technology, and mathematics. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Panchanathan, Sethuraman K. Selcuk Candan Terri Hedgpeth Patricia Green Mehmet Donderler Arizona State University AZ Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 172538 1545 SMET 9178 0335696 August 15, 2003 QEM STEM Leadership Development Project for Tribal Colleges and Universities. Abstract QEM STEM Leadership Development Project for Tribal Colleges and Universities The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network is requesting a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation in support of leadership development in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) at the Nation.s Tribal Colleges. QEM.s proposed project is designed to further the goals of the Foundation.s Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). Due to the special circumstances and needs of Tribal Colleges, the proposed project.s activities focus on the Tribal Colleges. However, all institutions eligible for TCUP will be invited to participate in project activities. Intellectual Merit QEM.s STEM Leadership Development Project will provide Proposal Development Workshops for prospective TCUP applicants as well as Project Management Institutes to support current multi- year grant recipients with project implementation. Professional development activities for Tribal College faculty and a Visiting Faculty Program will stimulate faculty growth and expand STEM teaching capacity. Materials to be produced include a "Best Practices" manual and a monograph on scholarly productivity. Collectively, these activities provide an intensive level of support for Tribal Colleges and Universities that support the goals of the TCUP program. Broader Impact The proposed STEM leadership development activities are designed to help increase the quantity and quality of TCUP proposals submitted by Tribal Colleges, and participating Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian institutions. The project implementation and professional development activities will benefit participants well beyond the life of the grant through resource development and the enhancement of STEM faculty. Since TCUP grants address substantive educational areas such as faculty development, curriculum enhancement, and undergraduate training and research experiences, this project has the potential for considerable impact on STEM educational experiences for Native American students nationwide. PROGRAM EVALUATION TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1639303 7261 1744 SMET 9178 1744 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0338644 October 1, 2003 Pathways to STEM Careers. Pathways to STEM Careers: Preparing the STEM Workforce of the 21st Century Project Summary Support is requested to organize and conduct an NSF-sponsored Workforce E-Forum followed by a two-day workshop to explore the existing knowledge base on STEM workforce issues with the goal of setting research priorities for the future. Intellectual Merit: The project's intellectual merit lies in its multimodal and inclusive approach of building on previous research to gather information, promote interdisciplinary discussion, and set a strategic research agenda. A major component of the workshop will be a discussion of existing research findings and programs related to workforce issues. The workshop seeks to identify topics for research on the STEM workforce that have the potential to inform collaborations that address integrative approaches in program design. A significant contribution will be in the identification of critical research gaps on the workforce. Broader Impacts: The project's broader impact will be realized through the establishment of a national research agenda that will eventually result in a rich and diverse technical workforce strengthened by broader participation of US citizens. The workshop is expected to identify and propose strategies and funding mechanisms that will propel more U.S. citizens and underrepresented group members (women, persons with disabilities, African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanic Americans) not only into the STEM workforce, but also into leadership positions, thus contributing to achieving the broader goal of strengthening scientific, technical and economic capabilities. This will enable the US economy to continue to lead the world in innovation and to increase opportunities for all US citizens to participate in economic prosperity. Attendees will include a diverse group of workforce leaders from the research community, educational institutions, and a variety of employment sectors described in the body of the proposal. Workshop outcomes are expected to include a summary report that contains a set of recommendations to establish strategic research areas and education funding priorities for the Workforce of the 21st Century program announcement. In addition, the report will include recommendations for evaluation methodologies and criteria as well as suggest metrics to measure the success of future programs. Findings from the report will be disseminated through a workshop website as well as through presentations at international scientific conferences and meetings as well as at national workforce policy summits. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HUMAN RESOURCES ARCTIC RESEARCH PROJECTS OUTREACH AND EDUCATION WORKFORCE COMPUTING FACILITIES CROSS-DIRECTORATE ACTIV PROGR ENGINEERING EDUCATION OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR Pearson, Willie C. Dianne Martin GA Tech Research Corporation - GA Institute of Technology GA Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 300027 9133 7226 5201 5101 1713 1520 1397 1340 1253 SMET HPCC 9215 9178 4444 0348742 April 1, 2004 Model Institutions for Excellence - Phase III. The MIE Phase III project will fulfill the plan which builds upon Phase I and II accomplishments, raises UMET to the next level of capability, and completes the process of institutionalizing and disseminating its model and best practices to other institutions. UMET will continue strengthening its academic program curriculum and disseminating the MIE curriculum development process to SUAGM SEM departments using institutional resources. UMET will continue hiring additional faculty with advanced degrees in selected areas, enhancing faculty content knowledge in SEM areas, delivering improved student-centered instructional programs, stimulating faculty research capability, developing an improved infrastructure for SEM research and educational improvement grants, improving its ability to assess faculty performance, and giving financial support to faculty completing doctoral degrees. UMET will continue to improve the student support/research infrastructure by involving undergraduate students in research, providing pre-college students with a greater appreciation of the benefits of careers in SEM and the academic preparation needed to pursue SEM studies, conducting a coordinated set of activities to attract better prepared students, and providing sufficient academic support services to retain them through graduation. UMET will construct a new science laboratory building and enhance the computer networking capability for all SEM faculties in SUAGM. UMET will build on the comprehensive foundation established during Phase I and II of the MIE Project by completing the institutionalization. At the conclusion of Phase III, UMET will have an institutionalization process in place that guarantees full funding for each of the components initiated by MIE. These include: the academic program, curriculum development and evaluation, faculty development and support, Student Support Center, pre-college programs, scholarships, student internships and undergraduate research, and laboratory upgrades and maintenance. UMET will have the capability to disseminate the NSF/UMET/MIE model. The project will be managed under the direction of Dr. Arratia, who reports to the Chancellor of UMET. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Arratia, Juan Universidad Metropolitana PR Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 2950000 1582 SMET 9178 9150 1582 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0349285 May 15, 2004 Model Institutions for Excellence-Phase III. In Phase 3 of the Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) program, Xavier University will endeavor to complete the process of infrastructure development and institutionalization of key components of an institutional Model for preparing undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students for graduate and professional school pursuits. Throughout the course of the MIE program, the University has employed metrics that have served as a guide in the development of program strategies and ensuring attainment of the overall goal of becoming a Model Institution for Excellence in graduate school placement. Those metrics have included and remain a) achieving a STEM student retention rate of 75% through graduation (within a six-year period), and b) achieving and sustaining a STEM student graduate school enrollment rate of 50% of Xavier STEM graduates. During this final stage (Phase 3) of MIE the key objectives that will be pursued by the University will include the following items. Transitioning of NSF financial assistance for STEM Fellows to other non-NSF University assistance resources. Transforming the Xavier University Center for Undergraduate Research (XUCUR), which was initiated with NSF support (with a focus on STEM students), into an institutionalized, University-supported, centralized structure that will administer to all students (STEM and otherwise) in their preparation for graduate/professional school. Development of a degree program in Electrical Engineering as a complement to the previously-established Computer Engineering degree. Completing the development of multi-media classrooms and conferencing centers in support of the continued University expansion in the use of technology in the instructional process. Finalizing the formation of a University structure that will optimize the number and availability of research faculty to serve as mentors for STEM undergraduate researchers. Upon accomplishment of these objectives, the University expects to realize successful completion of all major elements of its Model for achieving excellence in the graduate school placement of its alumni. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR D'Amour, Gene Tanya McKinney Xavier University of Louisiana LA Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 2948710 1582 SMET 9178 9150 1582 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0349451 September 1, 2003 Oyate Consortium MIE Phase III. The goal of the first two phases of the Model Institutions for Excellence program was to develop and refine models for increasing graduates from underrepresented groups in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. To meet this goal, Oglala Lakota College served as the lead institution of the Oyate Consortium, a group of five tribal colleges located in South and North Dakota, which focused on developing STEM degree programs targeting a Native American student base. Considering the Consortium started from ground zero in terms of facilities, degrees offered, and qualified faculty, the three remaining partner schools, OLC, Sitting Bull College and Sisseton-Wahpeton Community College have been very successful in building strong science, math and technology programs. In 1995 there were no STEM degree programs at any of the Consortium schools. Today there are 112 degree seeking students enrolled in Interdisciplinary Environmental Science, Information Technology, Natural Science, SEM, and Computer Science. To date, the schools have graduated 12 students with Bachelor degrees in Interdisciplinary Environmental Science, and three transfer students have received their degrees from other four-year institutions. During Phase III, OLC plans to offer STEM Bachelor degree programs to 8 more two-year tribal institutions via distance education. The objective is to expand the at-distance student base from the current number of 16 at the two other Consortium schools to a total of 91 and make an even broader impact in Native American science education. The intellectual merit of the program will be demonstrated through the model developed by OLC for increasing STEM students from tribal colleges. The broader impacts are the increased production of Native American scientists. At the conclusion of Phase III, this model will be available for distribution to other tribal schools that wish to either begin, or expand, STEM programs. The MIE program has allowed OLC to meet and solve the problems associated with developing a successful STEM initiative at a tribal college. This includes administration buy-in, needs analysis, infrastructure development, faculty recruitment, student support, and building regional partnerships to expand undergraduate research project opportunities and collaborations. Phase III will allow the MIE program to wind down and become institutionalized. The OLC administration has committed funds to support its MIE faculty members after three years. Partnerships are in place with other colleges and universities, and tribal and federal agencies to sustain program projects. The foundation that was set during Phase I and II will continue to support STEM degree programs and students through graduation. The Oyate Consortium will continue to work together to keep each college a Model Institution for Excellence. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Giraud, Gerald Hannan LaGarry Oglala Lakota College SD Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 3362831 1582 SMET 9178 9177 9150 1582 0352060 May 1, 2004 Tohono O'odham Community College T-CUP Planning Proposal. The major purpose of this planning grant is to conduct an assessment of Tohono O'odham Community College's STEM curriculum and infrastructure in order to develop an institutional STEM action-plan that will be used as the basis for a full TCUP grant to be submitted by May 2004. Part of this major purpose will be to work with all of the college's stakeholders in order to develop partnerships that will help the college effectively serve all eleven of the Nation's districts. This will result in an effective distance education and Asynchronous/Synchronous Learning Environment strategy that allows the college to serve all eleven of the Nation's districts with STEM curriculum and the possibility to graduate using a place-based education strategy. The final plan will also include the development of assessment instruments designed to determine the effectiveness of the college's STEM instructional programs and the development of tracking methodologies designed to track college graduates that transfer to 4-year colleges and universities. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR StClair, Douglas Tohono O'odham Community College AZ Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0354817 June 15, 2004 Closing the Mathematics Achievement Gap of African American Students: A Conference on the Issues. Closing the Mathematics Achievement Gap of African American Students: A Conference on the Issues The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) and the Benjamin Banneker Association (BBA), in collaboration with The McKenzie Group (TMG), propose a four-month initiative to develop a broad-scale action agenda to improve mathematics teaching and learning for all students, but particularly students of African American descent. As the first stage of a broader plan to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) achievement nationwide, the mathematics initiative seeks funding to convene a conference of nationally recognized researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to develop an integrated, research-based design for closing the achievement gap, as well as a framework for implementing appropriate programmatic and policy strategies. Intellectual Merit: The project will advance knowledge and understanding of effective strategies and challenges for increasing K-12 African American mathematics achievement, as well as promote collaborate among the array of organizations committed to conducting action-research to close the African American mathematics achievement gap. NABSE and BBA, two leading advocacy and professional development organizations committed to K-12 STEM reform, along with TMG.s prior experience with STEM technical assistance, provide a solid grounding for this research and development (R&D) effort. Broader Impacts: The development of formal post-conference discussion and concept papers will broaden the impact beyond the institutions and organizations represented by conference participants. Furthermore, the combined memberships of over 7,500 African American educators from school districts throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean will provide a powerful professional network for sharing the conference publications and findings and directly impacting classroom instruction. NABSE.s 98 regional affiliates that are located within BBA.s six regions will also provide venues for continuing dialogue and collaboration at the regional and local levels. Both organizations will use their electronic communications networks that include websites and email listservs and their independent national conferences to further support these efforts. Finally, the overarching goal of increasing African American mathematics achievement will contribute to national education goals of improved K-12 student achievement in mathematics ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. URBAN SYSTEMIC PROGRAM HRD EHR Lawson, Quentin Irvin Vance National Alliance of Black School Educators DC Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 113755 9133 7347 SMET 9178 0400041 May 1, 2004 Infrastructure Support for Doctoral Research in Optics & Photonics. HRD- 0400041 Infrastructure Support for Doctoral Research in Optics & Photonics Hampton University PI: Hommerich, Uwe H. Hampton University will strengthen the education and research capabilities of its Ph.D. program in physics by (1) enhancing the institution's research infrastructure and productivity in optics & photonics; (2) increasing the number of students from underrepresented minority groups earning Ph.D. degrees in physics; and, (3) building a pipeline of undergraduate students pursuing advanced degrees in science and engineering. Project activities include faculty professional development, postdoctoral researchers, visiting scientists, student outreach, student assistantships, supplies, and research equipment. Research in optics & photonics will focus on luminescent materials development and nonlinear optical spectroscopy of oxide nanoparticles. Outcomes of this research impact a wide range of technological developments in the area of electro-optics and lasers. This research also advances the fundamental understanding of structure-property relations in luminescent materials and provides deeper insight in the nonlinear optical properties of nanoparticles. The multi-disciplinary nature of the program will enhance the quality of education and research in several science and engineering disciplines at Hampton University. Educational enhancement activities include curriculum development in optics and photonics, student research experiences, outreach, and the development of student internships with external partners. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Hommerich, Uwe JaeTae Seo Hampton University VA JAMES J. POWLIK Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9179 9178 0400932 March 15, 2004 Implementation of a Self-Evaluation Indicator System [SEIS] and Academic Indicator Report [AIR] for NSF's Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program. Title: Implementation of a Self-Evaluation Indicator System and Academic Indicator Report for NSF's HBCU-UP Systemic Research, Inc. HRD - 0400932 PI: Jason Kim Systemic Research, Inc. will continue the implementation of a Self-Evaluation Indicator System (SEIS) and Academic Indicator Report (AIR) for the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP). Systemic Research has successfully completed a 24 month grant (11/1/01 - 10/31/03), "Development and Implementation of an Indicator Monitoring System for NSF's Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program" (HRD-0136117) to design, develop, and implement SEIS and AIR. SEIS is an instrument designed to collect both quantitative and qualitative progress indicators, and AIR presents both HBCU-UP individual institutions' and overall progress report based on SEIS. Each year Systemic Research will develop and deliver a customized annual SEIS instrument to each individual HBCU-UP site, host a SEIS workshop, compile collected SEIS data to produce AIR, conduct two site visits to gather additional information to publish case stories, and manage the SEIS web management system and HBCU-UP Open Forum. Other activities will include presentations at NSF PI/PD meetings, and participating in the HBCU-UP National Research Conference. Intellectual Merit The customized SEIS will provide common measures of performance across all HBCU-UP projects while considering uniqueness of each institution. The site visits and case stories will identify best practice models. Systemic Research will provide comprehensive technical assistance to HBCU-UP sites regarding academic indicator management and evaluation capacity building through numerous workshops, site visits, and on-going communication. Individual institutions' AIRs will be returned to the respective institutions for their on-going project review. Broader Impact For wide dissemination and broad impact, all publications will be available in three different formats; printed copy, CD-ROM, and web-based publications. The AIR overall progress report, program highlights, and case stories will be disseminated nation-wide. Systemic Research will provide technical assistance to both implementation and planning HBCU-UP grantees. The program impact and best practice models will be disseminated to the HBCU community, higher education institutions, education and research communities, other stakeholders and federal agencies. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Kim, Jason Linda Crasco Systemic Research, Inc. MA Caesar R. Jackson Continuing grant 1205660 1594 SMET 9178 0401587 May 1, 2004 Chemical and Biological Assessment of Endocrine Disruptors in Waterways of Southeast Texas. HRD- 0401587 Chemical and Biological Assessment of Endocrine Disruptors in Waterways in Southeast Texas Texas Southern University PI: Joseph Jones Genetics and molecular biology researchers from Texas Southern University's Environmental Toxicology program will assess environmental contamination in the waterways of southeast Texas. Research will focus on chemical and biological endocrine disruptors in the lower Galveston Bay watershed. Research efforts will: (1) identify and quantify endocrine disruptors; (2) measure the effects of endocrine disruptors on cell proliferation and DNA repair in estrogen-sensitive cell lines; and (3) evaluate changes in dopamine content in neuronal cells treated with endocrine disruptors, and further examine the mechanism by which these chemicals may disrupt dopamine content. The project supports for a cadre of incoming doctoral students; faculty and graduate student participation at professional meetings; and, undergraduate and high school student supervised research opportunities managed through a Summer Internship Program. A regional conference on the multidisciplinary assessment of environmental contamination in Texas waterways will be held project-year 3. This project combines state of the art monitoring capabilities with cutting-edge basic research to define the biological sequel of exposure to identified aquatic endocrine disruptors. The work, to be conducted by Texas Southern University researchers, will incorporate underrepresented minority students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels. Broader impacts of the proposed activity include the enhancement of the doctoral training capacity of TSU, and an increase in the number of underrepresented minority students entering into STEM-related graduate fields. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Wilson, Bobby Ramesh Govindarajan Renard Thomas James DuMond Texas Southern University TX Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 998328 9131 SMET 9179 0401679 March 1, 2004 Research and Education in Advanced Computing (REACOM). HRD- 0401679 Research and Education in Advanced Computing Clark Atlanta University PI: Sharouz Aliabadi With NSF support, Clark Atlanta University will strengthening its science, technology, engineering and mathematics educational and research infrastructure by (1) conducting research in the areas of computational mechanics, computational fluid mechanics, and data mining; (2) establishing an advanced computing laboratory; (3) revising the computer and information science and engineering curricula; and, (4) providing student research opportunities and training in advanced computing. The research component has significant intellectual merit. One of the research projects involves the development of computational algorithms based on space-time discretization using the discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for problems with moving boundaries and interfaces arising in computational mechanics. A second research project will computationally study the fluid flow and heat transfer in micro-channel cooling systems using nanofluids that show anomalously enhanced thermal conductivities. The objectives of a third research project are to develop evolutionary techniques for learning knowledge bases from large data sets in the geospatial domain. Broader impacts of the project include advancing fundamental knowledge in computational science and engineering and database management; strengthening institutional research capacity; strengthening the infrastructure in computer and information science and engineering through the establishment of an advanced computing laboratory and curricula enhancements and revisions of courses; and increasing the pool of students who will pursue graduate studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR George, Roy Khalil Shujaee Jalal Abedi Robert Baffour Clark Atlanta University GA Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 999997 9131 SMET 9178 0401697 May 1, 2004 Computational Biology at Howard University. HRD- 0401697 Computational Biology at Howard University Howard University PI: Louis W. Shapiro With National Science Foundation support, Howard University will develop concentrations in computational biology in the institution's current doctoral programs in biology and mathematics. The concentration will consist of six courses plus the dissertation. Interdisciplinary research teams with faculty and Ph.D. students in mathematics and biology will also be formed. The intellectual merit of the HBCU-RISE project lies in its interdisciplinary nature, and its ability to bridge the intellectual differences between the quantitative and the life sciences to prepare graduate students who are conversant in both disciplines and expert in at least one. These students will be at the leading edge of the emerging field of computational biology, and will also be trained to communicate their research in an interdisciplinary environment. Howard University's record of graduating African American Ph.D.s in life and quantitative sciences is unparalleled. This HBCU-RISE supported project will take Howard's tradition of doctoral education for underrepresented minorities to a new level of endeavor, both diversifying the scientific and academic workforce and ensuring that computational biology, as a relatively new intellectual field, is diverse from its outset. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Shapiro, Louis William Eckberg Legand Burge Howard University DC Patrick F. Mensah Standard Grant 999997 9131 SMET 9179 0401723 November 1, 2004 LSAMP- Washington Baltimore Hampton Roads Alliance. Program Summary Over the past three years of Phase II of the Washington-Baltimore-Hampton Roads Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (WBHR-LSAMP), three new state-based institutions were added. The original four partners for Phase I included Howard University (HU), Hampton University (HAU), Morgan State University (MSU) and the University of the District of Columbia (UDC). The new Phase II partners included Bowie State University (BSU), Norfolk State University (NSU) and Virginia State University (VSU). The addition of these three partners expanded the diversity of student populations served by the WBHR-LSAMP programs as well as expanding the numbers of programs available to students enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) within the Alliance. Intellectual and Technical Merit The principal objective for Phase III of the WBHR-LSAMP Alliance is to continue to institutionalize the . best practices. and . lesson-learned. from Phases I and II of the Alliance and to build the necessary instructional and research infrastructure that will ensure the successful progression and transition of undergraduate students towards B.S., M.S and Ph.D. degrees in STEM fields. The specific objectives for Phase III are to: Provide direct support for junior and senior-level students in order that they can successfully transition into graduate programs in STEM fields and ultimately replace the graying. professoriate in major research universities and the scientists and engineers at national and industrial laboratories. To develop seamless relationships and partnerships with major research universities so that students within the WBHR-LSAMP programs completing B.S. and M.S. degree programs can continue their graduate work with joint mentoring by professors at WBHR- LSAMP institutions and those offering Ph.Ds by .building bridges for the doctorates.. To build synergistic research efforts for all STEM students so that institutionalization of the WBHR-LSAMP initiatives will become permanent mechanisms for degree production at all levels in the postsecondary educational pipeline. Broader Impact Based on the trendline data, more than 7,500 African Americans have received B.S. degrees in STEM fields from this WBHR-LSAMP Alliance over the past 10 years and approximately 30 percent or 2,200 of these students have gone on to enroll in graduate degree programs and have received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees as well as other professional degrees. The WBHR-LSAMP has documented evidence that the LSAMP students are more likely to return to HBCUs than other students. It is also clear by the number of Ph.Ds produced within the WBHR- LSAMP institutions, as well as the number of new assistant professors who have been hired within the WBHR-LSAMP Alliance, that the impact of the WBHR-LSAMP Alliance is not just within the alliance, but the impact is national as well as global. We believe that that quality of African American students attending institutions within the WBHR-LSAMP alliance is among the highest in the United States. Furthermore, the establishment of new research partnerships will have as its foundation the establishments of doctoral.level research at WBHR-LSAMP institutions. The combination of improved instructional and research facilities at WBHR-LSAMP Institutions will have synergistic affects and benefits for all of the WBHR-LSAMP institutions, as well as the major research institutions that become research partners. In particular, students participating in collaborative research benefit because they can be actively involved in a comprehensive approach to research and development that is typically difficult to achieve in smaller focused research groups such as those normally found in HBCUs and MIs where research resources are usually limited. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Thornton, Alvin Clara Adams Clarence Lee W. Eric Thomas Howard University DC Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 8056000 9133 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0401724 March 1, 2004 Studies of Structural Nanocomposites Using Transmission Electron Microscopy. HRD- 0401724 Studies of Structural Nanocomposites Using Transmission Electron Microscopy Tuskegee University PI: Jeelani, Shaik Researchers at the Center for Advanced Materials at Tuskegee University (T-CAM) have infused nanoclays, nanotubes, and nanoparticles with various polymers to manufacture structural composites enhancing the strength and stiffness of these nanocomposites. In order to enhance understanding of the strengthening phenomena, Tuskegee University will investigate several aspects of the fundamental science of particle-polymer interaction and failure of structural nanocomposites using a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). National Science Foundation support will be directed primarily towards acquiring a Transmission Electron Microscope to enhance the quality of on-going research. Research activities include probing the degree of dispersion, size, shape, and alignment of particles and interfaces between the particle and the polymer in the resulting nanocomposites. Thrust areas for research are cure and relaxation behavior of polymer nanocomposites and structural nanocomposites. The intellectual merit of this proposal lies in the fundamental studies of nanocomposites at the molecular level in determining the bonding effect between the particle and the polymer and investigation of the structure-property relationship at the nanometer level using a TEM. Successful completion of these investigations will lead to the development of a new generation of structural nanocomposites based on a firm scientific foundation. T-CAM houses Tuskegee University's Ph.D. program in Materials Science and Engineering. A large number of African American graduates, many at the Ph.D. level, will be produced in an emerging area of materials science and engineering with skills in using TEM. These graduates will help bring much-needed diversity to the nation's advanced technological workforce. Undergraduate and graduate students will also participate in material research using the TEM. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Jeelani, Shaik Hassan Mahfuz Adriane Ludwick Pradosh Ray Derrick Dean Tuskegee University AL JAMES J. POWLIK Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0401730 May 1, 2004 The Synthesis, Characterization, and Computational Study of Potential Antibiotic/Antitumor Spiroisoxazolines. HRD- 0401730 Synthesis, Characterization and Computational Study of Potential Antibiotic /Antitumor Spirosoxazolines Jackson State University PI: Jerzy Leszczynski Jackson State University scientists will conduct research to explore the synthesis of compounds with potential anti-tumor and anti-biotic applications. The National Science Foundation supported project provides a means for the investigation of the synthetic methodology, molecular design, and mechanistic insight for spiroisoxazoline construction and exploration. Since a number of spiroisoxazolines have both antitumor and antibiotic activities, a concise synthetic method that can accommodate a variety of substrates is needed in order to probe into the electronic and atomic properties responsible for the observed biological activity. Both experimental and theoretical techniques will be applied to the proposed investigations. An international component of the project provides participating Ph.D. students with research opportunities and training in theory and applications of molecular modeling at the Technical University of Wroclaw, Poland. Molecular modeling links computational chemistry, molecular biology, biophysics, solid-state physics, materials science, and molecular graphics. Intellectual merits of the project encompass the integration of novel experimental and theoretical studies on series of spiroisoxazolines and contributions to the knowledge base required for the development of new active compounds that exhibit desired pharmacological activity. This project has the potential to impact both the organic and computational fields of chemistry because of the synthetic and theoretical applications that will be employed. Broader impacts resulting from the project's activities include enhanced participation of underrepresented minorities in the science and technology disciplines and workforce through the recruitment and training of African American Ph.D. students in cutting edge research within computational chemistry. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Leszczynski, Jerzy Ashton Hamme Jackson State University MS JAMES J. POWLIK Standard Grant 999999 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0402549 November 1, 2004 Wisconsin Alliance for Minority Participation. PROJECT SUMMARY What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity? Wisconsin (WI) is a state with a rapidly changing ethnic and racial demography. The number of Hispanics has more than doubled in the last decade to over 200,000, there are over 400,000 acres of American Indian tribal lands, and 25% of the nearly one million residents in the large urban area around Milwaukee are African American. While not counted in tallies of underrepresented minorities for this proposal, WI also has the third largest population of Hmong in the United States, a group also underrepresented in higher education. This proposal would establish the Wisconsin Alliance for Minority Participation (Wisc-AMP)through the NSF Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program. Wisc-AMP brings together 21 public and private institutions of higher education in Wisconsin committed to collectively doubling the number of underrepresented minority students (URMS) receiving baccalaureate degrees in science and engineering majors. Wisc-AMP partners are also committed to the more fundamental goal of transforming the culture of our institutions to support and sustain diversity at all levels. The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) will be the lead institution. Few universities can equal UW-Madison's capacity to enroll large numbers of students or match the breadth and depth of its cutting-edge research rograms in science and engineering. Through individual interviews, data gathering, and document analysis, it was determined that the support provided through LSAMP would be best leveraged in two ways: 1) address retention and persistence of URMS in science or engineering majors at UW-Madison by expanding and improving on successful models already in place and 2) build the alliance. The initiatives at UW-Madison focus on several aspects of academic enhancement especially in the gatekeeping courses with new efforts to tutor not only those struggling but those who can be pushed to excellence as well as an enhanced summer research experience that encourages undergraduate students to share personal experiences and scientific inquiries with a network of peers and trains graduate students to be more effective mentors to undergraduate URMS. Alliance building involves several efforts aimed at developing a Network of Champions at participating sites as well as a Small Grants Program to facilitate collaboration and encourage individual partners to customize initiatives to their local environments. Wisc-AMP will be administered jointly by the Diversity Affairs Office and the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute in the College of Engineering at UW-Madison. A Governing Board consists of Provosts/Vice Chancellors/Presidents from Wisc-AMP partners, students, an industry representative, and selected academic and community leaders in education and research. Increasing the recruitment and retention of URMS in science and engineering with the goal of transforming the institution involves buy-in from many departments and units. Therefore, at UW-Madison, the Provost is the principal investigator and two well-respected faculty members are co-principal investigators, faculty in prestigious positions are members of an internal Advisory Committee, staff who have been in the trenches working on the issues and administrators from the Admissions Office and the Registrars Office who are at key student entry points are involved as co-investigators or advisors. Formal evaluation of Wisc-AMP will use quantitative and qualitative methods to identify if and how well the goal of the program is met and which aspects of Wisc-AMP work. What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity? As the United States becomes an increasingly diverse society, it is imperative that institutions of higher education train a similarly diverse workforce. NSF has publicly proclaimed its commitment to broadening opportunities and enabling participation of all citizens as essential to the health and vitality of science and engineering. By investing in efforts to increase the number of URMS graduating with baccalaureate degrees in science or engineering, this proposal directly aligns with NSF's goal. Project innovations will be disseminated locally through meetings, discussions, and presentations; regionally through the alliance structure; and nationally through publications in scientific journals, proceedings of scientific meetings, and participation in annual LSAMP meetings. The results of Wisc-AMP's formal evaluation can be used to continue or re-direct proposed efforts and to advise developing alliances on successful and unsuccessful elements of each initiative. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Farrell, Patrick Donald Woolston Douglass Henderson Manuela Romero Mary Carnes University of Wisconsin-Madison WI Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2500812 9133 SMET 9178 0402623 November 1, 2004 Houston Alliance for Minority Participation Project. HOUSTON LOUIS STOKES ALLIANCE FOR MINORITY PARTICIPATION.PHASE II The Houston-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (H-LSAMP) consortium consisting of 6 universities, 2 community colleges, and a school district, will build upon its Phase I foundation to implement a realistic, comprehensive plan to: a) recruit well-qualified minority students in STEM disciplines; b) enhance retention rates by focusing on individual retention issues, and; c) ensure that each student graduates with a clear career goal and the preparation to achieve it. The H-LSAMP will maintain its management structure, its recruitment and selection process, and will continue to provide financial support in the form of stipends to its H-LSAMP scholars. Scholars will earn their stipends by performing activities associated with their training, such as working in research laboratories. The H- LSAMP will maintain its successful Collaborative Learning Community model in which scholars are required to attend rigorous excellence workshops associated with core courses such as calculus and chemistry. Additionally, the H-LSAMP will implement processes to educate the scholars about career opportunities open to well-prepared graduates, and monitor and counsel them to optimize the likelihood of on-time graduation. Strong emphasis will be placed on encouraging students to pursue graduate degrees and preparing them for entry to graduate school. To this end, the H-LSAMP will plan and execute regularly scheduled workshops and forums about STEM careers and graduate education, emphasizing the leadership opportunities open to those with doctoral degrees in these fields. The H-LSAMP will respond to the need for improved communication skills by providing formal written communications skills training. Concurrently, a protocol for routine monitoring and documenting student progress that includes periodic individual assessment and follow-up meetings with a staff member will be designed and employed. The H-LSAMP will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about retention of undergraduate minority STEM students by using accepted research methods to determine the relative contributions of factors believed to be important to retention in this population. Last, because information management is important to the success of programs such as the LSAMP, a state-of-the-art information management software program developed specifically for the H-LSAMP will be made available to other institutions. The intellectual merit of this project lies primarily in the generation of important new knowledge about factors that contribute to retention and success in the population of underrepresented minorities, primarily Hispanics and African-Americans pursuing STEM baccalaureate degrees in Texas. One can reasonably expect much of this knowledge to be generalizable to Hispanics and African-Americans in other geographic areas of the U.S. Once the results of an innovative student-centered plan that combines application of educational principles with a standardized counseling and monitoring protocol are known, the educational community will have a model for assessing and responding to needs of individual minority STEM students as they progress through their college careers. The commitment of the H- LSAMP leaders, faculty, and staff is well-documented, and evidence of institutionalization of the program includes the commitment of physical facilities and an institutional to NSF match of approximately 1.5:1. The broader impact of this project lies in its potential to greatly increase the numbers of well-focused, minority graduates who graduate from our institutions inspired and prepared to pursue career goals. The expectation is that a high proportion will aspire to attend graduate school, swelling the ranks of the next generation of scientific leaders and educators. Finally, the H-LSAMP will have the potential to enhance the success and impact of similar programs by making available proprietary software that facilitates the data collection, retrieval, analysis, and reporting required for effective, efficient operation. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Bear, John University of Houston TX Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5085500 9133 SMET 9178 7204 0402640 November 1, 2004 Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (OK-LSAMP) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) comprises the three comprehensive research institutions (Oklahoma State University Oklahoma University and Tulsa University) , six Regional Universities ( East Central University, Northeastern State University, University of Central Oklahoma, Northwestern State University Southeastern State University, Southwestern State University , and Cameron University) and the 1890 Land Grant institution (Langston University). i Oklahoma State University is the lead institution; however, the programs will be coordinated through the graduate schools on the four partner campuses. The OK-LSAMP program proposes to significantly increase number of targeted students pursuing entering into graduate programs preferably to earn the doctorate over the next five years . The goal is to have a minimum of 10% of the available baccalaureate degree graduates for enrollment and subsequently graduation. We hope to accomplish this through the following objectives: * Formation of a strong research experience in their last two undergraduate years with two full summers of research and two academic years of research activities. * Full participation in the Graduate School Preparation component as outlined in the Plan * Institutionalize a graduate education culture within the underrepresented group culture and environment . These are the specific objectives that are alliance wide in implementation. Individual partners have the autonomy to implement these objective according to the structure and organization of programs on each campus. For example two of the campuses have a McNair program and they will work in concert with the McNair program. The specific programs and activities include: v Weekly meetings in the beginning of each semester to report progress v Enhanced stipends for students that present research papers and become co-authors v Mentoring workshops for faculty mentors v Special teaching workshops for students v One required Seminar on Scientific Integrity v Mandatory participation in the annual OK-LSAMP Research Symposium v All participants must present a research paper at a regional or national meeting v All alliance participants will take the GRE Prep course ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Emslie, A. Gordon Pakize Pulat Carl Rutledge J. Diaz Zola Drain Oklahoma State University OK Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 4474005 9133 SMET 9179 9178 0407501 June 1, 2004 United Tribes PAthways to SuccesS (UT-PASS). UTTC has a regional service area and plays a prominent role in professional development for ND and the BIA. UT-PASS proposes to create a STEM student support system starting with a Summer Pathways Institute (SPI) a month-long intensive STEM student skill-building program, a Tribal Environmental Science AAS, Action Research throughout the STEM courses, and improvement in UTTC.s STEM faculty.s content knowledge and teaching practices. This grant integrates the Peer Led Team Learning process into STEM instruction. Integration is achieved by professional development and assistance from the PLTL Facilitator. Andragogical practices encompass state-of-the-art math, science, and technology instruction and adult learning concepts. UT-PASS faculty work hand in hand with STEM students and general education instructors to provide enhanced STEM courses at UTTC. Peer teaching and mentoring are fundamental to this application. Teachers will be trained and then train other teachers.in pyramidal manner. UT-PASS employs the expertise of regional research institution faculty to support and mentor STEM faculty. Classroom resources including probeware, software, computers and printers will be purchased by the grant. UT-PASS proposes to educate the whole person employing intensive year-round student support for STEM students beginning with the SPI. Additionally, the emphasis on research affords the UT-PASS students ample opportunity to actively research issues important to them or their home reservations. Intensive and long-term staff development assures UTTC STEM faculty has access to adult learning principles, content knowledge and teaching methodologies. This staff development and student support system ensures that UT-PASS students successfully complete the Tribal Environmental Science or other STEM degree, and either matriculates into a four-year degree program or are hired in the field of environmental studies. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Baird, Phillip David Gipp United Tribes Technical College ND Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2471589 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0407504 June 1, 2004 Improved Online STEM Instruction For Rural Alaskan Native Students. This project will address these issues; under-prepared Native students, poorly designed courses, and a need for water and wastewater technicians. The project proposes to investigate the literature regarding Native American and Native Alaskan learning styles and to design, develop, deliver and evaluate six short, online technical courses for the Environmental Technology Program at UAS - Sitka. Sound teaching strategies, designed and tested through this project, will be adopted for the rest of the UAS - Sitka Environmental Technology Program, and other technical distance program at the university will be encouraged to use them. Strategies will also be appropriate for other STEM courses and programs, and could be valuable for Native American students throughout the country. Skills developed, during study in the security of their home community, will encourage Native students to enroll in STEM programs and should increase retention and graduation rates. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Carnegie, John University of Alaska Southeast Juneau Campus AK Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 380405 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0407699 July 1, 2004 Enahncing STEM Programs through Research and Culturally Relevant Curricula. This proposal has three goals. The first goal is to stimulate interest in STEM degrees and careers by offering a BS degree program in Environmental Science using culturally sensitive courses, laboratory experiments and other activities. The second goal is to continue and expand innovative programs of recruitment and retention of students in STEM degree programs. These include experimential learning programs for SBC students and local high school students and outreach programs for K-12 students on the SRSR. The third goal is to expand and improve research opportunities for students in STEM related degree programs. Students in the BS degree program in Environmental Science will be required to complete a research project. The development of the Research Laboratory will greatly enhance the learning and research opportunities for students to complete research projects. SBC will apply for a loan to begin commercial analysis of environmental samples on SRSR. Ultimately, SBC hopes this laboratory can become an independent commercial laboratory for environmental analyses. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Ressler, Koreen Sitting Bull College ND Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2510543 1744 SMET 9186 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0407771 June 15, 2004 Improving Instructional and Informational Technologies to Enhance STEM Education at SWC. The purpose of the Improving Instructional and Informational Technologies to Enhance STEM Education project is to develop and expand training and educational opportunities in math, science, and computer technology skills. This project will allow the college to greatly enhance and strengthen the STEM courses it provides as well as its ability to reach and attract a larger group of potential students, even at the high school level, who will have had a greater exposure to technology as an area of study and a possible career choice. The project provides a well- constructed implementation plan as well as a thoughtful process for monitoring progress, relying on the input of many stakeholders for guidance and support, and including a multi-layered process for evaluating performance. The goals of the project are: 1. To enhance STEM curriculum at SWC 2. To expand SWC's Computer Systems Technology curriculum 3. To strengthen the IT infrastructure at SWC 4. To provide community outreach opportunities This project can have a profound impact in providing a local pool of trained professionals dedicated to the growth and development of their home community. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Akipa, Kathryn Scott Morgan Sisseton Wahpeton Community College SD Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2180000 1744 SMET 9186 9178 9177 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0407783 June 1, 2004 Ho'okahua - Maui Community College. Maui Community College (MCC) will use this NSF Tribal College Undergraduate Program (TCUP) proposal to implement an institution-wide effort to restructure and strengthen introductory mathematics and science courses. MCC will increase significantly the number of students entering, persisting, and succeeding at high levels in science, mathematics and STEM degree programs, with particular focus on Hawaiian students. The name and .spirit. of this project, Ho.okahua-- .to lay a foundation.-- wil strengthen science and mathematics learning and establish the foundation upon which STEM students can succeed. The Ho.okahua project is based on research indicating that schools that establish high expectations for all students.and give them the necessary support to achieve them have high rates of academic success (Benard, 1995). This project employs a variety of strategies including .bridge. programs for high school students, STEM faculty development in interactive teaching strategies and problem-based learning techniques, mathematics and science course/curriculum improvements, and new and enhanced student support systems and organizations. MCC will implement three major improvement components through the Ho.okahua TCUP Project: (1) Provide faculty development and curriculum development opportunities to restructure and strengthen science and mathematics offerings by adapting and infusing the Interactive Mathematics Program (IMP) model into MCC.s curriculum and by strengthening content in introductory science courses, including integrating indigenous knowledge into the courses/curriculum. (2) Increase incoming student preparedness for STEM courses and programs through a series of .bridge. programs, increased faculty involvement in these programs, better alignment between the high school curriculum and the introductory science and mathematics curriculum at MCC, enhanced student outreach, and greater visibility for students succeeding in STEM careers. (3) Increase student success in STEM courses and programs by establishing Student Cohort Groups, a STEM Student Development/Counseling Office, and a STEM Computer-Assisted Study Center through which the project staff will mentor and tutor STEM students. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR wiger, flo Debra Nakama University of Hawaii HI Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 1999215 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0407787 August 1, 2004 Transforming Navajo Education: A Sustainable Plan for the 21st Century. This grant would allow CIT to capacity build in the STEM curricular areas as we develop the breadth and depth of assorted associate degrees. Student recruitment and retention will be enhanced through innovative strategies applicable to a population that has historically been excluded from opportunities in mainstream STEM programs. Scientific/Intellectual Merit: The learning laboratory, classrooms, and science labs will be equipped with scientific and technological equipment that will make the educating of students in STEM courses possible and allow CIT to become a more noticeable presence on the Navajo Nation. The grant will provide enhancement of existing and development of new learning and teaching strategies such as internships, cooperative exchanges, paid research experiences, and research exchanges with federal labs and universities. Faculty research capacity capabilities will be developed now that CIT is a candidate for accreditation and strives to become accredited. Such progress would allow CIT to compete for additional funding from research agencies and organizations in the future. Existing unique programs such as veterinary technician, nursing, dental assistant and environmental sciences will be able to reach full accreditation by their professional organizations as well. Funding from the NSF/TCUP program will assure that these programs will be successful. The Institute.s programs fill a unique vocational/technical niche in the educational opportunities available to Native American Indian students. Chief Manuelito, a Navajo Leader of the 1860s, is on record as having spoken of education as a ladder toward a brighter and more prosperous future. Program Impact: The NSF funded project would allow CIT to develop badly needed infrastructure to meet its mission of providing a quality technical/vocational education to its students. The capacity building embedded in this proposal would move CIT into a leadership capacity by allowing us to broaden degree and certificate program offerings. Also we would be able to address the critical shortage of students entering into STEM content fields through better recruitment and retention efforts. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Guy, Elmer CROWNPOINT INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NM Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2422335 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0407794 June 1, 2004 Qeraryaraliluta - Academic and STEM Bridge Building in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. To make STEM education available to the Yup.ik residents of the Y-K Delta, we propose to do the following to establish an academic program that effectively trains Alaskan Natives for STEM careers and bridges these students to the main campuses in Alaska: - A suite of proven models will be utilized. These models include (1) the Treisman model for effective methods of teaching mathematics, (2) the ANSEP model for recruitment,retention and matriculation, (3) the ESP (Emerging Scholars Program) model for retention and guidance, and (4) the TRIO model for recruitment and intensive course delivery. - The models will be modified and combined to most effectively serve the Yup.ik students in the Y-K Delta. For instance, elements of the Treisman model and the ANSEP model will be directed at recruiting and training non-traditional and under-prepared students as well as Yup.ik students with strong academic records. This program will broaden the scope of recruitment and retention beyond what has previously been done in other programs. - An integrated program of new course offerings in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and information technology will be developed at KuC. This suite of courses will give students options in the programs they enter at KuC, will enable students to receive two years of STEM education at KuC before matriculating to the four-year campuses at Fairbanks and Anchorage, and will allow them to locally receive professional certifications and associate degrees with emphasis in STEM areas. - using modified forms of the TRIO/Talent Search and the ANSEP models, both non-traditional and high school students will be recruited. Summer intensive camps will be offered to involve students in science, technology and mathematics. One-month intensive courses in mathematics, science and computer technology will be offered in order to give prospective college students stronger backgrounds in these areas before enrolling in college. Students will also participate in TALPA, where they design and build their own computer. The purpose of these summer intensives is to create interest in and excitement about STEM careers. - The summer intensives are followed by distance-delivered videoconference courses to high school students to keep them involved in the program and to continue their STEM training. A number of distance-delivered courses in ITS will also be used for this purpose. - In conjunction with the summer intensives and recruitment activities, the ESP and ANSEP faculty will engage in a proactive advising and guidance effort to involve the students in college activities, build cohort groups, a strong sense of community among the students, and improved student self image. The advising center and STEM faculty will likewise maintain contact with high school students. - Upon enrolling in KuC, students continue to receive advising, guidance and rigorous STEM training, and they continue to work within their cohort groups. Bridging will be accomplished when they matriculate to the four-year campuses. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Pete, Mary Robert Brown Martin Leonard III University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus AK Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2442663 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0407827 June 1, 2004 Mathematics: Keystone for Success. Haskell Indian Nations University proposes a five year Tribal College/University Program, .Mathematics: Keystone for Success. to increase the number of American Indian students entering STEM fields. It will do so by building the capacity of Haskell Indian Nations University to complement the knowledge of incoming students and to deliver rigorous mathematics/science instruction. Elements of the proposal required to transform Haskell.s mathematics and mathematically rich disciplines from pure service areas include: 1) Enlarging the existing and highly successful Ross Hall Learning Laboratory: The Laboratory is successful in swiftly moving students from precollege mathematics to College Algebra. Its expansion would place all students in this excellent and supportive environment and release Mathematics faculty to develop and teach higher-level mathematics courses. 2) Providing faculty development: The faculty require updating through taking classes, being involved in in-house workshops and attending conferences. 3) Develop mathematics and mathematically rich science courses: A series of classes to provide a .comprehensive. minor in mathematics at Haskell will be developed. Complementary curricula will be developed in pre-engineering, in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Biology/Environmental Sciences; and courses to serve Liberal Arts students will be created. 4) Incorporate Technologies into Haskell courses: The use of a variety of technologies will update course presentation and allow students to explore technological advances in mathematics. 5) Expanded career related experiences for students: Students will be provided academic year and summer research and internship experiences that will arouse their interest in pursuing their education in mathematics or mathematically rich disciplines. 6) Enhanced infrastructure including recruitment, assessment, retention and makes sophisticated tracking of student progress possible. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Warner, Linda Carol Bowen Haskell Indian Nations University KS Lura J. Chase Interagency Agreement 2409581 1744 SMET 9178 9177 9150 0408218 May 1, 2004 Planning Grant for Lincoln University under the NSF HBCU-UP STEM Program. This planning grant proposal under the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program will enable Lincoln University to conduct an assessment of science, mathematics, engineering and technology education, in order to develop an institutional action plan to enhance and improve the quality of STEM education programs. Activities include curriculum improvement, student education enrichment and faculty professional development. The goal of the planning grant is to ensure greater participation of minorities in STEM program areas with the end result of more students enrolling in, successfully graduating from, and eventually working in the STEM areas. The objectives of this planning grant are to establish advisory committees; to gather information from other NSF HBCU-UP institutions; to develop and conduct assessments of the STEM curriculum, program areas, students, and faculty; to seek outside evaluators; and to develop an implementation plan and proposal for submission to NSF. These objectives will be accomplished through the commitment of faculty resources and time; through the participation of interested stakeholders; through visits to institutions that have already made improvements to the STEM program areas; through use of outside consultants for assessment, technical assistance and training; and through data collection and analysis. The intellectual merit of this project is that it will encompass both quantitative and qualitative approaches to understanding the problems associated with the STEM program areas, why these problems exist, and how plans might be developed to address these problems. Through visits to other universities, this planning grant will also contribute to the understanding of factors that lead to success in STEM program areas, curriculum, student preparation, recruitment and retention. Once data is collected and analyzed, it can be used by other institutions, and the results may be appropriate for publication or for presentation at professional conferences. The broader impacts of this planning grant are improvements to diversity, infrastructure, dissemination to enhance scientific understanding and society. Diversity - The assessment will include understanding the perspectives of underrepresented minorities in the STEM areas and the challenges they face, as well as understanding the perspectives of faculty and their competencies and abilities to mentor and advise these students. Infrastructure - The assessment will include understanding student perspectives of campus housing, facilities, classrooms, and equipment; and will include visits to other institutions where living and learning have been improved upon in the STEM program areas. These assessment activities will contribute to developing implementation plans to enhance the infrastructure of Lincoln University for its students. Dissemination to Enhance Scientific Understanding - The planning grant process will include building and strengthening relationships between and among stakeholders interested in the success of STEM programs at Lincoln University. Many of the stakeholders will have the resources to assist in the enhancement of dissemination of information and research to the public and to their constituencies. Benefits to Society - Establishing relationships with high school teachers who prepare students in the STEM areas and who could influence students to consider majoring in STEM areas could be beneficial to the recruitment process. These efforts may enhance the overall recruitment and retention process and contribute to a better understanding by the public of the STEM program areas. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Simmons, Joe Frieda Eivazi Ruthi Sturdevant Lincoln University MO Camille A. McKayle Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 0410328 September 1, 2004 Howard University Science, Engineering and Mathematics (HUSEM) Program. Howard University is committed to establishing an infrastructure that coordinates STEM education campus-wide with a focus on producing graduates of excellent quality who can assume leadership roles in the engineering and scientific community. Through the NSF Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Howard will form a coordinated, cohesive community of STEM scholars, thereby increasing STEM enrollment at all levels with a special emphasis on students of exceptional quality. Howard University will provide all STEM students with access to a number of coordinated, multidisciplinary activities that will expose the student to the culture, traditions and rewards of scientific and engineering careers through a program called Howard University Science, Engineering and Mathematics Program (HUSEM). The ultimate goal is to retain these students in STEM disciplines, to have them graduate and to adequately prepare them to pursue advanced degrees (particularly the Ph.D.) in STEM fields. All STEM students will have access to HUSEM activities; however, some activities are particularly designed for the high-ability student who will be groomed for direct entry to a Ph. D. program. The proposed initiative will consist of four activities - the Distinguished Scholars Program; the Undergraduate Research Program; the Resource Retention Center; and the Interdisciplinary New Frontiers in Science and Engineering Modular Course. These programs will be integrated to accomplish the goals. Intellectual Merit: The activities will increase the production of underrepresented graduates who have a stronger fundamental understanding of mathematics and science, an improved level of undergraduate preparation and the ability to seek new knowledge through research. The objectives of the program and activities are all aimed at addressing these intellectual challenges. Broader Impacts: The activities will create a STEM culture, which produces students motivated to pursue advanced degrees in STEM and careers in the professoriate. This culture will produce scientists and engineers who have an appreciation for lifelong learning, leadership skills and the ability to work in multicultural, interdisciplinary teams. As a national leader in the on-campus production of African American Ph.D.s in STEM fields and the production of Black undergraduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s in STEM, Howard is uniquely capable of creating these broader impacts. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Taylor, Orlando Lorraine Fleming Howard University DC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2540733 1594 SMET 9178 7582 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0410552 September 1, 2004 GSE/DIS: Creating a Community of Practice on Science, Gender and Afterschool. Educational Equity Concepts, Inc. (EEC), lead agency, in collaboration with the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research at the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), proposes to create a unique web-based community of practice on science, gender and after-school (SGA). Objectives are to: (1) further research in the STEM, gender, and after-school fields; (2) aid after-school program practitioners in accessing high quality STEM content that they can incorporate into their existing programs; and (3) foster connections between researchers, policymakers and practitioners. The SGA Community of Practice will continue and extend the dialogue that began at a conference in September 2002 which resulted in a Research-Action Agenda. Participants will be able to communicate through online video and web-cast forums, threaded discussions, bulletin boards, and listservs, and disseminate science curriculum designed to address girls' interests. While the immediate audience will be the core leadership group of 50 experts who participated in the SGA Conference and/or contributed to the development of the Research-Action Agenda, others will be recruited through extensive outreach and marketing strategies. Participants will access the site through a portal in the website (www.afterschool.org) developed and managed by the AED Center. The site receives 14,000 visits and over 300,000 hits monthly. The site will be launched with a webcast forum at the AAAS Annual Conference in February 2005; this launch date is critical in that it will coincide with the new science achievement provisions mandated by No Child Left Behind, slated to go into effect the same year. Intellectual Merit: The SGA Community of Practice is a unique and innovative resource for leaders of after-school programs concerned with informal STEM education. The programs are scattered across the country but in the aggregate represent significant research, program evaluations, curricula, best practices and publications in need of dissemination and exchange. Broader Impacts: The overall goal of the SGA Community of Practice is to broaden the participation of underserved girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The goal is to develop a large and geographically distributed of researchers, practitioners and policymakers into a community of practice. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Froschl, Merle Barbara Sprung Academy for Educational Development DC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199118 1544 SMET 9178 0411015 September 1, 2004 STEM Research and Training Center. The University of the District of Columbia requests NSF support over a five-year period to implement comprehensive approaches to strengthen the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research infrastructure. The University proposes to establish a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Research and Training Center. The Center will serve as a focal point for innovative ideas and activities in STEM disciplines. This Center will enable the University to achieve the following objectives: (1) increase student enrollment and graduation rates in STEM disciplines; (2) incorporate research in gate-keeper and sophomore-level STEM courses; and, (3) provide research experiences in STEM Center laboratories for undergraduate students. Additional enrichment activities include: distinguished lecturers, research focus groups, student-research seminar, workshops, and a science poster session. Resulting from these initiatives, graduation rates, graduate/professional school-admissions, and employment in the STEM disciplines are expected to increase. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the proposed STEM infrastructure enhancements and their potential to result in significant and sustainable improvements in the overall quality of STEM instruction at the institution. The impact of the proposed efforts is to broaden the participation of under-represented minorities in STEM disciplines and the national STEM workforce. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Hervey, Eurmon Freddie Dixon University of the District of Columbia DC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2437704 1594 SMET 9178 0411103 September 1, 2004 Improving Research and Technology Experiences of MVSU STEM Undergraduates. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU) will implement the project Improving Research and Technology Experiences of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Undergraduates. The overall goal of project is an increase in the production of well-prepared, competitively trained minority graduates who enter the workforce or pursue graduate studies in STEM disciplines. The target population will be faculty and students within the Departments of Mathematics, Computer and Information Sciences (MCIS) and Natural Science and Environmental Health (NSEH). Broader impact of project: The project will integrate significant research activities into the education of STEM majors who can adequately compete with students from large research universities. Students will participate in conferences and research activites that are not normally available to MVSU students. The project will also significantly enhance the infrastructure for research and education of MVSU through faculty development efforts, which are the key to sustaining the long-term production of highly trained minority STEM graduates. The results of the project will be disseminated through oral presentations at both national and local conferences, articles in research journals, and web distribution. Intellectual Merit of the project: The project will address the low pass rate of gatekeeper courses including calculus, chemistry and physics. Strategies to improve this rate include: 1) Reforming the gatekeeper courses for STEM disciplines, 2) Motivating faculty to integrate research into the teaching of STEM disciplines, 3) Providing in-school tutoring for 1st and 2nd year STEM students, and 4) Providing opportunities for faculty development and in the use of the latest scientific technology. The project will also update the MVSU STEM program offerings by helping to bring a new Bioinformatics major online. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Bland, Constance Dr. Raymond Williams Darrell James Mississippi Valley State University MS Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2646824 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7582 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0411383 September 1, 2004 Preparing Future Scientists : Integrating Technology and Research into the STEM Curriculum. Morris College will implement comprehensive approaches to strengthen the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research infrastructure. The College will use NSF support to: (1) revise and enhance STEM gate-keeper courses by infusing research and technology into the curricula; (2) enhance student preparation and success by providing on- and off-campus research opportunities, stipends and scholarships, tutorials, and graduate school preparation; (3) enhance faculty development by engaging faculty in on- and off-campus research activities and by attending seminars, workshops and professional conferences. The intellectual merit of this project lies in its use of research, technology and student support activities to enhance student performance in STEM to the level where they become competitive scholars and researchers prepared for graduate school enrollment and success and research careers. The impact of this collection of strategies is to increase the representation of under-represented minorities in STEM disciplines and the national STEM workforce. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Staggers, Leroy Radman Ali Morris College SC Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2549239 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0411387 September 1, 2004 University of Maryland Eastern Shore Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology ACTION Program. Through the NSF Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will implement the ACTION Program (Advanced Curriculum and Technology-Based Instruction Opportunities Network). ACTION will address the low numbers of under-represented minorities completing undergraduate degrees, pursuing advanced degrees, and entering the workforce in the fields of science, technology engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The goals of the project include: 1) Develop an effective recruiting and college bridge program; 2) Improve STEM education infrastructure, improve retention rates and performance in STEM courses; 3) Develop a complete STEM undergraduate research infrastructure; and 4) Provide STEM faculty with the incentives to be first-rate mentors, instructors, and researchers. Strategies that will be implemented include: 1) Develop a comprehensive web- site, UMES ACTION program, that disseminates enrollment and course placement information to science teachers, counselors, and other school officials in order to help recruit STEM students; 2) Coordinate with LSAMP recruitment efforts via a faculty visitation program; 3) Increase the preparation of entering students to increase retention and enrollment; 4) Review and revise gate-keeping and bottleneck courses, standardize multiple section courses, and implement a supplemental homework and support laboratory for each course; 5) Develop research opportunities for students completing their first year of coursework; 6) Develop a faculty and upperclassmen student research program that emphasizes the scientific method, data collection, and the characterization and dissemination of results; 7) Establish internships, summer employment, and other off-campus research related activities; and 8) Provide support for faculty development through research and technical instruction activities. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The ACTION project is modeled after previously successful programs including; a Xavier University model on standardized courseware, the National Science Education Standards, and the UMES LSAMP summer bridge program. The ACTION project will effectively manage student enrollment resulting in increasing, retaining, and graduating students in the STEM disciplines. Students will have access to mentoring, tutoring, revised curricula and pedagogies, and research opportunities. Faculty of core gate-keeping courses will participate in systematically improved curricula and pedagogy thereby addressing the importance of both student preparedness and faculty pedagogy in STEM education. BROADER IMPACT: The ACTION project impacts African American undergraduates entering STEM disciplines, prepares students for graduate studies, and provides a broad range of research experiences. The project has considerable potential to impact the number of African American undergraduate and graduate students in the STEM fields. Faculty who benefit from project activities will impact large numbers of STEM students. The project activities address locally identified needs, but the prevalence of similar needs nationally implies potential for duplication. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Williams, Charles Eddie Boyd Robert Johnson Daniel Seaton University of Maryland Eastern Shore MD Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2498588 1594 SMET 9178 0411394 September 1, 2004 Student Research Initiative with Modeling and Computational Science. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Hampton University will implement a comprehensive program that will: 1) enhance curricula in modeling and computational science; 2) provide a summer program for entering freshmen; 3) provide research opportunities for undergraduate students; 4) provide professional development for faculty in the areas of mentoring, technology, and modeling; 5) support student scholars. Hampton University will continue to support the Integrated Learning Environment that was established during their first HBCU-UP project. Intellectual Merit: The project will ensure that undergraduate students have the tools to be academically and professionally competitive. As highlighted in a 1999 National Academy of Science report, undergraduate students must possess (1) contemporary skills that allow them to use computer applications, (2) foundational concepts that enable them to demonstrate a basic understanding of the principles and concepts of computing, and (3) demonstrate intellectual skills including the ability to apply information technology to particular situations, and to use this technology to solve new problems. The implementation of the Student Research Initiative with Modeling and Computational Science will address these academic challenges. Broader Impact: The HBCU-UP project targets biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, and psychology, where women and minorities are underrepresented. By providing students with training and tools in modeling and computational science, and providing research opportunities that will supplement their selected program of study, students will be better equipped to succeed in graduate school and the workforce. The HBCU-UP project will enhance undergraduate research in the sciences and engineering and increase the number of women and African-Americans who pursue advanced degrees and careers in STEM fields. The Student Research Initiative with Modeling and Computational Science project can serve as a model for other institutions. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Jarrett, Joyce Douglas DePriest Hampton University VA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 3016141 1594 SMET 9178 7582 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0411412 June 1, 2004 A Strategic Plan for the Successful Participation of Minority Students in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology. This planning grant proposal under the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program will enable Florida Memorial College (FMC), the only Historically Black College in the south of Florida, to conduct an assessment of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education (STEM), in order to develop an institutional action plan to enhance and improve the quality of STEM education programs. FMC serves the immediate community as well as many students from the Caribbean islands of African descent (Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, Trinidad/Tobago, and Jamaica). STEM Faculty at FMC have long recognized the need to increase the number of students who matriculate in the STEM disciplines and the planning grant will facilitate strategic planning toward this goal. The overall objectives of this planning grant are: a) prepare students for graduate school by having tutorial programs specifically designed to increase the students' performance on the graduate record examination (GRE); b) strengthen the STEM curricula by offering courses (lectures and laboratories) at the lower level that would enable the student to be better prepared for 'upper level' courses that are more challenging; c) develop partnerships with nearby institutes/universities for the purposes of training both faculty and students in the STEM courses/laboratories; and d) decrease the poor performance of so-called bottle-neck courses (physics, pre-calculus, calculus series, and in some cases organic chemistry). These objectives will have one common outcome: the increase in graduation rates of students in STEM disciplines, and their entry into graduate school. What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity? The project includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches to understanding the problems associated with the STEM program areas and how to address these problems. The project uses lessons learned, problems and practices used at other HBCUs to inform the project goals and methodology. Once data is collected and analyzed by FMC it will be used to create a well-designed implementation project. What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity? The goal of the planning grant is to develop quantifiable methods to recruit, retain, and graduate underrepresented students in STEM at FMC, and upon graduation, encourage and facilitate their entry into graduate school to pursue terminal degrees in the STEM fields. Implementation of these strategies will have a positive societal impact and an overall enrichment and improvement of scientific discourse. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Stiffin, Rose Florida Memorial College FL Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 0411421 September 1, 2004 The Coppin STEM Project. The goal of the Coppin State College Stem Project (C-STEM) under the NSF Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), is to broaden minority participation in the national STEM workforce by recruiting, retaining and graduating increased numbers of STEM students who are prepared for entry into graduate programs and employment in STEM fields. This will be accomplished through the implementation of prescriptive objectives and strategies in faculty and curriculum development and through student outreach and support in mathematics and the sciences and technologies. Project goals include: 1) enrolling 300 freshman students interested in STEM; 2) increasing the number of STEM entering freshman students with high SAT scores; 3) increasing pass rates by 50% over five years in bottleneck courses; 4) increasing retention rates of STEM students to 60%; 5) increasing the number of STEM graduates from 43 to 150 over the five year project period; 6) increasing the number of STEM graduates admitted to graduate programs; and 7) conducting an ongoing evaluation of the C-STEM Program. Four major strategies will be implemented in order to meet the project goals include: 1) enhancing, developing, and implementing STEM curricular offerings utilizing pedagogy that is effective with disadvantaged and minority students; 2) developing and implementing an aggressive college and community outreach effort to recruit students into STEM programs and increasing student support services to increase retention and graduation rates; 3) integrating research-based teaching and internships throughout the STEM Program, using the successful McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program at Coppin, and through partnerships with educational and research institutions; and 4) implementing a plan for continuing faculty development. The intellectual merit of the C-STEM activities includes advancing knowledge regarding curricular, instructional and support strategies effective with minority and/or disadvantaged undergraduate populations, and measurable strategies that improve matriculation, retention and graduation. The broader impact of the C-STEM project activities includes higher graduation and employment in STEM fields of the target population. C-STEM will integrate research and education by infusing learning with discovery, and integrate diversity into faculty and curriculum development, student outreach, and support activities. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Battle, Stanley Edward Sommerfeldt Gilbert Ogonji Coppin State College MD Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2499550 1594 SMET 9178 0411432 May 1, 2004 HBCU-UP Planning Grant. The overall goal of the planning project is to conduct self-assessments and external research that will result in the development of a full HBCU-UP implementation proposal, which will include an institutional model and action plan to improve STEM instruction. The proposed planning grant will: (1) explore successful methodologies for mastering basic mathematics skills of freshmen who enter college under-prepared for college-level mathematics; (2) review best practices in mathematics and other STEM gatekeeper courses among selected HBCUs, including textbook selection and other learning resources; and (3) prepare a full HBCU-UP implementation proposal. In the planning phase, site visits to one or more HBCUs that have received 5-year HBCU-UP awards will be made and student assistants will work with the PI and Co-PI to distribute and collect a survey instrument to ascertain best practices among selected HBCUs. A consultant will be utilized to analyze the data and provide advice with respect to preparation of the full proposal. An internal Advisory Committee will also provide guidance with respect to the planning process. Although Lane College students no longer take developmental courses based on an evaluation of student success after taking the course, many students are not ready for college-level reading and mathematics upon entry. Many of these students are under-prepared for college-level mathematics, and are expected to bridge their learning gap in the course MAT 135 College Algebra a five-credit hour course that meets daily. The planning grant will assist the College in conducting research with respect to best practices for bridging the gap in mathematics skills of its entering freshmen, while encouraging them to pursue and persist in STEM majors through graduation at the same time. Intellectual Merit The intellectual merit of a full HBCU-UP implementation project on STEM programs at Lane College would include: 1. Bridging the gap in mathematics skills of its entering freshmen, while encouraging them to pursue and persist in STEM majors through graduation at the same time; 2. Increasing the number of STEM majors who have significant research experience at the undergraduate level, and enter graduate school with stronger portfolios; 3. Improving participation of STEM faculty in research experiences that involve the students and other faculty development activities; and 4. Developing a stronger curriculum in Algebra and all STEM gatekeeper courses. Broader Impact Enrollment at Lane College for fall 2003 is 952, ninety-eight percent of whom are African American, and 60% of whom are Tennessee residents. The broader impact of a full HBCU-UP implementation project on STEM programs at Lane College would include: 1. Increasing the number of African American students matriculating at Lane College who complete STEM majors; 3. Increasing the number of African American students who pursue the 2-3 Engineering program with Tennessee State University; and 4. Increasing the number of freshman STEM majors who participate in summer pre-college science programs. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Lott, Vicki Tade Adedokun Lane College TN Camille A. McKayle Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0411449 September 1, 2004 HBCU-UP: STEM Academy at University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Through the NSF Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) will implement a project called STEM Academy. The project will focus on four areas: recruitment and retention; faculty development; curriculum redesign and technology infusion; and research infrastructure. The target student population includes University students as well as high school students. The proposed STEM Academy is a comprehensive program that builds on the mission of the University. As part of an HBCU-UP planning grant, a multidisciplinary University team including STEM faculty and administrators as well as University STEM students, high school students and teachers, and professionals working in STEM areas guided planning for this comprehensive HBCU-UP program. Intellectual Merit: Research is an essential part of the STEM Academy and will be a central focus on the development of STEM curricula, the recruitment and retention of students in STEM areas, and the continuity of infrastructure support for STEM Academy activities. Faculty professional development is seamlessly linked to the success of students in the STEM Academy. Workshops, seminars, and professional development opportunities will be provided to all STEM faculty. Faculty will engage in pedagogy that will engage students with multiple learning styles in order to retain students in STEM areas. Pedagogical training will be provided to the STEM faculty with STEM Academy faculty serving as mentors to junior faculty and as mentors and tutors to STEM undergraduates. Each STEM area will have a Team Faculty Leader that will offer support to students in different disciplines and facilitate mentor-student relationship development. Faculty will be trained in the development of web-based courses, mentoring and tutoring students, e-mail listserv for dissemination of information and showcasing successes, and will be linked to research projects at partnering institutions. The STEM Academy research activities will be a collaborative effort with institutions such as the National Center for Toxicological Research at Jefferson, AR; the National Rice Research Center at Stuttgart, AR; Jackson State University, Arkansas State University, and the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences. First-year students will participate in a 10-week summer program that will prepare them for their major courses. STEM courses will be infused with technology and research activities providing new opportunities for both faculty and students to benefit from STEM Academy activities. New courses will also be established (e.g., Introduction to Research). Each year, STEM faculty will receive competitive research funding from the STEM Academy serving as research seed funds to stimulate the development of sustainable research programs. Broader Impacts: The STEM Academy will increase the number of students admitted to the University and majoring in STEM areas by 10% annually. In addition the STEM Academy will increase the number of STEM undergraduates who complete their degrees by 50% over the duration of the five-year funding period. By integrating research and education and infusing research funds to stimulate faculty research the STEM Academy will also involve 75% of the University STEM faculty and all STEM students in research activities over the duration of the five-year program. While focused on a delineated population, this project will have a broader impact by refining the STEM curricula through the addition of review and practice sessions, laboratory upgrades, and the addition of a mathematics lab for teaching and research along with the infusion of technology, cooperative learning, and writing in the STEM disciplines. These interventions will improve the science research, teaching and learning environment, not only for STEM majors but also for all University students who take STEM courses as major or general education requirements. Unique to the STEM Academy is outreach to regional high school students. The transition from high school to college will be specifically addressed by STEM Academy programs to ensure that students are integrated into the University community prior to starting their first year thus ensuring that these important and often under-served students are not lost but are provided every opportunity to gain entry into STEM careers. The successful participation of undergraduate, and even high school students, in the STEM Academy will help to reduce the national under-representation of minorities, especially African Americans, in STEM careers. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Benjamin, Mary Charles Colen University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff AR Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2552700 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7204 0116000 Human Subjects 0411454 September 1, 2004 BETTER: Building Excellence in Training, Teaching, Education and Research. With NSF support, Bowie State University will develop further its STEM capabilities involving minority students in greater numbers, paving the way for eventual increase of underrepresented degree seeking students in STEM disciplines. Project goals are (1) to develop an academic infrastructure that produces quality STEM graduates, (2) to expand the participation of underrepresented minority students and faculty, and (3) to strengthen a diverse internationally competitive and globally engaged workforce of scientists, engineers, and well prepared citizens. Project synergistic activities include (1) revising STEM gate-keeping courses and promoting conceptual curricular continuity; (2) accelerating graduation and developing STEM Honors Program offerings; (3) developing new undergraduate programs in Bio-informatics and Computational Biology, and Computer Network Security; (4) implementation of research-based teaching and learning techniques and practices; (5) providing research and Internship opportunities to STEM undergraduate students; (6) expanding tutoring opportunities and building an assessment, intervention and advisement plan; (7) organizing Summer Academy for entering STEM freshmen; (8) providing support for successful entry into STEM graduate programs through a strong undergraduate curriculum and GRE preparation; (9) organizing professional workshops for faculty development, and research opportunities for faculty on/off campus, and (10) organizing an annual symposium on undergraduate research. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the proposed STEM infrastructure enhancements and their potential to result in significant and sustainable improvements in the overall quality of STEM instruction at the institution. The impact of the proposed efforts is to broaden the participation of under-represented minorities in STEM disciplines and the national STEM workforce. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Pierce-Ramsey, Patricia Elaine Davis Sadanand Srivastava Nelson Petulante Bowie State University MD Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2700462 1594 SMET 9178 0411464 September 1, 2004 Enhanced Communication and Collaboration among STEM Disciplines through Undergraduate Curriculum Development and Research Opportunities. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Tuskegee University will implement the project called Enhanced Communication and Collaboration among STEM Disciplines through Undergraduate Curriculum Development and Research Opportunities. The project builds on the successes of the previous Tuskegee HBCU-UP award. The project focuses on curriculum development across disciplines. Faculty teams will address how to blend aspects of two or more related disciplines into courses of each curriculum or into joint courses. To serve as examples of successfully working across disciplines, these faculty teams will develop a series of projects to provide very specific goals to be achieved. The teams of the project will focus on the following. - A pilot seminar, initially for introductory-level biology students, whose goals are increased mathematical problem-solving skills and exposure to computer tools and strategies crucial to modern biosciences; - A bioinformatics program to bring together students from various disciplines; - Development of an aerospace science engineering flight simulation environment to teach STEM concepts and offer opportunities to build upon current student interdisciplinary research in engineering and psychology; - Enhancement of the computer science curriculum in the areas of security concepts, ethical questions relating to computer security, and real-world training with the Campus Technology Department; - An honors research/curriculum program in organic chemistry (ROCKETS); and - A transition program (Bridge Program), a precollege program for promising high school graduates, using computer simulations and modeling as a means to enhance critical thinking through visual applications and to practice problem-solving in a specific STEM area. Research by undergraduates is an integral part of this approach. Research will be designed into the interdisciplinary curriculum enhancements being developed by each of the teams. Additionally, academic year and summer research by undergraduates will become an expected part of the program at Tuskegee University. To assure the coordination of this internal and external research, a Director of Undergraduate Research position will be established. The intellectual merit of these proposed activities is the development of realistic models for teaching across disciplines. The approach for this development includes the use of interdisciplinary critical thinking modules, using simulation and modeling environments. The introductory-level pilot seminar in biology provides a model for the initiation of interdisciplinary programs at the undergraduate level. This seminar establishes the foundation for the focus on bioinformatics at the undergraduate level. The disciplines of biology, chemistry, computer science, and mathematics will be involved in the development of the bioinformatics program. Similarly, the enhancement of the computer science curriculum with information security concepts and the interaction between the Aerospace Science Engineering and Psychology Departments will provide new learning environments for undergraduate students. The research aspect of the project will be inclusive and provide a model for involving undergraduates in research at relatively small institutions. The involvement will be internal and external and will be coordinated by a Director of Undergraduate Research. All these aspects can be used as models for other Tuskegee University STEM courses not considered in this project, as well as for STEM programs at all universities. The program is designed to provide significant impact on students in the freshman and sophomore years. The foundation courses in mathematics for the Bridge Program will be applied to the academic year courses in first year college mathematics. This action will impact all STEM students at Tuskegee University. The pilot seminar in biology impacts all biology majors. The intent is for the interdisciplinary approach to impact all STEM students at Tuskegee University. The research focus, from ROCKETS to the activities of the Director of Undergraduate Research, is intended, also, to impact all Tuskegee STEM students. The upper level courses in computer science, aerospace science engineering, and psychology will impact the advanced students in the respective majors and their view of their major. Additionally, the activities of the teams will be presented to the STEM faculty of Tuskegee University, presented at professional meetings, and published in refereed journals. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Williams, Luther Gregory Pritchett Danielle Gray-Singh Tuskegee University AL Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2498843 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0411468 August 1, 2004 Pull-Strengthen-Push Undergraduate Program. Through the NSF Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Albany State University (ASU), will implement a comprehensive project to strengthen the STEM programs based on a Pull-Strengthen-Push model. The goal of the Pull-Strengthen-Push project is to significantly increase the number of minority students enrolling in, and successfully completing STEM programs that will prepare them to pursue post baccalaureate experiences in STEM disciplines. This project aims for a 15 percent increase in the number of minority students who enter STEM disciplines, a reduction of the attrition rate of students in the gateway courses by 10 percent, and an increase in STEM graduate school enrollment. The Pull-Strengthen-Push model will address the needs of minority students through early intervention and excellence in teaching and learning project. Students will be pulled from the four high schools in the Dougherty County School System through activities targeting potential STEM majors as early as the 9th grade. An extensive move to totally embrace the science and mathematics departments of these high schools will involve working with teachers to enhance the STEM curriculum, especially the Advanced Placement (AP) courses and providing the resources to offer AP courses where not available. Academic assistance, career counseling, and research experiences will be afforded these students during both the academic year and the summers. A similar effort will be made for two-year colleges to encourage transfer to the STEM programs at ASU. Efforts to strengthen the STEM curriculum will build on past success. A new strategy, student oriented comprehensive knowledge enhancement technique (SOCKET), will be employed. Finally, the project will incorporate a new approach to push STEM students into graduate school. Activities include collaborative agreements with graduate institutions, and graduate school preparation plans for students at the start of their junior year. All STEM students will benefit from these collaborations through seminars, graduate school visitations, and GRE preparation workshops. The intellectual merit of this project includes: the infusion of scientific research into the learning process in grade levels 9-16, improved preparation for Calculus and General Chemistry/Physics of students entering the university, inquiry based STEM curriculum at the university, and an enhanced STEM culture within the university and the local high school district. The broader impact of the project includes: the enhanced STEM programs at the local high schools and the high school science teacher and ASU collaborations, an increased number of underrepresented minorities with STEM degrees seeking terminal and professional degrees, and the higher educational level of the community will result in a greater economic power within the community. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Ojemakinde, Abiodun Connie Leggett Louise Wrensford Granville Wrensford Kwaichow Chan Albany State University GA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2499469 1594 SMET 9178 0411484 September 1, 2004 Classrooms as Integrated Learning Communities (CILC). With NSF support, Dillard University will implement the project "Classrooms as Integrated Learning Communities (CILC)", a comprehensive action plan to address the continued under-representation of minorities receiving baccalaureate and graduate degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This strategy is designed to provide a comprehensive approach to improve STEM students' performance in gate-keeping courses, institutionalize and expand an undergraduate research framework, and ultimately increase the number of minority students receiving degrees in STEM disciplines. Project outcomes are driven by three major objectives and corresponding activities: (1) develop and maintain a vigorous and systemic recruitment infrastructure within the University and the STEM disciplines that identify, motivate, attract and enroll minority students within these disciplines; (2) strengthen curricula and courses through a model Integrated Research Laboratory (IRL) for targeted STEM disciplines; and (3) develop capacity to provide students advanced research opportunities, through completion of a molecular biology core facility for molecular-level research in STEM disciplines. The intellectual merit of CILC is captured in the first of the two guiding principles of this initiative: (1) improvement of success rates among minority students in STEM disciplines will promote increased evaluation and contribution toward the limited research available on minority STEM students in contexts where they are most successful. The broader impact of CILC is captured in the second of these guiding principles: (2) by strengthening students' performance in STEM gate-keeping courses, thereby allowing them to make seamless transitions into more rigorous STEM studies, and making mentored research an expectation of the learning experience, undergraduate students will complete STEM disciplines at increased rates and be better prepared to pursue and complete graduate studies. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Smith, Bettye John Wilson Carlen McLin Hong Dai Dillard University LA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2864116 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7582 0411486 September 1, 2004 STEM Connections HBCU-UP. Through the NSF Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Benedict College will implement a comprehensive project called STEM Connections which includes: Support for enrichment and extension of STEM student experiences; Acquisition of instrumentation for curriculum design and delivery; and Faculty development activities that encourage research and the use of technology and other creative methodologies. The project activities were developed during an HBCU-UP planning grant. STEM Connections overall goal is to increase the number and highlight connectivity between scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians to strengthen the National STEM workforce. This program recruits, develops, and connects participants locally and nationally - both students and faculty, beginning as early as high school and through the undergraduate years and beyond. Intellectual Merit: STEM Connections activities include: (1) exposure for high school students to STEM with an opportunity to earn dual college credit in their junior and senior high school years; (2) sustainable tracking, monitoring, incentive and intervention activities targeting STEM undergraduate class attendance, satisfactory academic progress, and participation in performance enhancement offerings; (3) early and continuous involvement in activities that facilitate successful graduate school application and matriculation; (4) the establishment of a new discipline-integrated instructional team and student cohort approach to undergraduate studies in computer and electrical engineering, adapting concepts from SC ATE, a NSF funded engineering technology initiative; and (5) faculty/student collaborations on research that enriches the undergraduate experience, provides professional development opportunities for junior and senior faculty, and connects faculty/students in a manner that promotes networking with renown scientists for collaboration beyond the undergraduate years. Broader Impact: STEM Connections activities will: (1) significantly increase the number of undergraduates entering the STEM majors; (2) retain STEM majors through the completion of their bachelor of science degree - thereby reversing the current low retention trend with emphasis on success in gate-keeping courses; (3) improve preparation of STEM students for graduate studies as measured by performance on standardized examinations, increase the number of STEM students participating in internships, summer research and other enhancement programs, and increase in the number of successful Benedict applicants to STEM graduate programs; (4) increase the number of computer and electrical engineers in the Nations workforce, with the implementation of a discipline- integrated curriculum which infuses laboratory technology directly in the lecture environment; and (5) increase the number of undergraduate STEM majors that enter the professional arena and graduate school with recognized participation and exposure to ground-breaking research, as measured by laboratory assistance and investigative work resulting in national publications and presentations under the mentorship and as apprentice collaborators with STEM faculty. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Jones, Stacey Richard Miller Benedict College SC Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2109674 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0411493 September 1, 2004 SMART-UP (Strengthening Minority Access to Research Training through Undergraduate Programs). LeMoyne-Owen College will implement comprehensive approaches to strengthen the institution's undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research infrastructure. With NSF support, LeMoyne-Owen College will (1) improve student skills in mathematics, communication, and the physical sciences by offering pre-freshman summer programs and tutoring associated with STEM gatekeeper courses; (2) revise the STEM curriculum to promote active learning; (3) provide on-site and off-site undergraduate research experiences as well as industry internships; (3) provide faculty professional development opportunities; and (4) provide other student-centered academic enrichment activities to prepare students for graduate study and success in the STEM workforce. Proposed efforts build on and will coordinate with academic enhancement strategies developed as part of the NSF supported Mid-South Alliance for Minority Participation Program. Proven effective practices are also incorporated from the Environmental Protection Agency funded Storm Water Environmental Education Program. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the proposed STEM infrastructure enhancements and their potential to result in significant and sustainable improvements in the overall quality of STEM instruction at the institution. The impact of the proposed efforts is to broaden the participation of under-represented minorities in STEM disciplines and the national STEM workforce. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Frankle, Barbara Muhammad Shafi Le Moyne-Owen College TN Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2375222 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0411525 September 1, 2004 Building a S-T-E-M Learning Community At Johnson C. Smith University. With National Science Foundation support, Johnson C Smith University will establish a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Learning Community to produce STEM undergraduates well able to use problem-based learning, interdisciplinary inquiry, in-depth analysis, technology, and critique for reflection and change. The STEM Learning Community will include a freshman STEM experience, second year STEM problem-based learning activities, field-specific upper level college courses and research experiences, and continuous faculty/student research opportunities and career and graduate school advisement. This model will serve as a national competency-, performance-based curriculum to produce capable STEM graduates who will successfully pursue graduate study or enter the STEM work force. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the proposed STEM infrastructure enhancements and their potential to result in significant and sustainable improvements in the overall quality of STEM instruction at the institution. The impact of the proposed efforts is to broaden the participation of under-represented minorities in STEM disciplines and the national STEM workforce and provide a model for enhanced undergraduate STEM learning. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Attia, Magdy Ahmed Faik Johnson C. Smith University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2500000 1594 SMET 9178 0411529 September 1, 2004 Initiative for Transforming and Sustaining Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at North Carolina Central University. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), North Carolina Central University will enhance their STEM programs through a project entitled, Initiative for Transforming Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at North Carolina Central University. The goal of the program is to develop, implement, evaluate, and institutionalize a program that will achieve, and sustain, a high quality and competitive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics program at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). The project will increase in the number of students successfully completing gatekeeper science courses, completing baccalaureate degrees, and going on to graduate and professional schools in the STEM areas. The program will consist of four major components: 1) The Undergraduate Training and Research Experience - A six-week residential summer enrichment program for 20 pre-freshmen post high school students each year. Participants in the program must have already sent in an intent to enroll form and declared a major in one of the STEM areas. The program curriculum will consist of modules from the science odyssey and mathematics core courses, reading and writing classes and field trips. Students who complete the program will join the Undergraduate Research Program, where they will be paired with faculty researchers and a research scientist. Students in the Undergraduate Research Program are encouraged to develop research skills, and present their results for publication in local, state, and national undergraduate research journals; 2) Curriculum Enhancement - The development of new courses in electronics, bioinformatics, mathematics, and environmental and earth sciences, will infuse research and technology in STEM courses, and align curricula across the STEM areas. A critical thinking model will be developed for involving students in strengthening their ability to transfer and apply knowledge from lectures to laboratory experiences, and from first year gatekeeper courses to upper level STEM courses; 3) Faculty Development - The future will require employees that are accomplished in moving easily among the many disciplines that will be applied in life-sciences companies and cutting-edge research laboratories. The faculty development component will focus on faculty exchanges, visiting scientists, an e-mentoring network, and a series of professional development workshops designed to promote scientific and intellectual exchanges between NCCU STEM faculty and their peers. The goals of this project are to enhance faculty research competitiveness and support innovations in teaching with emphasis on the transfer applications of knowledge across scientific disciplines; and 4) Partnerships - In order to assist students in developing research experiences partnerships for internships, fellowships and scholarships will be developed. These partnerships will better prepare students to navigate their way seamlessly from the university to the career markets of the future. The broader impacts of this project includes better prepared students competitive for a biotechnology, bioinformatics workforce and establishing a pipeline of students into graduate and professional programs. The curriculum enhancements are based on the mission and strategic plan of the University and will have long-term impact for the institution. NCCU will become a producer of knowledge and best practices as part of the development of a model on transferring knowledge and skills. Science research support programs such as Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC), Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation in Science and Math (LSAMP), and Minority Biomedical Research Sciences (MBRS) will be coordinated to provide a greater benefit to students. The intellectual merits of this project will be the increased depth of knowledge students in bioinformatics and biotechnology as a result of exposure to state of the art scientific equipment and visiting scientists, and research internships and cooperatives. Results and progress of the program will be regularly disseminated through newsletters, area newspapers, radio and television media, professional journals, and other student and faculty publications. Best practices will be shared with local universities at seminars and conferences. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Johnson, Bernice Sandra White Alade Tokuta Saundra DeLauder North Carolina Central University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2497342 1594 SMET 9179 0411538 May 1, 2004 Huston-Tillotson College HBCU-UP Planning Grant. The overall goal of the Huston-Tillotson College (HTC) planning project is to conduct self-assessments and external research that will result in the development of a full HBCU-UP implementation proposal. The full proposal will include a conceptual blueprint for an exemplary program that is complementary to the goals of the institution and responsive to the learning needs of a student population that is under represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematic (STEM) fields. The proposed planning grant will: (1) conduct a detailed evaluation of its STEM faculty, curriculum, students, and scientific infrastructure; (2) study and adopt the effective practices of institutions with exemplary STEM programs; (3) design professional development strategies that will improve the capabilities of STEM faculty and thereby increase student learning outcomes; and (4) develop cooperative agreements with research-intensive institutions as partners and collaborators. During the planning process, HTC will: (a) procure the services of a professional evaluator to conduct a STEM institutional assessment, (b) identify contingencies for unmet needs; (c) adapt the best-practices of partner and model institutions by performing site visits to other institutions; and (d) integrate the results into a cohesive and sustainable plan of action for the institution. Intellectual Merit The planning grant activities are based on a research and have objectives that are tied to the institutional strategic goals. The planning grant will evaluate all STEM programs to determine the best course of action to enhance the STEM programs for the institution. HTC is poised and committed to enhancing the STEM education that is offered to its students. Broader Impact The broader impact of the development of a full HBCU-UP implementation project on the STEM programs at HTC includes: 1) The development of a collegiate environment that attracts STEM majors, trains and retains them to graduation, and 2) The increase of the numbers of HTC students going into graduate programs or careers in STEM fields. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Jenkins, Nadine Muchere Russ Huston-Tillotson College TX Camille A. McKayle Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 0411541 September 1, 2004 STEM Enhancement Program. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) will implement a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Enhancement Program. The project will build upon the infrastructure of a previous HBCU-UP project by extending and establishing new processes and strategies to move the institution to the next level of STEM program quality and participation. Activities include: (1) Increased Undergraduate Research Experiences in STEM Disciplines, (2) University-wide STEM Scholars Program, (3) Transfer Student Initiative, (4) Partnerships with Industry and Foundations for Scholarship Endowment, (5) Bridges from High School to College, (6) High School Mathematics Project, (7) STEM Tutorial Center, and (8) Serving the Hispanic Student Population. Intellectual Merit of Proposed Program: The project will: (1) Establish an undergraduate research component for incoming freshmen students, which will prepare students for freshman courses and early internships; (2) Extend the PVAMU STEM-NSF Scholars activities to a university-wide program to mentor and nurture freshmen and sophomores in maintaining academic excellence; (3) Offer a clear pathway of academic and professional development, along with financial resources for transfer students from two-year and community colleges; (4) Pursue scholarship endowments, which will be established by the university to support the academic development of STEM majors; (5) Advance the knowledge and understanding of high school students in STEM-related fields by providing periodic newsletters with well-defined pathways from high school to college, from college to graduate school, the workforce and beyond. The early exposure to such knowledge and experiences will influence a firm college academic foundation and greater academic success beyond the undergraduate degree; (6) Extend services to enhance mathematics in high schools; (7) Integrate smaller tutorial sessions to establish a complete Tutorial Center for STEM disciplines; (8) Aggressively pursue our increasing Hispanic population, which illustrates great promise for our intellectual society and the STEM workforce. The program of new activities will expand the intellectual merit established under the first five-year endeavor and provide participants who are better prepared to matriculate through a quality undergraduate education in STEM disciplines to graduate school or the workforce. Broader Impacts of Proposed Program: The activities of the second five-year period will be extended to high schools, community and two-year colleges, industry and the local Hispanic communities. The broader impacts will be realized through the following: (1) STEM students will receive research and professional development training for internships during the freshman year of college; (2) All PVAMU scholarship students will receive special treatment to mentor and nurture intellectual talents, which will serve as an incentive for non-scholarship students to work harder to attain scholarship status; (3) Partnerships with regional community and two-year colleges will help inform potential STEM students of opportunities and scholarships at PVAMU to help continue their undergraduate education; (4) Activities and partnerships will encourage and engage industry, government programs and foundations to answer the national charge to enhance educational opportunities for underrepresented populations in STEM related disciplines; (5) Mail-outs and distance learning technologies will encourage and engage teachers and students of over two hundred high schools to improve and update STEM classroom activities and to diligently work at preparing for college; (6) The investment of developing and maintaining a quality educational foundation for STEM disciplines through reform and assessment will be promulgated by establishing a STEM Tutorial Center, which will provide special assistance to any student needing assistance in introductory STEM courses; (7) The STEM Enhancement Program will employ a part-time Hispanic recruiter to help mentor and educate Hispanic high school students concerning the opportunities and resources available to them for a college education. The broader impacts are designed to better prepare and inform candidates for undergraduate education in STEM disciplines, provide resources to make a college education a reality for any qualified student, and engage individuals, industry, government agencies and foundations to invest in the national charge to truly educate the next generation. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Thomas-Smith, Joahanne Kelvin Kirby Prairie View A & M University TX Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2509000 1594 SMET 9178 7204 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0411545 September 1, 2004 Enhancing Research Skills of STEM Majors at Alcorn State University. With NSF support, Alcorn State University will build upon effective practices developed during a previous HBCU-UP award to further strengthen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction. Undergraduate STEM students will expand significantly their participation in research conducted both on- and off- campus. During the summer following their freshmen year, student participants will acquire analytical skills in mathematics and communication and learn basic laboratory research techniques. Through the sophomore year, students will continue research training through the use of technology enhanced instructional strategies. In the summer following their sophomore year, students will engage in faculty-supervised research at a partner research institution. Additional research training is provided throughout the balance of students' undergraduate experience. During their junior and senior years, students also serve as peer-tutors to STEM freshmen and sophomores. The intellectual merit of the project lies in the advancement of the knowledge base concerning STEM undergraduate teaching and learning emphasizing both the theoretical and practical aspects of research. The broader impact of the project lies in the enhanced participation of under-represented minorities in STEM disciplines and the national STEM workforce that will result from the Alcorn State University HBCU-UP project. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Williams, Malvin Thomas Bolden Ravinder Kumar Alcorn State University MS Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2709550 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7582 7204 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0411555 September 1, 2004 Recruit and Retain Through Enriched Educational Programs. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Xavier University of Louisiana will implement a comprehensive program to Recruit and Retain qualified minority high school students through Enriched Educational Programs (RREEP). Studies have confirmed that, nationally, less than 10% of the African Americans receive their bachelors degrees in STEM disciplines. Compared to the 28% minority representation in the entire population less than 5% percent are in the science and technical work force. These small percentages can be attributed to a number of factors that include a lack of faculty mentoring, inadequate advising and, most of all, inadequacies in science and mathematics education in K-12 schools. Xavier proposes a solution to this problem with support from NSF by following targeted goals and objectives through RREEP. The goals of this proposal are to: i) increase the retention rate of minorities in the STEM disciplines and ii) increase the number of African American students at Xavier who major in chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, or physics, and contribute towards increasing the number of African Americans entering to the work force in these disciplines. In support of these goals, Xavier has identified specific objectives. These objectives are to: i) increase the successful completion rate of STEM students in developmental mathematics courses from 50% to 75%; ii) increase the successful completion rate of STEM students in gate keeping courses from 60% to 75%; and iii) increase the overall enrollment in selected STEM disciplines by 60% over the next five years. Xavier University has a long tradition of success in science education (especially in the preparation of students for medical school) places it in a unique position to achieve these goals and to make a significant impact on the STEM workforce. This proposal outlines a comprehensive program that will assist the University in achieving the above-stated goals as it adapts and enhances the successful programs already in place. This project includes activities to: a) develop a new summer bridge program for under-prepared students b) restructure a current summer bridge program, c) collaborate with local middle and high schools through summer/Saturday workshops for science and mathematics teachers, and d) enhance/improve the pedagogy used in developmental mathematics and gate keeping courses in the STEM disciplines. Intellectual Merit: The improved instructional structure proposed will result in a higher retention rate and higher achievement levels of the students at Xavier University. This can serve as a model for other institutions. Broader impact: The proposed Saturday workshops for in-service teachers will i) increase the knowledge and skills of the math and science teachers and ii) improve the collaborations between New Orleans area schools and Xavier University. Furthermore, the proposed high school visitations will enhance the understanding of the career opportunities in STEM disciplines by high school students. Additionally, this project will result in an increase in the number of minorities participating in the work force in the US in the STEM disciplines. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Boutte, Kenneth Murty Akundi Xavier University of Louisiana LA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2582252 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7582 0411559 September 1, 2004 Science and Technology Access to Research and Graduate Education. Building on the successful outcomes of the previous Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) project from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Jackson State University (JSU) College of Science, Engineering and Technology will implement a project entitled - Science and Technology Access to Research and Graduate Education (STARGE). The overall goal of the project is to enhance the achievement of minority students in STEM and increase the number of minority students pursuing graduate degrees in these disciplines. The JSU plan is designed to implement a set of integrated activities (especially in engineering and technology) to further increase the enrollment, retention, and graduation rate of STEM students; increase the research participation of the STEM students and increase the diversity of courses, programs, and curricula for STEM majors. The College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) has distinguished itself with an outstanding record of achievement in research productivity, graduation of STEM majors, and attracting and sustaining outstanding faculty. The success of CSET in attracting and retaining excellent students is a result of its creation of a unique Education Continuum Program (ECP). ECP focuses on activities that impact the pipeline from pre-college science and mathematics awareness/preparation through collegiate discipline-specific research/training careers. The plan, which is the centerpiece of the CSET strategic plan, fosters communication and collaboration among universities, government, industry, pre- college educational entities and professional/community organizations to achieve excellence throughout our educational environments. The programs make science and mathematics interesting and relevant to the lives of all pre-college as well collegiate students. Some of the ECP activities include role modeling, exposure to a variety of career opportunities in scientific, engineering, and other technical fields. Diverse laboratory settings at the university and national laboratories offer real-time, priceless, hands-on research experiences to pre-college through collegiate students. Intellectual Merit: The project will focus on: further increasing the enrollment, retention, and graduation rate of STEM students; increasing the research participation of the STEM students especially in the area of engineering; increasing the diversity of courses, program, and curriculum for STEM majors especially in the areas of technology and engineering; and providing a structure of support for STEM faculty professional development at JSU. A major component of the new CSET project is to establish BS degree programs in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering. CSET will also seek ABET accreditation during this period for the engineering program. The proposed objectives will be obtained by implementing a developed strategic plan by a highly qualified support groups and strong participation of CSET faculty members. Each of the components of the strategic plan will be seamlessly integrated through student-faculty interactions in classroom, research laboratories on and off campus, interaction with role models and peers, and exposure to diverse groups of scientists. Demographic and Institutional Research Services will implement a comprehensive formative and summative evaluation plan to measure the outcome-based indicators of the project. Broader Impacts: JSU is well positioned to be the leading producer of minority STEM graduates at both the graduate and undergraduate levels in areas like, biology, chemistry, computer science, environmental science, physics, engineering and technology. The HBCU-UP project and other projects will continue to transform the research and instructional enterprise at JSU. The University has moved from a teaching institution to a designation of doctoral research-intensive institution. The successful ECP model will be shared with the broader community of colleges and universities who are working to increase the numbers of minorities entering the scientific and technological workforce. The results will be disseminated via website, mass media and at professional presentations. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Foster, Velvelyn Mark Hardy William White Evelyn Leggette Jackson State University MS Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2516577 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7204 0116000 Human Subjects 0411562 June 1, 2004 Planning grant for Philander Smith College Little Rock Arkansas. This planning grant proposal under the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program will enable Philander Smith College (PSC) to engage in planning efforts to enrich the institutional plan and to produce a comprehensive proposal for strengthening its STM program. Several areas will be investigated: increasing the number of students entering PSC STM programs; improving retention; enhancing the pre-freshman program and redesigning the freshman level courses to change instructional strategies and increase infusion of technology; developing new courses to include interdisciplinary approaches and new technological techniques; increasing the research experiences of students; engaging faculty in professional development opportunities to enhance their instructional and research capability; and providing necessary supporting infrastructure enhancements. The Internal Steering Committee will implement the planning process through working sessions, individual member task assignments, the Community Forum, Faculty/Staff/Students seminars, Site Visits/Model University Programs, and other strategies and assessment tools. An External Advisory Committee will oversee the planning process and development of a comprehensive proposal. The college will host a forum to gain input from representatives from the three local school districts and other identified districts to address recruiting and retaining students. A STM Opportunity Forum will be held to introduce students to the campus, community leaders, teachers, counselors, students, professors, scientists, and many others. This forum will serve as a platform to focus on enhancing the number of minorities participating in higher education and to succeed in careers in STM. Activities will also include site visits to a university planning grant site and NSF/HBCU-UP model sites; to hold focus discussions and seminars with faculty and staff on program redesign to support research as well as faculty development; to analyze data and questionnaires; and to look closely at gaps in curricula that presently exist between students leaving high school and entering undergraduate courses of study at PSC. The intellectual merit of this project is that the planning process is being designed to provide a logical approach to assessing the issues at the institution needed to strengthen its STM program and to develop a comprehensive proposal to address these needs and provide a plan that can significantly contribute to increasing the STM academic capability at PSC. The broader impacts of this planning grant is the strengthening of the STM academic capability at PSC which will result in the increase of the number and preparedness of African American students that can contribute in this essential area of society. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Woods, William Philander Smith College AR Camille A. McKayle Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0411607 September 1, 2004 Lincoln's Excellent Academic Program in Science (LEAPS). With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, will implement a project titled Lincoln's Excellent Academic Program in Science (LEAPS). The main goal of the project is to significantly increase the pool of adequately prepared minority students for degrees in the sciences and mathematics. The project will: 1) Recruit aspiring, but under-prepared, high school seniors to a structured summer bridge program aimed at providing the skills to master the gate-keeping and bottleneck science and mathematics courses; 2) Revise STEM gate-keeping and bottleneck courses; 3) Integrate student research and other active-learning opportunities into STEM curriculum; and 4) Provide undergraduate STEM scholarships and awards. Intellectual Merit: The project will improve the quality of STEM students through a comprehensive program. Students who successfully complete the summer bridge program will be professionally mentored, counseled, advised and supported throughout their college careers. Students will participate in research internships and be prepared to attend graduate schools upon graduation. Tuition scholarships will be made on a merit basis to allow students to concentrate on their academic work. The project also builds on expertise acquired from the implementation of the LASER, MARC and MASTAP programs at Lincoln University. The project continues the institutions tradition of establishing alliances and partnerships with other universities and research institutions in order to ensure the best possible exposure to the world of research for the faculty and students. Broader Impact: The project will increase the pool of science and mathematics graduates as well as the number of graduates gaining admission to graduate schools. The proposed program addresses the issues of under-prepared minority students entering college, a group that is steadily growing in number. Data and information generated from this project will improve the general knowledge of science and mathematics education. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Venerable, Grant John Chikwem Lincoln University PA Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2397450 1594 SMET 9178 0411994 July 1, 2004 Strengthening HBCU Engineering Education Research Capacity. Through the cooperation and engagement of the Council of HBCU Engineering School Deans, the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education (CASEE) of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) will build the engineering education research capacity at eleven HBCUs. Over a three-year period, 99 HBCU faculty (nine per campus) will participant in an intensive program on developing or enhancing capacity to engage in rigorous research on engineering education research that links expertise in engineering content with the theory and methodological base of social science disciplines. Additionally, they will have made useful and productive connections outside the HBCU community. This effort will provide a model for efforts in other disciplinary communities and in other groups of institutions. The participants will engage in six activities: 1) An orientation meeting of HBCU Deans with prominent engineering education researchers and social scientists to discuss challenges and opportunities in engineering education on HBCU campuses; 2) Create three-person teams drawn from engineering and social science faculty on the HBCU campuses to lead research and innovation activities (e.g., an engineering department head, an engineering faculty member, and a social science faculty member); 3) The three-person teams will attend an intensive one-week training session offered by the Colorado School of Mines; 4) The three-person teams will attend a Project Kaleidoscope Annual meeting to develop campus research and implementation strategies; 5) The three-person team will attend the CASEE Annual meeting to be held in conjunction with the Frontiers in Education conference (sponsored by the Education Research and Methods Division of ASEE, the IEEE Education Society, and the IEEE Computer Society); and 6) The HBCU campuses will develop proposals for funding to various sources to implement their departmental-plans. Intellectual Merit: This project builds knowledge within HBCU engineering and social science faculty on the conduct, evaluation, and communication of rigorous education research within engineering disciplines. An outcome of this activity will be the development of HBCU campus plans to strengthen curricula and pedagogy at HBCU institutions. It strengthens connections among leadership faculty at HBCUs and enhances linkages with national leaders in engineering education research and practice. Broader Impacts: This project will enhance linkages between the engineering and social science communities at HBCUs, improve the quality of education within HBCUs engineering programs, provide HBCU faculty with an opportunity to assume leadership in the emerging area of education research, and enhance the cadre of social science professionals experienced in addressing challenges in engineering education. This project also contributes to the intellectual infrastructure that will enhance attainment of national human resource development goals. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV ENGINEERING EDUCATION HRD EHR Fortenberry, Norman National Academy of Sciences DC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 1199255 1594 1340 SMET OTHR 9178 0000 0413000 November 1, 2004 Illinois Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation - Phase III. Illinois LSAMP Phase III The Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ILSAMP) traces its origin to the collaboration of several institutions in the Chicago area in 1993. The ILSAMP is a diverse group of public and private institutions in urban, suburban and rural settings: Chicago State University (CSU), lead institution, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), DePaul University (DU), Illinois State University (ISU), Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE), Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC), Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and Governors State University (GSU). Nine community colleges and Argonne National Laboratory, (ANL) complete the Alliance. These institutions are bound together with a vision of establishing a statewide coalition dedicated to increasing the number of underrepresented minority students in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and science education (STEM). During Phase I and II the Alliance focused on establishing a management structure and programs to implement a comprehensive plan to increase the number of underrepresented minority students successfully completing baccalaureate degrees in STEM by improving the quality of undergraduate education. Significant progress was made in the number of B.S. degrees awarded to underrepresented students by ILSAMP institutions in STEM disciplines. From 1993 through 2002 the number of STEM degrees conferred upon minority students increased by 85% (228 to 423). The success of Phase III will be measured by the extent to which ILSAMP can: 1) completely institutionalize the activities that proved successful during Phase I and Phase II; 2) further increase the number of underrepresented minority students who graduate from programs in STEM disciplines; and, 3) intensify student progression to graduate school through preparation and the development of pathways to the Ph.D. for STEM baccalaureate recipients. In order to accomplish Phase III objectives, the Alliance will utilize strategies to strengthen 1) community college bridge programs to ease the transition for transfer students and the preparation of first time freshman; 2) faculty and peer mentoring to help retain students in STEM disciplines; 3) supplemental instruction (study groups, tutorials, workshops, study skills training) to bolster students. academic preparation; 4) academic year and summer undergraduate research and external internships to develop students for graduate school; and 5) opportunities to develop students. writing and oral presentations skills. Information concerning the program will be disseminated via publications, presentations and web pages. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Daniel, Elnora Marian Wilson-Comer Chicago State University IL Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 7004500 9133 SMET OTHR 9179 9178 7204 0000 0420407 August 1, 2004 CREST: Center for Research Excellence in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. Title: CREST Center for Research Excellence in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology New Mexico State University HRD - 0420407 PI - Desh Ranjan With NSF support, New Mexico State University (NMSU) will establish a Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB). The mission of the Center is to foster development of inter-disciplinary collaborative efforts in BCB. The Center combines the complementary expertise of a team of researchers from Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Agriculture. The research mission of the Center is the development of computational models that integrate the use of multiple, complex sources of data to enhance understanding of biological systems. The Center will pursue three research thrusts: (1) development of computational models and tools to extract knowledge from complex biological data sources; (2) development of novel computational methods to improve protein structure prediction; and (3) building computational tools to improve determination of the functionally important parts of the genomes and understand how these coordinate to make the various biological mechanisms function. Intellectual Merit of the Proposed Activity The New Mexico State University CREST Center will enable a wide range of research and educational activities, and create inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional collaborations significantly advancing knowledge of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. The research thrusts will advance understanding of biological phenomena. Broader Impact of the Proposed Activity The Center is in a unique position to benefit from and serve a diverse student population with a large presence of Native Americans and Hispanics. It will build on existing NMSU infrastructures to enhance minority participation in STEM, and extend their impact by providing access to academic excellence in BCB. The Center's educational infrastructure will lead to a comprehensive program, composed of outreach pathways towards high-schools and tribal colleges, research training, and a BCB Master 's degree. NMSU programs such as the MII Native American Pathways, the NIH Bridge in biomedical sciences, the NMSU NIGMS MARC program, and the NM-AMP, NM-ADVANCE, and NM-AGEP programs, will coordinate efforts with the Center. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Pontelli, Enrico Brook Milligan Mary O'Connell Jing He New Mexico State University NM Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4577274 9150 9131 SMET 9179 9178 9150 7204 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0420516 August 1, 2004 Establishment of a Center of Excellence in Physics and Chemistry of Materials at Fisk University. Title: CREST Center for Physics and Chemistry of Materials Fisk University HRD - 0420516 PI - Warren E. Collins With NSF support, Fisk University will establish the Center for Physics and Chemistry of Materials (CPCoM). The research focus of the proposed Center is the study of advanced materials, novel processing methods, new properties and phenomena that will enable new devices for science, industry and medicine. Phenomena and their applications will focus on detection, emission and modulation of electromagnetic radiation based on selected electronic and optical materials in the form of crystals, nanomaterials, glass-ceramics and thin films. The Center will pursue four research thrusts: (1) controlled defect formation during processing of wide-gap semiconductors for optical and electro-optical applications (crystal growth and materials science), (2) fabrication of metal and semiconductor nanocrystals by pulsed laser deposition: linear and nonlinear optical properties (chemical physics and optics), (3) mesoscale materials for photonic applications (applied optics and spectroscopy), (4) modification, and characterization of new thin film optical materials (surface sciences). Intellectual Merit of the Proposed Activity The Fisk University CREST Center will contribute to the knowledge base of electronic and optical materials and related technologies. The Center for Physics and Chemistry of Materials will address some of the critical issues in this area, requiring expertise in materials science, chemical physics, optics and spectroscopy, solid-state physics and surface science. Broader Impact of the Proposed Activity Through strong collaborations with other universities, national research laboratories, and industry, the Fisk CREST Center will serve as a regional resource center that will enhance the access and involvement of minority students and faculty from HBCU's in Tennessee and its neighboring states. The establishment of CPCoM is in alignment with the long term planning and strategy of the university. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Collins, Warren Arnold Burger Steven Morgan Richard Mu Weijie Lu Fisk University TN Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4400000 9150 9131 1594 1515 SMET 9179 9178 9150 0420541 August 1, 2004 CREST Center for Forest Ecosystems Assessment (CFEA). Title: CREST Center for Forest Ecosystems Assessment Alabama A&M University HRD - 0420541 PI - Rory Fraser With NSF support, Alabama A&M University (AAMU) will establish the Center for Forest Ecosystems Assessment (CFEA). Two major goals of the Center are to strengthen integrative, multi-disciplinary research for improved understanding of forest ecosystems, and increase the number of trained professionals, especially African-Americans, engaged in research, teaching and management of renewable natural resources. The Center will pursue five research subprojects: (1) assess productivity changes in the response of the herbaceous, shrub, mid-story and over-story layers; (2) assess the structure and dynamics of a macro invertebrate and a small vertebrate community after disturbance; (3) assess the effect of disturbances in the rhizosphere on the nutrient dynamics and their relationship to the flora; (4) use nuclear and chloroplast DNA markers to determine the extent of inter- and intra-specific introgression in oak and confirm existence and validity of known hybrids; and ( 5) address questions about the human actors and social choices that are influenced by forest ecosystem processes and policies. Intellectual Merit of the Proposed Activity The Alabama A&M University CREST Center will contribute to the knowledge of forest ecosystems by in-depth analysis of additive and confounding effects of anthropogenic and natural interventions in the forest. The Center provides an excellent multidisciplinary venue for not only carrying out pertinent research regarding the impact of disturbance regimes on biodiversity in forests, but also of the additive and confounding effects of anthropogenic and natural interventions in ecosystem dynamics. Broader Impact of the Proposed Activity The Center integrates collaborative research, curriculum development, student training and mentoring, outreach, collaboration and program evaluation. The Center will yield an enhanced research base, enhanced graduate student training, curricula and faculty development, and development of research facilities and resources through planned synchrony in multi-disciplinary research and training. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Wang, Yong Allan Zipf Zachary Senwo Alabama A&M University AL Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4849194 9150 9131 1582 SMET 9179 9150 0423717 October 1, 2004 Institutional Self-Assessment of Science, Technology, and Mathematics Curricula. The overall purpose of the NSF-TCUP planning project is to enhance science, technology, and mathematics education at Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College. In addition, the project will lay the groundwork to apply for an NSF-TCUP Implementation Grant to carry-out those strategies on a long-term basis. These outcomes will be achieved through the following objectives and methods: Objectives: To complete a comparative study of SCTC.s STEM curricula and STEM curricula of at least two other colleges, including recommendations for curricular improvement. To complete a written plan of action for revising SCTC.s Plan of Learning by Students (PALS) and for training SCTC science, technology, and mathematics faculty to design their coursework to include quantifiable outcomes using the WIDS software. To complete a Facilities and Infrastructure Plan based on projected curricular and enrollment expansion over a three-year period. To complete a first draft of the NSF-TCUP Implementation Grant application. Methods: Systematically assess existing curricula and compare to curricula at similar colleges Conduct survey of literature and best practices Attend conferences and training sessions to inform efforts Provide on-site training in instructional design and assessment using a paid consultant Visit tribal college and community college campuses to collect information Survey college's personnel and infrastructure resources Develop long-range plans for curricular enhancement Synthesize and incorporate information into planning efforts to transform curricula TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Sineway, Carla Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College MI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0427787 August 1, 2004 GSE/RES Career Choice Barriers: Predictors of resilience for women in STEM majors. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Arizona State University are collaborating in a study that will address: a) What barriers and supports can be identified at various developmental stages (middle school and late high school and sophomore in college) as being salient for women's selection of a STEM related career? b) How do these barriers and supports fit into a comprehensive, intervention-focused theory of achievement and career choice? And c) How do these barriers and supports directly relate to interventions for girls and women interested in STEM careers? Data collection will be conducted at two different metropolitan sites (Milwaukee, WI and Phoenix, AZ), across three different educational levels (middle, high school and early college), in three discrete studies (interviews and taxonomy development; instrument development and testing; and comprehensive model testing). Organizations involved include the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Schools, Shorewood Public Schools, Arizona State University and Deer Valley School District (Arizona). Intellectual Merit: The analogy of a leaky pipeline has been used frequently to describe the progressive developmental decrease of women's interest and participation in science, technological, engineering, and math (STEM) preparation. Something happens along the way that prompts women to think and believe that they cannot or do not want to continue in STEM courses, majors, or careers. There is no obvious reason why this would disproportionately occur for women than men since innate abilities do not differ between men and women (NSF, 2003). Although theoretical models include external influences on achievement and choice behavior, past research examining such models has more often focused on the internal aspects of a woman's choice, rather than on how the internal beliefs and perceptions interact with external factors. It is important, also to understand barriers and supports that may differ at various stages. The research study is developing a taxonomy of barriers, including those related to the learning environment, and identifying those that appear to be differentially salient in the career choice process at various developmental points, and then testing the validity of the social cognitive career model containing measures of those supports and barriers. Finally, the investigators will link the taxonomy directly to interventions designed to promote resilience for women pursuing STEM careers. The study increases the applications of the social cognitive career theory to understanding achievement related choices (Betz & Hackett, 1983; Hackett & Betz, 1981; 1989; Lent, Brown & Hackett, 2002) by incorporating elements of Eccles (1994) model of achievement to increase its predictive utility. Broader Impact: It will identify developmentally appropriate environmental barriers and supports that affect women's retention in the path to STEM careers and translate those directly to interventions designed to promote resilience for women pursuing STEM careers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hackett, Gail Susan Haag Dee Spencer Arizona State University AZ Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 249999 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0429005 September 1, 2004 GSE/RES Assessing Media Influences: Effects of Media Literacy Training on Middle School-Aged Children's Perceptions of Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology. Western Michigan University is studying the effects of a media literacy training exposure on middle school students' perception of women in science, engineering, and technology (SET). Early adolescence in American society represents an ill-timed convergence of events for girls during a critical stage of identity formation: Girls begin to make plans for the future, including career plans, at a time marked by waning self-confidence and a heightened awareness of cultural norms of femininity. Media portrayals of women contribute to the socialization of girls and boys at this time by reinforcing cultural representations of gender that can lead to the formation of stereotypes about the role of women in society and can limit the perceptions of self in girls and stereotypes about gender roles in both boys and girls. The stereotypes contribute to the gender gaps in interest and participation in SET education and careers. The study examines the efficacy of a media literacy program designed to create critical thinking about stereotyped portrayals of women in the media. This study has three primary objectives: to assess the influence of training on 1) middle school-aged children's ability to recognize stereotyped media portrayals, 2) on their perceptions of women in SET, and 3) their attitudes toward SET and SET careers. The two-year study uses a randomized post-test only control group design. Participants will be 320, 13- to 14-year-old children from three middle schools in the Midwest. They will be randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: control, training that includes interactive discussion, and training and discussion plus instruction in critical viewing. The findings from this study will advance our understanding of the role of cultural representations of gender in contributing to the gender gap in SET. The intellectual merits of the research include: 1) the focus on the influence of the media in shaping children's perceptions of women in SET and their attitudes toward SET and SET careers and 2) the assessment of the efficacy of media literacy training in teaching children to recognize and resist gender stereotypes that can lead to inaccurate perceptions of women in SET. The broader impacts are the potential finding that children can be taught to resist gender stereotypes in the media and thus decrease stereotyping in their own thinking, and, that K-12 science teachers and directors of educational program can incorporate the findings in their training and instructional materials. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Steinke, Jocelyn Aletta Zietsman Maria Lapinski Western Michigan University MI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 291010 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0429020 October 1, 2004 GSE/RES Removing Barriers to Success: Reducing Gender Differences in 3-D Spatial Skills. Michigan Technological University is testing a 3-D spatial skills curriculum for its effectiveness with non-engineering students in other science and mathematics fields, and with pre-college students at the middle school and high school levels. Spatial visualization is considered to be one of seven human intelligences and is an active topic in educational research. Based on previous research, two distinct themes emerge: 1) well-developed 3-D spatial skills are critical to success in STEM fields, and 2) the 3-D spatial skills of women typically lag significantly behind their male counterparts. Understanding the need for training for some individuals, particularly women, Michigan Tech implemented a spatial skills course in 1993. The course has had a significant impact on the retention of female engineering students over the past ten years. In 1998, the team developed multimedia software and a workbook for self-paced learning. These user-friendly, gender-neutral materials have been proven to develop the 3-D spatial skills of first-year engineering students. The current project will test the materials with other audiences, including undergraduates in STEM fields outside of engineering and pre-college students in middle and high school. Particular attention will be paid to gender differences and preferred learning styles to determine if these materials are suitable for the other audiences. The intellectual merit of the proposed project is two-fold: a proven tool will be tested with three other audiences, and, the research will build on findings related to the study of gender-based preferred learning styles for spatial skills development. The broader impacts of the project will be enhanced participation of women and all students in STEM fields by removing one of the barriers to success in learning, and improved collective understanding of issues regarding spatial skills learning. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hungwe, Kedmon Thomas Drummer Paul Charlesworth Michigan Technological University MI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 564845 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0429036 August 1, 2004 GSE/RES Career Choice Barriers: Predictors of resilience for women in STEM majors. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Arizona State University are collaborating in a study that will address: a) What barriers and supports can be identified at various developmental stages (middle school and late high school and sophomore in college) as being salient for women's selection of a STEM related career? b) How do these barriers and supports fit into a comprehensive, intervention-focused theory of achievement and career choice? And c) How do these barriers and supports directly relate to interventions for girls and women interested in STEM careers? Data collection will be conducted at two different metropolitan sites (Milwaukee, WI and Phoenix, AZ), across three different educational levels (middle, high school and early college), in three discrete studies (interviews and taxonomy development; instrument development and testing; and comprehensive model testing). Organizations involved include the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Schools, Shorewood Public Schools, Arizona State University and Deer Valley School District (Arizona). Intellectual Merit: The analogy of a leaky pipeline has been used frequently to describe the progressive developmental decrease of women's interest and participation in science, technological, engineering, and math (STEM) preparation. Something happens along the way that prompts women to think and believe that they cannot or do not want to continue in STEM courses, majors, or careers. There is no obvious reason why this would disproportionately occur for women than men since innate abilities do not differ between men and women (NSF, 2003). Although theoretical models include external influences on achievement and choice behavior, past research examining such models has more often focused on the internal aspects of a woman's choice, rather than on how the internal beliefs and perceptions interact with external factors. It is important, also to understand barriers and supports that may differ at various stages. The research study is developing a taxonomy of barriers, including those related to the learning environment, and identifying those that appear to be differentially salient in the career choice process at various developmental points, and then testing the validity of the social cognitive career model containing measures of those supports and barriers. Finally, the investigators will link the taxonomy directly to interventions designed to promote resilience for women pursuing STEM careers. The study increases the applications of the social cognitive career theory to understanding achievement related choices (Betz & Hackett, 1983; Hackett & Betz, 1981; 1989; Lent, Brown & Hackett, 2002) by incorporating elements of Eccles (1994) model of achievement to increase its predictive utility. Broader Impact: It will identify developmentally appropriate environmental barriers and supports that affect women's retention in the path to STEM careers and translate those directly to interventions designed to promote resilience for women pursuing STEM careers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Fouad, Nadya Philip Smith University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee WI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 237156 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0429084 October 1, 2004 GSE/RES Investigating Gender-Based Differences in Perception and Use of IT as Factors in IT Career Choice. University of Maryland Baltimore County is studying the interrelationships among gender, digital media technology usage and perceptions, self-efficacy, and career intentions. The following nine questions are examined through a combination of individual interviews, naturalistic observation, focus groups, and surveys involving approximately 2500 middle school (6th -8th grade) students attending Baltimore County and Howard County Maryland Public Schools: 1. Are there gender differences in how technology is defined? 2. Do gender differences exist in the level of usage of digital media technologies? 3. Are there gender differences in how digital media technology is used? 4. Are perceptions of digital media technology different for boys versus girls? 5. How does use of digital media technology influence perceptions of IT? 6. How do perceptions and use affect self-efficacy in IT career intentions? 7. How do perceptions, use, and self-efficacy influence decisions related to taking elective IT courses? 8. Are gender differences in IT career intentions mediated by digital media technology perceptions, usage, and self-efficacy? 9. Understanding the influence of these factors, what digital media or digital media technology would beeffective in positively impacting these perceptions? Intellectual Merit The social cognitive career theory (SCCT) of Lent et al. serves as a foundation for this project. SCCT builds upon Bandura's social learning theory, and holds that career interests develop over time, and are, in part, determined by individuals' self-efficacy and outcome expectations. We expand SCCT by incorporating the potential mediating effects of digital media technology usage and perceptions as we suggest that they should impact self-efficacy and ultimately the relationship between gender, self-efficacy, and career outcomes. This research will provide a better understanding of these interrelationships, drawing on a diverse research team representing computer science, gender studies, industrial engineering, information science, media, and sociology. Expected outcomes include: (1) An understanding of the interplay between experience with and perceptions of digital media technology, students' self-efficacy, and early IT career decisions. (2) A prototype survey tool to predict levels of interest in IT courses, programs, and, potentially, careers, based on current digital media technology use and perceptions. While there have been Human-Computer Interaction and sociological studies tangential to this research, the focus on relationship between technology and gender and future career decisions is innovative. Broader Impacts Findings and the resulting survey tool can provide guidelines for educators and researchers developing behavioral interventions or digital media applications of technologies that will attract both girls and boys to IT career fields. The research addresses the under-representation of women in IT and the needs to increase interest in IT in all students, to promote computer literacy, and to increase the numbers of degrees in IT generally, by offering insight about students at the middle school level. INTERNATIONAL PLAN & WORKSHOPS RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Trela, Jim Asim Ozok Anita Komlodi Zeynep Tufekci University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 539385 7299 1544 SMET OTHR 9178 7299 5980 5918 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0429088 August 1, 2004 GSE/RES- Improving Mathematics Competency Through Instruction on Cognitive Strategies and Computational Fluency. The University of Georgia teaming with the University of Massachusetts Amherst is examining the prediction that a computer program designed to enhance strategy use and computational fluency will improve mathematics performance. The research also tests the prediction that working with the program will reduce or eliminate previously found gender differences in strategy use and computational fluency. The overall objective of the proposed research is to improve the mathematical competency of young children and to reduce or eliminate factors that contribute to gender differences in mathematics performance in early elementary school age children. Earlier research has shown a correlation between cognitive strategy use, computational fluency and mathematics performance and found gender differences in these characteristics. There is evidence that early developing gender differences result in later gender differences in math test performance. The proposed research will involve an experiment where students located in Georgia and Massachusetts will be randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. The intellectual merit of the project is its contribution to our knowledge of two factors that are believed to affect mathematics achievement and to affect gender differences in mathematics achievement. The study will determine whether instruction focused on these variables improves mathematics achievement, particularly for girls who tend to have lower test scores, lower fluency and less cognitive strategy use. The broader impact of the proposed project will be to provide evidence that early intervention can ameliorate early emerging gender differences in math learning. These changes in instruction may have long-term consequences. They might improve the ability of students to perform at higher levels of mathematics in early adulthood and increase their interest in advanced study of science and mathematics. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Carr, Martha University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc GA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 497434 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0429109 September 1, 2004 GSE/RES Girls' Science Practices in Urban High Poverty Communities. Teachers College, Columbia University, proposes to study girls' science practices in urban high poverty communities. Missing from the discourse in urban science education and gender education is a framework for how urban girls appropriate, organize, and activate scientific literacy in pursuit of their own lives, as individuals and as members of larger communities. Scientific literacy refers to an individual's understanding of and abilities to access and utilize key scientific concepts, principles, process skills, discourses, and habits of mind. One way to better understand how urban girls appropriate, organize, and activate scientific literacy is to document and analyze their "science practices." Drawing from research on "literacy practices" (Moje, 2000), the team defines science practices as the means by which one engages in science and the reasons and motivations for doing so. Thus, the investigation focuses on the content areas of urban ecology and forces and motion as a means to obtain insight into how and why urban girls engage in science meaningfully. "Engagement in science" is viewed as having three parts similar to Moje's purposes for literacy practices: developing conceptual understandings of scientific concepts (meaning-making); developing and using the habits of mind that reflect a propensity towards scientific thinking (expression of scientific identity); and participating in or doing science in authentic ways (participation). The three-year study has the following objectives: 1. To document, describe and analyze high-poverty urban girls' science practices in both form and function in the context of two specific middle school content areas; 2. To document and describe those reform-based pedagogical strategies enacted by teachers that help girls to successfully leverage their science practices in their efforts to engage meaningfully in science; 3. To explore the relationship between girls' science practices and science learning; 4. To disseminate effectively research findings to the broader research and practice communities. Using a mixed-methods approach (broad scale survey, case study, and design experiments), the team will conduct the study in four middle schools that serve diverse ethnic and racial and high-poverty populations in the Harlem and South Bronx regions of New York City. The intellectual merit of this research is that it should yield a set of working conjectures about girls' science practices and the pedagogical strategies that support those practices. If we can better understand, document, and analytically describe girls' science practices in reform-based science education settings and their impact on girls' engagement with science, then we will be better able to work with teachers and curriculum developers to tailor program design and instructional practice to best support girls. The broader impact of this study is that it will contribute to increasing the achievement and motivation for engaging in science among high-poverty, urban, middle school girls. The findings will have direct import for specific demographics that have not been represented well in the sciences and science related fields. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Calabrese Barton, Angela Ann Rivet Teachers College, Columbia University NY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 499334 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0429125 October 1, 2004 GSE/RES: Promoting Competence in Mathematics Through Collaboration, Reflection, and Role Models. University of Southern California is studying new tools for enabling math learning in high school students. The tools are particular features built into an intelligent tutor: chat for collaboration, capturing text for reflection on problem solving, and mathematics mentoring through virtual role models based on real scientists representing a range of gender, ethnic, cultural, and language backgrounds. The features are introduced to address learning preferences of female students and to appeal to ethnic minority students. A certain level of mathematical competence is required for participation in many STEM fields of study, and high-stakes test such as the GRE-Math and SAT-Math serve as "critical filters" for access to such programs. Unfortunately, many students, including young women as well as students from ethnic groups traditionally under represented in science and engineering, are at a disadvantage due to poor performance on mathematics achievement tests. Recent research points to differences in the strategies that males and females adopt in mathematics problem solving. Strategies that are used more often by males predict higher scores on achievement tests. On the other hand, other research suggests that there are significant learning benefits to collaborative learning, inquiry and discovery-oriented activities, and interaction with mentors and role models: strategies that female students more often adopt and prefer. Therefore, the central research question addressed in the proposed project is to evaluate the benefits of female-preferred learning strategies for mathematical competence in high school girls through innovative software tools integrated into Wayang Outpost, an intelligent tutoring system providing individualized instruction in mathematics problem solving. In addition, the project will evaluate the benefits of the enhanced software for students (males as well as females) who find potential failure in mathematics to be threatening, particularly those from ethnic groups that have been traditionally under-represented in STEM participation. The three specific objectives focus on the creation, implementation and evaluation of innovative new software tools for promoting collaboration, reflection, and mathematics mentoring through virtual role models. Evaluation studies will focus on the effects of different versions of the tutoring software on student learning outcomes in mathematics and on attitudes towards STEM careers. Participants in the evaluation studies will be students attending high schools in Pasadena CA, representing the great diversity of urban California - nearly 50% Hispanic, 30% African American, 33% with limited English proficiency, and 66% receiving subsidized lunches. The results of the project will have broad societal impact by enhancing the ability of students from traditionally under represented groups to participate in STEM fields of study through freely-accessible web-based tutoring. The intellectual merit of the research will be the careful empirical evaluation of the benefits of instruction that supports learning styles and strategies preferred by females and students vulnerable to stereotype threat in mathematics learning, and the evaluation of the potential benefits of virtual role model characters representing real STEM professionals for student learning outcomes in mathematics. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Schorr, Herbert Carole Beal Erin Shaw Hannes Vilhjalmsson University of Southern California CA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 481090 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0429156 November 1, 2004 GSE/RES Development of Gender-Based Science Performance Models. A project team led by University of California Los Angeles is developing models documenting how males and females from middle school to the university develop and stabilize strategies during scientific problem solving. They are modeling: 1) The gender-related development of learning strategies in multiple sub-domains of chemistry, 2) How knowledge of solving problems in chemistry is differentially retained over time, and how learning re-occurs when needed, and, 3) How online collaborative activities / environments can be organized to maximize the strengths of the different problem-solving characteristics of female and male students. Intellectual Merit While the literature provides evidence for behavioral/cognitive gender differences in various STEM activities, there is less information on how these differences contribute to strategy development and use in scientific problem solving. The project will use artificial neural network and Hidden Markov Modeling of student performance and progress on complex science problem solving tasks to develop the gender models. There are commitments from two school districts and two universities to involve thousands of students across grade levels spanning middle school through university and in quasi-experimental groups with all female, all male and mixed gender groupings. Supporting data will include pre/post tests of content knowledge, science attitudes and teacher and student technology use, as well as overall academic performance including state standardized test data. The project team includes researchers, educators and students in California (UCLA, Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District), South Carolina (Clemson), Kentucky, and Italy (IRST), a psycho-metrician with experience in gender research and expertise in item response theory (ETS), and advisory members from the gender research community. Findings will be disseminated to teachers, the gender research community, basic science educators, and members of the intelligent tutoring and collaborative learning communities. The problem solving tasks will be available online to other teachers and researchers world wide along with the resulting neural network and Markov progress and performance models. Broader Impacts The long-term goal is to use this information to help institutional systems better understand how gender differences are likely to influence performance and participation of males and females in complex STEM learning/testing environments and to provide teacher guidelines on how to maximize learning for all students. The features of the models that are developed will potentially inform instructional practices from grades 6-16. While the study focuses on chemistry content, the modeling approach is applicable to other science domains. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Stevens, Ronald University of California-Los Angeles CA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 475148 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0429647 August 15, 2004 GSE/RES: Pedagogical agents as social models: Challenging gender-related stereotypes of engineering. Florida State University will study the effectiveness of pedagogical agents as social models to influence girls' beliefs and stereotypes about engineering, the potential for using pedagogical agents to change beliefs. Many females have negative and unconstructive beliefs regarding engineering. As stated by Muller (2002), these misperceptions are prompted by a social fabric that pervades our society and results in stereotypic perceptions of engineering and scientific fields as "geeky" and particularly inappropriate for girls and women. Consequently, young women need more exposure to productive beliefs about engineering, ideally through some form of a social model (e.g., Bandura, 1986). While human models can help to bridge the gap, the logistics of arranging such opportunities are difficult to coordinate, and available mentors may not necessarily best match a particular young women's needs. By implementing computer-based social models, factors can be controlled that cannot be in human mentors, with a greater potential for outreach through avenues such as the Internet. Pedagogical agents, which are three-dimensional, animated computer-based characters, are particularly advantageous for serving as such models given that there is strong evidence that students, particularly females, easily develop social relationships with them. However, there is limited evidence to guide the design of such agents for the purpose of influencing beliefs about engineering. The goals of this interdisciplinary project are as follows: 1) to systematically investigate the effectiveness of pedagogical agents as social models to influence girls' beliefs and stereotypes about engineering; and, in parallel, 2) to use pedagogical agents as a vehicle to systematically examine the nature of the belief-changing process. Two populations, representing two age groups (middle school girls, and freshman female undergraduates from both a traditional and a historically-Black institution), will be sampled for the research. Three types of research designs (Choice, Construction, and System-Controlled Studies (experimental and adaptive)) will be implemented to provide a more integrative understanding. Specifically, the first year will focus on investigating agent appearance; the second year on agent message/delivery; and, the third year on agent persona (combined factors). Dependent variables include student beliefs about and motivation toward engineering, intentions to pursue engineering, and perceptions of the agent. Dependent variables will be assessed by a combination of self-report (e.g., Likert-scale items), performance, and behaviorally-indicated measures. Intellectual Merit. Given that little is known as to the affordances and learner preferences for pedagogical agents as social models, this project is critical for advancing several interdisciplinary fields (e.g., instructional systems, social psychology, human-computer interaction, education/training, ecommerce and marketing, and game designers). By integrating multiple research approaches, the project is creative and original and draws on the two PIs' experience conducting pedagogical agent and social psychology research. Importantly, it will provide insight for influencing females' beliefs and stereotypes regarding engineering. Results will also complement ongoing development of pedagogical agents and other technology-mediated learning, such as intelligent tutoring systems. Along this line, the research will also help better illuminate the social impact of agents as an information technology, which is important given that society is becoming increasingly more information-driven. Broader Impact. It is expected that the project will build a strong empirical research base in this area with guidelines for designing agents to support engineering (or other types of) belief adoption. These findings will have the potential to broadly influence computer interface design, agent implementations in learning environments, and have marketing-related implications for other projects that involve "selling" engineering to females. Based on the findings, the next step would be to develop and implement a highly competent (e.g., artificially intelligent) and persuasive agent that would positively impact young women's beliefs about engineering. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Plant, Elizabeth Ashby Florida State University FL Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 557499 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0435017 October 1, 2004 RDE-DEI:Building an Inclusive Mathematics Community: Resources for Teachers. In order to address the low achievement of some special education students, the goal of the proposed project is to disseminate the findings of the Accessible Mathematics project by producing professional development materials to help teachers improve the quality of mathematics teaching and learning in inclusive classrooms. The audience for these materials will be general education teachers, their special education colleagues and pre-service teacher candidates. The materials developed by the proposed project will illustrate and describe aspects of inclusive mathematics classrooms that help students with disabilities succeed. They will be flexibly designed as three 2-3 hour workshop modules. They will not be designed to provide simple answers, but to allow teachers to carefully consider the issues of inclusion. The module topics will be: 1) Organizing the Classroom and Instruction to Build Community, 2) Linking Assessment and Teaching, and 3) Making Mathematics Explicit. The videotapes, featuring teachers from Accessible Mathematics, will offer images of practices and will be focused on differentiating mathematics instruction. The written materials, some authored by teachers and others by TERC staff, including guidelines for workshop use, will help teachers reflect on their practice, offering them examples of successful strategies and approaches. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Storeygard, Judy TERC Inc MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 119193 1545 SMET 9178 0435582 September 1, 2004 RDE-DEI: Enhancing Geology, Chemistry, Biology and Physics Laboratory and Field Experiences for Students with Visual and Physical Disabilities. Laboratory classes and field experiences in the sciences pose particular obstacles for students with disabilities. Most higher education institutions respond to these obstacles by providing individual accommodations to students. While these individual accommodations are valuable in addressing the particular needs of each individual student, in this proposal we seek to make transformations to the laboratory environment and to field experiences that will help improve learning for all students with visual and physical disabilities. This approach has been to assemble a team including science faculty who teach laboratory and field experience courses in Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Physics, special education faculty, staff from the Disability Services office, and students with disabilities to work together in identifying aspects of the lab environment and field experiences which can be altered to enhance student learning. Once improvements to the experiments and field work have been developed, the project will introduce these changes into our introductory classes. In the classroom the project will examine the impact of the changes on both accommodation of disabilities and on student learning. Both students with disabilities and some non-disabled students will perform experiments using the modified equipment. Changes in their understanding of content, attitude development and skill mastery will be assessed. By examining both students with and without disabilities, we seek to determine the impact on student learning in general as well as on accommodating students with disabilities. The approach should yield results which will be of interest to the academic community as a whole. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Christensen, Thomas Paul Grogger Martha Venn Katherine Simonton University of Colorado at Colorado Springs CO Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 99991 1545 SMET 9178 0435627 September 1, 2004 Accessible Science (ACE): A Trilingual Approach to Science Education for Deaf and Hearing Elementary Students (RDE-DEI). Bilingual deaf and hearing students from non-English speaking homes have limited access in their native language to develop an interest in science. Since state competency exams are written in English, their second language, many bilingual students are left behind in passing state and national science tests. Lamar University's Chemistry department and Deaf Education Teacher Training program with the Texas School for the Deaf (TSD), the Alabama School for the Deaf (ASD), and Ruben C. Rodriguez Elementary (RR) school in Edcourt, Texas propose a project with the goal of: providing accessible science teaching and learning products, compliant with convergent technologies, to teachers and students using state-of-the-art ASL/English bilingual, bilingual/ESL and reading comprehension strategies. Project ACE will institutionalize trilingual products that promote accessibility to science education for students with disabilities (deaf) and bilingual hearing students learning English as a second language. It will disseminate trilingual products in American Sign Language (ASL), English and Spanish text and incorporate best practices in ASL/English, bilingual/ESL methodologies to a broad audience in special education, bilingual education and regular education. The main intellectual merit is the exploration of latest technology and pedagogical practices to the education of disadvantaged and disabled students at the critical stage of capturing these students for science careers. Two convergent science laboratory/classrooms at Lamar will be connected to facilities to be established at each of the participating institutions above. These schools enroll significant numbers of deaf and hearing ethnic minorities from socioeconomically disadvantaged homes thus the project will also assist in closing the digital divide. The schools will be linked to each other and to Lamar and contain computer based hardware and software, wireless networking, multimedia, hypermedia, virtual reality, and interactive TV. A team of university scientists, deaf education teacher-educators, bilingual specialists, graduate and undergraduate students, science teachers and media specialists will jointly develop convergent content that combines videoconferencing, conventional textbooks, and multimedia on DVD/CD formats, on-line laboratory experiments and demonstrations locally and globally via the Internet and internet based resources. The convergent techniques emphasizes: problem-based learning, accelerated learning, visual learning, constructivism and Socratic learning. This is a unique in that it specifically addresses the English language learning needs of students by incorporating specific bilingual/ESL and reading comprehension strategies to teach science content to elementary age students using convergent classroom pedagogy (e.g. videoconferencing, CD-ROM/DVD, Internet) techniques. Broader Impact: Beyond K-8 bilingual elementary students, the project impacts doctoral, masters, and bachelor level students and teachers interested in improving science education. Bilingual/ESL and reading comprehension strategies for the teaching of science will have broad applicability to the more than 80,000 deaf and hard of hearing students and 3.2 million English-as-a-second-language hearing students in the United States. Our project will be an ininclusionl- model for deaf, special needs, and hearing bilingual students working together. Using current ASL/English bilingual, bilingual/ESL and reading comprehension methodology, project staff will develop cooperative science teaching and learning activities, trilingual science literacy lessons and glossaries in ASL, English/Spanish writing projects, mentoring activities, qualitative case studies of students' bilingual science literacy development and ASL to prepare deaf and hearing students to master the objectives set by the National Science Education Standards and the Texas Education Skills and Development program for Science. This project is aligned with the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Andrews, Jean David Cocke Brenda Nichols Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 100000 1545 SMET 9178 0435631 October 1, 2004 Reaching Science and Special Education Teachers: On-Line and In-Person. Reaching Science and Special Education Teachers: On-Line and In-Person is being developed by the Educational Equity Center at the Academy for Educational Development (EEC/AED) to provide vital information and teaching strategies around inquiry-based science for students with disabilities. The target audience is K-4 science and special education teachers. The overarching goal is to enable students with disabilities in grades K-4 to fully participate in science, learn skill-building activities, and gain positive attitudes about science that may influence later school and career choices. The project is a collaboration with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and Science Education for Students with Disabilities (SESD), a National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Associated Group. Core activities include professional development seminars offered on-line and at national conferences. The seminars build on an NSF-funded, accessible, standards-based science activity program that includes modifications for students with disabilities. Seminars include strategies, activities, and resources to help participating teachers provide essential science skills and impart in students with disabilities - and their parents - a iacan dola attitude about STEM, beginning in the earliest grades. Further outreach and dissemination to teachers and parents is being conducted in partnership with The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY) at AED. This project is providing science and special education teachers with the tools to bring inquiry-based science to students with disabilities, beginning in the early grades. As a result, students with disabilities will have a better chance of doing well in science in the upper grades, and in using science and technical skills in all or some aspect of their future careers. It is also advancing knowledge across the fields of science and special education. Through a unique combination of on-line and in-person professional seminars, it is bringing information about the needs and capabilities of students with disabilities to science educators, and information about the importance of science to special educators. Project leaders and advisors have expert qualifications in terms of science education, special education, inclusion, professional development, parent involvement, and equity; and staff and advisors include people with disabilities. Evaluation is being conducted, and the field is being kept informed about lessons learned. This project is reaching thousands of science and special education teachers through collaborations with national organizations with extensive outreach: CEC, SESD/NSTA, AAAS, NICHCY, among others. EEC/AED will take full advantage of the enormous number of teachers and parents that can be reached through these national and regional organizations, and the variety of resources, both on-line and in-person, of the organizations that will provide direct access to the target audience. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Froschl, Merle Barbara Sprung Academy for Educational Development DC Ted A. Conway Standard Grant 99973 1545 SMET 9178 0435640 July 1, 2004 Access Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in Idaho. The goal of Access STEM in Idaho is to extend the efforts put forth by the Northwest Alliance University of Washington's Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT) project to increase the representation of people with disabilities in STEM academic programs and careers through the following objectives: (a) Recruit high school and college students with disabilities into STEM career paths;(b) Train and Retain students by establishing a mentoring program at the College of Southern Idaho to support and encourage students with disabilities to enroll in STEM careers as they transition from high school to post secondary education; (c) Recruit and Train STEM faculty at the College of Southern Idaho, to increase the number of individuals with disabilities in their STEM programs; (d) Train secondary educators to support and encourage the inclusion of students with disabilities in high school level STEM courses, and to assist with the facilitation successful transition from high school to college. People with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM careers. Further, access to postsecondary education and to the accommodations that facilitate success in college level classes and especially in STEM fields are problematic for youth with disabilities. The lack of access extremely limits the career prospects for individuals with disabilities. The proposed project will utilize research-based curriculum and other resources developed by the Northwest Alliance DO-IT program to effectively change post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities. Specifically, transition services that guide students toward STEM careers will dramatically increase the number of students in Idaho obtaining post-secondary educations in STEM fields. The implementation of a training program that fosters accessible facilities, activities, and technologies will greatly improve students' abilities to fully participate in STEM programs. The building blocks established in Idaho through the Idaho Interagency Council on Secondary Transition are fully incorporated into the design of the proposed project.Each component of the project will be evaluated in relation to the states transition plan which will create a mechanism for sustainability of project activities. In effect, this project lays the foundation for transition services to postsecondary education for all students with disabilities in Idaho. As previously mentioned, the service blue print that will be evaluated through this project will provide other states with an effective transition model. With Idaho's rural infrastructure, Access STEM in Idaho, along with its many collaborators, will be able to replicate the training and mentoring program in other regions of the state. In collaboration with the Northwest Alliance and the use of their curriculum and training materials, videos, and a searchable Knowledge Base accessed through their project website, a system of statewide support can be established. At the completion of year one, the Access STEM in Idaho will apply for continuation of NSF funds to support a statewide program. Access STEM in Idaho will work with the Northwest Alliance to create and update new materials and resources and project outcomes will add to the Northwest Alliance's objectives to enhance the scientific and technological understanding nationwide. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Fodor, Julie Michael Odell University of Idaho ID Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 100000 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0435656 November 1, 2004 Techniques and Tools to Enhance Blind and Visually Impaired Students Participation in High School Level and General Chemistry Laboratory Classes. This project seeks to develop tools and techniques that will allow blind and visually impaired (VI)students to carry out general chemistry laboratory experiments without the aid of sighted assistants. Specific objectives of this work include:(1)adaptation of the Addison Wesley Chemistry high school laboratory curriculum currently used at the Indiana School for the Blind (ISB), by combining JAWS speech software with Vernier laboratory tools,ID mate portable bar code readers,and other tools in use at ISB,(2)testing and refining the tools and techniques at Penn State,Truman State,and ISB,(3)field testing the modified curriculum in years 2 and 3 of the program at ISB,(4)performing a detailed assessment of skills,concept learning,and attitudinal outcomes by comparing study groups with control groups that use sighted assistance,(5)creation of a guided inquiry integrative laboratory exercise for blind and VI students,and (6)dissemination of results through publications and exhibits at conferences. This project team consists of a blind graduate student (Supalo)and a blind chemistry professor (Wohlers)who will have primary responsibility for the development and preliminary testing of new tools and techniques.They will collaborate closely with Roth, a science teacher at ISB,and Greenberg,a chemical education expert at Penn State,in the field testing and assessment phases of the program. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Mallouk, Thomas Pennsylvania State Univ University Park PA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 311848 1545 SMET 9178 0435658 January 1, 2005 RDE-DEI: Research in Disability Education--Demonstration, Enrichment and Information Dissemination. Creating Laboratory Access for Science Students (CLASS) is an initiative to promote excellence in the science education for students with physical and learning disabilities. Based at Wright State University (WSU) CLASS has received two major NSF grants in excess of $1M from DUE (CCLI) spanning about 7 years. CLASS believes that systemic reform of inclusive science education must focus on training educators at all levels. The central philosophy is that given appropriate accommodation, most people with physical and learning disabilities can participate fully in the scientific endeavor. The focus of past funding has been to develop inclusive resources for science educators and to offer intensive summer workshops that promote attitudes and strategies for inclusive, inquiry based science education. Numerous science educators have come to WSU for the workshops. Many have returned to their institutions to effect significant change. Disseminable products have included a widely distributed SourceBook on CD-ROM and training videos that have been used at professional meetings. A small grant program has provided funds to classroom educators for adaptive equipment and programs. These initiatives have also guided curriculum design in undergraduate science and science education courses at WSU, contributing substantially to the success of our science majors who have physical disabilities. This RDE-DEI will expand current efforts to modify curricula. This process will include making modification recommendations to peer-reviewed lesson plans from the Ohio Resource Center (ORC) for the full inclusion of students with disabilities. These recommendations will be made by teams of science, math and special education majors at Wright State University. Finalized recommendations will be uploaded to the ORC website and will then be available for educators across the nation. Also, for educators calling into the ORC with specific questions regarding education for student with disabilities, resources will be made available. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Wheatly, Michele Suzanne Lunsford Mary Ellen Bargerhuff Heidi Turner Wright State University OH Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 100000 1545 SMET 9178 0435663 January 1, 2005 Research into Best Practices for Description of Science Content within Digital Talking Books. The WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) proposes to research and document effective practices for providing meaningful descriptions within Digital Talking Books (DTBs) that serve post-secondary students, professionals and scientists who have visual impairments or blindness. The project unites NCAM with the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, Inc. (RFB&D) and the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) in a collaborative effort to develop research-based guidelines for effective descriptions of non-text science content. Project partners will explore and document current practices used within DTBs to describe science-focused images, charts, graphs, diagrams, illustrations, equations, and other graphics. The work will build on descriptive approaches developed for online science content that emerged from previous NSF- and U.S. Department of Education-funded projects. Scientists and professionals with visual impairments will contribute strategies, such as individual preferences that they ask assistants and readers to follow when describing images. Through a two-stage Delphi survey with 30 sighted and visually impaired respondents, these collected practices will be enhanced, refined and synthesized. Researchers will then use these practices to create representative descriptions for selected science images and evaluate their effectiveness with 60 visually impaired adults. Project deliverables include: A research report that presents a synthesis of effective practices as defined through this study and the results of evaluation of these practices with users with visual impairment and training materials for Digital Talking Book providers that summarize best practices and provide images and sample descriptions with opportunities for practice. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Freed, Geoff Corinne Kirchner WGBH Educational Foundation MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 294088 1545 SMET 9178 0435675 October 1, 2004 RDE-FRI: Classroom Accommodations for STEM Educators with a Disability. This project will examine the workplace accommodation needs of K-12 and postsecondary science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educators with disabilities. Workplace accommodations have typically been examined on a case-by-case basis. While there are numerous examples of successful and effective solutions that meet the needs of individual employees, there has been little effort to aggregate these case studies to examine trends, understand what works and for whom, and develop more universally applicable accommodations. This project will build on the resources of CATEA's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Workplace Accommodations and Southeast Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (SE DBTAC) to investigate the strategies and technologies that might help a person with a disability enter STEM education, return to work after acquiring a disability, or to counter the difficulties in performing work tasks due to aging. This project will use surveys and focus groups to research the accommodation needs of K-12 and postsecondary STEM educators who have a disability, and address assistive technology that will fill these needs. Project staff will then use this information to develop fact sheets, policy briefs, and a web course to assist educators and school administration, and to provide recommendations for future product development that addresses common workplace accommodation needs. The project will make use of organizations such as NSTA, AAAS, and ACS to recruit educators with disabilities and disseminate the results. The availability of effective accommodations not only allows students with disabilities to pursue careers within STEM education, but accommodations for educators may also prove to be effective with their students with disabilities. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Milchus, Karen GA Tech Research Corporation - GA Institute of Technology GA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 199907 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0435676 August 15, 2004 RDE-FRI : Indoor/Outdoor Blind Navigation and Awareness System for Blind Students. Even in an ideal academic setting in which a University has unlimited resources to reduce the challenges in the classroom, blind students will miss out on the numerous educational opportunities outside the classroom. This project proposes a navigation and location determination system using an RFID tag grid. The retail industry has developed a low cost tagging system to electronically monitor products from manufacturing, warehouse and to the consumer. The design requirements to satisfy the needs of the retail industry are low cost per unit, reliable, powerless and the ability to transmit a wide range of data. By leveraging advances in RFID technology it is feasible to develop a system that utilizes RFID tags as a location based information grid. Each RFID tag is permanently installed under carpet, wood floors, behind trim in hallways, along sidewalks and as part of any pedestrian path. Each RFID tag is programmed upon installation with its X,Y coordinates and information describing the surroundings. This allows for a localized information system with no dependency on a centralized database or wireless infrastructure for communications. For under $1 per tag it is possible to store 250 bytes of information that can be read as the user approaches the tag. Using proposed compression and flexible XML based protocols, an RFID grid in a room can store a complete inventory and location of the room objects and information about neighboring rooms. Upon entry into a room the RFID tags at the door provide a summary of the room's content and the location of each object. This information is then read into the student's cell phone or PDA and when the student needs to find the electrical outlet, telephone, desk, vending machine, etc., the system - knowing its current location based on the RFID tag coordinates - can give the path to the object through voice prompts. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Helal, Abdelsalam University of Florida FL Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 200000 1545 SMET 9178 0435677 September 1, 2004 Literacy Accessibility for Biology (LAB): Improving Outcomes for Students with Learning Disabilities. The proposed project is a collaboration across two centers at Education Development Center, Inc.: the Center for Family, School, and Community (FSC), which has a long history of meeting the needs of students with disabilities, and the Center for Science Education (CSE), which has a long history of creating secondary school science course materials. The proposal is to develop and test a literacy intervention designed to improve access to 9th and 10th grade biology for students with learning disabilities who struggle with reading and writing. At the core of the intervention is a set of scientifically-based literacy strategies, supported by the software program, Draft:Builder. A powerful assistive technology tool, Draft:Builder was developed in FSC with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. The goal is to help students organize information through outlining; extract information from reading by taking notes; elaborate ideas for writing; and synthesize information by creating a draft of text. By improving their literacy skills, students will better understand the biology concepts. Over three years, EDC will develop, test, and refine the literacy intervention to be used with Insights in Biology, a curriculum developed at CSE with funding from the National Science Foundation. The intervention includes various instructional materials: lesson plans focusing on reading and writing, templates to expand the use of Draft:Builder, and assessment tools. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Zorfass, Judith Education Development Center MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299978 1545 SMET 9178 0435679 October 1, 2004 RDE-DEI: MoCap ASL for the Sciences. RDE-DEI: MoCap ASL for the Sciences addresses the issue of access to high-quality science materials for deaf students as well as their teachers, interpreters, and family members. The project will impact society and the educational system by reducing current language comprehension barriers experienced by deaf individuals that prevent them from learning and being taught scientific concepts effectively. Motion capture, American Sign Language (ASL) materials will allow deaf students equal access to science concepts and the same opportunity as hearing students to develop the interests and skills needed to pursue a career in science. Motion capture, or mocap, will also remove technology-related barriers, especially the limited capacity of low-speed internet connections and the sacrifices of hand-coded animations. The intellectual merit of the project is demonstrated by the unique application of motion capture (currently used for developing games and movies and studying kinematics in medical and physics research) to the development of a library of science vocabulary and lessons through the animation of three-dimensional avatars. Project objectives are as follows: 1. Reproduce, using motion capture, Classroom of the Sea and Succeed-HI science lessons (5) and vocabulary currently available only in video format. 2. Determine optimal conditions for comprehension of motion-captured ASL animations (background color, contrast, frame rates). 3. Compare learning which deaf middle school and high school students acquire through motion-capture-generated ASL animations versus QuickTime videos of live signers. 4. Compare the ability of beginning ASL college students to reproduce signs accurately after watching videos produced from live signers versus motion capture animations. 5. Compare comprehensibility of QuickTime videos of live signers with motion capture-generated animations by measuring deaf students' delays and accuracy in identifying the English word that corresponds to the sign. 6. Disseminate results. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Whitney, Scott Stephen F. Austin State University TX Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 100000 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0435684 September 1, 2004 VROOM: Visualizing the Real Operations Of Mathematics. Mathematics is a visual language that poses major barriers to blind students considering careers in science, engineering, technology or mathematics (STEM). The learning challenges are further attenuated by federal law, parental advocates and educators who seek better tools and techniques. Presently, there is a dwindling supply of teachers properly trained to serve the blind students seeking STEM careers. As a result, there is a spiraling gap between the number of blind students needing training and those adequately trained to provide the requisite instruction. Phase One of the Project VROOM will produce a workable Math 101 (Introductory Algebra) curriculum under the guidance of an interdisciplinary team mathematicians, engineers, instructional technologists, and special educators. Phase Two will field-test the Math 101 curriculum during a six-week summer workshop for blind high school students. Finally, Phase Three will evaluate the effectiveness of the Math 101 curriculum and disseminate the results to stakeholders concerned about educating blind students. The ultimate project outcome will be the creation of an evidence-based Math 101 curriculum, one that is technologically appropriate for the blind, and ready for further analysis and research. Formative and summative evaluation measures will examine baseline and changes in knowledge and attitude among students and teachers. The formative data will insure the effectiveness of the project during the granting period and allow for any needed course corrections. The summative evaluation will judge the ultimate success of the completed project using both quantitative (test scores) and qualitative measures (focus groups and attitude surveys). Six different dissemination strategies will employ a blend of active/passive and visual/verbal dissemination approaches. The development of Math 101 and its demonstration through a summer mathematics workshop are unique. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Cronk, Stanley Ronald Ferguson Charles Patterson Louisiana Tech University LA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 99968 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0436071 January 1, 2005 GSE/DIS: Effective Strategies to Diversify Academic STEM. New Mexico State University is assembling leading academic administrators from four Carnegie Doctoral/Research University Extensive institutions that are also either a minority serving institution (MSI) and/or an ADVANCE-funded institution. The working team of administrators will produce a publication tentatively titled "Effective Strategies to Diversify Academic STEM" and a Powerpoint presentation. These products will synthesize, in an accessible, efficient format the rich literature on gender, race/ethnicity and science and technology to provide concrete strategies for recruiting and retaining diverse students and faculty-especially women and minorities. The publication and presentation will be produced over the course of a one-year writing project. Administrators will learn current research on diversity in higher education and then form writing groups in preparation for a retreat-style conference in Summer, 2005. Dissemination will be accomplished in three ways: 1. All participants will agree to make presentations at a conference in their field during the 2006 calendar year. 2. The publication will be sent to the presidents, provosts and deans at all 151 Carnegie Doctoral/Research University Extensive institutions. 3. The NMSU ADVANCE web site, www.nmsu.edu/~advprog, will provide pdf versions of the documents. Intellectual Merit Deans and department heads play a critical role in bringing about institutional change within academia. Leaders at these levels must translate the broad goals and objectives of the institution framed by higher administration (including governing bodies like boards of regents) into concrete outcomes by developing strategies to encourage faculty members to behave in accordance with those goals and objectives. The project emphasizes communication among a diverse group of administrators and co-PIs to educate each other-and then their national peers-about how to diversify STEM fields, especially among the professoriate. Broader Impacts Ultimately, the project seeks to bring about changes within the participating institutions and at all 151 U.S. Carnegie Doctoral/Research University Extensive institutions. Information developed will be presented at 20 or more conferences in various disciplines-including higher education administration, and science and engineering disciplines-reaching broad audiences with concrete research-based information and strategies about how to recruit and retain women and minorities in science and engineering at all levels of academia. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR O'Connell, Mary Elba Serrano New Mexico State University NM Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 219829 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0436130 November 1, 2004 GSE/DIS POWERFUL SIGNALS: Transforming the Role of Women and Girls in Science and Engineering. WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is producing two radio series to be broadcast throughout the US on WAMC's nationally syndicated radio programs 51%--about and affecting women, and The Best of Our Knowledge.a show about education, educational policy, innovation, and research. The first series is nine sound-rich, feature-length, magazine style radio modules covering innovative gender equity programs and projects throughout the nation, highlighting successful methods and strategies for increasing the participation of girls and young women in STEM education and careers. The second series is three multi-segment "audio-diary" radio stories which will allow individual young women who have chosen a course of study in a STEM field or career, or are currently working in such a field, to tell her own story. Both will also be available for listening on the Internet (WAMC's Women in STEM website) and distributed nationally to targeted audiences on compact disc. The intellectual merit of this project lies in WAMC's radio programming placing a national spotlight on specific teaching styles, curriculum designs, pedagogical approaches, and studies that have contributed to the knowledge base addressing gender-related differences in learning, and have promoted educational experiences that positively affect student interest, performance, and choice of careers; and how these programs and projects have made a measurable impact on the national effort to increase the participation of girls and young women in STEM. As a "storyteller," WAMC anticipates the following broader impacts associated with this project: * Reaching and educating a nationwide audience of radio listeners about the nationwide effort to close the gender gap in STEM education and careers; * Reaching and educating a targeted audience of girls and young women (with a priority emphasis on minority and disabled populations) who will have the opportunity to learn that STEM education and careers are possible and within reach; * Reaching and educating a targeted audience of parents, educators, academics, institutional and organizational leaders providing them with stories about model programs and stories they can use to further their efforts to increase the participation of girls and young women in STEM. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Busby, Glenn Mary Darcy WAMC Northeast Public Radio NY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 200100 1544 SMET 9178 0436216 October 1, 2004 Accomplishment-Based Renewal of the Evaluative Study of Model Institutions for Excellence Based on MIE Self-Evaluation Template. Systemic Research, Inc. has been working on a two year NSF grant, Evaluative Study of Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) Based in MIE Self Evaluation Template (MSET) [HRD-0204166] since September 15, 2002. Systemic Research has been involved in the MIE program since 1996 as a technical assistant provider to design, develop, and implement the MIE Self Evaluation Template (MSET), a conceptual and operational program evaluation instrument. All MIE institutions have utilized MSET since the beginning of the MIE program to collect their annual progress data. Based on the collected MSET database, Systemic Research has compiled, published, and disseminated an Annual MIE Fact Book to present an overall progress report from the baseline year to the current year. Systemic Research, Inc. is seeking 36 months of funding to continue indicator data collection and to publish annual Fact Books for the remainder of the program period. MIE Fact Book 2002 includes a decade of data, through AY 2001-02. For a complete presentation of the program, data is needed through AY 2005-06, four additional years. The annual Fact Books will be disseminated in parallel with the MIE institutions' Phase III dissemination efforts to illustrate overall program progress. In addition, a Program Achievement Highlights booklet including best practice models will be published at the end of the third year to coincide with the conclusion of MIE funding. Systemic Research will continue to provide extensive technical assistance to individual institutions through continuous communication including onsite workshops and annual MIE/MSET workshops. The MSET homepage will also be continued to be hosted in Systemic Research's web site to enhance communication and dissemination. Broad Impact In addition to assisting with self evaluation by the MIE institutions, an objective of this proposal is the dissemination of MIE Models and their impact on the participating colleges and universities. For wide dissemination, all publications will be available in three different formats; printed copy, CD-ROM, and web-based publications. The MIE Fact Books and Program Achievement Highlights with Case Stories booklet will be disseminated nation-wide to present the impact of the MIE program to Congress, federal agencies, research and education communities and all interested stakeholders. The outcome reports will be further disseminated through various national conferences such as American Educational Research Association, American Evaluation Association, and National Center for Education Statistics. Intellectual Merit MSET has proven to be an effective instrument for measurement of student success indicators. MSET will be updated provide common measures of performance across all MIE projects for the duration of the program. The site visits and case stories will identify best practice models. The project will continue to provide extensive technical assistance to participating MIE sites. Individual institution's Fact Books will be returned to respective institution for their on-going self-evaluation. The Fact Book (overall and by institution) will continue to be a successful mode of program dissemination. Annual MSET workshops will further build capacity on key indicator management and self evaluation. The finalized MSET Master Database may be used for further analysis among educational researchers. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Kim, Jason Linda Crasco Systemic Research, Inc. MA Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 995284 1582 SMET 9178 0436221 September 1, 2004 GSE/DIS Sisters in Science Dissemination and Outreach Project. CUNY Queens College seeks to provide K-12 students, parents, pre-service and classroom teachers, school administrators, other educators, and the general public with information promoting the best practices toward implementing gender-equitable science education. Core material about equitable teaching practices in science, mathematics, technology, and engineering will be drawn from the PI's experience with five evaluated science education programs over ten years. Resource materials include curricula, research findings, and professional development methods. An interactive website will make resources available nationally. A teacher-authored quarterly newsletter will communicate reports of action research. A publication series will feature current research on gender equity and science education. A book will synthesize teacher research and academic research. In addition, K-12 educators will be invited to a 3-day Summer Institute. A "What Works" conference will provide an annual culminating event with attendees from the national community. Regionally, New York City pre-service and in-service teachers, as well as school administrators will be invited to attend a 3-day Summer Institute designed to further equitable teaching practices that enhance student achievement. At the local level, in New York City Region 3, Queens Borough teachers and school administrators and community-based organizations will hold one-day symposia to focus on innovative strategies that promote gender equity in and out of the classroom. Intellectual Merit. The proposed project disseminates findings and methods developed across five successful experimental programs (all variations of "Sisters in Science") that yielded detailed curricula and evaluation methods. The PI, as Queens' College Dean of Education, has the endorsement of the New York City Public Schools Region 3 to provide professional development workshops for credit to teachers in 75 schools serving 125,000 students. Broader Impacts. The project brings together educators and researchers in order to address gender inequalities that exist within the educational system. It will impact areas of national concern: the need to foster gender-equitable and inclusive practices in K-12 schools, the need to promote science and mathematics achievement for all students, awareness of model approaches to professional development in gender-equitable education, raised awareness and discussion of the need for change in policies, and, ultimately, the need to broaden the participation of females in science-based careers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hammrich, Penny Susan Kirch Michelle Myers CUNY Queens College NY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 200000 1544 SMET 9178 0436230 January 1, 2005 GSE/DIS Reaching Parents of Elementary and Middle School Girls. Imaginary Lines will develop and distribute readable, high quality booklets to parents of girls in grades K-3 and 4-7, on gender-based factors that diminish girls' interest in science and engineering. A version will be adapted for Hispanic parents and published in Spanish. The team will also deliver informative and practical workshops for parents in both English and Spanish, and develop an online discussion forum for parents to enable them to ask questions of experts and exchange ideas and experiences with other parents. Imaginary Lines, founded by Sally Ride, runs events nationally for students and parents to promote interest in science and engineering. The events will be used to field-test and distribute the brochure. The grant will leverage the visibility Sally Ride brings to local events to generate media stories (newspaper, radio, TV) that raise public awareness of girls/women in STEM. Girls growing up today navigate an environment that often influences (sometimes quite subtly) their perceptions of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and their sense of belonging in these endeavors. Parents, teachers, and peers can influence them and shape their attitudes, often subtly discouraging them from STEM activities. Research shows that 4th - 8th grade is a critical period when girls begin to drift away from science and math in greater numbers than boys. This is often a result of societal influences that begin even earlier. In particular, parents can have a significant effect on their daughters' attitudes toward STEM. To date, little emphasis has been placed on reaching parents on this topic specifically. Intellectual Merit. Research shows that parents can be a significant and early influence on girls' attitudes toward STEM activities and careers. There is substantial merit in informing parents of gender issues and offering them practical suggestions to support their daughters' interests, as this may help decrease the number of girls who drift away from STEM as a result of societal pressures and perceptions. The effort is unique in its focused effort to provide practical, research-based information to parents of elementary and middle-school girls. The highly qualified team is partnering with Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, a leading publisher of K-6 science materials, who will print, promote and distribute the booklets and organize workshops in several school districts, reaching large numbers of parents from diverse backgrounds. Other partners include COSI-Columbus, CWIT, and SDSC's Girls are GREAT. Broader Impacts. The proposed activity will advance parents' understanding of gender issues and research findings on children's interest in science and engineering and will provide practical ways for them to help and encourage daughters to maintain natural interests in STEM. Ultimately, it aims to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in S&E, especially girls and Hispanics. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Ride, Sally Tam O'Shaughnessy Imaginary Lines Inc. CA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 198819 1544 SMET 9178 0436249 January 1, 2005 GSE/DIS Disseminating the National Science Partnership Kits. The Franklin Institute and Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. are disseminating materials and resources developed for The National Science Partnership for Girl Scouts and Science Museums (NSP) under prior NSF funding. The dissemination of these materials and resources targets 1.8 million Brownie (ages 6-8) and Junior (ages 9-11) Girl Scouts nationwide. Intellectual Merit. The National Science Partnership, a pioneering collaboration, was designed to address the science learning and teaching needs of Girl Scout leaders, with the goal of encouraging girls' pursuit of science. NSP provided science activity kits, coupled with leader training, that emphasized the processes of science, as well as badge-appropriate science content in physics, chemistry, astronomy, meteorology, and environmental science. Longitudinal evaluation showed that NSP was successful in building leader capacity as teachers and learners of science and cultivated girls' positive attitudes and long-lasting interest in science. In 2001, NSP was recognized by the Department of Education as one of five projects nationally for promoting gender equity in science. The project team will continue its longstanding collaboration to dramatically expand dissemination of the four most popular and effective NSP kits. Leaders will have an expanded menu of training opportunities, including web-based resources, and all four kits will meet current badge requirements, as well as align closely with the National Science Educational Standards. Through the proposed dissemination, the team expects to engage a whole new generation of girls and leaders in science learning in the powerful informal all-girl environment offered through Girl Scouting. Broader Impacts. NSP has benefited girls and leaders nationwide since the early 1990s. More than 11,800 leaders and 138,000 girls benefited from the NSP kit program during its initial five years of federal support. By providing strong resources for leaders in Girl Scouts, NSP enhances the likelihood of quality informal science experiences for girls, provides opportunities for engagement and transformation of leaders into science teachers, learners, and advocates, and offers program models for the institutions implementing the program. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR McCreedy, Dale Erin McNally Franklin Institute Science Museum PA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199832 1544 SMET 9178 0436260 October 1, 2004 GSE/DIS SciGirls - A DragonflyTV Dissemination Project. TPT/Twin Cities Public Television, the PBS affiliate station in St. Paul/Minneapolis, is conducting a novel dissemination project, DragonflyTV SciGirls. Using a combination of video and print resources, supported with hands-on training, DragonflyTV SciGirls will provide selected PBS stations and their local partners the skills, materials, and financial resources needed to implement an initiative that does not yet exist in the PBS system: a science encouragement program designed specifically for girls. The three primary goals of the DragonflyTV SciGirls dissemination project are: 1. to foster a greater interest in science and the process of scientific inquiry among girls ages 9 to 12, paying special attention to reaching girls of color; 2. to provide educators in communities across the nation with electronic and print media that model authentic explorations of science that all girls can do, with training to use these materials effectively, and 3. to increase both the quantity and quality of girls' science encouragement programs, by leveraging the established power of the PBS outreach system to engage a wide range of community partners. The project will be guided by an Advisory Board of distinguished leaders in informal and formal science education for girls. At the heart of this dissemination initiative is DragonflyTV, a half-hour weekly program broadcast on PBS stations covering approximately 90% of the nation, attracting nearly a million viewers per week. Since its inception, DragonflyTV has been a unique showcase for girls, ages 9-12. Over half of the DragonflyTV "kid scientists" are girls, with nearly 200 girls featured in our first three seasons. To complement and extend the regular weekly broadcasts, DragonflyTV also offers inquiry-based outreach resources including Educator's Guides, children's science journals, Fun Kits, videotapes, and a rich, interactive Web site (www.dragonflytv.org). SciGirls will capitalize on the full complement of DragonflyTV resources, disseminating them through a proven model -- the strong, national network of outreach professionals at PBS stations. DragonflyTV staff will select and train a cadre of these professionals who, in turn, will facilitate similar training sessions with their community partners. Local partners might include schools, after-school groups, libraries, or community youth organizations like the YWCA, Girl Scouts, or Boys and Girls Clubs. Finally, these partners will use the unique DragonflyTV resources to energize their programs, giving the girls they serve the motivation and skills to explore science on their own. Intellectual Merit. The project leverages a large national program to produce a smaller science encouragement program designed specifically for girls. The service structure will include 8-12 local community program providers as partners. Broader Impact. The program will reach the same huge audiences as DragronflyTV, and in addition draw attention to and demonstrate a program for girls that could inspire similar initiatives in other communities. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hudson, Richard Twin Cities Public Television MN Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 399539 1544 SMET 9178 0436264 September 1, 2004 GSE/DIS National Girls Collaborative Project. Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology will replicate the Northwest Girls Collaborative Project in three regions (California, Indiana, and Massachusetts) in an effort to strengthen the capacity, impact, and sustainability of existing and evolving girl-serving science, technology, and engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. Through collaboration among organizations, institutions, and businesses committed to expanding participation of women in STEM, the existing and evolving projects will have a much greater chance of maintaining interest and participation of girls in STEM within their regions. Through replication of the NW model, the project will accomplish the following objectives: 1. Connect existing and evolving projects, identify gaps and overlaps of services in support of STEM for girls. 2. Maximize access to shared resources within projects and with public and private sector organizations and institutions interested in expanding girls' participation in STEM. 3. Invest in long-range planning for addressing gaps and overlaps in service delivery and long-term sustainability. 4. Strengthen capacity of existing and evolving projects by sharing research and program models, outcomes and products. Leaders and experts in girl-serving STEM organizations will share their knowledge via conferences and forums, both in person and via teleconference and/or video conference, electronic communications via a listserv newsletter and a MatchMakers program to assist matching needs and resources. They will employ structured collaborative brainstorming and planning to develop action plans. Mini-grants will encourage leaders to test and develop new approaches and to incorporate assessment methods. The new Collaboratives will be formed with the Society of Women Engineers (for Massachusetts and New Hampshire), the Edward Teller Educational Center affiliated with the University of California, and Indiana's Energize Indiana state-wide initiative (which concentrates industry attention to workforce development). A National Champions Board comprised of individuals from all sectors (education, industry, government, national non-profit, and media) advises the Collaboratives on all aspects including fund raising for sustainability. Intellectual Merit. The NorthWest Collaborative model will be transported to three different new settings and evaluated in those new settings. All the materials developed for one region will be available and tested and refined in the new settings. Broader Impact. Typically small informal education programs are implemented and lose effectiveness or fade away. The model promises to build a rich regional network, supply significant information, social capital, and resources. It will strengthen the informal education infrastructure that delivers STEM education to students, build capital in the local leaders, attract and commit industry involvement and funding, gain visibility and support in communities, and ultimately bring more girls into STEM learning and careers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Peterson, Karen Patricia MacGowan Brenda Britsch Louise Stevens Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology WA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 207190 1544 SMET 9178 0437139 September 1, 2004 Providing Technical Assistance to Grantees and Potential Grantees in the HBCU-UP Program. The QEM Network will provide technical assistance to grantee and potential grantee institutions to the Foundation's HBCU-UP Program. Technical assistance will focus on efforts to: (1) enhance the success of potential grantees in securing HBCU-UP support; (2) ensure that newly-funded HBCU-UP projects get off to a strong start; and (3) encourage linkages between and among HBCU-UP Projects as well as linkages to other NSF- funded initiatives. To help further the overall goal of the HBCU-UP Program, QEM will conduct proposal development workshops; provide on-site technical assistance; conduct special workshops focused on the key components of the HBCU-UP Program; and facilitate communications between and among HBCU-UP grantees as well as with other NSF-funded projects. QEM will plan and conduct a special two-day faculty workshop during year two that is focused on information, resources, and strategies that support the professional development of undergraduate students majoring in STEM disciplines at HBCU-UP grantee institutions. QEM also will plan and conduct a two-day STEM faculty development workshop in year three for HBCU-UP multi-year grantee institutions that will focus on research opportunities for faculty, including opportunities at major NSF-funded Research Centers; curricula and pedagogy with an emphasis on the integration of research and teaching; and effective student mentoring. Intellectual Merit. QEM has a successful track record in the conduct and outcome of proposal development workshops. It also has successfully implemented a series of scholarly productivity workshops for faculty at HBCUs and minority-serving institutions that will inform the content of the Student Professional Development Workshop for Faculty and the Faculty Development Workshop. Broader Impact. The project will not only reach the total pool of HBCU-UP grantees, it will increase understanding of the HBCU-UP guidelines and NSF application and reporting procedures among HBCUs; improve the quality of STEM curricula, instruction, research opportunities, and student advising/mentoring at HBCUs; strengthen the implementation of HBCU-UP funded projects; and facilitate linkages between HBCUs and NSF-funded Centers. Materials developed through the Project will be widely disseminated to faculty on all HBCU campuses and will be made available at QEM's website. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 1029632 1594 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0437940 August 1, 2004 GSE Planning for "TOYchallenge: The Movie". Imaginary Lines is planning the production of a full length documentary film that will follow teams of middle school kids involved in an exciting, entertaining engineering design competition -- to design a toy -- and in the process change public perceptions of engineering and those who engage in it, and encourage more students (especially girls) to get involved in science and engineering. TOYchallenge, currently in its second year, was started by Imaginary Lines and Smith College; Hasbro is the founding sponsor. The gender neutral premise and format of TOYchallenge encourages both boys and girls to experience the engineering design process -- from brainstorming to prototyping -- in a competition that is fun and engaging. It is open to both boys and girls, but a principle aim is to engage more girls, and to pay particular attention to issues relevant to underrepresented minorities. The planning grant supports two things: an advisory committee of experts to inform the film production team on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) pipeline issues and to develop the themes to explore in the documentary, and, shooting and editing of a 3-5 minute TOYchallenge video to be reviewed and critiqued by the advisory committee, then used as footage to describe the competition and the motivation behind it to teachers, parents and students. Intellectual Merit. The merit of this activity is that the relatively small investment in research input can result in the dissemination of findings and research issues through an entertaining documentary that could reach a very wide audience including children. Qualified policy and research experts will team with film producers for a unique and creative dissemination opportunity. Broader Impacts. Research shows that 4th - 8th grade is a critical period when girls and boys begin to drift away from science and math -- girls in greater numbers than boys. One contributor is the low visibility of female engineers in the media and the generally unflattering and often inaccurate media portrayal of engineers. Recent reports call further attention to the shortage of US born scientists and engineers, and to the relatively low numbers of American boys and girls who now choose to go on in technical fields. Through its influence on the documentary, the planning exercise has the potential to broaden the representation of underrepresented groups by altering the perceptions of all students -- especially girls and minorities -- and the public at large (many, many thousands of people). RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Ride, Sally Imaginary Lines Inc. CA Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 46706 1544 SMET 9178 0441207 October 1, 2004 AGEP Post-Doctoral Engineering Education Researchers (AGEP PEERs). AGEP Post-doctoral Engineering Education Researchers (AGEP PEERs) Under the terms of Master Agreement No. 0239565 for unsolicited proposals, the National Academy of Sciences requests funds to support four (4) Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) alumni per year over a three-year period as post-doctoral fellows in further preparation for their practice of engineering education research as faculty members at the Nation.s leading universities. These AGEP alumni will be referred to as AGEP Post-doctoral Engineering Education Researchers (AGEP PEERs) and will contribute to the production of faculty peers of unquestioned excellence in the multiple forms of scholarship required for faculty for the 21st Century. The work will be performed by the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education of the National Academy of Engineering. The outcomes of this effort will be 1. Identification and placement of 12 AGEP alumni at engineering education research centers for 12-month post-doctoral research experiences focused on engineering education with expectation of resulting publication. 2. Attendance of an annual Fellows meeting by current and former AGEP PEERs to build community and leverage individual experiences. 3. Attendance of up to 3 additional professional meetings by each AGEP PEER to establish a presence in their professional community. Intellectual Merit This effort seeks to strengthen the human infrastructure and diversity of the professoriate by linking AGEP alumni with premier centers of engineering education research. This effort complements the disciplinary expertise AGEP fellows have developed within their doctoral program by building their skills in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Thus, this project advances the integration of research and education. Broader Impacts Successful completion of this project will contribute to the establishment of a cadre of new minority faculty well prepared for excellence in both research and education. Their skills will serve to inspire their peers as well as new generations of scholars from all groups and populations. Additionally, greater awareness of the rigor and applicability of education research by engineering faculty will contribute to more inclusive definitions of faculty scholarship and a beneficial modification of engineering faculty tenure and promotion systems. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Fortenberry, Norman National Academy of Sciences DC Lenell Allen Continuing grant 1419482 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0443231 April 1, 2005 Implementation of a Self-Evaluation Template and Performance Indicator Report for NSF's Tribal Colleges and Universities Program [TCUP]. Systemic Research, Inc. is continuing the implementation of a Self-Evaluation Template and Performance Indicator Report for the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). Systemic Research is currently engaged in a 24 month grant (9/15/02 - 8/30/04), "Development and Implementation of a Self-Evaluation and Assessment System for NSF's Tribal Colleges and Universities Program" (HRD-0223659) to design, develop, and implement TCUP Self Evaluation Template (TSET) and TCUP Performance Indicator Report (TPIR). TPIR presents both TCUP individual institution's and overall performance reports. Within the context of TCUP goals and relevant GPRA requirements, Systemic Research proposes to continue the implementation of a TCUP indicator monitoring system, TSET, and relevant reports for program accountability. Each year Systemic Research will develop and deliver a customized annual TSET instrument to each TCUP site, host a TSET workshop, compile collected TSET data to produce TPIR, and administer the TSET web management system. In the first and second year the project team will conduct three site visits to gather additional information to publish case stories. Other activities will include hosting TCUP advisory panel meetings, presentations at NSF PI/PD meetings, and participating in the relevant national conferences. Systemic Research will provide technical assistance to all TSET grantees, and disseminate outcome reports to TCUP sites, NSF, and other stakeholders. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Kim, Jason Linda Crasco Systemic Research, Inc. MA Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1156959 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0443372 September 1, 2004 Model Institutions of Excellence Dissemination Activities. ABSTRACT The Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) program was conceived in 1992 at the instigation of NSF Director Walter Massey. At the time, several federal agencies expressed interest in being partners, but only NASA eventually chose to participate in MIE. An across-directorate task force designed the program. The solicitation described the goals of MIE as follows: Provide an opportunity to define methods for improving minority institutions in SEM education and undergraduate research; Target a small number of minority institutions poised to make a substantial contribution to the goal of increasing the number of minorities who earn SEM baccalaureate degrees and then enroll in graduate SEM programs or enter SEM careers; produce minority institutions that will serve as models for the successful recruitment, education and production of quality-trained SEM baccalaureate degree recipients; and, Allow the Foundation to more effectively exercise its statutory authority "to undertake or support a comprehensive science and engineering program to increase the participation of minorities in science and engineering " The program was organized into three phases: Phase I: Develop the Models (5 years); Phase II: Implement the Models (3 years); Phase III: Institutionalization and Dissemination of Models (3 years). The Dissemination phase began during FY04; each NSF funded site has received its remaining and final three-year dissemination phase grant commitments, and some have begun to disseminate data and best practices. However, this overall process was seen to be uneven at best, and elemental and disjointed at worst. New (February 2004) Program Director David Temple determined that a comprehensive and jointly coordinated MIE dissemination effort was needed, one that would affirm and reveal the worth and value of the findings and products of this decade-long demonstration initiative, as well as its challenges, and inferences for the future. The Alliance for Equity in Higher Education (AEHE or the Alliance)-a District of Columbia based coalition comprised of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), and the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO)-has submitted an unsolicited proposal to the National Science Foundation (in concurrence and coordination with, and on behalf of, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) for the dissemination of models under the Model Institutions of Excellence (MIE) program. The proposal has been submitted by AEHE's parent organization, the Institute for Higher Education Policy. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Merisotis, Jamie Institute for Higher Education Policy DC Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 412348 1582 SMET 9178 0446811 September 1, 2004 The Science Education Resource Virtual Diversity Center. Abstract In partnership with the Science.gov Alliance, the principal investigator, Dr. William E. McHenry and the co-principal investigator Dr. John S. Colonias propose to create a web-based comprehensive one-stop science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational resource tool the Science Education Resource Virtual Diversity Center (SER Virtual Diversity Center). The SER Virtual Diversity Center will feature: (1) STEM education programs by category of federal support; (2) promising practices and lessons learned from federal STEM education supporting agencies as well as from the institutions they support; (3) STEM-based educational resources for students and parents; and (4) a virtual electronic campus designed to assist institutions in sharing STEM educational courses and degree programs using the internet. Merit. The SER Virtual Diversity Center will serve as the major STEM education content portal for federal programs that target increasing participation from women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities in the STEM workforce and eventually serve as a tool for sharing information on all strategies designed to address the nation's STEM workforce needs. The SER Virtual Diversity Center will use technology-enabled processes to connect federal agencies with each other and with higher education faculty and administrators; K-12 teachers, counselors, administrators; students and parents in order to achieve dramatic improvement in efficiency for those involved in increasing minority participation in STEM -- especially federal agencies. Impact. As outlined in the BEST Report, the participation of American students in STEM fields must dramatically increase if America is to remain competitive in a global economy. With the American population becoming more diverse, students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields must be encouraged to participate. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Tribal Colleges have a record of unparalleled success with these students. The NSF's HRD Programs, especially the Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) and alliance programs, are examples of the impact partnerships between the federal government and minority-serving institutions can have on increasing the capacity of those institutions for producing STEM professionals. Purposively, the SER Virtual Diversity Center will enable federal agency program officers to better access information across agency lines, coordinate science education initiatives, and connect agencies more directly with higher education institutions and their faculty and school districts and their teachers, counselors, students, and parents to create STEM knowledge-based communities. The authors propose to create a one-stop SER Virtual Diversity Center through which federal agency program officers and others can view: (1) STEM education programs by category of federal support; (2) promising practices and lessons learned from federal STEM education supporting agencies as well as from the institutions they support; (3) STEM-based educational resources for students and parents; and (4) a virtual electronic campus designed to assist institutions in sharing STEM educational courses and degree programs using the internet. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR McHenry, William Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education OK Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 507773 1582 SMET 9179 9178 9150 1582 0450063 October 1, 2004 The Michigan AGEP Alliance. As an AGEP program participant since 1998, the University of Michigan (UM) proposes to build upon its successes and achievements by forming the Michigan AGEP Alliance (MAA). Our partnership will comprise four leading Ph.D. granting institutions in the State of Michigan, all of which have long- standing traditions of academic excellence in doctoral education and research in science and engineering (STEM) disciplines, as well as a firm commitment to achieving diversity in higher education. The MAA will feature the UM as the lead school, and include Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and Western Michigan University as primary partners. The UM will share the many successes of its previous AGEP activities with the new partner schools and, in turn, learn from the different experiences and insights that each partner brings to the Alliance. The institutionalization successfully carried out at the UM with AGEP funding, as well as the considerable achievements of our partner institutions, will provide a solid foundation on which to develop new avenues of programming for the proposed MAA. Our Alliance will be a full partnership of the four institutions, built upon our collective wisdom, the sharing of best practices, and the assessment of outcomes and use of this knowledge to implement continuous improvement. Through the development of joint programs and ventures, the MAA will achieve (1) sustained, organized cooperation between MAA institutions; (2) increased efficiency by aligning the resources and operations of MAA partners; and (3) increased opportunities for under-represented students. The primary objectives of the proposed AGEP program are: To sustain and expand upon gains made in the recruitment of under-represented students in the STEM fields, by sharing lessons of UM successes with alliance institutions and by adapting successful programs from the alliance to UM.s institutional culture. To develop and implement new initiatives to expand the student pipeline, to retain and graduate enrolled students, and to prepare students effectively for entering careers in academia. To ensure that students are prepared to become leaders and innovators in the academic world. To ensure long-term sustainability of gains made by institutionalizing successes. The proposed AGEP program will be centered on a set of programmatic activities that include: Recruiting and outreach: recruiting fairs and outreach, coordinated summer research programs, coordinated visits of students to partner campus, outreach to potential students in industry. Retention: alleviating financial concerns, identifying and finding solutions for academic concerns, responding to social concerns, strengthening mentoring, improving programs that prepare students for entering graduate programs. Development of student leadership and innovation in STEM fields. Teaching preparation and career development: encouragement of academic careers. Intellectual Merit- Collectively the MAA partners have extensive experience in analyzing data, and we propose to develop an evaluation model that will enable us to capitalize on our success and remedy difficulties in a timely fashion. With this model we will measure and analyze in depth outcomes between different student groups, partner institutions, and other AGEP alliances. We will disseminate the knowledge gained in a variety of ways, including meetings, presentations, reports and journal publications. We intend to create an approach to evaluation that may be adopted in other AGEP alliances, producing a wider comparison of effort and success and perhaps setting the groundwork for a national analysis standard in graduate education. Broader Impact- Our efforts will lead to an increased number of under-represented students successfully completing a Ph.D., and entering academia. However, the aim of our AGEP program is not simply to increase numbers, but rather to provide an educational experience, adoptable by other graduate programs, that will enable our under-represented students to become part of the next generation of leaders and innovators in STEM fields. We will develop a series of programs that will help develop the skills and attitude students need to become creative researchers, educators and leaders, who will be ready to contribute to the knowledge, technology, security and quality of life of the nation. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Weiss, Janet Lewis Pyenson Alec Gallimore Steven Salley Karen Klomparens University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 4396636 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0450099 March 1, 2005 AGEP Collaborative Research Training: North Carolina Alliance to Create Opportunity Through Education. The purpose of the North Carolina Alliance to Create Opportunity through Education (OPT-ED) AGEP is to substantially enhance efforts in North Carolina to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students receiving PhD degrees and ultimately entering the professoriate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The proposed AGEP project combines two existing Minority Graduate Education (MGE) projects at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNCCH) and jointly at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T). Immediately after the MGE grants were awarded, the three schools formed an alliance; one year later, formed a formal network that included all NSF-HRD supported URM initiative projects in North Carolina: the Louis Stokes Alliance Minority Participation Program, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology, in addition to the North Carolina Math Science Education Network, a K-12 program with sites at college campuses across the state. Thus, OPT-ED is the formal alliance of the three institutions under one program and the building and strengthening of the collaborative network or alliance among NSF-supported URM initiative projects in the state. Intellectual Merit. OPT-ED.s strength and uniqueness is its incorporation of NSF URM initiative programs in North Carolina into a broader alliance to form student pathways to the PhD degree and the professoriate. OPT-ED and its network partners recognize that STEM PhDs are not the result of graduate programs alone, but are fashioned from the intellectual building blocks that occur in middle and high school. The logic behind the development of OPT-ED stems from the conceptualization that the connecting of programs with common goals, to advance the participation of URM students in STEM fields would strengthen this effort in a much broader fashion. The key is the participation of programs from the education spectrum ranging from middle school to PhD programs. This in itself is a unique development. This framework allows a clear pathway to be evident in that students in the middle school program can receive guidance and support all the way through to the completion of the PhD. These connections will enhance the possibility of students continuing to receive encouragement, reinforcement, and expanded research experiences that will increase their successfully pursuing STEM graduate degrees. Broader Impacts. Through integrating the resources of all NSF-HRD (and ultimately other) diversity programs in the state, OPT-ED will have a broad impact across several educational levels, the state of North Carolina, the Southeast and, with the eventual production of PhD recipients, the nation. Thus, OPTED will serve as a comprehensive project for recruiting, mentoring, and graduating URM students in STEM PhD programs, and to carry out strategies to identify and broadly support URM students who want to pursue graduate studies and careers. The norms of inclusiveness at the AGEP institutions and the relationships that have been forged in Phase I and will be strengthened in Phase II will endure well past the termination of grant support. Given its goals and objectives, this alliance and the expected expansion of network programs will continue to work in partnership to provide URM students with opportunities to pursue PhD degrees and prepare for the professoriate well into the future. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Ashby, Valerie Robert Shelton Tony Waldrop University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 4194201 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0450102 March 1, 2005 AGEP Collaborative Research Training: North Carolina Alliance to Create Opportunity Through Education. The purpose of the North Carolina Alliance to Create Opportunity through Education (OPT-ED) AGEP is to substantially enhance efforts in North Carolina to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students receiving PhD degrees and ultimately entering the professoriate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The proposed AGEP project combines two existing Minority Graduate Education (MGE) projects at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNCCH) and jointly at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T). Immediately after the MGE grants were awarded, the three schools formed an alliance; one year later, formed a formal network that included all NSF-HRD supported URM initiative projects in North Carolina: the Louis Stokes Alliance Minority Participation Program, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology, in addition to the North Carolina Math Science Education Network, a K-12 program with sites at college campuses across the state. Thus, OPT-ED is the formal alliance of the three institutions under one program and the building and strengthening of the collaborative network or alliance among NSF-supported URM initiative projects in the state. Intellectual Merit. OPT-ED.s strength and uniqueness is its incorporation of NSF URM initiative programs in North Carolina into a broader alliance to form student pathways to the PhD degree and the professoriate. OPT-ED and its network partners recognize that STEM PhDs are not the result of graduate programs alone, but are fashioned from the intellectual building blocks that occur in middle and high school. The logic behind the development of OPT-ED stems from the conceptualization that the connecting of programs with common goals, to advance the participation of URM students in STEM fields would strengthen this effort in a much broader fashion. The key is the participation of programs from the education spectrum ranging from middle school to PhD programs. This in itself is a unique development. This framework allows a clear pathway to be evident in that students in the middle school program can receive guidance and support all the way through to the completion of the PhD. These connections will enhance the possibility of students continuing to receive encouragement, reinforcement, and expanded research experiences that will increase their successfully pursuing STEM graduate degrees. Broader Impacts. Through integrating the resources of all NSF-HRD (and ultimately other) diversity programs in the state, OPT-ED will have a broad impact across several educational levels, the state of North Carolina, the Southeast and, with the eventual production of PhD recipients, the nation. Thus, OPTED will serve as a comprehensive project for recruiting, mentoring, and graduating URM students in STEM PhD programs, and to carry out strategies to identify and broadly support URM students who want to pursue graduate studies and careers. The norms of inclusiveness at the AGEP institutions and the relationships that have been forged in Phase I and will be strengthened in Phase II will endure well past the termination of grant support. Given its goals and objectives, this alliance and the expected expansion of network programs will continue to work in partnership to provide URM students with opportunities to pursue PhD degrees and prepare for the professoriate well into the future. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Shafer, David John Gilligan North Carolina State University NC Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 3160004 1515 SMET 9179 0450106 March 1, 2005 AGEP SUNY Phase II: Building a Community of Science Scholars. SUNY AGEP Phase II: Building a Community of Science Scholars Project Summary SUNY AGEP is a coalition of the four major doctoral granting institutions within the State University of New York (SUNY) system; Stony Brook University (lead), University at Albany, Binghamton University, and the University at Buffalo; SUNY Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (SUNY LSAMP) and Brookhaven National Laboratory. This coalition works in collaboration with federal, state, and local government agencies, funded programs, professional and community based organizations, and a series of feeder schools. SUNY AGEP plans to build a community of science scholars that will build on the highly successful and well-documented approaches for recruitment and retention. The goals of SUNY AGEP in Phase II are to substantially increase the number of underrepresented minority students getting doctoral degrees and entering the professoriate in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and to make the institutional change necessary to develop a truly inclusive professoriate. Building on the lessons learned and changes made in Phase I, SUNY AGEP plans to engage faculty and STEM departments in a series of activities that will increase recruitment, improve retention, address barriers in the academic and social climate of graduate education, increase interest in and entrance to the professoriate, and increase UREP STEM scholarship and program operation through the growth of the National Center for Inclusive Education housed at Stony Brook. In order to produce change in the order of magnitude necessary to meet degree production, and enrollment targets, SUNY AGEP continues to design and implement a comprehensive network of services that impact students, faculty, departments and institutions. Services include: sharing information related to best practices, financial support for research and professional development; a series of community building activities, activities that provide academic and social support; opportunities for students and faculty to attend professional conferences to present of their research; the SUNY AGEP Summer Research Institute and Summer Bridge Pro to recruit and prepare talented undergraduates for graduate study and a range of statewide activities for students and faculty. To facilitate these goals, SUNY AGEP continues to develop and implement: 1)a comprehensive, timely and accurate data collection and tracking system, 2) a comprehensive communication system throughout the Alliance, 3) a program-wide evaluation that uses both formative and summative measures to gauge program success and examine the program in the context of larger policy issues, 4) strong articulation in order to increase the pool of students who move successfully from undergraduate to graduate institutions, and 5) a strong support system within each institution to make SUNY AGEP goals become a permanent part of the SUNY infrastructure. Intellectual Merit SUNY AGEP is looking closely at curricular and pedagogical issues and their effects on student success and choice of careers. In addition, through the National Center for Inclusive Education (CIE), SUNY AGEP will look to increase the scholarship about UREP STEM programs and their effectiveness. Broader Impact Through the assessment of activities and the work of the National CIE, SUNY AGEP plans to add substantially to the knowledge base about UREP STEM issues and programs. This in turn will help to not only transform the institutions in the Alliance but also improve the overall climate for UREP students nationally. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Kaler, Eric Lawrence Martin David Ferguson SUNY at Stony Brook NY Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 4273589 1515 SMET 9179 0450122 March 1, 2005 AGEP Collaborative Research Training: North Carolina Alliance To Create Opportunity Through Education. The purpose of the North Carolina Alliance to Create Opportunity through Education (OPT-ED) AGEP is to substantially enhance efforts in North Carolina to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students receiving PhD degrees and ultimately entering the professoriate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The proposed AGEP project combines two existing Minority Graduate Education (MGE) projects at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNCCH) and jointly at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T). Immediately after the MGE grants were awarded, the three schools formed an alliance; one year later, formed a formal network that included all NSF-HRD supported URM initiative projects in North Carolina: the Louis Stokes Alliance Minority Participation Program, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology, in addition to the North Carolina Math Science Education Network, a K-12 program with sites at college campuses across the state. Thus, OPT-ED is the formal alliance of the three institutions under one program and the building and strengthening of the collaborative network or alliance among NSF-supported URM initiative projects in the state. Intellectual Merit. OPT-ED.s strength and uniqueness is its incorporation of NSF URM initiative programs in North Carolina into a broader alliance to form student pathways to the PhD degree and the professoriate. OPT-ED and its network partners recognize that STEM PhDs are not the result of graduate programs alone, but are fashioned from the intellectual building blocks that occur in middle and high school. The logic behind the development of OPT-ED stems from the conceptualization that the connecting of programs with common goals, to advance the participation of URM students in STEM fields would strengthen this effort in a much broader fashion. The key is the participation of programs from the education spectrum ranging from middle school to PhD programs. This in itself is a unique development. This framework allows a clear pathway to be evident in that students in the middle school program can receive guidance and support all the way through to the completion of the PhD. These connections will enhance the possibility of students continuing to receive encouragement, reinforcement, and expanded research experiences that will increase their successfully pursuing STEM graduate degrees. Broader Impacts. Through integrating the resources of all NSF-HRD (and ultimately other) diversity programs in the state, OPT-ED will have a broad impact across several educational levels, the state of North Carolina, the Southeast and, with the eventual production of PhD recipients, the nation. Thus, OPTED will serve as a comprehensive project for recruiting, mentoring, and graduating URM students in STEM PhD programs, and to carry out strategies to identify and broadly support URM students who want to pursue graduate studies and careers. The norms of inclusiveness at the AGEP institutions and the relationships that have been forged in Phase I and will be strengthened in Phase II will endure well past the termination of grant support. Given its goals and objectives, this alliance and the expected expansion of network programs will continue to work in partnership to provide URM students with opportunities to pursue PhD degrees and prepare for the professoriate well into the future. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Murray, Kenneth North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University NC Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 1622359 1594 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0450137 March 1, 2005 MGE@MSA AGEP Phase II (2004-2009). MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR McHenry, Albert Elizabeth Capaldi Quentin Wheeler Antonio Garcia Paul Johnson Arizona State University AZ Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 4700000 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0450203 October 1, 2004 Biologically-Inspired Adaptive and Reconfigurable Systems: Modeling, Synthesis, and Simulation. HRD-0450203 Biologically-inspired Adaptive and Reconfigurable Systems: Modeling, Synthesis, and Simulation North Carolina A&T State University PI: Yong D. Song With NSF support, North Carolina A&T State University will establish an interdisciplinary research and education infrastructure for Biomimetic Autonomous Systems Engineering (BASE). A multi-disciplinary team will explore biologically-inspired approaches to system adaptation, fault-tolerance and reconfiguration. The project will explore the phenomena of self-adaptation and reconfiguration/organization in natural biological systems, and develop a theoretical framework for self-reconfigurable systems. The project will also design and evaluate biomimetic mechanisms and algorithms for future metamorphic autonomous systems. The research team will conduct three major investigations. First, the key factors that enable biological systems to be functionally adaptive and operationally reliable will be investigated. Second, systematic studies on how to use these principles as a source of inspiration to design robust and fault-tolerant systems will be conducted. These principles will be formalized as algorithms and strategies, with explicit primitives, means of reasoning, self-learning and organization, thus providing a framework for the design and analysis of systems with adaptive and fault-tolerant capabilities. Finally, evaluation of the developed methods will be conducted using the university's laboratory facilities and those of collaborators. The intellectual merit of the project lies not only in the identification and characterization of the biologically-inspired principles and strategies related to system adaptation and robustness, but also the ultimate incorporation of these principles into the design of autonomous systems to achieve fault-tolerant and reconfigurable capabilities. The broader impact of the project lies in the project's contributions to the understanding of various problems in the study of biocomplexity and its application to engineering. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Song, Yong Andrew Goliszek Vinayak Kabadi Numan Dogan Yaohang Li North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University NC Patrick F. Mensah Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9178 0450279 March 1, 2005 The South East Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. The proposed SEAGEP Program includes The University of Florida (UF) as lead institution and two primary partners . Clemson University and The University of South Carolina. SEAGEP unites three Research Extensive institutions that combined offer PhD degrees in over 50 STEM fields offering unparalleled opportunities for graduate studies. In 2002, the total STEM graduate enrollment at these institutions was over 400. Secondary partners are the Florida-Georgia Louis B. Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP), the South Carolina Louis B. Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (SCAMP) and the University of the U.S. Virgin Islands. SEAGEP will also provide international opportunities for students through a collaboration with the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions (LACCEI) and other Latin American and worldwide projects. SEAGEP will organize and deliver a comprehensive program that successfully guides STEM graduate students from underrepresented groups toward doctoral degree completion and entry into academic careers. The components of the program will be guided by the design principles suggested by the Building Engineering & Science Talent organization and will include targeted recruitment activities, bridging activities that prepare students for the graduate school experience, retention activities that include faculty and peer mentoring, professional preparation activities for entry into academic careers, and post doctoral opportunities. The objectives of the program are to: Increase the number of minority STEM PhD students from underrepresented groups and prepare them for successful entry into productive faculty careers, Develop synergistic partner relationships for institutionalizing changes that will continue to promote diversity in STEM graduate education Increase the pool of undergraduates from underrepresented groups who are prepared for entry into graduate STEM fields, Develop a model to evaluate the effectiveness of the partnership. The SEAGEP program will be evaluated throughout the five years of the program- using both qualitative and quantitative methods, including formative evaluation of the program activities as they are implemented, as well as summative program impact evaluation. The intellectual merit of SEAGEP is evident in that this Alliance includes a diverse team well qualified to serve as PIs and facilitators of the activities designed to address the preparation of doctoral students in creative and innovative ways, thereby increasing the numbers of underrepresented scholars that earn doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines and enter the professoriate. SEAGEP has been developed from a thorough understanding of the challenges inherent in this mission as reported in the literature. Each partner has unique strengths to contribute and benefits to realize. Through this synergy, SEAGEP will result in national models for cultural and institutional change, and partnership effectiveness. The Mission of SEAGEP is to create a regional partnership for enhancing diversity in higher education by developing innovative and sustainable graduate education programs to prepare and train students to enter STEM fields and to foster models of institutional cultural change. When realized, it will provide a direct impact by increasing the number of minority PhDs and will also result in broader impacts by establishing a model partnership and proven strategies that will be widely disseminated. SEAGEP will contribute to the development of a more inclusive, skilled, and versatile technical talent pool, strengthening the diversity of the Nation.s workforce, particularly academia, thereby contributing to the fields that are critical to the Nation.s economic strength, national security, and quality of life. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Glover, Joseph Anne Donnelly University of Florida FL Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 5072494 1515 SMET 9179 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0450303 October 1, 2004 AGEP: FACES: Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science. Intellectual Merit: The FACES program is a significant ongoing commitment by the Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College to increase the national representation of minorities (URMs) in the engineering and the sciences professoriate. The program is comprised of several components, and the aggregate program addresses each critical step along the path to an academic career. To provide a mechanism for the early recruitment of students into research and academic careers, FACES will establish a Research Careers Office at Morehouse College. Furthermore, undergraduates who have completed their sophomore year are provided summer and academic year research experiences as a means of promoting their interest in research and graduate school attendance. These students are then encouraged to enroll in graduate programs using a series of recruitment efforts at national events such as the NSBE Annual Convention or Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS), campus visits and tours, and a lecture/workshop series on the merit of graduate school and careers in academia. Admitted Georgia Tech and Emory graduate students are supported on doctoral fellowship supplements throughout their matriculation. Graduate student support is provided by means of a stipend which increases in value as the student meets the critical milestones along the way toward the Ph.D. Another portion of these funds is used to support travel to technical meetings for research presentations. Finally, senior doctoral students compete for Career Initiation Grants, which they may use as start-up funds to assist in establishing their research programs in their initial academic appointments. Assessment of program outcomes will be performed annually. Broader Impact: This program is a blending of the resources of these universities to focus specifically on increasing the production of URMs who earn engineering and science doctoral degrees. This proposal has been initiated by African American faculty who are committed to this goal and recognize that success breeds success. Recruiting, mentoring and academic support programs initiated by Georgia Tech, Emory, Morehouse and Spelman have been quite successful in increasing retention, grades, and overall production of URM degree candidates. Our partnership has created a pipeline of successful African American undergraduates and this proposal describes a doctoral-focused program that builds on the successful undergraduate efforts. As one of the leading producers of minority engineers and scientists, this alliance is ideally positioned to increase the national production of African American students who earn doctorates and promote their representation in academic careers. With the assistance of NSF funding to keep the program elements in place, FACES will continue to provide a mechanism to "change the face" of the national engineering and science professoriate, substantially improving the current dearth of underrepresented engineering and science faculty. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR May, Gary GA Tech Research Corporation - GA Institute of Technology GA Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 4590522 1515 SMET 9179 0450339 March 1, 2005 No Longer 'A Dream Deferred:' Greater Minority STEM Participation Through Academic Opportunity and Institutional Change. The Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP) will implement a variety of innovative and proven strategies for the recruitment, admission, retention and preparation for faculty positions of underrepresented minority graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). For the past five years, a number of these strategies were developed and evaluated by the faculty at five Alliance (University of Massachusetts Amherst, Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey) and five Partner (Jackson State University, Lincoln University, Long Island University, Medgar Evers College and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez) Institutions. NEAGEP will be expanded and enhanced by the addition of the five other major land-grant universities in the Northeast (the Universities of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) into the Alliance. Two new Partner Institutions, Bennett College and, beginning in the second year of the new funding cycle, Trinity College, will also join NEAGEP. Together, the New England Land-Grant Universities bring to NEAGEP the resources of 6,000 faculty members, a half-billion dollars in annual sponsored research, connections to 26 additional minority-serving (predominantly African American and Hispanic) institutions and access to the growing Native American population in northern New England. Building upon the foundation laid and the experience gained in the past five years, this expanded Alliance will more effectively coordinate efforts to match graduate students' interests and skills with a broad range of graduate programs. It will also create a critical mass of minority graduate students with similar research interests. To address the national shortage and increase the number of underrepresented STEM minority doctoral students, NEAGEP proposes the following strategies: Recruitment: (a) design a common supplementary NEAGEP application; (b) facilitate faculty involvement in Diversity Teams; (c) revise practices in summer research programs; (d) continue fall recruiting weekends; (e) ensure multi-institutional presence at national meetings; (f) invite Partner faculty to research residencies at Alliance Institutions; (g) hold Partner Science Days at Partner Institutions; Admissions: (a) initiate Rapid Response contacts; (b) involve NEAGEP graduate program directors; (c) expand NEAGEP Research Internships; (d) offer NEAGEP first and last year research assistantships; Retention: (a) participate in the Graduate School mentoring grant competition; (b) offer mentoring workshops; (c) set up mentoring website; (d) rotate NEA Day among Alliance Institutions; Future faculty preparation: (a) integrate teaching and research preparation for underrepresented minority STEM graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; and (b) offer career counseling and placement assistance. Not all strategies will be undertaken by all institutions, but all will embark on some activities in each area and take part in cross-cutting initiatives such as: (a) implementation of a NEAGEP-wide Networking Group; (b) expansion of the NEAGEP office structure and functions; (c) execution of NEAGEP-wide sharing of admissions information; (d) establishment of joint Partner-Alliance doctoral programs; and (e) participation in an Alliance-wide comprehensive evaluation. Intellectual Merit: The NEAGEP strategies proposed are both innovative and transferable. The underlying principle is that they are faculty-driven and championed by the administration. Implementation of these strategies will advance fundamental cultural change in academia and promote the success of underrepresented minority students in STEM doctoral programs. The prior success with the Alliance structure provided the impetus for the logical extension of activities to the neighboring New England Land-Grant Universities. By extending the Alliance activities to this group, hundreds more underrepresented minority STEM students and beginning faculty will benefit. Broader Impact: The number of U.S. citizens applying for graduate study in STEM disciplines is inadequate to meet the growing national needs in these areas. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that the number of international graduate students applying to STEM graduate programs has decreased by over 30% nationwide this year. The number of U.S. STEM scientists needs to be increased if this country is to remain competitive on the world stage. The fundamental, and most important, impact of this program will be to create an environment in which minority persons can succeed in the STEM disciplines in the U.S. The proposed efforts will lead to the successful recruitment, admission and retention of a diverse group of graduate students and will encourage these students to pursue careers in the professoriate. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Seymour, Charlena Sandra Petersen Donald Fisher Julian Tyson University of Massachusetts Amherst MA Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 5284588 1515 SMET 9179 0450360 October 1, 2004 Minority Access/Graduate Networking in the Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (MAGNET-STEM II. The CUNY AGEP Program, MAGNET-STEM, was launched in 1999 to produce a significant number of underrepresented minority doctoral students in science and engineering fields and to prepare them for academic careers. The major goal of this project, MAGNET-STEM II, is to build on previous gains and institutionalize effective practices by strengthening the alliance's undergraduate-to-graduate- to- post graduate infrastructure. This goal is in accord with the NSF priority to "catalyze changes in institutional, departmental and organizational culture and practices that will result in significant increases in the recruitment, retention, degree conferral and STEM career (especially academic) entry of minority students." Activities will include: (1) undergraduate /graduate summer research and internships; (2) mentoring and mentoring training; (3) conference presentations; (4) colloquia and seminars on teaching, science and mathematics education, and on communication technologies. MAGNET-STEM II will comprise an inclusive scholarly community of STEM faculty and students from diverse ethnic, racial, and geographic backgrounds, as well as persons with disabilities. Students will be guided by experts in their scientific field to engage in research activities that enable them to master the knowledge and investigative approaches in their chosen areas of specialization. The project will promote the social as well as academic integration of all AGEP students within departments and the improvement of advisement, in addition to offering financial support. Informal and formal interaction between faculty and students to socialize AGEP scholars to the academic profession increases the likelihood that they will graduate and move into postdoctoral and faculty positions. The intellectual merit of MAGNET-STEM II derives from the acquisition by AGEP scholars of a broad background of knowledge that enables them to relate issues in science, mathematics, and technology education to one another and to specialize in one of these areas. To increase the knowledge base and to develop further their research interests, AGEP scholars will have access to affiliated institutions such as Bell Laboratories, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the Center for the Analysis and Research of Spatial Information (CARSI), a large state-of-the-art GIS and Remote Sensing Laboratory considered to be one of the finest on the East Coast. The City University of New York Graduate Center offers to AGEP scholars training in mentoring, and enrollment in the Colloquium on College Teaching and in the Science, Mathematics, and Technology (SMT) in Education Seminars, which focus on college teaching and STEM education from K-12. SMT seminars address contemporary research issues in the fields of mathematics, science and technology in education. This includes the education of students about technology in society and its relations to science and mathematics. The CUNY Graduate Center, as lead institution, conducted the prior AGEP research project, MAGNET- STEM I (1999-2004), which resulted in increases in the number of minority applicants, enrollments and degree conferrals. The broader impacts of MAGNET-STEM II will occur through the production of an increased number of doctoral students from underrepresented populations trained in their academic specialties working in our nation's laboratories and classrooms and who have developed mentoring experience. Moreover, as a result of participation in the Science, Mathematics, and Technology in Education Seminars offered by the CUNY Graduate Center's Ph.D. Program in Urban Education, AGEP graduates will have knowledge of effective forms of curriculum articulation and partnerships in STEM education that extend to university, school, community, and corporate partnerships, and that move along the urban-education K-16 continuum. In this connection, AGEP scholars will work to prepare teachers of STEM education, leading to an improvement of student achievement in STEM education within culturally diverse urban populations and, hence, to systemic reform. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Smith, Gail Brian Schwartz Neville Parker CUNY Graduate School University Center NY Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 5223669 9131 1594 1515 SMET 9179 9178 0450362 November 1, 2004 AGEP: Alliance for Graduate Education in Mississippi. The Alliance for Graduate Education in Mississippi (AGEM) proposes to continue and expand its comprehensive, state-wide consortial program for enhancing the entry into and successful completion of minority students in STEM1 graduate programs. AGEM will continue to be led by the University of Mississippi (UM) and will involve the three other Ph.D. granting universities in the state2 and informal partnerships with several regional colleges (including several HBCUs3). The program will build upon the solid accomplishments of the first round of funding and on the record of collaboration between institutions. Because the population of Mississippi is 37% African-American and because there are several HBCUs in this region, a primary focus of AGEM is the training of African-American graduate students, with an emphasis on preparing these students for academic careers in STEM areas. UM has made a major commitment to increasing the access of its graduate programs to minority students. UM, working with its partnering institutions, has aligned resources and has coordinated the current partnership to create a comprehensive approach to the recruitment, mentoring, retention, and degree completion of minority students, with counseling aimed at encouraging academic careers. Thus the entire program addresses the broader impacts imperative of the NSF AGEP program. The specific goal of the first five-year grant was to triple the number of minority students who received STEM doctoral degrees (triple, as compared to the previous five-year baseline) from the four doctoral-degree granting institutions in the state. From our baseline of 13 minority STEM PhDs produced from 1993-1997, the AGEM program has seen an increase to 48 minority STEM doctoral graduates produced from 1998-2003. Another goal of the AGEM program was to bring about a systemic change in attitudes of faculty, administrators, and students with regard to minority pipeline issues. Evidence is presented for such systemic changes. The current five- year program has made a significant start toward enhancing minority student success in STEM graduate education. Continuation of the mission is imperative. A thorough analysis of programmatic successes, as well as an analysis of those academic disciplines where more can be done, has been conducted. New strategies will be presented to address targeted areas. The intellectual merit criterion of NSF is met via the research produced by the students as they pursue their degrees, by the future research produced by these doctorates when they enter the professoriate or other research positions, and by our studies of the factors that lead to success for underrepresented minorities. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Eftink, Maurice I. Ho Rex Gandy William Person Dorris Robinson-Gardner University of Mississippi MS Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 3812614 1515 SMET 9179 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0450363 October 1, 2004 AGEP-- Rice-Houston ALLIANCE FOR GRADUATE EDUCATION AND THE PROFESSORIATE. Rice-Houston ALLIANCE FOR GRADUATE EDUCATION AND THE PROFESSORIATE (Rice-Houston AGEP) Project Summary Rice University, the University of Houston, Texas Southern University, the University of Houston-Downtown, Texas State University, Houston Community College, and San Jacinto Junior College, propose an exciting new alliance, the Rice-Houston Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (Rice-Houston AGEP). Situated in one of the nation's largest, most culturally diverse cities, the proposed Rice-Houston AGEP unites many of the city's research and teaching universities and community colleges in the common mission of significantly increasing the number of underrepresented minority students earning Ph.D.s and positioning them to become leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The proposed Rice-Houston AGEP builds on and leverages the strengths of two highly successful programs - the Rice AGEP and the Houston Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (H-LSAMP) - to build a unified, multi-level, long-range alliance deeply committed to this cause. In order to accomplish its mission, the Rice-Houston AGEP has established the following goals: Increase minority undergraduate retention in STEM majors to the B.S.; Promote and motivate more minority STEM undergraduates to pursue the Ph.D.; Increase minority STEM graduate admissions; and Increase minority STEM graduate retention to the Ph.D. Program Strategies. The Rice-Houston AGEP will accomplish its goals by building a strong community of scholars across the Alliance institutions creating unique opportunities for all participating students including those from community colleges and other minority serving institutions, exposing them to the excitement of research and a career in the professoriate that they would never experience otherwise. Through the Rice-Houston AGEP community, students will develop personal and professional relationships with peers and professors and enjoy a supportive network where they are welcomed, encouraged, and supported to pursue Ph.D.s, while mentoring others as they attain their own goals. Activities. Main activities within the Rice-Houston AGEP community include yearly: university faculty workshops, integrated undergraduate and graduate summer research and mentoring programs, student research/professional development conferences, extensive student/faculty conference attendance, and multi-institutional national and local graduate student recruitment. Intellectual Merit. The Rice-Houston AGEP will test several new or adapted components of its program. It will examine the effects of intensive and sustained faculty workshops on faculty commitment to the promotion of STEM diversity; it will evaluate the effectiveness of a university-wide, faculty-led model of program direction; it will assess program effects on broader faculty and institutional culture, and it will assess the impact of multi-institutional community activities to encourage and promote STEM graduate education. Broader Impact. The Rice-Houston AGEP has the potential to impact hundreds of underrepresented minority students - encouraging, preparing, and retaining them as they pursue STEM Ph.D.s. The Rice-Houston AGEP will provide a model for undergraduate and graduate education that effectively promotes careers in science and sustains students as they pursue careers as scientists. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Sanders, Paula Bobby Wilson John Bear Richard Tapia William Marsh Rice University TX Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 4566119 1515 SMET 9179 0450366 October 1, 2004 UC Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate Phase II. The UC Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (UC AGEP) is uniquely poised to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students who enter the professoriate in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In Phase II of UC AGEP, the broader impact of this program will be to increase the number of URM STEM students earning PhDs and becoming optimally prepared for the professoriate. Its intellectual merit lies in its production of new model programs for recruiting, retaining, and graduating URM STEM PhDs and assisting with postdoctoral placements. The UC system currently produces approximately 10% of the nation.s URM PhDs in the Life Sciences, Engineering and Computer Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Mathematics. In Phase I of its AGEP program, UC AGEP increased URM new STEM enrollment both in real numbers and as a percent of total enrollment. To sustain this gain and increase representation of URMs in the professoriate, UC AGEP Phase II will expand its recruitment and admission efforts while addressing key later components from retention through postdoctoral placements. Specifically, UC AGEP II will implement a six-step program designed to: 1. Increase the number of URM STEM students aware of and prepared for graduate study through dissemination of information about UC AGEP activities and summer enrichment opportunities for undergraduates. 2. Increase the number of URM students who apply to UC campuses and who are considered for admission to the University through pre-application events, partnerships with minority serving institutions (MSIs) such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), partnerships with California State Universities and summer programs for masters students. 3. Increase both the number of URM students who are admitted, and the number who choose to accept offers through: 1) targeting interactions and assistance to admission committees; 2) increasing opportunities for campus visits; 3) increasing communication with admitted students; and 4) providing summer enrichment opportunities for newly admitted students. 4. Impact the early academic experience of URM graduate students and improve their retention by creating community networks, improving faculty mentoring, and enhancing students. skills for coping with academic hurdles such as the qualifying exam. 5. Support continuing URM graduate students through programs that improve their professional and academic skills, and prepare them for postdoctoral positions and the academic job market. 6. Create new models for increasing URM access to and participation in postdoctoral scholar positions, thereby ensuring their competitiveness for academic positions. UC AGEP Phase II expects project outcomes to include increased URM awareness of UC STEM fields, better preparation of applicants, increased URM numbers (and percentages) for application and matriculation, increased retention, a decreased time to degree, and better access to postdoctoral positions. Thus, over the next five years, UC AGEP II should result in a significant increase in URM PhDs who graduate from UC programs and enter the professoriate. Also, by comparison of best practices, the UC AGEP infrastructure will foster the building of networks and models for diversity interventions that will persist after the grant period ends. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Beckwith, Steven University of California, Office of the President, Oakland CA Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 8050008 1515 SMET 9179 1515 0450373 October 1, 2004 Midwest Crossroads AGEP. Midwest Crossroads AGEP Project Summary The primary goal of the Midwest Crossroads AGEP, which is an alliance between Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana University Bloomington, and Northwestern University, is to triple the number of underrepresented minorities receiving doctoral degrees in STEM fields. Purdue, Indiana University (IU), and Northwestern have proposed a strategic plan to increase enrollments, improve retention, and prepare and encourage students to enter the academy. The key elements of the proposed plan are as follows Recruiting Linkages and partnerships with the Indiana LSAMP (based at Purdue), regional undergraduate institutions, and predominantly minority serving institutions nationwide will be developed and enhanced; offcampus visits by AGEP faculty, staff, and students will be organized to disseminate information on graduate school opportunities at Purdue, IU, and Northwestern; and undergraduate summer research programs for graduate school recruitment will be coordinated and expanded. Retention: Minority student organizations will be utilized to ensure that incoming graduate students have an instant peer network; a network of AGEP professors who are committed to graduating minority PhD students will be developed; selective jump-start summer transition experiences to acclimate new students academically to graduate school will be developed; and organized group study models will be developed and expanded. Enrichment: A special student enrichment session will be organized at the Crossroads Conference, a joint venture between AGEP and the Indiana LSAMP programs; college pedagogy courses and seminars and Preparing Future Faculty programs will be reorganized, marketed, and promoted on each campus; the Midwest Crossroads AGEP will keep current andleverage the faculty preparation activities of GEM and the National Preparing Future Faculty organization to maintain awareness of best practices and innovation in faculty preparation; and postdoctoral partnerships with will be developed with U.S. National Laboratories to provide exposure and prepare graduates for faculty positions. An administrative network will be developed to drive continuous improvement in the efforts listed above and to provide monitoring of progress. Intellectual Merit: The programmatic activities of the Alliance are built on proven models. However, a number of innovations are present with respect to implementation. A case in point is the strategy of giving ownership of minority student graduation to the department heads and the faculty. This in effect will allow diversity to be recognized in the reward system and thus lead to real institutionalization of the AGEP mission. Another novel aspect of the proposal is leveraging the post-doctoral programs at the U.S. National Laboratories to create a training ground for minority PhDs to enter the professoriate. This could help place many minority PhD graduates in top universities throughout the country. A third novelty we will explore (in conjunction with the conventional approaches) is keep ahead group study led by a paid student scholar. Rather than have the group study focus on review of lecture material, students in the session receive an advance previous of the lectures and thus are able to assimilate much more in lecture. This intermix of novelty with proven methodologies is anticipated to help the alliance triple its current PhD graduation numbers. Broader Impacts: The Indiana LSAMP has already doubled its enrollment numbers in two years under the leadership of Purdue Provost Sally Mason. The Midwest Crossroads AGEP will build on the success of the Indiana LSAMP and create new pathways from undergraduate programs, both regionally and nationally, to the professoriate. The recruitment programs that we will initiate will span the Midwest and beyond through the involvement of a growing list of regional and national partners. Collectively, the efforts of the Midwest Crossroads AGEP will change the cultures at Purdue, IU, and Northwestern from diversity-passive to diversity-proactive. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Sypher, Beverly Lawrence Henschen Mark Smith Emilia Martins Pamella Shaw Purdue University IN Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 5540270 1515 SMET 9179 0450375 October 1, 2004 Enhancement of Doctoral Research Capacity in Environmental Toxicology at Southern University at Baton Rouge (SUBR). HRD 0450375 Enhancement of Doctoral Research Capacity in Environmental Toxicology at Southern University at Baton Rouge (SUBR) Southern University at Baton Rouge PI- John W. Owens With NSF support, Southern University at Baton Rouge will strengthen its science, technology, engineering and mathematics educational and research enterprise by expanding interdisciplinary research focused on the effects of environmental pollutants on health at the molecular level. Research topics include: (1) Biochemical Role(s) of Plant and Environmental Estrogens in Hormone-dependent Cancers, (2) Release of Inflammatory Mediators Following Exposure to Particulate Pollution, (3) Interaction of Fluorinated Surfactants with Natural Organic Matter (NOM), (4) Mechanisms of Butadiene-Induced p53-Mediated Apoptotic Signaling, (5) Molecular Basis of Degenerative Diseases Mediated by Oxidative Stress, and (6) Responses of Endothelial Cells to 1,3-Butadiene. The intellectual merit of the research program in environmental toxicology at SUBR is that it makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge of molecular environmental toxicology in general and to molecular mechanisms associated with the ill effects of 1,3-butadiene in particular. The broader impact the broader impact of the research in environmental toxicology is that it will make a significant contribution to SUBR's mission of becoming nationally competitive as a Doctoral/Research University-Intensive institution. At the same time the program is helping to address the under-representation of Blacks and other minorities in the sciences. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Owens, John Robert Miller Perpetua Muganda Wesley Gray Robert Cook Southern University LA Camille A. McKayle Standard Grant 770179 9131 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0454852 October 1, 2004 Proposal to Provide Workshop(s) to Utilize the Expertise of MIEs to Expand The K-12 Pool of Potential STEM Graduates. Abstract The McKenzie Group (TMG) proposes a two-year workshop and planning pilot initiative to support the NSF Model Institutions for Excellence (MIEs) (and subsequently other institutions) to broaden their strategies for recruiting and preparing African-American, Latino, and Native-American students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). As the first stage towards developing a framework for bridging STEM training and recruitment efforts undertaken by MIE institutions at the undergraduate level with those implemented at the middle school and secondary education levels, TMG seeks funding to convene representatives from the six MIE institutions, MIE graduates who are now graduate students or serving as professionals in STEM fields, high school counselors, representatives from community colleges, recognized researchers and practitioners in K-14 or High School-College partnerships, and representatives from exemplary pre-college STEM programs serving African-American, Latino, and Native American students. The workshop convening will permit these researchers and practitioners to plan an integrated, research-based design and framework for implementing appropriate programmatic strategies that eventually will then be piloted at MIEs and 1 or more non-MIE university sites. During the pilot phase, TMG will provide each site with support for addressing programmatic challenges and enhancing success. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Rodriguez, Carlos Floretta McKenzie McKenzie Group DC Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 397239 1582 SMET 9178 0455137 October 1, 2004 Conference: What Does It Mean to Be a Fully Educated Member of the 21st Century Workforce. What does it mean to be fully educated . especially in the sciences, engineering, and technology -- in our pluralistic 21st century society? To explore this question, Syracuse University proposes hosting a workshop, using the intergroup-dialogue model (IGD), to draw together select leaders from prominent research universities, corporations, government and non- profit organizations. The inaugural workshop will take place at Syracuse University in spring, 2005, with the possibility of one or more workshops to follow subsequently. We will extend invitations to twenty university participants, including institutional presidents, provosts and eminent scholars. Centrally important to this intergroup-dialogue approach will be inclusion of contrasting -- and perhaps conflicting -- perspectives within research universities (e.g., public, private and technological institutions; geographically dispersed; with and without medical schools). The individual scholars from sciences and engineering selected for this workshop will have evidenced both deep knowledge of specific domains and considerable breadth across field boundaries. We will also invite select leaders from major corporations, government agencies, and non-profit entities (e.g., FASEB, AAAS, NAE, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and NACME). The National Science Foundation will play a key role in these workshops. Use of the intergroup model applied to our core question . what does it mean to be a fully educated member of the 21st century workforce . will impact both higher education and society through the following project objectives: (1) create a forum for diverse stakeholders to engage in intergroup dialogue addressing the question .what does it mean to be a fully educated member of the 21st century Workforce?. (2) develop recommendations and possible strategies for higher education, government agencies, and other key stakeholders to use to achieve this goal; and (3) assess the effectiveness of the intergroup dialogue model in a new application. The dissemination plan for this workshop will include distribution of the written recommendations and the video recordings from the sessions through the Syracuse University web site. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Cantor, Nancy Syracuse University NY Roosevelt Y. Johnson Standard Grant 50000 1515 SMET 9179 0455251 August 1, 2004 AMP: CSU Alliance for Minority Participation, Phase II. HRD-9802113 Ratcliffe The California State Alliance for Minority Participation (CSU AMP) proposes to continue its successful comprehensive, state-wide effort to increase significantly the number of minority students who receive a baccalaureate degree in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET). By the end of the new grant period (2003-2004), the CSU AMP, through its enhanced efforts in Phase II, will again double the number of SMET degrees awarded to minority students, a figure that is quadruple the benchmark established in Phase I (750). In Phase I, we successfully focused on the critical transition points from high school-to-college and lower-division to upper-division status. In Phase II, we will enhance our program by increasing our attention on community colleges. Our specific objective is to dramatically improve SMET advising at the community college level by developing CSU/Community College advising teams and by developing and implementing strategies for institutionalizing the advising approaches developed by these teams. Twenty-four community colleges-with a total enrollment of more than 400,000 students-have been identified as active participants in this activity. In addition, we will create a large number of paid academic year research opportunities to provide junior- and senior-year students on-campus experiences that are directly related to their SMET goals. An important goal of Phase II is state-wide institutional reform. The CSU will join with the University of California AMP program (CAMP), to take a leadership role in developing intersegmental committees composed of faculty and administrators from the University of California, California State University, and California Community College systems. Examples of issues that these committees will address are: SMET advising, electronic transcript transfer from community colleges to CSUs and UCs, and mechanisms for sharing effective teaching strategies. The CSU AMP statewide Governi ng Board is composed of key leaders in K-12 education, higher education, and the private sector. It is chaired by the Chancellor of the CSU and oversees general projects operation and provides direction and assistance in broadening support for the Alliance among academic, industrial, and governmental sectors. The Chancellor of the CSU committed $800,000 per year in support of student stipends associated with the summerbridge, academic year workshop, and research opportunity components of Phase II. This commitment combined with the commitment of the 22 participating CSU and 25 Community College of $2 million/year, represents a 3-to-1 match of our requested support from the NSF. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Brown, Richard Juanita Barrena University Enterprises, Incorporated CA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 554628 9133 SMET 9178 0455269 September 15, 2004 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander LSAMP Development. The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander LSAMP Development project, hosted by Chaminade University with the University of Hawaii system, seeks to gather parties from 19 different Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander serving institutions across the Pacific, for the purpose of developing a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP). The development of a successful LSAMP Alliance will be able to reach at least 18,000 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students among the Alliance partners. The INTELLECTUAL MERIT of the project resides in the fact that the University of Hawaii at Manoa, a Research I institution, will provide the scientific and intellectual leadership in the Alliance. The BROADER IMPACTS of the proposed activities are the increase in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander academic institution and student participation in STEM disciplines. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Shimakawa, Ellen Franklin Minami Chaminade University of Honolulu HI Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 31148 9133 1582 SMET 9178 0503278 November 1, 2005 LSAMP - Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Project Summary The Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PSLSAMP) is a collaborative effort sustained by seven universities in Georgia to increase the number of underrepresented minority students statewide who complete undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Georgia is experiencing explosive population growth while embracing policies that favor economic development in strategic, technology- oriented fields. There is a compelling need for college graduates with strong technical skills. There is also wide recognition that underrepresented minorities must participate significantly in meeting this need. The current proposal, developed by the University of Georgia in close collaboration with Bainbridge College, Fort Valley State University, Georgia Perimeter College, Macon State College, Savannah State University, and Southern Polytechnic University, is submitted to the National Science Foundation and requests $1,000,000 per year for five years to support Alliance-wide and individual campus-based programming. The primary impacts will be to enhance the recruitment and retention of minority students and double the number of such students at participating universities overall who earn bachelor.s degrees in STEM disciplines. Intellectual Merit The shortage of American college graduates with technical and scientific training is well documented, and the percentage of U.S. students entering colleges and universities with the intention of majoring in STEM fields has steadily declined. Strengthening the STEM workforce and its leadership is a priority concern if the U.S. is to maintain its economic leadership, security and quality of life. Preparing African Americans, Hispanic Americans and other underrepresented minorities for careers in these fields is a logical component of most strategies to address these needs. It has an overwhelmingly compelling logic in a state like Georgia where these minorities make up approximately 34% of the state.s population. Improving minority involvement in undergraduate STEM fields is a complex problem. In Georgia, the development of a dynamic statewide plan to address this problem requires initially that very different types of institutions cooperate closely to achieve a shared, long-term goal in terms of the production of minority STEM graduates. The current proposal is the result of such inter-institutional collaboration. Broader Impacts In addition to its primary impacts, PSLSAMP programs will: Provide opportunities designed to motivate students to pursue advanced study, Prepare students for graduate school, Emphasize career opportunities in STEM fields, Engage faculty and staff in the planning process and in professional development activities to ensure institutionalization, and Create a genuine partnership among institutions and organizations within Georgia. The University of Georgia will serve as the lead institution and fiduciary agent on behalf of the Peach State Alliance and President Michael Adams, a research scientist himself, will serve as the principal investigator and chair of the Governing Board. The Governing Board, along with the Steering Committee and research faculty, will provide intellectual leadership to the Alliance. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Adams, Michael Wyatt Anderson Maureen Grasso Michelle Garfield Cheryl Dozier University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc GA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 4998762 9133 SMET 9178 0503308 November 1, 2005 Enhanicing Research Opportunities for LSAMP Undergraduate Students: A Program for Native Americans and Pacific Islanders. The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), in collaboration with the All-Nations and the Pacific Consortia of the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP), requests funding to enhance the research skills and knowledge of Native American and Pacific Islander undergraduate students in tropical biology. The proposed program will take place at the OTS Las Cruces Biological Station in Costa Rica, an important research station in the Neotropics and a major OTS center for hands-on training in field-oriented research. The goal of the Native American and Pacific Islander program is to provide an intensive field research experience for Native American and Pacific Islander undergraduate students. The program is structured around a four-week stay in Costa Rica and Panama, during which the participants will conduct research at OTS Las Cruces Biological Station, among other sites, and visit three indigenous communities. The focus of the program is the development of the students interest in biology and their capacity to conduct independent field research. Intellectual Merit The strength of the program lies in engaging Native American and Pacific Islander students in pure and applied biological research, while introducing them to the biodiversity, cultural diversity and community-based conservation issues of the tropics. Under the guidance of the program staff and faculty mentors, the students will complete high quality research projects designed to sharpen their technical skills and enrich their professional development. In addition, by providing a broad range of scientific perspectives and research experiences, the students will gain a sense of career awareness to clarify and direct their future academic life. Project objectives 1. Introduce Native American and Pacific Islander students to the biodiversity of the tropics. 2. Help students analyze the role that Native Peoples in the Neotropics play in forest conservation and, by extension, examine the role of conservation in their own communities. 3. Train students in the scientific method and in field research techniques. 4. Develop the students research abilities by conducting guided field research projects. 5. Encourage and facilitate the enrollment of these students in other field oriented biology programs, such as REUs and OTS undergraduate and graduate programs. 6. Enhance the interest and commitment of the students in pursuing a science career by providing a unique and inspiring research experience. 7. Provide the faculty mentors with tropical field research training to enhance their ability to encourage and support students at their home institutions. Broader Impacts This program is designed to impact the academic and professional development of Native American and Pacific Islanders students by providing a broad range of scientific and research skills to improve their academic competitiveness at the undergraduate and graduate levels and to encourage them to pursue careers in the environmental and biological sciences. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Losos, Elizabeth Ethel Villalobos Duke University NC Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 148898 9133 SMET 9178 0503316 November 1, 2005 Michigan Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. The University of Michigan, Western Michigan University, Michigan State University and Wayne State University propose to establish the Michigan-Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (MI-LSAMP) in order to significantly increase the quantity and improve the quality of students earning science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) baccalaureate degrees from our institutions, and increase the number of under-represented minority (URM) students interested in, academically qualified for and matriculated into graduate study programs. The MI-LSAMP partners are recognized as isflagshipld institutions in the State of Michigan and represent the diversity of public Doctoral Research Extensive institutions in the nation. While the UM, MSU, WSU and WMU have demonstrated a deep commitment to increasing the diversity and excellence of their student bodies and have had long-standing collaborations with one another, they realize that the greatest gains will be achieved by formally allying. The mission of the MI-LSAMP not only supports the National Science Foundations strategic goal to help create ira diverse, competitive and globally-engaged U.S. workforce of scientists, engineers, technologists, and well-prepared citizens,lr it supports goals set forth by the Michigans Cherry Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth.ln The overall goals for the MI-LSAMP are to: 1. Significantly increase the number of URM students earning baccalaureate degrees from MI-LSAMP partners. An aggressive but balanced plan has been devised to increase the number of URM students earning baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields by 50% in 5 years, and 100% in 10 years. Programmatic activities focus on increasing the recruitment of new and transfer URM students, and increasing their graduation rates as a consequence of participation in Science, Engineering and Math Pre-First Year programs, research projects sponsored by the Michigan Undergraduate Research Consortium, internships and co-ops, and residential learning programs. 2. Institutionalize MI-LSAMP strategies and practices. Programmatic activities will be evaluated and the most effective and efficient of these will be institutionalized in an effort to sustain, beyond the NSF funding period, growth in the number of URM students earning STEM degrees. In addition, MI-LSAMP offices, drop-in centers and learning centers will become permanent fixtures on each of the alliance campuses. 3. Contribute to a significant increase in the number of under-represented minority students earning baccalaureate degrees in the State of Michigan and nationally. Successful completion of project will result in nearly a 50% increase in the number of URM students earning baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields within the State of Michigan. iiBest practicesla of the MI-LSAMP will be attractive for adoption and could significantly improve national efforts to increase production in the STEM fields. 4. Increase the number of students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM fields. The MI- LSAMP will collaborate with the Michigan AGEP Alliance (MAA), a recently established partnership of the same institutions, to ensure that students earning baccalaureate degrees are prepared for, and aware of opportunities to pursue advanced studies in STEM fields. The intellectual merit and broader impact of this project goes beyond increasing the number of URM students graduating in STEM fields and dissemination of effective and efficient MI-LSAMP programs. The MI-LSAMP will expand outreach to the pre-college community, increase the persistence of STEM majors, increase faculty involvement in mentoring URM students, promote collaboration among faculty at Michigan institutions of higher education, and increase the diversity of our communities and workforce. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Coleman, Mary Sue Levi Thompson Ralph Kummler Edmund Tsang Thomas Wolff University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2601681 9133 SMET 9178 7204 0503331 November 1, 2005 Northeast LSAMP Phase II Proposal. Underrepresented minority (URM) students generally attend less selective STEM institutions, have disproportionately low io2 nd year continuation rateslu in STEM majors, and across all institutions regardless of selectivity or LSAMP participation achieve 6-year graduations of <35% compared to >60% for non-minorities. In Phase I of the NE- LSAMP we have increased the enrollment, retention and graduation URM STEM students beyond that possible through the initiative of any single institution. As isselectivele institutions, our Phase II work combines proven interventions (mentoring, undergraduate research opportunities, etc) and interventions with high potential for success (Supplemental Instruction in inbarrier courseslr, individual tracking) both to normalize rates of URM persistence and graduation in STEM and to increase professional/graduate education placements of NE-LSAMP students. Using our common commitment to LSAMP as a lynchpin, we have established working relationships for project planning, information sharing, database management, and budgetary operations during Phase I . We document our substantial progress toward achieving the stated Phase I enrollment and degree completion objectives. URM STEM majors increased by 12% in Year 3 and STEM bachelors degrees awarded to URM students increased by 50% that year. We are on a trajectory to significantly increase each measure by the final year of Phase I funding. To our ongoing Phase I objectives we now add specific Phase II objectives: to form an Alliance-wide community of LSAMP students through annual meetings and inter-campus activities; to provide irnear peerlr graduate student mentors for LSAMP students from NE-AGEP partners; to track individual LSAMP student persistence and graduation and identify individual graduate STEM enrollment or professional STEM placement. Alliance partners will track students in a database consistent with NSF reporting requirements including all data elements that are submitted to QRC (the LSAMP national reporting database). Along with students demographic and ethnic data, the database will include sections for research accomplishments and post-baccalaureate career path whether academic or professional employment. The NE-LSAMP will continue its successful Phase I activities. Additionally, in Phase II we will: Implement an Alliance-wide UROP program as an outcome of our iubest practicesli analysis at Advisory Board meetings. Faculty involvement with LSAMP students is a required component of the undergraduate research opportunities now present at each alliance campus and inter-campus interactions for UROP students will be added. Partner with the NE-AGEP as a resource for graduate student itnear peerlr role model mentors for our LSAMP students. Convene a iostudent leadershipls conference for all URM STEM students each spring to assist LSAMP students in career exploration and provide information about applying to and financing graduate education. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Cunningham, John Randall Phillis University of Massachusetts Amherst MA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1281057 9133 SMET 9178 0503332 November 1, 2005 University System of Maryland Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, Phase III. UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF MARYLAND LOUIS STOKES ALLIANCE FOR MINORITY PARTICIPATION, PHASE III The proposed funding will support the continuation of a comprehensive program connecting students with the research base at three USM institutions that began an Alliance in 1995 to extend and increase the impact of initiatives to increase substantially the quantity and quality of underrepresented minority (URM) students receiving baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields. With Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) continuing as Principal Investigator, UMBC, the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) will implement the proposed USM LSAMP, Phase III which is designed to serve undergraduate students, particularly those who are members of underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups. Building on lessons learned from the successes in Phase I and II and best practices from other LSAMP Programs and other initiatives with similar goals, the following measurable objectives have been established for the proposed LSAMP, Phase III. To increase the enrollment of URM students in STEM fields annualy; To increase the retention to second year rate of URM students in STEM fields annualy; To improve the academic performance of URM students in STEM courses and majors annually; To increase the percentage of URM STEM students earning cumulative GPAs at or above 3.0 annually; To increase the six-year graduation rates of URM students in STEM majors; To increase the number of URM students who go on to graduate programs in STEM fields. NSF and other funds will provide support for the five major Alliance components: The Summer Component: Includes a Summer Bridge Program to facilitate new students' transition to the university through academic support and summer research opportunities for continuing students The Academic Year Component: Includes undergraduate research fellowships, graduate school preparation, intrusive academic advising, mentoring tutoring, monitoring, and other academic support; The Collaboration Component: Is designed to enhance and provide a formal structure for colaborations among and between programs and initiatives on and off the USM LSAMP campuses with goals similar to those of LSAMP. The Curriculum Review and Revision Component: The ongoing review and, as needed, revisions of the curricula for .filter" STEM courses will facilitate the success and retention in STEM majors of URM and other students. The Tracking and Follow-up Component: The academic and career accomplishments of Program alumni will be tracked, and folow-up contacts will be made with them to encourage their persistence in STEM graduate programs and consideration of STEM careers, particularly in the professoriate. Throughout their undergraduate years, students will be actively involved in research projects with faculty and other mentors, at the partnering institutions and off campus (including national laboratories), and will be encouraged to present their research findings in appropriate settings. Also, in Phase III, the USM Alliance will collaborate with established programs operating on the campuses, including the NSF-funded Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), and the McNair Scholars and Upward Bound programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education, among others that provide a pipeline with targeted services to support URM students from grade nine through the Ph.D. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Hrabowski, Freeman Cynthia HILL University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 6972595 T926 T898 S047 T550 T507 H458 H308 H225 H103 9133 SMET OTHR 9178 0000 0503362 November 1, 2005 Phase III-Louis Stokes Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-LAMP). The Louis Stokes Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-LAMP) is a statewide, comprehensive systemic mentoring program aimed at rapidly increasing the number and quality of minority students earning baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and actively promoting their transition to STEM graduate schools for the pursuit of terminal degrees (Ph.D.). The primary goals and objectives of LS-LAMP, Phase III, are, 1) to consolidate and to augment the achievements of Phases I and II and 2) to emphasize and to maximize the transition of minority BS degree holders in STEM disciplines to graduate STEM programs and from the latter to research careers, including the professoriate. Specifically, the annual, minority BS degree production is to reach 1120 graduate per year, by 2010, and 30% of these alumni will pursue graduate STEM degrees, with emphasis on the Ph.D. The attainment of these objectives will be practically guaranteed by our rigorous implementation of a comprehensive and coherent set of strategies or activities that leave little to chance. Systemic student mentoring is at the core of these activities and it includes research participation, guidance to graduate school, and subsequent follow-up. As shown in the narrative of this program, LS-LAMP and the Timbuktu Academy have placed the creation of educational value-added on a rigorous scientific basis. In particular, the 10-Strand Systemic Mentoring model implemented by LS-LAMP promotes the academic and social integration of students as recommended by the prevailing, quantitative, student retention models. Other major components of our approach for the successful implementation of LS-LAMP, Phase III, and for its institutionalization include strengthening intra- and inter-institutional collaborations, enhancing the teaching and research infrastructure of STEM units, securing a diversified funding base, and the accompanying transformation of campus cultures. The grantee and fiduciary agent for LS-LAMP is the Louisiana Board of Regents. Southern University and A&M College serves as the lead institution for LS-LAMP with the active input and advice of an array of collaborating public and private sector entities including the LS-LAMP Governing Board, chaired by the Commissioner of Higher Education, Dr. E. Joseph Savoie. LS-LAMP consists of eleven (11) Louisiana higher educational institutions and one research organization. These partners are Dillard University, Grambling State University, Louisiana State University, McNeese State University, Nunez Community College, Southern University and A&M College, Southern University at New Orleans, Southern University at Shreveport, Tulane University, the University of New Orleans, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. The principal investigators and project director of LS-LAMP are highly qualified. More importantly, the support they enjoy from the Louisiana Board of Regents and the eminently qualified and dedicated campus coordinators on the campuses immensely add to the likelihood of an exemplary implementation of LS-LAMP. The Regents provided, as per an attached letter, a one-to-one match to the requested support from NSF. Campus and their presidents/chancellors have provided, in the past five years, an additional cash and in-kind support valued at $1Million per year. They are ready to continue to do so upon the funding of LS-LAMP, Phase III. The intrinsic merit of LS-LAMP Phase III partly stems from the scientific basis of the systemic mentoring activities, past and future publications, educational objectives, the established capability of the investigators, and the extensive and up-to-date facilities available to it. The proven capability of the investigators campus coordinators practically guarantees the attainment of the objectives. The thorough evaluation woven into the fabric of the project activities further ensures its success. The cited literature clearly indicates that the continuation of LS-LAMP will result in significant increases in the number and quality of minority STEM BS degree graduates and in the numbers of these alumni who earn graduate STEM degrees and successfully transition to research careers, including the professoriate. The broader impact of the project will partly be due to the significant impact on the national STEM workforce pool and the proper implementation of a coherent set of dissemination activities. Our systemic mentoring model is expected to be replicated by other 4-year institutions across the country and elsewhere. The resulting reform-imbued enhancement of the teaching, mentoring, and research infrastructure of LS-LAMP partners and their ultimate institutionalization are expected to have impact far beyond minority education, STEM disciplines, and Louisiana. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Bagayoko, Diola Kerry Davidson Luria Stubblefield Louisiana Board of Regents LA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5647000 9133 SMET 9179 9178 9150 7204 0503372 November 1, 2005 LSAMP - The Georgia Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation. The Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation proposes to extend its activities into Phase II. The Georgia LSAMP Partner institutions include the four United Negro College Fund institutions in Georgia: Clark Atlanta University, the lead institution, and Morehouse, Paine and Spelman Colleges. Georgia State University, the State supported urban university and Atlanta Metropolitan College, the 2-year college partner round out the Alliance. The Georgia LSAMP is one of the nations most productive in terms of being among the top baccalaureate-origin institutions of Black STEM doctorate recipients: 1991- 1995 and 1997-2001. The unifying themes of the Phase II program include focused recruitment and retention, required research participation, student financial support and graduate school enrollment. The Georgia LSAMP in Phase II will significantly increase the number of STEM baccalaureate degrees, impact more than 15,000 undergraduates, increase the number of undergraduate degree recipients entering graduate school each year by 10 percent and increase retention each year by 10 percent. Student objectives for Phase II include pre-transfer bridge activities for two-year college students, required research participation for all LSAMP scholars, and at least 50 percent of all baccalaureate degree recipients will complete research experiences. Faculty objectives include providing opportunities to improve instruction skills, such as using new technologies and becoming more effective mentors. Curriculum objectives are designed to revise introductory courses as a mechanism to improve retention. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Brown, Carlton Isabella Finkelstein Clark Atlanta University GA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1523117 9133 SMET 9178 0503520 October 1, 2005 Ezhichigeyeg Anishinaabemag Mii Ge-ondaadiziyeg. What We Can Do to Help Our People Prosper.. The overall purpose of this project is to increase significantly the enrollment and graduation rates of Indigenous students at Leech Lake Tribal College (LLTC) in science and mathematics and to increase their familiarity of related technology. By achieving these increases, and working through the other interventions that are integral to this project, more students at Leech Lake Tribal College will choose to major in the math and science disciplines and continue their education at a four-year institution. Their familiarity with technology and its multiple uses will increase as well. The success of our proposal requires that we recognize the importance of two concepts. First, academic success of Indigenous students is clearly related to their feelings of self-worth and having a strong sense of who they are. Second, their sense of identity is strongly tied to an Anishinaabe focus throughout the LLTC curriculum. Four components will make up this project. The current STEM infrastructure will be enhanced; community centers where LLTC currently has internet connectivity and computers will be improved to facilitate outreach efforts; a library learning center will be developed; and student services attention to recruitment will be enhanced (Harper 2003). Each component interconnects not only with each other but also with barriers associated with a social digital divide and with the four goals of the National Science Foundation. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Carney, Virginia Virginia Carney Kelly Nipp Michael Fairbanks Leech Lake Tribal College MN Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2500000 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0503535 August 15, 2005 Webs of Learning. There are three elements to this proposal that integrate systemic changes to the way academics are currently looked at on the LCOOCC campus concerning STEM related coursework. Firstly, a Web of Learning curriculum will be developed and integrated into the current curriculum structure. Secondly, a Sustainable Living Institute will be the vehicle in which the Web of Learning model is guided, implemented and integrated. Thirdly, the primary focus of the Sustainable Living Institute will be concentrated towards ensuring student success. These three elements will promote a sustainable and long-lasting academic structure that will influence the way STEM is approached at LCOOCC. Three primary goals are outlined for this grant: Goal I: To institutionalize the concepts, issues, and technologies of sustainable living, by incorporating traditional Ojibwa Environmental Knowledge (OEK), STEM knowledge and skills through a learning communities approach which will improve the STEM literacy of all degree-seeking students entitled the Web of Learning Model (WOL). Goal II: To ensure effective implementation of the Web of Learning Model (WOL), a Sustainability Living Institute (SLI) will be developed to ensure that the its curricula promoting STEM knowledge and skills will be implemented and applicable to student and community need based partnerships. Goal III: The Sustainable Living Institute using the Web of Learning curricula which promotes STEM knowledge and skills and incorporates experiential learning opportunities will facilitate, encourage and ensure student success. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Urban, Laura Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College WI Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 2399999 1744 SMET 9178 9177 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0503598 August 1, 2005 Turtle Mountain Native Ways of Knowing Science Teacher Training Project. The Native Ways of Knowing Science Teacher Training Project will establish a fully accredited baccalaureate degree program in secondary science teacher education at Turtle Mountain Community College. This program will be designed to train science teachers that will serve reservation and near reservation schools with significant percentages of American Indian students. The project has a number of elements. These include a standards based component that will prepare students for certification in North Dakota and to meet national standards; the development and implementation of Native Ways of Knowing, place based, and experiential curriculum strategies; recruitment into the program; a strong educational technology component; a job placement component; and a distance learning component. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Henry, Larry Wannetta Bennett Turtle Mountain Community College ND Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1821142 H462 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0503605 August 1, 2005 Increasing Alaska Native Matriculation in Sheldon Jackson College's STEM Programs. Sheldon Jackson College (SJC) proposes to increase the number of Alaska Native students matriculating in and completing its STEM programs by (1) adjusting its STEM offerings to more effectively meet the employment needs of the Alaskan economy , particularly the needs of resource-rich Alaska Native owned corporations, (2) preparing Native students for success in STEM programs through a summer academic enrichment program and ongoing academic support once students enroll in college, and (3) developing and implementing faculty development to enhance effectiveness in teaching Alaska Native students at Sheldon Jackson College with an emphasis on STEM faculty. Curriculum. GOAL: To strengthen the four degree programs requiring extensive STEM preparation : Ecology; Fishery Biology & Culture; Marine Biology; and Secondary Education - Science by providing graduates with emergent job-ready knowledge. While the panel found these degree emphases generally responsive to employment needs within the Alaskan economy, they identified the following gaps to be addressed as objectives under this goal: OBJECTIVES: 1) Establish and provide instructional capacity in the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS); 2) provision of a stronger theoretical orientation in ecology, fisheries and marine biology coursework; 3) establish and offer a course that comprehensively surveys the enormously diverse Alaskan environment, its natural resources, and its resource management needs. Student needs. GOAL: To strengthen Native student success in STEM coursework that leads to degrees in sciences and mathematics. Data compiled by the Alaska Department of Education and Alaskan school districts reflect that Native high school students achieve far below average in comparison to other Alaskan students, especially in math. SJC's experience indicates that first-semester developmental coursework is insufficient to effectively prepare students for college level courses. Earlier intervention is required, and can be informed by data identified and quantified through High School Graduation Qualifying Exam and the No Child Left Behind Act testing provisions. OBJECTIVES: 1) Establish and provide a summer academic enrichment program in math and science for Native high school students in partnership with school districts. 2) Provide campus-based academic support services wrapped around math and science course work. Faculty development. GOAL: To strengthen the effectiveness of SJC faculty in teaching and mentoring Native students in their STEM courses. Available literature indicates that intercultural classroom communications is complex and frequently counterintuitive, and yet, preparation for teaching in culturally diverse classrooms is seldom a requirement for college faculty. OBJECTIVE: 1) To establish and provide pre-academic-year cross-cultural education faculty workshops, and participation in ongoing workshops as opportunities arise. This will include 2) participation in school year-end assessment and refinement of the College's strategies in supporting Alaska Native student success, particularly in the sciences and math. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Harrington, David Polly Bass Marlin Cox Sheldon Jackson College AK Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 840829 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0503615 August 1, 2005 Wayawawicakiya Waste (Good Teacher) STEM Teachers of Excellence Education Program (STEEP). The main goal of the Oglala Lakota College Wayawawicakiya Waste (Good Teacher) STEM Teachers of Excellence Education Program is to increase the number of highly qualified reservation based certified math and science secondary teachers in rural school systems. Statistics indicate there is a severe shortage of quality teachers in secondary schools across reservations in South Dakota (SD). Oglala Lakota College (OLC) has begun to address this problem by creating a composite secondary baccalaureate degree program in Physical Science. Graduates earning this degree are certified to teach secondary chemistry and physics in South Dakota, and endorsements exist in math, biology and earth science. The Wayawawicakiya Waste program builds the capacity to graduate 25 new secondary teachers and sustain a pipeline of future teachers. OLC has the infrastructure and expertise in place to offer degree programs at distance to students across South Dakota. In addition, the program offers face-to-face summer sessions designed to engage students in methodology techniques, hands-on experience in science, opportunities to practice teaching and constructive evaluation sessions. To properly address the problem in reservation school systems, a project must include in- service K-12 teachers. The Wayawawicakiya Waste program extends the collaborative relationships between OLC and partner K-12 schools by providing professional development opportunities in math and science for K-12 teachers and administrators. Increasing the number of high quality secondary teachers and improving in-service teacher skills makes a broad impact in South Dakota school systems dominated by Native American students. Partner K-12 systems enroll over 14,000 students, approximately 90% of which are Native American. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Tinant, Charles Oglala Lakota College SD Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 2450000 H462 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0503631 August 1, 2005 Roots, Resilience and Reach: Strengthening the STEM Infrastructure at Kapi'olani Community College, University of Hawai'i. The proposed program, Roots, Resilience, and Reach: Strengthening the STEM Infrastructure at Kapiol'olani Community College, will build on the cultural knowledge and experience of our students (roots), support student retention and academic success (resilience), and provide compelling new transfer and career opportunities in their second year (reach). We anticipate that the TCUP will stimulate the following "value-added" dimensions to our STEM infrastructure by: (1) strengthening the STEM infrastructure so the College becomes a salient "incubator of science talent" focused on preparing "a diverse, internationally competitive and globally-engaged STEM workforce and well-prepared citizens"; (2) emphasizing STEM opportunities for more Hawaiian students to pursue STEM majors and successfully complete their degrees; (3) enhancing STEM curriculum through four guided pathways to help the Colleges' students pursue STEM majors and successfully complete their degrees; and (4) expanding STEM outreach programs to improve the preparation of the College's entering students and enhance their rate of success. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Richards, Leon Robert Franco John Rand University of Hawaii HI Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 1249999 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0505872 September 1, 2005 Strengthening Undergraduate STEM Programs at Alabama State University. Alabama State University (ASU) will implement a five-year project to strengthen the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and research programs at ASU. Activities include the systematic revision of STEM courses, particularly gate-keeping bottleneck courses through inclusion of laboratory hands-on-experience and tutorial assistance. Student participation in research projects will be promoted by financial support and by summer internships at major research institutions. The faculty development program will support faculty via release-time, travel to scientific meetings, research opportunities at ASU and other universities, and summer research support. The expected project outcomes include: 1) increased STEM graduation; 2) increased faculty participation in research, publications, and grants writing; 3) enhanced quality of undergraduate research experiences; 4) strengthened partnerships with academic institutions and private companies; 5) increased use of technology in teaching and research in all STEM disciplines; and 6) increased numbers of STEM students completing the path from high school through college to graduate school. Intellectual Merit: The project consists of a comprehensive cohesive set of activities. These activities will work in a synergistic way to strengthen overall STEM curricula at ASU. The development of research infrastructure and partnerships with other institutions and private companies will have an impact on the academic and research programs at ASU beyond the project period. Broader Impact: The project will produce better prepared, competitive, students for the STEM workforce and establish a pipeline of students into graduate and professional programs. The project will advance the mission of ASU by providing quality education to a large minority population in Alabama. Additionally, this project will result in an increase in the number of minorities participating in the National STEM workforce. The results of the project will be disseminated through conferences, meetings and publications and will be available on the Internet. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Scissum-Gunn, Karyn Shree Singh Alabama State University AL Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2673339 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0506030 September 1, 2005 The TALENT-21 STEM Undergraduate Program. The TALENT-21 STEM Undergraduate Program is a comprehensive system at North Carolina A&T State University that implements research-driven, evidence-based strategies to increase access to and enhance quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate education. The specific goals of the TALENT-21 Program are (1) Enhance teaching and learning in STEM; (2) Increase success in STEM degree programs; (3) Expand STEM participation through interdisciplinary program development; and (4) Broaden STEM research opportunities and participation. Intellectual merit: The TALENT-21 STEM Undergraduate Program will address science and mathematics teaching and learning issues, particularly for 1st and 2nd year STEM students, with structured student academic development programs and faculty development to enhance science and mathematics teaching. Participation in STEM will be enhanced through interdisciplinary programs of learning. The TALENT-21 STEM Undergraduate Program will stimulate growth and development by bridging the social sciences with the life, physical, and engineering sciences for a new population of STEM-enhanced social scientist. Broader impacts: The TALENT-21 STEM Undergraduate Program will facilitate research growth for faculty by contributing to research professional development and by promoting interdisciplinary and collaborative research venues, particularly in geosciences, computational sciences, biomedical sciences, and neurosciences. The project will also devise academic program concentrations in interdisciplinary general engineering and interdisciplinary general science that offer solid science and technological development for individuals who would legitimately be able to participate in and contribute to the science and technology enterprise but who may work in non-science and non-engineering careers. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Brewington, Janice Guoqing Tang North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2782847 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0506062 September 1, 2005 Research Infused STEM Curriculum (RISC). South Carolina State University (SCSU) will implement a Research- Infused STEM Curriculum (RISC) that will have a direct impact on approximately 500 STEM students per year. The changes to the curriculum will eventually benefit all STEM students who enroll at SCSU. Sixty (60) students will be designated as STEM Scholars and will receive financial assistance through RISC scholarships provided by grant and university funds. The RISC project is based on a careful analysis of institutional needs by STEM faculty. The foundation of the project is the involvement of STEM students in research from the freshman year through graduation. The redesign of the STEM curriculum will infuse and integrate current scientific and technological concepts across the disciplines. The goal of the project is to improve the quality of the STEM curriculum and increase the number of underrepresented STEM undergraduates who are well prepared for STEM careers or graduate studies. The overall objective is to develop and implement a research-infused curriculum that addresses the identified needs of STEM students. The three strategies that will be implemented to achieve the goal and objective are 1) to identify, recruit and retain talented STEM students; 2) to improve the quality of the STEM curriculum; and 3) to expand opportunities for student research and to better prepare students for graduate school. RISC consists of a set of comprehensive, synergistic activities designed to have a broad impact on the learning experiences afforded students and will increase their preparation and competitiveness for careers and further study in STEM disciplines. The proposed project uses the successful IMPEC (Integrated Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, and Chemistry Curriculum) model developed at North Carolina State University to integrate curriculum in biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering technology. A unique addition to IMPEC at SCSU will be the addition of research topics of current scientific or technological interest. To ensure successful implementation and institutionalization of curriculum enhancements faculty development activities are a major component of RISC. Intellectual Merit: RISC will advance knowledge and understanding of how a research-infused curriculum and a program of student research can increase participation in STEM careers and raise achievement for African-American students. The project has been carefully conceived, has adequate resources, and will be administered by experienced staff and faculty. Broader Impact: RISC supports both student research and curriculum enhancements, it will have a broad impact on the education of minority students in South Carolina. SCSU has a 93% African-American enrollment and is dedicated to developing a more diverse workforce of STEM professionals. RISC results will be presented in many venues: conferences, publications, and web sites. Society benefits from RISC by insuring that minority students, who make up an increasing fraction of the workforce, are properly trained to take on the responsibilities of STEM careers. SCSU will use the HBCU-UP grant to build upon its legacy by significantly increasing the quality and number of students that it prepares for STEM careers and for STEM graduate study through improving the quality of its curricula, expanding the opportunities for student research, and increasing the number of opportunities for internships in industry and government labs, and at other universities. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Rolle, Jo-Ann James Anderson South Carolina State University SC Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2561154 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7204 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0506064 June 1, 2005 Planning Grant for STEM Self-Analysis. St. Philips College (SPC) will implement a eighteen month planning grant for STEM Self-Analysis. SPC is a public, two-year college which serves a San Antonio and is the only two-year institution designated as both a Historically Black College and University and a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The planning grant activities will include an extensive assessment of the STEM gatekeeper courses in order to improve the passing rates of the courses. The project objective is to conduct an analysis of three STEM gateway courses: Algebra, Biology, and Chemistry to increase student success and retention. Activities include: (1) faculty visits to exemplary colleges; (2) identification of barriers to student success and retention; (3) identification and prioritization of strategies to eliminate the barriers; and (4) developing a faculty development. Expected outcomes are: (1) a skilled core STEM faculty group capable of collaboratively identifying learning barriers, researching best practices, and implementing innovative curricula; (2) a detailed plan to modify curricula; and (3) the institutionalization of the modified STEM curriculum. The intellectual merit of this project is based on the strategies that will be employed to perform the curriculum assessment and the eventual improvements in the STEM programs at SPC. STEM faculty will review literature and data and visit exemplar institutions in order to develop the most appropriate project for improving the STEM programs at SPC. Through the planning activities, the STEM faculty will create a collaborative STEM education culture at SPC. The broader impact of this project includes the extensive professional development of the STEM faculty that will be accomplished and the long-term impact on SPC graduates who have taken the gatekeeper courses - both STEM majors and non-STEM majors. SPC will share what it has learned from the assessment process via conference participation, website posting, and publications. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Byrd, Lanier William Davis Mary Cottier St. Philip's College TX Camille A. McKayle Standard Grant 49680 1594 SMET 9178 0506065 September 1, 2005 Building Trojan STEM Infrastructure. Virginia State University (VSU) will implement a comprehensive project which will result in an increase in the numbers of STEM graduates from an average of 70 to over 105 per year by the end of the five-year project. Project activities will attract and prepare high school students by giving them an opportunity to explore, learn and experience several STEM disciplines. Course and curriculum enhancement, and advance teaching technology especially for the gatekeeper courses, will improve student skills and retention in STEM. Students and faculty will have opportunities to enhance their knowledge and research skills through specially designed learning activities. The project will also support the smooth transition of STEM undergraduates into highly competitive graduate school programs. Intellectual Merit: This program will provide access to science and technology and opportunities by addressing some existing barriers for participation in all of the science arenas. Strategies will focus on (1) learning with technology, not about technology; (2) emphasizing content and pedagogy not just hardware; (3) providing professional development in technology, and (4) promoting interdisciplinary scientific research. The project will provide opportunities for undergraduate students to become engaged in the most challenging and exciting interdisciplinary scientific research projects. Broader Impact: The project will foster close interactions between faculty and students to encourage the academic potential of the minority students in the STEM fields at VSU. Students will have the opportunity to interact with students from Ivy League institutions in order to encourage their participation in the graduate programs at these institutions. The project will also expose students to modern teaching techniques and learning experience in gatekeeper courses. The project is also intended to improve the quality of science and mathematics education at VSU enhancing the institutional capability moving the University toward a higher institutional status. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Hill, W. Weldon Krishan Agrawal Ali Ansari Jahangir Ansari Virginia State University VA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2521450 1594 SMET 9178 7204 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0506066 September 1, 2005 Enhancing Student Retention and Preparation to Graduate Schools in the STEM Disciplines. Morgan State University (MSU) will implement a five-year project to increase the number of students participating in undergraduate research and to enhance the mathematics courses through technology and active learning. The project includes the acquisition of an X-ray powder diffractometer, an important piece of equipment for improving the quality of STEM education and increasing research productivity at MSU. The undergraduate research program will target STEM freshmen and sophomores in order to prepare them for research programs for upper-class STEM students. This activity will create a continuous undergraduate research program (from freshman to senior) for students that are committed to completing a doctoral program. In order to improve retention and increase graduation rates the MSU mathematics courses will be enhanced using WeBWorK in conjunction with faculty development and training activities. WeBWorK will be incorporated into the mathematics classroom for precalculus, calculus and differential equations. WeBWorK is an online web based teaching and assessment system that is designed to make homework a more effective and efficient learning tool in the educational process. The goal is to increase the academic success and student interest in mathematics courses at MSU, which will, as a consequence, increase the retention and graduation rates of students in the STEM disciplines. Intellectual merit: The proposed activities are based on models used at other institutions of higher education which have been shown to improve retention and academic performance. The undergraduate research experiences and acquisition of lab equipment will lead to an increase in scientific presentations and publications by students and faculty. Broader Impact. The research activities will result in increased numbers of STEM students pursuing graduate education and the number who successfully complete their graduate programs. The faculty collaborations developed with other institutions will help to sustain the increasing amount of research activity at MSU. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Robinson, T. Joan Arthur Grainger Gaston N'Guerekata Morgan State University MD Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2500000 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0506096 September 1, 2005 UVI Science and Mathematics -- Interdisciplinary Innovations. With NSF support through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), the University of the Virgin Islands will enhance the quality of their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instructional and outreach programs as a means to increase participation in the Nation's STEM workforce. Project objectives include increasing the number and percentage of students that persist in STEM majors by increasing academic support and opportunities early in the students' academic careers; paying special attention to at-risk students; strengthening the undergraduate STEM curriculum through development of interdisciplinary major; and, integration of interdisciplinary research experiences. Intellectual merit: The proposed project will optimize their institutional characteristics as a small, teaching university and build on the strength of its faculty to create strong interdisciplinary programs that encompass research and curriculum development. At the same time, the project will pay close attention to the first two years of the student's career and provide the necessary support to ensure the persistence of science and mathematics majors, especially among students who are most at risk for attrition. Broader impacts: This project will develop a model for interdisciplinary collaborations in research and curriculum particularly suitable for small teaching institutions. Through cross-disciplinary links and links to larger universities and laboratories, the awardee institution will create an exemplary program that will provide sustainable research experiences for students and a fulfilling research environment for faculty. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Ragster, LaVerne Rosalie Dance Marc Boumedine University of The Virgin Islands VI Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2774150 1594 SMET 9178 7204 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0506110 January 1, 2006 STEM Learning Communities at Florida A&M University. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) will apply a holistic approach to educating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students. The project goal is to improve the overall quality of STEM education at the University by increasing its efficiency in producing STEM students who are prepared for graduate study. This change will be achieved through the introduction of STEM Learning Communities (LC) at FAMU. Learning communities have been shown to improve retention rates, increase student learning and achievement, increase faculty engagement, and lessen the feelings of isolation some students feel on large campuses. It is anticipated that 200 STEM students per year will participate in the project. Intellectual merit: The LCs that will be created at FAMU are based on models that have been successful at other institutions of higher education. The project includes a research component which will allow FAMU to learn from the implementation of the LCs at a large Historically Black University. The research design will likely contribute significantly to the current knowledge base on LCs and African-American student success. Broader impacts: Because of the research component, the project has the potential to fundamentally change the delivery of STEM education at universities with large populations of African-American students. In addition, the project will likely increase the retention and graduation rates of STEM students at FAMU which is one of the largest producers of African-American students in STEM in the country. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Hughes Harris, Cynthia Ralph Turner Reginald Perry Makola Abdullah Bernadette Kelley Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2000000 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0506137 September 1, 2005 Building Engagement and Attainment in Mathematics and the Sciences( BEAMS ). Cheyney University of Pennsylvania will implement a five-year aggressive project called Building Engagement and Attainment in Mathematics and the Sciences (BEAMS). The overall goal of the Cheyney University BEAMS project is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students graduating from Cheyney with baccalaureate degrees and pursuing graduate studies in STEM disciplines. This five-year project will focus on curriculum enhancement, pre-freshman preparation, student and faculty research and graduate school examination preparation to address the low graduation rates of underrepresented minority students from STEM disciplines. These activities have been shown to significantly increase success rates of students in the STEM disciplines. The BEAMS project will support several workshop opportunities for faculty addressing current pedagogical approaches such as constructivism, and inquiry/discovery-based teaching. Several STEM courses will be revised to make them more research and laboratory oriented. Additionally, , a pre-freshmen summer program, student symposia, seminars, workshops, research opportunities, and GRE preparation will be provided. BEAMS at Cheyney University will provide a rich undergraduate education experience, which will result in an overall increase in the success rate of STEM majors. Intellectual merit: The project will implement activities that have been shown to improve student success in STEM including a pre-freshman summer program, pedagogy training for faculty, undergraduate research opportunities, increased faculty research support, and curriculum enhancement. Broader impact: The project will increase the number of underrepresented minority students who pursue STEM degrees and the number prepared for and enrolling in STEM graduate programs. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Eke, Kenoye Adedoyin Adeyiga Cheyney University of Pennsylvania PA Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2500000 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0506145 September 1, 2005 Curriculum Reform and Laboratory Enhancement For Science Technology, Engineering and the Mathematics. With NSF support through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Morehouse College will enhance the quality of their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instructional and outreach programs as a means to increase participation in the Nation's STEM workforce. Project objectives include (1) increasing the number of STEM graduates; (2) increasing the number of STEM graduates who enter graduate school in pursuit of research careers; and, (3) increasing the success of STEM majors in graduate school and the STEM workforce. Project components include comprehensive curriculum reform and laboratory enhancement, expansion of undergraduate research experience and enhancement of students' preparation for and success in graduate school. Curriculum enhancements include a summer program for High School students; reform of the gatekeeper courses in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, physics and psychology; and, the infusion of technology and new pedagogy into STEM courses and laboratories. Undergraduate research opportunities will be enhanced through the Atlanta Undergraduate Research Alliance. The intellectual merit of this project includes research in curriculum reform and laboratory enhancement designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge needed to pursue STEM research careers. Research efforts will yield valuable information regarding key questions concerning the critical skills a mentoring program should address and the role of diversity in furthering student success. Broader impacts of this project include the dissemination of effective undergraduate research and educational enhancement practices among institutional members of the Atlanta Undergraduate Research Alliance. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Williams, John John Haynes John Hall Willis Sheftall Morehouse College GA Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2453884 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0506155 September 1, 2005 HBCU-UP: Implementation of a Comprehensive Computational Science Theme Throughout the STEM Curriculum.. The Bennett College HBCU-UP project will strengthen STEM teaching and learning, through the development and implementation of effective and innovative teaching and learning strategies with a thematic focus on Computational Science. Since Computational Science involves the appropriate use of a computational device to apply a suitable algorithm to solve a scientific problem, this project will bring together the Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, and Computer Science disciplines into an integrated curriculum and instructional program. The project objectives are to: 1. Increase the recruitment, retention and graduation rates of STEM majors; 2. Enhance the scholarly productivity and technological expertise of STEM faculty; and 3. Revise the STEM curriculum to better prepare graduates to enter graduate and professional schools, and to assume productive careers in new interdisciplinary fields. Student access to STEM programs will be improved by engaging high school and college students in Computational Science focused activities such as "take it on the road" exhibits and a summer enrichment program featuring Computational Science rotations. Computational Science will be infused throughout the curriculum with relevant course and lab modules and undergraduate research experiences. In preparation for and continuation of the curricular enhancements, STEM faculty will participate in on-going developmental activities and interdisciplinary research. Faculty research collaborations will be encouraged and supported. A cadre of partners, including STEM graduate programs, will be cultivated. A refereed undergraduate research journal with a focus on Computational Science will be published. Submissions will feature student and faculty research articles, outstanding interdisciplinary class modules, research on STEM student learning, and effective scientific pedagogy on student research training. Intellectual Merit: Infusing Computational Science throughout the curriculum will help students better understand the global importance of the STEM disciplines and how they are interrelated. It will equip the students to effectively work on teams and make contributions in the workplace. STEM student learning and faculty training will be enhanced through the use of innovative pedagogies. Best practices will be employed and the effect of new creative approaches will be investigated and documented. Broader Impacts: Societal benefits will include the production of highly-qualified STEM professionals and leaders and the inclusion of minorities and women, producing a more diverse and nationally representative workforce. The project will directly impact underrepresented groups in terms of gender, ethnicity given the mostly African American female student enrollment at Bennett College. Students who are served will become future role models, thus, building additional capacity of gender and racial diversity in the scientific work place. Faculty development activities focused on Computational Science will allow the faculty to engage in interdisciplinary and collaborative activities to up-date their teaching strategies and research directions. The cultivation and strengthening of our academic, industry and government partners will enhance the education, research, and career planning infrastructure at Bennett. Results of connecting our partners with our students and faculty will be an increase in graduate program acceptances, an increase in research collaborations, and the generation of ideas and production of innovative products in the scientific workplace. In addition to the publication of a scholarly journal, other dissemination activities planned include conference presentations, research publications, and a Best Practices link on the Bennett web page. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Malveaux, Julianne Susan Curtis B. Rao Leona Harris Bennett College NC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2500000 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0506161 May 1, 2005 Increasing and Strengthening the Next Generation of Leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics: A Planning Proposal. Paine College will implement a eighteen month planning grant called "Increasing and Strengthening the Next Generation of Leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" which addresses the goal of the HBCU-UP Program: to increase the number of underrepresented minorities enrolling in and graduating from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines and entering graduate school or STEM careers. The planning grant has three goals; Goal 1 - To enhance the professional research technology and teaching capabilities of STEM faculty, Goal 2 - To evaluate and restructure STEM curriculum in order to strengthen curriculum in mathematics, biology, chemistry, and physics, and Goal 3 - To increase recruitment and retention of students in STEM disciplines and facilitate student preparation to enter the STEM workforce. Intellectual Merit The proposed planning grant will afford Paine College the opportunity to collect both quantitative and qualitative baseline data in an effort to better understand the problem(s) associated with recruiting and retaining students in the STEM disciplines; thereby, developing actions plans for implementation and resource allocation to correct the identified problem(s). Broader Impact The overall goal of the planning grant is to enhance the STEM infrastructure at Paine College for students and faculty; thereby, improving and increasing recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of underrepresented minorities in STEM disciplines. Accomplishing this goal will have a tremendous societal impact due to the increased number of qualified URM entering the National workforce. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Kesler, Jr., Reuben Paine College GA Camille A. McKayle Standard Grant 49993 1594 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0506164 September 1, 2005 Students, Teachers, Educational Partners, and Undergraduate Programs in Science, Technology, Engineerings, and Mathematics Career Paths at Lawson State Community College. Lawson State Community College will implement a five-year project to achieve three goals: 1) advance the professional development opportunities available to the College's STEM faculty; 2) link with high schools in order to enhance STEM course preparation and align course offerings with four-year institution requirements; and 3) increase the number of underrepresented persons in the STEM career path. Intellectual Merit: The project is a comprehensive project that will address the issues identified by the College during earlier planning grant activities. Faculty, students, high school teachers, and education partners will be involved in the project activities which will invest these groups in the process and changes. STEM students will be provided internship opportunities during their community college career which is expected to be a positive indicator for matriculation to four-year programs in STEM. Faculty will gain exposure to new instructional methodologies which impacts the quality of the STEM curriculum. The project is also expected to foster a supportive culture among STEM faculty and students as a result of the project. Broader Impact: The project will directly impact the level of preparation of STEM students enrolling at Lawson State and support these students through graduation or transfer. The project will increase the likelihood that Lawson State STEM graduates continuing their education and are well prepared for entering the workforce. The project will result in linkages between the College and high schools, as well as four-year institutions, which will last beyond the project period. The project outcomes will be disseminated to other two and four-year institutions to extend the reach of this project. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Crawford, Bruce Lawson State Community College AL Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 1267393 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0506169 September 1, 2005 Center for Mathematics Achievement in Science and Technology. Grambling State University (GSU) will establish the Center for Mathematics Achievement in Science and Technology (CMAST), which will increase the number of underrepresented minority graduates with majors in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discipline. The project activities include the reform of all introductory mathematics courses, research in mathematics education, summer programs for pre-freshmen and sophomores, outreach to high school teachers, student scholarships, undergraduate research, and mentoring. The Center will provide the means for GSU to engage in the systematic examination and improvement of instruction in mathematics in order to address the retention of students in STEM fields. The Center gives the University a mechanism for reforming its courses in mathematics. It will enhance the role and function of mathematics in the curriculum and significantly raise the profile of study and career opportunities in STEM fields. The Center will support research on teaching methodologies and strategies in the teaching of introductory college-level mathematics. It will support research in applied mathematics which involves student participation. The goals of CMAST include: 1) Decrease the percentage of students that earn failing grades in introductory math courses from a five-year average of 60% to 35% over a five year period; 2) Increase the average grade point average of STEM majors from 2.23 to a 2.50; 3) Increase STEM graduates enrolling in STEM graduate programs from 5% to 15%; 4) Increase STEM majors engaging in undergraduate research projects from 6% to 30 %; and 5) Increase performance of Grambling High School students on High School Graduation Exit Exam. Intellectual Merit: The CMAST program will improve the teaching and learning of introductory mathematics for STEM and non-STEM students. Improvements in the success of students in mathematics is known to improve retention in STEM majors higher graduation rates. The CMAST could be a model for other universities who face similar challenges of GSU. Data collected in this project will advance knowledge of best practices to be used to address the deficits in the mathematical preparation of some college freshmen. Broader Impacts: The Center will expand at a later stage to include the sciences and engineering which has the long term potential to improve and enhance all instruction in STEM fields. The center will also eventually coordinate all programs in STEM fields that involve undergraduates at GSU. The outreach to the high school science teachers will also help to improve the preparation of GSU freshman over the long term. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Dixon, Robert Connie Walton Danny Hubbard Grambling State University LA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2364798 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0507881 July 1, 2005 GSE/DIS - South Central Collaborative of the National Girls Collaborative Project. The University of North Texas, Texas Center for Educational Technology, in collaboration with representatives of non-profit organizations, business, and education, is establishing the South Central Collaborative of the National Girls Collaborative Project (SC-NGCP). The Collaborative's goals are to support girls' learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by connecting existing organizations serving girls in STEM education in the region. The NSF-funded National Girls Collaborative Project was started in Washington/Oregon, transported to California, Indiana, and Massachusetts, and is now started in Texas and surrounding states. It is expected that the collaborative will strengthen the capacity, impact, and sustainability of existing and evolving programs serving girls in STEM learning. The objectives will be reached through: o Implementation of a Collaborative Model: Create a STEM-related regional collaborative. o Dissemination and Outreach: Hold a minimum of five face-to-face meetings and web conferences to support the members throughout the region. Promising practices and resources will be hosted on the project's web portal. Multimedia modules featuring important issues about gender equity will be created and disseminated through the web and by CD. Additional dissemination about the project will occur at appropriate conferences and meetings. o Collaboration Support: Offer mini-grants of up to $1,000 to 25 girl-serving STEM-focused programs as an incentive to collaborate and to assist them in assessment activities and projects related to addressing gaps and overlaps in service. o Evaluation: Evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the collaboration on strengthening and sustaining STEM-related activities at regional and local levels. Intellectual Merit: Many groups share the common goal of supporting girls and women in STEM fields, yet there is limited communication among the groups. Because these groups have common target audiences, activities, and research bases, each group's independent work could be strengthened through collaboration. The SC-NGCP will support collaboration among non-profit groups focused on increasing female success in STEM fields to educate each other, and then a broader audience of other groups with similar missions, bringing together like-minded organizations, assisting in communication among leadership of the organizations, and providing a central source of information concerning research and activities to provide opportunities for advancing the field beyond what is currently evident on a more individual and disparate basis. Broader Impact: By reaching the leaders of numerous local organizations that are focused on increasing girls' interest in STEM disciplines, the SC-NGCP will exponentially impact the power and success of each group, through the sharing of experiences and resources and leadership development. As part of this, the project will provide a central location in the south central region of the U.S. for dissemination of current research, knowledge, and practice to increase participation, retention, and advancement of girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These resources will be shared through a series of conferences, forums, and other interactions, and a web site. It is intended that the SC-NGCP will result in a sustainable community of leaders from non-profit organizations dedicated to the future of girls in STEM in Texas and the surrounding region. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Peet, Martha James Poirot University of North Texas TX Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199935 1544 SMET 9178 0507882 July 1, 2005 GSE/DIS Pathway to a STEM Baccalaureate Degree: Research Trends, Exemplary Practices, and Successful Strategies. Iowa State University is developing a set of products to encourage the transfer of female and minority students in community colleges to STEM baccalaureate study. An educational video will present issues and research about the transition from two-year colleges. A Transfer Student Guide will combine research, recommendations, reflection of students, timeline, and a transfer checklist. Finally, a web site will disseminate these two products and other educational resources to educators (two- and four-year institutions), academic counselors/advisors, Transfer Center coordinators, students in two-year colleges, business and industry, researchers, policymakers, and the public. The significance of this work comes in the understanding that community colleges enroll a significant number of women and ethnic minorities in American higher education. Over one half of all students enrolled in American higher education attend community colleges. These institutions play a prominent role in the educational experiences of college students. In particular, the transfer function in community colleges provides the vehicle to prepare pre-STEM majors in providing the first two years of a general education prior to transferring to a four-year college or university. Intellectual Merit. The dissemination activities will advance knowledge and understanding within the field of education as well as other fields by utilizing current research and exemplary programs and practices. The Principal Investigator (PI) has over 10 years of experience studying college students and the impact of the community college on students' aspirations, self-concept, and transfer readiness. The primary objective is to provide students enrolled in community colleges with the tools to be successful academically in their pre-STEM preparation as well as the educational capital to be successful in the transfer process to the four-year college or university. These resources are not currently available. Broader Impacts. This project will contribute a better understanding of the unique role of two-year colleges in providing educational access to ethnic minorities and women to STEM bachelor's degrees. Its products will reach a diverse audience including community college administrators, faculty, academic counseling, retention coordinators, other college personnel, and students. It will highlight the role of two-year minority serving institutions (MSIs). Additionally, it will inform high school teachers about the role and function of community colleges in serving as a viable pathway to a STEM bachelor's degree. The video, Guide, and web site will enable more students to be "transfer ready" to pursue a STEM bachelor's degree. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Laanan, Frankie Iowa State University IA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 200000 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0507902 July 1, 2005 GSE/DIS: GO-GIRL Partnership Program. Roosevelt University will disseminate the results of education research and evaluation through the replication a successful program in four new cities. The program to be disseminated is NSF-funded Gaining Options-Girls Investigate Real Life (GO-GIRL) which showed positive impacts on all participants including middle school girls, their parents, and university students. The GO-GIRL program develops mathematical and scientific reasoning in middle school girls by engaging them in social science research in an all-girl, technologically-rich environment over ten Saturdays. Urban girls from diverse backgrounds come together to apply mathematics, data literacy, and scientific methods to social science research. Their experiences are led by undergraduates who are enrolled in a service-learning course in education, psychology, and women's studies. Site leaders in the new cities are trained by the original developers of GO-GIRL (University of Michigan and Wayne State University), with collaboration from TERC, Inc, on data literacy tools used in the program. The sites are Bloomington (Illinois Wesleyan University), Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania), Chicago (Roosevelt University), and Washington, D.C. (Howard University). The project will also host a meeting of scholars to discuss the expanded program implementation and continuation in the future. Intellectual merit. Middle school has been identified as a critical time for girls to define their career and social identities. Using mathematics and technology to address social issues important to their lives is an effective strategy for gaining and maintaining girls interest in mathematics. Evaluation results over four years have shown that the GO-GIRL model is successful. The project introduces strategic alliances that can catalyze new thinking and future action among educators at the partnering educational institutions. The model evolved from a multi-year, careful sequence of research, program implementation, program evaluation, and program improvement. It will be improved through adaptation to new community sites. TERC, Inc., is leveraging many years of NSF-funded development of Tabletop 2, a popular visual data tool that is well suited for social science research conducted by the girls. Tabletop 2 has reached an estimated 85,000 classrooms nationwide already. TERC will gain additional field test sites, and, conversely, the GO-GIRL Partnership will be introduced to the educational community at large through Tabletop on-line guides. Broader impacts. The project contributes to the need to create a diverse and competitive pool of talent in the US, and specifically supports the goal of broadening the participation of girls in mathematics-related areas. Universities and community organizations in four new sites across four states will make known policy issues related to the national need to increase student interest in mathematics and science and provide an example of a specific research-based educational program that achieves the goal locally. Additionally, the replication develops a cohort of new teachers who are prepared to engage diverse groups of girls in scientific thinking and foster their mathematics confidence and ability. Site leaders will develop an enhanced understanding of gender-based barriers by guiding university students in the study of gender-based research on girls' achievement, learning strategies, and educational interaction styles during a community service learning experience. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Reid, Pamela Sally Roberts Roosevelt University IL Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199862 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0521756 August 1, 2004 ADVANCE Leadership Award. This Leadership Award will support the PI's goal of providing advancement programs for women and minority faculty in science and engineering at Tulane University. The University has a strong commitment to advancement of women faculty, indicated by the Strategic Plan, the recently established Presidential Task Force on Diversity and Equity, and an equity climate survey recently undertaken by the Task Force. Moreover, the PI, Professor Marian Walters, has extensive experience in developing similar programs for women faculty in science and medicine at the Health Science Center. This award will support expansion of Professor Walters' efforts for underrepresented faculty to provide mentoring/networking and career development programs for women and minority faculty in science and engineering on the "Uptown" campus, as well as provide a graduate assistant for her research program. Mentoring/networking programs will include opportunities to participate in one-on-one mentoring, networking sessions at several faculty levels, seminar opportunities and faculty development sessions. Communication will be facilitated by establishing a women faculty Listserv. A biannual newsletter distributed throughout the university will highlight the accomplishments of the targeted women faculty. A limited number of travel and achievement awards will further enhance the advancement/recognition of the targeted faculty. In conclusion, this NSF ADVANCE Leadership award will allow the PI to provide programs directed at improving diversity among the faculty in the science and engineering departments at Tulane University through activities that empower the targeted faculty members to best navigate the system and successfully advance through the faculty and administrative ranks. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Walters, Marian Pennsylvania State Univ University Park PA Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 242392 1739 OTHR 9150 1739 0000 0521762 September 1, 2005 GSE/RES Retaining Women in STEM: The Contributions of Different Types of Living-Learning Programs. University of Maryland College Park will continue and expand the National Study of Living-Learning Programs (NSLLP) longitudinally to understand better the role of living learning programs in facilitating the persistence and success of college women in STEM majors. Related research questions include an investigation of the specific L/L environments most strongly related to persistence and success for women in STEM, and the examination of the long-term impact of L/L participation on women's persistence in college and in STEM disciplines. Living-learning (L/L) programs are one of the most promising interventions in higher education designed to foster success for women in STEM majors. Through mentoring, support, and collaboration, L/L programs are residence hall-based efforts that blend curricular and co-curricular activities that facilitate greater student integration, achievement, and retention. Until the development of the National Study of Living-Learning Programs (NSLLP), research on L/L program effectiveness was largely limited to single-program assessments on individual college campuses. The 2004 NSLLP includes the responses of nearly 24,000 students representing 34 universities across the United States. Over 1,650 female STEM majors participated in the NSLLP, about half of whom were involved with one of 41 different L/L programs that cater to women in STEM in either single-sex (e.g., the Women in Science & Engineering Program) or co-educational (e.g., the Science, Technology, & Society House) settings. However, because the majority of the NSLLP respondents were first-year students (which is common for L/L participants), it is premature to evaluate the enduring effects of L/L participation on outcomes such as persistence, academic achievement, and student learning. The proposed research design uses a mixed methods approach: a longitudinal follow-up survey of the women who responded to the NSLLP in 2004; site visits at three to five campuses that are providing high-to-modestly performing STEM related L/L options for women based on data from the 2004 NSLLP; and an expanded data collection with new participating institutions in order to create ongoing trend data on women in STEM. Intellectual Merits of the Proposed Activity: This study will advance higher education research by identifying the specific college environment factors that facilitate the academic achievement, persistence, and learning outcomes for women in STEM disciplines. In light of prior research focused on personal qualities (e.g., self-efficacy) of women who persist in STEM, this study will contribute to the literature by illuminating how institutional interventions may also facilitate women's success in STEM. Most importantly, the study's findings will be based on a multi-institutional sample, which can provide results of L/L impact across campus contexts that can therefore be generalizable to and replicable at different types of university settings. The research team conducted the initial NSLLP study. Broader Impacts of the Proposed Activity: On a practical level, this study will help campus officials prioritize limited and strategic resources to those programs with documented benefits for women in STEM. In addition, for those campuses interested in developing effective L/L programs for women in STEM, this study's findings can serve as a blueprint for best models and practices. Finally, from a societal standpoint, this research will help institutions understand how to retain and graduate underrepresented groups in STEM majors. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Inkelas, Karen Aaron Brower University of Maryland College Park MD Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 481438 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0522400 September 1, 2005 GSE/RES - The Effects of Robotics Projects on Girls' Perceptions of Achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville is studying participants in a robotics educational program to gain an understanding of how such programs may have a short-term effect on girls' perception of their achievement in STEM areas, and whether this translates into long-term choices in study and career options. Specifically, the project addresses the utility of the psychological components of the expectancy-value model for understanding the role of gender differences in STEM-related choices. It also examines the role the gender make-up of the robotics team and the motivation for participating in the program play in girls' STEM perceptions, expectations, and choices. Robotics provides a comprehensive view of an integrated system. It illustrates the connection between mechanical, electrical, and computing components. Because of its multidisciplinary nature, the use of robotics in the classroom has become a useful tool for the practical, hands-on application of concepts across various STEM topics. There is clear evidence that shows robotics projects are engaging educational tools and have been pedagogically successful in teaching STEM concepts. However, it is less clear whether such projects translate into long-term interests in STEM areas of study and, ultimately, career choices. The project involves participants in the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics' Botball Program. The Botball Program is a team-based activity that engages thousands of middle school and high school students in regional and national robotics competitions and exhibitions. The project employs a mixed methodology research approach to gain a rich understanding of the factors involved in STEM perceptions and choices. To examine the expectancy-value model, quantitative analyses including ANCOVA and structural equation modeling will be employed. The quantitative study is complemented with a qualitative approach. The qualitative study, which includes observations, interviews, and artifact analysis, will enable a deeper understanding of the effect of participation in robotics projects and permit the examination of role cultural issues may play in STEM choices. Intellectual Merit The most significant intellectual merit is due to the use of: 1) the expectancy value model; 2) a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods; 3) both explicit and implicit attitudes measures; and 4) a unique qualitative methodology in which participants in the study will assist us in data collection. By applying the expectancy-value theory, the study provides the most comprehensive view of the factors involved in a girl's STEM experience and how this experience affects self-perception. The combined interpretation of the comprehensive qualitative/qualitative study will provide a clearer understanding of how programs that apply technology, like robotics, affect girls' perceptions of their abilities, how specific factors engendered in the expectancy-value model impact these perceptions, and how these effects influence choices to enter STEM careers. The two year study will help determine if impacts are short term or longer lasting. And if they are longer lasting what are factors that sustain or even strengthen girls' motivations for achieving goals in STEM areas. Broader Impact The most significant broader impact is that the study dovetails directly with work in curriculum development at KIPR and SIUE. KIPR has a continuing NASA Grant and a working relationship with NASA Educators for the development of STEM curriculum and SIUE has an ongoing educational effort for the development of robotics curriculum for K-12 outreach and undergraduate courses. Results will allow programs such as Botball, FIRST Robot League, Tufts University Next Steps Program, CMU's Expanding Your Horizon Program, and many others to target factors in their programs that actually impact a girl's STEM-related choices. Dissemination will be aimed at educators, educational researchers, and developmental psychologists. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Weinberg, Jerry Susan Thomas Mary Stephen Cathryne Stein Jonathan Pettibone Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville IL Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 352586 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0522418 September 1, 2005 GSE/RES: Producing Women Engineers: A Study of Undergraduate Engineering Programs for Women. The Urban Institute is studying the productivity of engineering departments - their ability to attract and retain engineering students, particularly female students, and the approaches, strategies and interventions that underlie their effectiveness. A severe gender imbalance exists within the engineering field as women currently earn about 20.1% of the bachelor's degrees in engineering. The graduation rates of female engineering majors vary across programs. UI researchers will compile a national database of the approximately 344 schools with accredited undergraduate engineering programs within the United States and classify them into one of four categories based on the "productivity" criteria of enrollment of women and graduation of women. UI researchers will analyze institutional or departmental characteristics to identify any patterns that exist among the nation's undergraduate engineering programs, and with regard to each of the productivity categories. The institutional and departmental characteristics examined in this analysis will include such variables as institutional and program selectivity, institutional type (Carnegie classification, public/private, MSI), size of engineering program (in absolute terms and relative to home institution), graduate program offering, overall graduation rate (men and women combined), percent of female engineering faculty, and percent of female engineering students. UI researchers will also carry out six to eight case studies of exemplary programs that are "highly productive" in terms of graduating female engineering majors. UI researchers will purposefully sample four engineering programs under the category of "high enrollment and high graduation," and four under the category of "low enrollment and high graduation" as a comparative analysis will yield a better understanding of the relationship between enrollment and productivity. In carrying out the case studies, UI researchers will travel to selected campuses to interview departmental chairpersons, top administrators, and engineering faculty, and to conduct sex-segregated focus groups of engineering students. UI researchers will also collect information on departmental program histories and the presence of effective interventions and strategies within the program to achieve a more equitable and inviting educational environment. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity is supported by the breath and depth of the project. The multi-institutional analyses will allow researchers to assess the productivity status of the country's undergraduate engineering programs on the dimensions of female enrollment and graduation. Concomitantly, the case studies enable the researchers to examine components and characteristics of effective organizational models. The proposal activity will result in the broader impact of advancing the existing knowledge base about the current status of U.S. undergraduate engineering programs; approaches that result in high recruitment and retention of female engineering majors; and, organizational models of effective engineering programs for women. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Tsui, Lisa Beatriz Clewell Clemencia Cosentino Urban Institute DC Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 497117 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0522491 September 1, 2005 GSE/RES Helping to Even the Odds for Girls in STEM Fields: Understanding the Basis for Girls' Difficulties with Measurement. Boston College will investigate the basis for gender and SES differences in mathematics learning - specifically measurement skill -- at fourth grade, when children begin to work consistently with a range of standard measurement tools. Objectives and Method The proposal takes a three-pronged approach to understanding the nature of gender and SES differences in measurement. The first goal is to identify the specific dimensions of measurement skill at fourth grade that reveal gender and SES differences. To achieve this goal, a systematic and comprehensive test battery covering a wide range of measurement skills will be developed (Year 1). Using this tool, students' performance will be examined to determine whether it varies depending on the cognitive demands of the task. Items that depend primarily on the knowledge of facts, procedures, and numerical formulas will be compared to items that depend on an understanding of measurement principles and spatial sense. The next major goal of the project is to identify the factors that mediate the gender and SES differences on the measurement test. Since measurement incorporates the cognitive aspects of both spatial and numerical reasoning, these skills will be examined as predictors of measurement performance (Year 2). Using path analytic techniques, it will be determined whether gender and SES differences in spatial or numerical skills (or both) function as mediators of the differences in measurement found for these groups. The final goal of the project is to design and evaluate a measurement intervention program based on the knowledge gained during the first two research phases. The intervention and control programs will be developed and pilot-tested in Spring/Summer of Year 2, and implemented in classrooms in Year 3. The new measurement battery will be used to assess pre-/post changes in performance for students in the intervention and control conditions. This study should shed further light on the nature of gender difference in measurement, by clarifying which types of measurement experiences reduce the critical gender and SES gaps. Intellectual Merit In both national and international studies of mathematics achievement, measurement subtests show the strongest and most consistent gender differences favoring males, from fourth through twelfth grade (Mullis et al., 2000; NCES, 2004). When examining socio-economic status (SES) differences within the U.S., the measurement subtests again stand out as providing the greatest difficulty for low SES and minority students (Lubienski, 2003). Despite this evidence, little research has been done to investigate the basis for the pervasive gender and SES differences in measurement. Yet understanding the nature of this problem is critical because measurement skills are an important pre-requisite for success in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. Major organizations in mathematics and science education stress measurement as "one of the most widely used applications of mathematics" (NCTM, 2000, p. 103) and consider it to be one of the "unifying concepts of science" (NSTA, 2003, p. 6). Broader Impact The major focus in the field of gender differences in mathematics has been on attitudinal and social factors (NSF, 2004). Gender and SES differences in cognitive strategies and skills have been a very minor part of either the intervention research or the mathematics curricula within schools in the United States. If girls and low SES students are less likely to have a deep understanding of measurement principles right at the outset, this may contribute to difficulties later on in mathematics and science, as well as engendering a lack of self-confidence and interest in approaching STEM content. Thus, it is critical to understand the basis for these initial problems in measurement. The project has been designed to contribute to our understanding of traditionally underserved groups and to use this research-based knowledge to inform educational practice in relation to these groups. The findings from this research will be broadly disseminated, with the new measurement scales and the intervention program made available on-line. Given the critical role of measurement as a fundamental construct within STEM, this research may ultimately help to broaden the participation of underserved groups in these fields by providing research tested measurement materials available to school systems nation-wide. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Casey, Beth Marina Vasilyeva Boston College MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 496696 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0522634 September 1, 2005 GSE/RES Learning Companions as Change Agents: Improving Girls' Self-efficacy Beliefs in Learning Math. Utah State University is investigating the educational potential of virtual peers to change girls' negative self-images and attitudes toward science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), moving them in a desirable direction. The virtual peers, called pedagogical agents as learning companions (PALs), may encourage and persuade girls to increase their belief of self-efficacy in learning math and to build more positive attitudes toward pursuing careers in STEM. Research indicates that girls' negative views of the fields of STEM are often due to social and cultural influences. Family, schools, and media are likely to impose stereotypic role expectations on girls and infuse girls with ideal "Barbie doll" images of girls. As a result, many girls tend to identify STEM as masculine and doubt their ability to compete. Girls need to be exposed to social environments that will encourage them to overcome ungrounded social stereotypes and build constructive views of their competency in STEM. Although the stereotypic views of family, teachers, or friends cannot be immediately changed or influenced, girl-friendly virtual social environments can be created to help girls build positive attitudes toward STEM. The project will 1) investigate the effectiveness of PALs in facilitating girls' self-confidence and efficacy in learning math and 2) investigate the characteristics of PALs critical to that end. To reach the goals, a three-year research agenda is planned. In the first year, the project will focus on the effects of the gender and age of PALs. The research will investigate whether gender (male vs. female) and age (adult vs. peer) are related to girls' choices of PALs as their learning partners and, subsequently, girls' self-efficacy and attitude change. In the second year, the project will focus on the effects of the competency and ethnicity of PALs. The research will be an investigation of whether PALs' competency (strong vs. weak) and ethnicity (Caucasian vs. Hispanic) have an impact on Caucasian and Hispanic girls' choices of PALs as their learning partners and, subsequently, girls' self-efficacy and attitude change. In the third year, the project will concentrate on the effects of the feedback type and emotion of PALs. The research will be an investigation of whether PALs' feedback type (harsh vs. nice) and emotion (empathetic vs. non-empathetic) will have an impact on girls' attribution of their success and failure, their self-efficacy, and their feelings of affability with PALs. The research questions will be answered using a quasi-experimental design and both quantitative and qualitative data. The sample will include approximately 200 9th-grade girls in required algebra I classes in public high schools in large and mid-size cities in a mountain-west state of the USA. Intellectual Merit First, unlike most technology-based interventions that have been focused on the cognitive aspect of learning, this project is geared toward the affective aspect of girls' math learning. This project will identify how PALs can be used to effect girls' math self-efficacy and positive attitude toward learning math. Second, PALs are a special subset of pedagogical agents and are grounded on findings from human-peer interaction research. This project will identify the specific characteristics of PALs that might affect girls' math self-efficacy and attitudes. Third, PAL-based interventions will be implemented in ordinary classrooms regularly throughout the semester. This project will provide classroom-based evidence on the educational value of PALs in K-12 settings and implications for long-term use. Broader Impacts The project is conducted through the collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary team and so will yield implications for multiple communities, such as researchers in women/gender education, STEM education in general, educational technology, human/computer interaction, and artificial intelligence in education. If found to be effective, PALs are potentially an efficient and cost-effective intervention to re-shape girls' STEM beliefs and attitudes, compared to human-mentoring programs. Through classroom implementation, the project has implications for PALs' role for improving Caucasian and minority girls' math self-efficacy and attitudes. The influential characteristics of PALs for PAL/learner relations identified in the project will provide implications for research on human relations as well as on human/computer interactions. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Kim, Yanghee Christine Hailey Utah State University UT Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 499991 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0522767 October 1, 2005 GSE/RES: Investigating the Gender Component: Cultures that Promote Equity in Undergraduate Engineering. A team of researchers at Virginia Tech is conducting an empirical (both quantitative and qualitative) comparison of the cultures of engineering departments and colleges with female undergraduate completion rates above and below the national average. Culture is defined as the attitudes, values, beliefs, and practices of institutional leaders, faculty, and students. Practices include pedagogy, curriculum, and informal and formal polices. Intellectual Merit Programs initiated over the past two decades to recruit and retain women and girls in science, engineering, and technology (SET) fields have, on the whole, been successful. What has been lacking is the institutionalization of these successful programs so that large-scale change could be sustained. The body of literature about the need for institutional transformation, in both the business and academic worlds, is extensive but is, almost without exception, lacking in an analysis of gender-focused initiatives. The team hypothesizes that there are subtle but significant differences in the cultures of engineering departments, both within engineering colleges and across engineering colleges at different institutions, and that these differences are influenced by institutional leadership and history. The team further hypothesizes that engineering departments with the strongest record of graduating undergraduate women engineers will operate within colleges and universities that have activities intentionally targeted to improving the cultural climate for women and that these initiatives are located within colleges and universities that have multiple gender-focused initiatives and related supportive structures, like women and science programs. Knowledge resulting from this study will improve our understanding about strategies faculty and administrators can use to effectively improve the educational climate for women in engineering fields. The study will inform policy and practice through the following project outcomes: 1. Identification of the elements of departmental and institutional cultures that distinguish departments with graduation rates of women in engineering that are above and below the national average. 2. A self-assessment guide and questionnaire to assess critical elements of departmental and institutional culture. 3. Case studies that illustrate best practices or effective strategies that promote a female friendly climate in engineering and which will be accessible in printed form and online. 4. A student questionnaire and a statistical model that includes individual, environmental, and structural factors that predict women's interest and choice of SET majors. Broader Impacts As an incentive to the universities participating in the study, the team will provide a two-hour training workshops and faculty development modules that will be accessible online. The modules include case studies and resources related to how faculty can operate as change agents. Study findings will yield concrete suggestions for how college and departmental leaders in engineering can design and implement programs that improve the climate for women in undergraduate engineering. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE ENGINEERING EDUCATION HRD EHR Creamer, Elizabeth Carol Burger Peggy Meszaros Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 448971 1544 1340 SMET OTHR 9178 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0522860 July 1, 2005 GSE/RES Measurement matters: Developing new scales to evaluate undergraduate students' images and attitudes in STEM fields. North Carolina State University will develop a psychometrically reliable and valid standard scale for measurement of students' stereotypes about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions and professionals in relation to attitudes about the participation of women and people of color in STEM fields. The project goals are to (1) to provide researchers with a standard survey scale (STEM Scale) that captures undergraduate students' contemporary images of science/engineering and scientists/engineers in the context of attitudes about gender and ethnic/racial diversity, (2) to provide researchers with standard survey scales and subscales that are specific to fields/disciplines, if/where significant field differences exist, and (3) to advance a common and empirically informed national discussion about students' preconceptions and attitudes about STEM professions and professionals. Intellectual Merit. Though there are existing scales that measure images of scientists, or attitudes about women, or ethnic/racial identity, none of these have been developed to address the intersections of gender and ethnicity/race with images and attitudes about STEM fields Project activities are defined in pace and scope in a progression from local and exploratory tests, to a national validation study, then to public dissemination. In the first year, the team will collect 100+ items generated in local STEM focus groups and gleaned from existing scales, then pilot, tested and revise in large section local STEM courses to identify items that significantly contribute to key constructs. In the second year, the team will consolidate remaining items and distribute a refined survey instrument through a national network of cooperating faculty. The projected sample size is 10,000 student responses. Though a combination of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, analyses of a national data set (collected via online distribution and response) will identify a core STEM Scale and discipline-specific sub-scales, if and where disciplinary distinctions exist. In the third year, project activities are directed at disseminating information about the STEM scale and its psychometric properties, providing a "field test" of the scale in a discipline-specific setting, and fostering incorporation of the scale into research about factors influencing persistence, performance, and career commitment. Broader Impacts. Because attitudes related to gender and ethnicity/race (about self or others) have been associated with a wide range of inequalities in educational and career outcomes, the STEM Scale has applications as a basic tool in many areas of social research. The study will promote theory and research about the role of stereotypes in academic performance and persistence, and in career development and commitment, exploring the contribution of STEM course content to stereotype maintenance or disruption, and evaluating change over time in cultural images of STEM professions and professionals. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Wyer, Mary Maria Oliver-Hoyo Sylvia Nassar-McMillan North Carolina State University NC Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 499606 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0522946 September 1, 2005 GSE/RES The Role of Gender in Language Used by Children and Parents Working on Mathematical Tasks. The University of Hawaii is investigating gender-related differences in language and actions used by children and parents when working on mathematical tasks in number, algebra, and geometry. Parents and their children from diverse ethnicities with low socioeconomic status will be recruited from public schools in Hawaii. Each of 100 child-parent dyads will work on three tasks, one representing each of three content strands, number, algebra, and geometry while being recorded on audio- and videotape. These recordings will be coded to determine gender-related differences in parents' and children's use of cognitively demanding language, by counting the number of conceptual questions, causal explanations, or specific use of mathematics vocabulary during tasks. Data will be gathered on children's self-efficacy and parent's competence beliefs for their children to determine how these related to the cognitively demanding language used by the four types of child-parent dyads (daughter-mother, son-mother, daughter-father, son-father). Intellectual Merit The results of this research will add knowledge and understanding of gender differences that exist when parents and children of diverse ethnicities with low socioeconomic status work on mathematical tasks together. The Pisa (2003) findings that self-efficacy is one of the strongest predictors of student performance indicate the importance of examining the relationship of self-efficacy of children and parents' competence beliefs to the use of cognitively demanding language. Previous related research focused primarily on highly-educated European-American parents. The plan includes careful and thorough development and piloting of mathematical tasks and instruments with 20 child-parent dyads prior to working with the study population. Broader Impact The findings from the proposed research will help determine ways parent materials and parent involvement programs should address the gender differences in language and actions of parents and their children when working on mathematical tasks similar to those found in reform mathematics curricula. This research results will be of interest to many stakeholders in mathematics education and parent education. Participants in the proposed research will be students from underrepresented groups: females, diverse ethnicities, and low socioeconomic status. It is anticipated that the findings will lead to broader participation of these groups in mathematics. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Olson, Judith Melfried Olson University of Hawaii HI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 547851 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0523046 September 1, 2005 GSE/RES Gender Differences in Science and Math: Diversity and the Role of Social Context. The University of Texas at Austin is examining gendered performance and student choices of advanced math and science courses in high school, and the choice of a related major in college. The goal of the study is to discern how such choices are influenced by social context. The team is examining both the immediate within-school contexts of students' friendship groups, associations with academic peers, and exposure to rigorous academic curricula, as well as the broader social context across schools, characterized by a school's social and academic, the math and science curriculum available and courses offered, and socio-economic aspects of the communities within which the schools are embedded. They pay special attention to how these processes differ for key population subgroups, including students of different race and ethnicity, social class, and immigrant generational status. The intellectual merit of the study is based largely in the strength of (1) the acknowledgement that the science and math trajectories of female and male students throughout high school and college are complex and multi-faceted, and do not necessarily follow one major pattern, (2) the conceptualization, that the social contexts within and across schools influence the choices and performance of female and male students, (3) the recognition that the trajectories and the social mechanisms that influence them may be different for subgroups of diverse students (i.e. racial and ethnic, socioeconomic, and immigrant population subgroups) and (4) the analytic approach that applies rigorous research methodology to analysis of a major new large and nationally representative data set that is well designed to measure the multiple social contexts of the conceptual framework. First, the design of the study highlights the various science and math trajectories actually traveled by female and male students across multiple time points and transitions, rather than assuming an apriori or singular path. Further, the premise of social context influencing girls' science and math attainment has previously been applied to studies of gender differences in science and math primarily in small-scale or qualitative studies, or in contrast, in very broad treatments of national or international trends. The study builds on this literature by suggesting a framework of female students' choices and performance occurring within the constraints of an opportunity structure, one that includes both the immediate social context within schools, as well as the broader social context of schools and communities themselves. Additionally, the study's merit derives from consideration of the complexities of gendered experiences, by examining how the science and math trajectories taken, and the influence of the social context on such pathways, may be different for girls from different race and ethnic groups, social classes, and immigrant generational status. Finally, the merit of the study also stems from the use of new and nationally-representative data on schools and students (the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement (AHAA) component of the Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health)), which allows the examination of the effects of contextual factors on gendered choices within and across schools for the first time, as well as the use of advanced statistical techniques such as hierarchical linear modeling, and the consideration of academic trajectories in additional subjects to provide a contrast to the study of science and math. Broader Impact. First, while there have been a large number of studies examining gendered differences in math and science areas, the consideration of the social context within and across schools adds to the general understanding of the problem by focusing on how both immediate and broad contexts function to provide information and encouragement about gendered norms and opportunities that subsequently influence the performance and the choices girls make in the traditionally male-dominated fields of science and math. Additionally by investigating which characteristics of schools and the course curriculum encourage girls to choose math and science courses and further programs of study, the study can offer evidence of how schools can play an active role in promoting gender equality. By highlighting how schools vary in the extent to which girls are represented in advanced math and science courses in high school, the team hopes to dispel the notion that the gender gap is a constant and unyielding phenomenon, characterized by girls' failure to meet the same levels of their male peers. Finally, the use of high quality nationally representative data with a large sample size allows the investigation of racial and ethnic, social class, and immigrant subgroups differences in the effects of context. This is extremely important for understanding how these social mechanisms may operate differently within various subpopulations, and consequently, how to better design policies that promote gender equity. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Muller, Chandra Catherine Riegle-Crumb University of Texas at Austin TX Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 500002 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0523137 August 15, 2005 Planning Grant for Sinte Gleska University. The project will conduct an internal evaluation and planning process to assess its STEM educational capacity and vision. Activities will include strategy building sessions with faculty and administrators, consultation with external advisors, and engagement of the cultural community. The project will formulate a strategic plan for STEM instructional improvement. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Runnion, John Sinte Gleska University SD Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0523191 September 1, 2005 Planning Grant for the White Earth Tribal and Community College. The project will conduct an internal evaluation and planning process to assess its STEM educational capacity and vision. Activities will include strategy building sessions with faculty and administrators, consultation with external advisors, and engagement of the cultural community. The project will formulate a strategic plan for STEM instructional improvement. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Peacock, Robert White Earth Tribal and Community College MN Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0531183 October 1, 2005 HBCU-RISE for the Development and Study of Advanced Sensors and Sensor Materials. NSF granted a HBCU Doctoral Capacity Building/RISE grant to AAMU for three years starting in August 2002. The ongoing RISE has a significant impact in graduating doctoral students in physics. AAMU administration fully supports the theme of this program by contributing support toward project efforts. The present award further extends research and education in sensors with major emphasis on radiation, biological, temperature and chemical sensors, based on a number of achievements made during the existing NSF grant. The RISE project supports the development of research and educational capabilities of AAMU. This award supports enhancements in research training and research preparedness of graduate students in the physics department and on increasing the enrollment of doctoral students and graduates, particularly of underrepresented minorities. The intellectual merit of this project lies in its contribution to the knowledge about sensor development. RISE supported research and education focuses on Radiation Sensors, Biological Sensors, Temperature and Chemical Sensors. The broader impacts of this project lie in the expanded research and educational opportunities made available to students and faculty in the area of sensor research. Project activities include a yearly one-week workshop/short course on sensors for undergraduate students and faculty from HBCU's and other universities. These research areas will provide topics for Ph.D. and MS degree dissertations and thesis for graduate students. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Aggarwal, Manmohan Matthew Edwards Anup Sharma Rami Bommareddi Alabama A&M University AL Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0531490 October 1, 2005 Control of Networked Multi-Agent Decision Systems. Real-world examples of cooperative control systems include:robots and unmanned aircraft in search and rescue operations, autonomous vehicles for military surveillance and attack missions, and an array of satellites to form a distributed large aperture of a space telescope. Depending on the mission, the motion to be coordinated may be an exact formation or so-called flocking which can be seen in the motion of a flock of birds or a school of fish. The proposed research will investigate dynamic behavior of interconnected systems under various realistic situations such as partial orcomplete communication failures between agents. The project will solve three categories of problems: (1)high performance transient behavior, (2)network-induced delay and packet-loss, and (3)the case when the number of autonomous agents is excessively large. The intellectual merit of this project lies in its contribution to the understanding of the problem of controlling an array of connected systems and their interactive behavior. The broader impact of the project lies in the inter-disciplinary nature of networked cooperative control research. Technologies developed in this area will inevitably impact a wide range of engineering disciplines including controls, communications, and computers enhancing the research capability of the awardee institution. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Keel, Leehyun Sivapragasam Sathananthan Olawale Adetona Tennessee State University TN Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 999205 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0531507 September 1, 2005 Modeling and Testing of Advanced Mixed Signal Systems. In research project, the focus will be on the modeling, characterization and testing of low power, high speed, and anti-radiation capable mixed signal systems for the next generation distributed wireless network applications. The objectives are to: (1) develop a performance evaluation tool that integrates the design of mixed signal systems and higher-layer network protocols for the optimization of distributed wireless network system performance; (2) develop a methodology for computing crosstalk that is targeted for block-level physical design of high-performance, high-speed mixed signal systems; (3) develop an automated wavelet-based real time mixed signal testing algorithms for the efficient production of mixed-signal systems; (4) model the generation and propagation of single event transients in CMOS mixed signal circuits, and (5) determine the radiation sensitivity of CMOS mixed signal circuits Intellectual Merit A performance evaluation tool that integrates the design of mixed signal systems and higher-layer network protocols for design low power mixed signal systems will be provided. A new distributed network technique that uses the finite element method, for the modeling crosstalk noise in high speed mixed signal systems will be provided. In addition, a novel automated testing technique, based on wavelet transforms, for mixed signal systems will be developed. The models for generation and propagation of single event transients in mixed signal circuits will be provided. Furthermore, a wavelet-based technique for characterizing the effects of radiation in mixed signal circuits will be developed. Broader Impact The proposed project will provide educational training to graduate and undergraduate students through research and hands-on experience. This project will help enhance the Analog Mixed Signal techniques courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The courses will be modified to include technological issues addressed in this project. The proposed project will also provide topics for team of students to work on for their senior design projects and provide a strong tie between Prairie View A&M University and the high-tech industry in the area of mixed signal systems. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Attia, John Matthew Sadiku Cajetan Akujuobi Lijun Qian Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9179 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0531508 September 1, 2005 A Dual-Degree Graduate Program to Build Infrastructure and Expand Opportunities for Graduate Education at an HBCU. With NSF support, Delaware State University will establish a program in molecular and cellular neuroscience, strengthening the research and research-training infrastructure at Delaware State University. The neuroscience MS program will: (1) build the academic and research skills of recent graduates who are interested in pursuing an advanced degree; (2) foster interest in pursuing a Ph.D. by involving graduate and undergraduate students in research experiences; (3) create a graduate education partnership between DSU and the Neuroscience Ph.D. program at Drexel University that will strengthen both undergraduate and graduate programs at DSU; (4) improve the preparation of biology undergraduates by increasing the number and variety of advanced courses available to them, and (5) increase the research and research training opportunities of Delaware residents by developing the first neuroscience degree program in the state. The project includes faculty start-up support, summer salaries, stipends and travel allowances. The partnership between DSU and Drexel could serve as a national model for similar collaborative efforts that result in M.S./PhD. programs. The intellectual merit of this project lies in its contribution to the knowledge base in molecular and cellular neuroscience. The broader impact of this project lies in the expanded research opportunities for students including underrepresented minority students and expected increases in the number of minority students who successfully pursue advanced degrees and research careers in STEM disciplines. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Davis, Leonard Melissa Harrington Delaware State University DE Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 999994 9131 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0531523 November 1, 2005 Tracing Carbon Flow in Estuarine Systems: A Case Study in Apalachicola Bay Florida. This proposal seeks to evaluate carbon cycling in Apalachicola Bay, a shallow bar-built sub-tropical estuary located in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. A collaborative and interdisciplinary team made up of biogeochemists, ecologists, molecular biologists, and modelers will integrate their skills and areas of expertise to characterize in detail the sources, transformations and fate of carbon within the Apalachicola Bay estuary. An important emphasis of this proposal is the training of graduate students and postdoctoral associates in multidisplinary research on carbon cycling, and in communicating the knowledge gained from this and other research to students in the classroom making them better teachers and mentors. A collaborative interdisciplinary team will integrate their skills and expertise to characterize carbon cycling and its relationship to hydrologic processes, the bulk dissolved organic carbon pool in the estuary, the microbial loop, bacterial community structure, and overall trophic dynamics. Data generated from this work will promote a dramatically improved understanding of the carbon flux from Apalachicola Bay to Gulf of Mexico coastal waters, and ultimately provide insight as to how carbon cycling in Apalachicola Bay fits with established estimates of coastal carbon flux. In addition to the training of both graduate and undergraduate students through direct participation in field and laboratory based activities the results and the scope of this project will also be developed into ateaching module. The development of the module will be a collaborative effort by the PI's, senior scientists and graduate students three PI's to illustrate how carbon flow through estuarine systems can potentially impact models of global carbon flux. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Williams, Henry Jennifer Cherrier Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 998820 9131 SMET 9178 9131 0313000 Regional & Environmental 0533012 September 1, 2005 4th Edition: Resource Directory of Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities. Project Summary AAAS proposes to develop a database and an electronic directory that will be the 4 th edition of the Resource Directory of Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities. The Directory will fill a continuing need of NSF and other Federal agencies, educators, parents, counselors, disability organizations, and the media to find role models and existence proofs in all fields of science and engineering, with a wide range of disabilities. In addition the individuals listed in the Directory will be able to serve as peer reviewers, consultants, and sources for stories. AAAS has the only complete repository of this information. Names and contact information are regularly requested by NSF and the other agencies and organizations. In the efforts to include underrepresented groups in the STEM workforce, and especially those groups underutilized because of disabilities, this information is critical. The intellectual merit of this project will be the research and documentation of the existence of person with disabilities, currently in the STEM workforce as a crucial element in diversifying the science and engineering workforce. Recording that persons of both genders, varied in age, ethnicity, geography, discipline, disability, and educated in many types of undergraduate and graduate institutions will be a crucial base to change attitudes and actions about including persons with disabilities in the science and technology enterprise of the country. It is essential that educators, funders, families, and counselors capitalize on the experience of these accomplished scientists and engineers to assist them in opening up STEM education and broadening the participation of persons with disabilities in STEM careers. The broader impacts resulting from the dissemination of the proposed activity will be advancing the understanding of educators and employers on the possibilities of STEM education and careers for preschool and precollege students, undergraduates, and graduate students with disabilities. It will also serve scientists and engineers who become disabled mid-career, or acquire a chronic disability by making it possible for them to connect with other scientist with related experiences. It will contribute to overturning traditional stereotypes of persons with disabilities as to career and occupational limitations that exclude science, engineering, and technical fields. The listings will be a first step in identifying and contacting potential advisors and collaborators from all fields of science and a wide range of disabilities. Annual updating of the database will ensure the freshness and sustainability of the information and will encourage others to come forward and share information. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Stern, Virginia American Association For Advancement Science DC Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 99954 1545 SMET 9178 0533057 September 1, 2005 The Signing Science Dictionary Project. Project Summary: The Signing Science Dictionary Project Summary of Work. With this RDE-FRI project, TERC and Vcom3D will use the SigningAvatar accessibility software to develop an interactive 3D dictionary of science terms and definitions to support access to standards-based science content among elementary and middle-grade students who are deaf or hard of hearing and whose first language is sign; evaluate the extent to which use of the dictionary furthers understanding of science content, interest in science, and the ability to study independently; and create a more robust sign/facial expression/body space library for use in developing subsequent volumes of the dictionary or in SigningAvatar-enabling other science materials. At the end of two years, products will include: robust 3D interactive SigningAvatar-enabled dictionary of at least 1,300 key science terms identified from instructional materials used in elementary and middle grade classrooms; report of findings from analysis of qualitative and quantitative student and teacher field-test data about the effectiveness of the dictionary; addition of new vocabulary of technical signs to the Avatar characters' sign/facial expression/body space lexicon in the areas of life, physical, earth and space science, and scientific inquiry. Intellectual Merits. The project represents a third collaboration between TERC and Vcom3D and leverages findings from two existing collaborations. Founded in 1965, TERC is a not-for-profit education research and development organization dedicated to the improvement of science, mathematics, and technology teaching and learning for all students. Vcom3D is a female owned and managed small business, founded in 1997, and the developers of the SigningAvatar accessibility software. In 2001, working together, the partners combined forces for the first time to SigningAvatar-enable the web activities for three of the elementary and middle-grade science curriculum units called EnViSci Network. (Development of the SigningAvatar software, EnViSci Network, and this first collaboration were funded, in part, by NSF.) Findings show all students who completed the signed units had significantly higher post-test scores compared to those on matched pre-tests; post-test scores were also similar to those for hearing students. Realizing the benefits of the Avatar and that cost and time preclude one-by-one signing of even the most widely used instructional materials, the partners explored alternative means for integrating the SigningAvatar software into science materials on a broader scale. What emerged was the need for an interactive 3D dictionary of signed science terms and definitions that could be used as a universal tool for teaching and learning independent of the curriculum in place or materials being used. With funding from NEC Foundation of America, the partners embarked on a second collaboration and developed a 300-term prototype of such a dictionary. The Signing Science Dictionary project, and third collaboration between the partners, builds on their collected knowledge. Broader Impacts. The proposed dictionary is designed to serve the approximately 50,000 students in the target population who require services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and are required by it and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to have access to the same content as students with disabilities. The dictionary will offer members of this target population greater access to the same opportunities as hearing students for rigorous science study that can potentially lead to careers in STEM and expand over a lifetime. It will also offer teachers a library of recognized signs for studying scientific ideas with students. Unlike existing dictionaries, this first-of-its kind product will allow users to select from a range of characters with different personalities and facial expressions, to alter the speed of signing, and to sign a selected term and its definition in American Sign Language (ASL) or Signed English (SE). Delivered as a single CD-ROM for use with a Windows operating system, this complete assistive tool will require low bandwidth and can be used with and without an Internet connection. Publication by a major publisher will result in dissemination of the dictionary nationally. Terms in the lexicon will be available through Vcom3D to publishers, developers, and educators to sign other dictionaries or science materials. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Vesel, Judy Edward Sims TERC Inc MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299829 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0533086 November 1, 2005 Expanded Access to Biotechnology for Students with Disabilities. Project Summary The Research for Disabilities Education Focused Research Initiatives (RDE-FRI) will permit Boston University to enhance its science education programs by expanding the School of Medicine's (BUSM) CityLab program to further address the needs and interests of students with disabilities. In 1996, CityLab launched its Summer Biotechnology Program (SummerLab) for high school students who seek an intensive one-week exposure to a life sciences laboratory. With RDE (PPD)-DEI support over the past two years, we have expanded the Summer Biotechnology Program into a model program that fully integrates youths with disabilities into a genuine laboratory experience. Participants with and without disabilities work together in teams towards the common goals of learning and performing molecular biological techniques for recombinant protein synthesis, protein isolation, and protein purification. Students also work together to prepare and present a poster presentation for their parents, friends, and BUSM faculty members. SummerLab participants also discuss science career opportunities and tour local biotechnology companies such as Genzyme so that they can see how their experience at SummerLab might lead to future employment. This seminal experience serves as a basis for further laboratory science education through BUSM's CityLab Scholars and Academy programs. This RDE-FRI effort will enable us to continue to expand access to biotechnology and biological sciences for students with disabilities. We will continue to expand our summer and academic year laboratory experiences for students so that they can pursue advanced education at the undergraduate level. We will also expand the pipeline of students with disabilities who consider science education and careers by providing practical coursework and experience for science teachers who work with students with disabilities. We believe that by providing teachers with a mentored experience, they will be better able to encourage their students with disabilities to pursue science coursework. Intellectual Merit Criterion: The proposed program will provide physical (lab bench height, flexible seating without attached chairs, etc.) and material (large print for visually impaired youth, interpreter for hearing impaired youth, visual aids and note-takers for youth with brain injuries and learning disabilities) accommodations to facilitate career exploration. This program will further integrate the youth with disabilities so that the students with and without disabilities work together and learn from one another. Students who attend these programs will be encouraged to pursue additional science education, either at Boston University (through CityLab Academy and standard undergraduate science programs) or elsewhere. We will also seek to increase the number of science teachers who actively promote science careers as attainable goals for youth with disabilities. This program will also include on-going mentoring for both students and teachers to reinforce positive attitudes towards science. We will also evaluate student and teacher participants' attitudes towards science and science careers. Broader Impacts Criterion: Perhaps the most important characteristic of this proposal is that it opens doors for youth with disabilities who might not have had an opportunity to appreciate the tremendous career opportunities that are available in the sciences. There is a strong national interest in encouraging all students to pursue continued study of science and mathematics so that they have the requisite background to consider a science career. Students with disabilities are often particularly suited to pursue science because they possess the intellectual capacity to become independent thinkers, but often they (and their families and teachers) do not see the path to a science career. This program will provide a new pathway for students with disabilities to explore science careers and promises to build on CityLab's success in encouraging its students to pursue continued study of science. We will disseminate the materials and best practices that emerge from this project through conventional science education and disability networks. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Romney, Carla Carl Franzblau Donald DeRosa Trustees of Boston University MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299649 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0533124 October 1, 2005 AccessScope project: Independent microscope operation for students with mobility and visual impairments. PROJECT SUMMARY In this project an automated microscope workstation will be specifically designed for students with mobility and visual impairments to independently operate all features of light microscopy. In a previous project an accessible microscopy workstation, called AccessScope, was developed to allow persons with mobility impairments to control a research light microscope without assistance through a personal computer, including loading slides. The PC became the user interface for controlling the microscope hardware and for displaying slide images in a live preview window via a video camera. Thus, the PC replaced the need to physically operate the microscopy workstation and view through microscope eyepieces. The AccessScope project demonstrated that independent control of microscopy was possible and useful for students with disabilities to actively participate in this laboratory technique. Intellectual Merit Technical advancements can provide AccessScope with even greater functionality and the capability to be independently operated by students with visual impairments. A standalone software application to control AccessScope and view slides will be developed in this proposed project. This new software application will provide features that other commercial applications, including the one used in the previous AccessScope project, do not offer. Better stage movement, theta rotation of slide images in real-time, and remote control of the AccessScope workstation through the internet will be available. Disabled students using a PC will be able to remotely control a publicly shared research-level light microscope from virtually anywhere. The graphical user interface of the AccessScope application will be designed to accommodate users with low vision and upper limb motor impairments. Design features of the user interface will include user definable shortcut keys, intuitive graphical buttons and analog controls, color filtering, and the ability to alter the user interface's color, size, and contrast. The AccessScope application will be compliant with different assistive technology input devices for users with mobility impairments and screen enlargers, magnifiers, and readers for users with visual impairments. The AccessScope application will be simple enough in design to be used by secondary and postsecondary students with disabilities yet powerful enough to be valuable for scientists. Broad Impact The goal of the AccessScope project is to allow students with mobility impairments or low vision to independently use a light microscope and be able to actively participate in the same learning experiences as their able-bodied peers. Microscopy is an essential tool in many STEM fields. Not only does microscopy allow disabled students to participate in laboratory courses, but the hands-on experience provides a greater understanding of the character of tissue specimens, how histology slides are created, and the physics of microscope optics including its limitations. Activity-based learning is critical for pursuing an undergraduate science education, graduate level research, and many careers in science and engineering. The AccessScope software program will allow students with disabilities to have complete control of commercially available microscope equipment. This program will be freely distributed to students and teachers in secondary and postsecondary institutions, thus decreasing the expense of developing an AccessScope workstation. In addition, a demonstration version of the application will also be available to allow users to evaluate AccessScope without commitment. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Duerstock, Bradley Joseph Robinson Purdue University IN Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299519 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0533169 October 1, 2005 Oceanographic Research Vessel Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities - Track RDE-FRI. Project Summary Proposal Section B Objectives and Methods Oceanographic research vessels (ORVs) are a critical element of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research and education, but their access by persons with disabilities (mobility, hearing, visual, and cognitive impairments) is constrained by physical barriers (gangways, paths of travel about the vessel, vertical access, berthing and toilet facilities, communications, and signage) and cultural barriers (ignorance and attitudes). With the participation of a diverse steering committee of persons with disabilities, vessel operators, shipyards, ship designers, and academia, the project will facilitate the removal of barriers by assessing the degree of accessibility of ORVs and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs they support, and developing specific solutions for barrier removal. The results will be incorporated in an OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSEL ACCESSIBILITY GUIDE of Best Practices and disseminated to stakeholders. Intellectual Merit The project will advance knowledge and understanding of shipboard accessibility by developing crosscutting solutions, applying lessons learned from the passenger vessel industry to ORVs, and disseminating results to stakeholders. The PI is a licensed Professional Engineer and naval architect, and an expert in passenger vessel accessibility, who will use his expertise, experience, and comprehensive resources to explore creative and original concepts for removing institutional and shipboard barriers. Broader Impact Broadening opportunities and enabling the participation of persons with disabilities in oceanographic research and education is the essence of this project, which will enhance the infrastructure for oceanographic research and education by removing physical and cultural barriers. Results, in the form of lessons leaned and best practices, will be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific, technological, and cultural understanding and awareness of challenges faced by persons with disabilities. Society at large will benefit by the transfer of project results to make the nation's 1,100 ferry and excursion vessel fleet more accessible to commuters and recreational boaters. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Chapman, David University of Delaware DE Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 94197 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0533182 October 1, 2005 Establishing a National Clearinghouse for Teaching and Encouraging Blind and Low Vision Students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: A Web Portal. ------ This project is compiling all existing resources for teaching students who are blind and who have low vision in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and building a Web portal for general education teachers, teachers of blind and low vision students, parents, and students to easily access the collected information. To create the content that will be available on the Web portal, the project team is cataloguing, organizing, and making searchable information on resources and products currently available as well as information gathered from existing email listservs on the blind in STEM subjects. The Web portal is also providing areas for teachers, parents, and students to communicate non-visual techniques and experiences, an area for interviews of blind and visually impaired individuals who are successful in STEM studies and/or careers, and opportunities for students who are blind or visually impaired to interact with and shadow blind and visually impaired individuals who are successful in STEM studies and/or careers. Intellectual Merit According to a cross section of experts working with students who are blind and in STEM fields, innovative solutions to improving the participation of students who are blind or who have low vision are limited by a lack of coordinated activities and resources (Advisory Committee Meetings of the National Center for Blind Youth in Science, 2004). This project will bring all existing resources into a centralized clearinghouse in order to streamline the development of new related projects and to integrate existing materials into classroom instruction. The successful development and implementation of the clearinghouse model presents the best opportunity for sparking innovation and increasing the participation of individuals who are blind, or who have low vision, in STEM fields. Broader Impacts By providing an all-inclusive STEM resource relating to students who are blind, or who have visual impairments, barriers will be eroded leading to increased participation and pursuit of STEM studies and careers by students who are blind or who have visual impairments. The sharing of knowledge among teachers, parents, and students will cut down on the amount of duplication of effort that now takes place by teachers, parents, and students trying to find accessible means to study STEM subjects. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Zaborowski, Betsy Cary Supalo National Federation of the Blind MD Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 119743 1545 SMET 9178 0533185 November 1, 2005 National Standards-based Science Materials for Parents of Students with Disabilities. The proposed one-year DEI project will create standard-based science materials that parents of students with disabilities can use to reinforce science instruction covered in grades K-5. The Science Learning Ideas Pages will emphasize activities that parents can do with their children at home (and in the community) and will be distributed by teachers to parents. It has been demonstrated that parent involvement in their child's education is one of the prime reasons for success. Seventy-six sheets will be produced that describe supplemental activities. The materials will be standards-based, and therefore will be appealing for many teachers to use. These sheets will be available free over the Internet, and will be distributed to state Science and Special Education Coordinators and to national parent organizations. Similar supplemental materials have been developed by this group in the past, but focusing on literacy and recreation. The project is well thought out, and it involves a strong team with a good blend of STEM and disability experience. One weakness was that there was little reference to the strategies the investigators would use to make the activities accessible for students with disabilities. The evaluation plan is strong, with both parent and teacher perspectives. The reviewers unanimously felt that the Science Learning Ideas Pages could be just as useful for students without disabilities as with disabilities. Therefore, we would suggest that the investigators take a universal design approach to develop an inclusive document that could help parents of students regardless of whether their children have a disability. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Howse, Robin Carol Trivette Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute NC Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 99983 1545 SMET 9178 0533197 September 1, 2005 Midwestern Alliance in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Students with disabilities are less likely than their non-disabled peers to complete high school science and math coursework, enter and complete post-secondary programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and enter the workforce. The Midwestern Alliance in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (MidwEST) is a consortium of educators, scientists and disabled student service providers from the University of Wisconsin- Madison (UW-Madison), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UI-UC) and the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) who have the experience and the commitment to increase the quantity and quality of students with a broad range of disabilities entering and completing associate, baccalaureate and graduate degrees in STEM and transitioning to employment. UW-Madison, UI-UC and UNI have long been leaders in the education of students with disabilities in STEM, and these institutions have unique partnerships with the National Science Foundation-funded STEM Alliances: Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology [DO-IT] at the University of Washington, the Regional Alliance for Science, Engineering, and Mathematics for Students with Disabilities (RASEM2) at the University of New Mexico and the Eastern Alliance in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (EAST) at the University of Southern Maine. MidwEST also has strong partnerships with national organizations such as the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). MidwEST's collaborations with these organizations benefit students, faculty and institutions across the Midwest. With a 24-member advisory board that includes students and professionals with disabilities, as well as representatives of the science, business, government and education communities, MidwEST will identify students with disabilities at the middle and high school, undergraduate and graduate levels who demonstrate academic excellence and potential for success in STEM and nurture their interests in STEM with stimulating learning activities and supportive academic success programs that will advance their studies and career success. MidwEST will offer professional development activities to faculty and to student disability service providers so modifications can be made to curriculum, lab experiences, and internships. MidwEST will target five specific groups of students with disabilities who demonstrate potential in STEM careers, including students with visual impairments (VIs), hearing impairments (HIs), learning disabilities (LDs), mental health impairments (MHIs) and severe physical disabilities (SPDs). Cohort-specific programs will be shared with students, institutions, faculty and staff, including use of current technologies to help students with disabilities, such as remote captioning for students with HIs, equation translation with Braille code for students with VIs, and assistive technologies for students with LDs and SPDs. Current disability service models will be shared including supported education programs for students with MHIs, individualized strategy instruction for students with LDs and disability services management for students with SPDs. MidwEST programs will include stipends for students and academic institutions, STEM enrichment activities, staff training regarding instruction and curricular development, improved student access and accommodations, transition programs for students between academic levels, settings and into industry, and grant writing support to faculty to gain extramural funding supporting research opportunities for students with disabilities in STEM. These initiatives will impact 406,000 students with disabilities, 1,692 school districts, 3,374 public and private middle and high schools, and 221 institutions of higher education in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Martin, Jay University of Wisconsin-Madison WI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 3089495 1545 SMET 9178 0533208 October 1, 2005 RDE DEI: Opening Chemical Engineering Design for Visually Impaired. ----- This project seeks to expand opportunities for students with visual impairments who study chemical engineering. The overall goals of the proposed work are to understand and implement the pedagogical requirements for students with visual impairments in chemical engineering, and to determine if techniques developed are useful by testing them during practicum within the context of chemical engineering design. Chemical engineering pedagogy and practicum will be explored via the following. 1. Adapt current engineering design software to permit use by an engineer with a visual impairment. 2. Determine the utility and limitations of adaptive technology (AT) that circumvents graphical user interfaces (GUIs). 3. Develop specific strategies to balance visual and verbal dialog within a design team when an engineer with a visual impairment is present. 4. Assess the first two goals within the context of student internship experiences with a firm. 5. Disseminate goal findings. Intellectual Merit To demonstrate that with the addition of further programming routines AT can be used in conjunction with GUI-based software in both the classroom and industry contexts. Such a study will serve to pilot such efforts at other institutions and engineering firms. An added dimension of the work includes preparing the sighted members of a design team to effectively communicate in a technical fashion with less reliance on visual cues. Broader Impact This study will illustrate that through the use of properly designed AT, an individual who is visually impaired will be able to demonstrate proficiency in chemical engineering, with an emphasis on design. Dissemination of the material and techniques developed via a range of mechanisms will no doubt aid others to adapt chemical engineering curriculum and industrial settings for people with visual impairments. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Beitle, Robert Harry Cheung Douglas Behrend University of Arkansas AR Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 99998 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0533210 October 1, 2005 DEAF STEM: Deaf Educational Access For Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. requests funding support in the amount of $292,590 for a research and development effort, Deaf Educational Access For Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (DEAF STEM). DEAF STEM will expand the work of Project SUCCEED-HI (NSF #9906189) by adding American Sign Language (ASL) versions to the existing text of a wide variety of Shodor materials. A project goal is to improve access for all students to the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), including Shodor's extensive STEM materials, which have been developed through previous, and current NSF funding. In addition, DEAF STEM will provide a dynamic resource for educational interpreters and other providers to increase their competence and confidence in interpreting and supporting education in STEM areas to deaf students. Intellectual Merit: DEAF STEM addresses the needs of both deaf students and their teachers/educational interpreters. Deaf students are underrepresented in STEM fields in large part because of the documented low-grade reading level (3 rd 4 th grade) of the average deaf high school student and the minimal skill levels of most educational interpreters. DEAF STEM will address the teacher and student needs by expanding on the work of SUCCEED-HI to provide bilingual versions of two of Shodor's award winning activities: Project Interactivate and the Computational Science Education Reference Desk (CSERD) which has been selected as one of the inaugural pathway projects of NSDL. Purely text-based approaches to STEM materials are insufficient to ensure active access to STEM information by deaf students. Through focused research, DEAF STEM scientists will work with deaf educators and their students to perfect the modification and presentation of NSDL materials, while assessing a variety of technologies, including video and the use of avatars. This focused research includes the development of best practices for providing bilingual materials to our audience. Additional online tools for searching our growing collection of signed lessons will support educational interpreters. These tools will enable providers to locate correct examples of STEM concepts communicated through ASL. The DEAF STEM team will invite educational interpreters in the field to submit STEM passages that they need help signing. These passages will be signed and posted on a signing STEM forum. This will provide an open-ended opportunity for interpreters to both improve their signing skills and to provide support for the issues they face on a daily basis. Broader Impact: The impact of our DEAF STEM project will be felt on two fronts. By providing deaf students with signed assistance to read STEM text, the students' ability and confidence in reading STEM materials will be improved. The bilingual presentation of the STEM materials in both English text and ASL video clips will provide an opportunity for language arts and STEM teachers to work together to improve their deaf students' reading and English skills. By creating a web based DEAF STEM Forum, the entire deaf community will be encouraged to explore the signing of STEM concepts. By appealing to the deaf community's interest in promoting their language, DEAF STEM will widen the exposure of the deaf community to relevant STEM issues. As a deliverable under the NSDL/Pathway memorandum of understanding, Shodor will be sharing these best practices with other projects in NSDL to maximize impact and breadth of dissemination. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Panoff, Robert Shodor Education Foundation Inc NC Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 292590 1545 SMET 9178 0533212 October 1, 2005 Advancing Content Through Interactive Virtual Environments (ACTIVE). The proposal intends to develop software that, when combined with the OMNI device, produces a virtual touch sensation that allows the blind to "touch" surfaces such as Mars, Earth's Moon, etc. The experience is multimedia as users can get sight, sound, and touch at the same time. The proposal does a solid job of describing a well-constructed and well-designed plan. The collaborative group works to bring together a strong body of STEM material, a highly skilled project team, and a diverse audience to assess the material. The team brought together to implement the proposal is a good one and includes the Institute for Scientific Research, NASA IV and V Independent Verification and Validation, Facility Educator Resource Center, Alderson Broadus College, Davis & Elkins College, and the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind. Although NASA is a project partner, the reviewers encourage the project proposer to continue building direct NASA funding. For example, a NASA space grant may be a good dissemination vehicle in the future. Reviewers were impressed with the various project elements: the mobile unit, pre- and post- standards based lessons, hypothesis testing with immediate feedback. The evaluation and dissemination plans provide for effective and immediate impact on a statewide and national level. The project provides for broader impact as the multi-media tools will be of assistance to other groups of students with disabilities as well. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Darrah, Marjorie Patricia Harris Sharmistha Roy Amy Blake West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation WV Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 299644 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0533227 September 15, 2005 Exploring Enabling Technologies, Best Practice Science Pedagogy, and Bilingual/ESL Strategies for the Teaching of Science to Elementary Deaf and Hearing Bilingual Students. This proposal addresses a strategy that is creative, well constructed, and moving into a new area of research. The concept of identifying effective strategies to enhance learning for two groups of traditionally underrepresented students - those who are deaf and those who have English as a second language - is an area of focus worthy of exploration. Reviewers encourage the researchers to think about other disabilities as they create materials and would include a broader dissemination to include journals/conference presentations outside of the ESL and deaf service areas. More clarification would have been helpful regarding the "best practices" that are to be implemented. Some concern was expressed about whether the level of staffing was adequate. Overall, the proposal builds on solid previous work by experienced researchers and is well thought out. The project may provide a new model to partner programs serving two different groups of underrepresented students! RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Andrews, Jean David Cocke Brenda Nichols Lamar University Beaumont TX Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 97676 1545 SMET 9178 0533251 September 15, 2005 Tactile Mapping Software for Blind and Visually Impaired Navigation and Science Education. Project Summary This project aims at providing/developing a model of environmental and thematic feature perception by blind and visually impaired map users. The project will also provide free, easily accessible, and easy to use tactile mapping software, downloadable from the Department of Geography at University of Oregon website. The software will supply teachers with the tools to create navigation maps for blind and visually impaired orientation and mobility education as well as create tactile socio-economic maps to be used as instructional materials in science and social science education. The Research Goals of the project are to: 1. identify the most important environmental objects that are used during navigation, orientation and mobility by the blind and visually impaired 2. identify how blind and visually impaired map users perceive, categorize and use these environmental objects 3. based on the findings from goals 1 and 2, create and evaluate a library of symbols that effectively represent the environmental objects 4. evaluate the threshold of socio-economic data representation/symbolization on tactile thematic maps 5. create free, easily accessible Tactile Navigation and Socio-economic Mapping software that incorporates research findings from goals 1, 2, 3,and 4 Intellectual Merit. Research Goals 1-4 will be investigated through the design of empirical experiments involving human subject volunteers. Researchers and practitioners still do not understand completely how blind and visually impaired map readers perceive environmental features and then how those features are best symbolized for map use. While some researchers have begun to investigate tactile map design, very little has been reported on tactile navigation map use and environmental perception. Moreover, little to no results has been reported on tactile thematic maps (neither design nor use). The results from the proposed research will build on the limited knowledge base and begin to develop a model of understanding of both the environmental features (important for tactile navigation maps) and thematic value differences (important for tactile socio-economic maps). In addition, currently teachers have no automated means to produce navigation and thematic socio-economic tactile maps for the education of blind and visually students. The Tactile Navigation and Socio-economic Mapping that will be authored in this proposed project will offer the ability for teachers and parents to create highly customized navigation and orientation maps for specific locations such as school, home, church, neighborhood, or playground. Moreover, the proposed software will allow the mapmakers to insert landmarks that are meaningful to the map reader. But, one of the most substantial advantages of the proposed software is the additional ability to create hundreds of US socio-economic tactile maps, products that are flatly unavailable in any realistic way (without expensive custom-ordering from a tactile production company). Broader Impacts. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Law guarantees that this group will receive the materials they need for a free appropriate education. But, they don't have the socio-economic maps they need to achieve an understanding of the country that guaranteed their educational rights. The benefits this proposed project will bring to the underrepresented blind and visually impaired members of society are potentially monumental. The proposed project will deliver not only theoretical models addressing the understanding map use and environmental perception, but also the software, a tangible product that will enhance the infrastructure of both research and education. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Lobben, Amy Stephen Fickas University of Oregon Eugene OR Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299991 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0533399 January 1, 2006 GSE/DIS Intergenerational Working Conference on Women and Science Research: Learning from the Past to Face the Future. The University of Massachusetts at Lowell will conduct a Working Conference that will gather an intergenerational and interdisciplinary community of racially and ethnically diverse scholars to have a dialogue about scholarship on workplace factors that are associated with women's success in STEM fields. The conference will bring together members of two primary cohorts who have done research on women and science - scholars whose research emerged in the 1960's and younger scholars who began their work in the 1990's. The conference will be developed through a participative planning process and will create publications for wide dissemination. Pre-conference activities will identify critical themes in past research. Following that, a Working Conference will engage a broader group of scholars in the discussion and formulation of these themes. A post-conference workshop will distill the results of the conference and help shape the various anticipated publications. The intellectual merit derives from a grounding in the research literature on women and STEM, and from an interdisciplinary, intergenerational and holistic approach. An Advisory Panel will assist a team of highly experienced and accomplished researchers in nominating leading scholars from key disciplines to participate. The comprehensive and innovative design for establishing a serious research review includes a methodical review of the research, a citation analysis, the application of the Delphi method, and a planning meeting in preparation for the conference. The major results of the project are: 1) a well organized analysis of what has been learned from past research in a wide range of disciplines about the attraction, retention, and advancement of women in STEM careers, 2) the articulation of the next generation of interdisciplinary questions that will guide research and practice in this area, 3) increased dialogue among scholars from two distinct age cohorts that will inspire both groups to establish cross-generational collaborations, and 4) scholarly publications that will inform the broader research and occupational community about the workplace-related factors that affect the status of women in STEM. The broader impact is that the interdisciplinary, intergenerational exchange will break new ground and stimulate future collaborative research. As we embark on the 21st century, a majority of the scholars who have devoted their lives to the study of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are approaching retirement. Most of the substantive work of this conference will be the result of a collaboration between senior & junior scholars, thus transferring experience and knowledge, building research capacity and creating new networks in a scholarly community that is relatively small and scattered across disciplines. Also, the method of reviewing scholarly work will itself present an innovative model. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Rayman, Paula Maria Brunette Meg Bond University of Massachusetts Lowell Research Foundation MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 239227 1544 SMET 9178 0533486 December 1, 2005 GSE/DIS- Beyond Anecdote to Informed Discussion: Women and Girls in STEM Fields. Wellesley College and Campbell-Kibler Associates will develop and widely disseminate a series of tools to help educators, students, parents and others understand what is and what isn't known about sex differences and similarities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and why misconceptions such as "the male math gene" persist despite their mythical nature. The purpose of the materials and their dissemination is to help STEM advocates become more grounded in the research and to help researchers become more grounded in communication, including ways of framing and communicating their work and the work of other researchers to non research populations. Materials will include * a synthesis of the research * an online annotated bibliography of research and theory on gender and gender and race/ethnicity issues in STEM education and career choice with links to all publications and other documents that are available online including a short overview of "tips' to finding and assessing research on gender and gender and race/ethnicity and STEM and a tool for computing graphs from raw data * a series of short downloadable audio-visual messages from researchers on those points they believe are most compelling about gender and STEM research * a range of "tools" for getting the message out, including PowerPoint presentations and talking points that can help in communicating research results in ways that allow people to move beyond anecdotes to informed discussion. Intellectual Merit: The major thrust of this project is to increase the accuracy and intellectual content of discussions, debates and decisions related to gender issues and STEM. The proposed work has the potential to increase understanding of the results of research on sex similarities and differences and on how to use these results in STEM educational policy and program design and decision-making. The project team long time gender and STEM researchers, with backgrounds in research synthesis. The project will produce and disseminate a series of research based materials to increase STEM advocate and researcher knowledge and their ability to communicate that knowledge to non-research populations. Materials will draw on theory, research and practice from the sciences, social sciences, and education. Broader Impact: There is currently great media interest in this topic, but inaccuracies and stereotypes abound. By providing researchers, advocates, the media and the general internet public with usable, accessible, accurate information and tools to get this information out, this project has the potential to help policymakers, educators and even parents and students make more research based decisions. The project compliments a number of other parallel efforts to synthesize information and will likely boost attention to research. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Bailey, Susan Patricia Campbell Wellesley College MA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 219079 1544 SMET 9178 0533491 November 1, 2005 GSE/DIS - The Image of Engineering. Imaginary Lines is creating two videos and 2 companion booklets with the aim of encouraging more upper elementary and middle school girls to remain or become engaged in STEM and particularly engineering. There are few programs that focus on middle school girls and engineering interest. The project will leverage two existing projects (funded elsewhere; organized by the proposers): the TOYchallenge national toy design competition, and a movie being produced on TOYchallenge. The two videos will be developed from hundreds of hours of movie footage. One video will show girls from diverse backgrounds involved in designing and engineering toys; the other will feature diverse female engineers describing their work and its application. One booklet, for adults, will describe the engineering design process and include research-based strategies on encouraging girls in STEM; the other will be an engaging career booklet for girls, featuring interviews with 12 female engineers, including those in the video. Dissemination of the videos and booklets will be coordinated with the release of the film and the continuing TOYchallenge competition. Intellectual merit. Research shows that a weak or negative image of engineering is a barrier to girls' interest, and to parental understanding of the career path. This project will change the image that many girls and adults have of engineering. It will advance their understanding of what engineering is and what engineers look like, make it easier for girls to imagine themselves as engineers, and inspire adults to encourage girls in those pursuits. Imaginary Lines has many years of experience producing and delivering materials for girls interested in STEM. Under a separate grant, they are developing a brochure for parents on issues and research on the topic. The company also has 3 years experience running TOYchallenge, and developed the research bases for the concept of the documentary film under a grant from NSF. The award-winning producer of the videos is the producer/director of the film itself. The advisory team brings expertise in engineering, STEM pipeline issues, and informal science materials. The reasons for focusing on this age group and the adults who influence them, are well grounded in research. The partner's programs will ensure that minority girls are exposed to the materials. The proposal leverages research, existing programs and a major film project, and will take full advantage of the film and strategic alliances. Imaginary Lines has effective working relationships with the partners including ITEA, COSI, Sigma Xi, Science Enrichment Program (Girl Scouts), National Coalition of Girls' Schools, and the National Engineers Week Foundation. The videos will be included on the DVD version of the film. Plans for dissemination include special screenings of the film (e.g., film festivals; corporate-sponsored events), showing videos and distributing booklets at programs for girls (e.g., Sally Ride Science Camps, girl scout programs), at science center & Engineers Week events (e.g., COSI camp-ins; eWeek "Family Day"), and at national conventions (e.g., Sigma Xi, ITEA). Broader Impacts. The goal is to expose large numbers of girls, parents, and teachers to a new image of engineering - one that is welcoming to diverse groups of girls, making them more likely to think about engineering as a viable career. The project will advance both girls' and adults' understanding of engineers and engineering and will promote adults' ability to encourage girls by offering specific strategies to engage them in STEM projects. It will ultimately increase the number of girls who enter and remain in the STEM pipeline. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR O'Shaughnessy, Tam Sally Ride Imaginary Lines Inc. CA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 198788 1544 SMET 9178 0533520 September 1, 2005 GSE/EXT - Engineering Equity Extension Service (EEES). The Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education of the National Academy of Engineering will, over a five year period, implement an Engineering Equity Extension Service (EEES) as a comprehensive research-based consultative and peer mentoring infrastructure in support of enhanced gender equity in engineering education in the US. Based on key leverage points identified from the literature, EEES will focus its efforts on bringing expertise in gender studies and the research base on science and engineering education to a) academic preparation for engineering study for students at the middle school (grade 6) through collegiate sophomore levels, b) the out-of-class social environment, c) the in-class social environment, c) curricular content, d) curricular scope and sequence design, e) curriculum delivery and instructional style. A key part of our strategy is reaching those teachers and faculty who do not have an a priori interest in gender equity activities by suffusing attention to gender equity into other core areas of concern. We will do this by facilitating: * Access to recognized Experts in gender studies in science and engineering for advice and to the education research infrastructure of the National Academies. * Collaboration with national organizations (American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Project Lead the Way, National Association of Partnerships for Equity) to provide an infrastructure of "extension agents" on gender equity. Focus has been placed on organizations with a) broad reach, b) a pre-existing emphasis on professional development for their members/affiliates, c) demonstrated capacity to influence activities in engineering and pre-engineering classrooms. * Access to long-term technical assistance via web-based expert-mediated and peer-led synchronous and asynchronous discussions and access to archived resources. * Development of a handbook on proposing and managing engineering education projects and conducting workshops on this topic at national and regional engineering meetings. The handbook will fuse attention to gender equity, engineering education, and project management into a seamless whole. Our experts will translate research to practice by discussing emerging and established research findings and their implications for design principles with would-be "extension agents" within collaborating national organizations. The clients of the extension agents will be responsible for specific implementations of these principles in their local context. In addition to general principles we will highlight identified "best practices" at the pre-college and undergraduate levels. Our evaluation plan will look at changes in attitudes and behaviors by classroom teachers and faculty as well as metrics of extent and impact of participation. Intellectual Merit: This effort extends and deepens the knowledge of "best practices" that are likely to enhancing the successful matriculation and graduation of women from baccalaureate engineering programs. It will contribute to a greater appreciation for the growing base of research on engineering education and the need for comprehensive approaches in achieving desired human resource development outcomes in engineering education. Broader Impacts: This effort directly contributes to the enhancement of the human resource base of women in engineering disciplines and provides a model for extension to other populations that are underrepresented in engineering. The model offered will provide valuable guidance to non-engineering disciplines in developing similar structures. As a collaborative model linking academic and professional organizations, it will facilitate collaboration across a range of issues related to enhancing the quality of engineering education K-16. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE ENGINEERING EDUCATION HRD EHR Fortenberry, Norman Mary Mattis National Academy of Sciences DC Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 2707317 1544 1340 SMET 9178 0533544 May 1, 2006 GSE/DIS Making Connections: Resources for K-12 Service-learning and Experiential Learning in STEM Disciplines. The University of Dayton is providing a web site of resources on service learning and experiential learning for K-12 STEM educators. Service-learning and experiential learning methods, when integrated into STEM curriculum, result in positive attitudes towards these fields and increase the likelihood of students pursuing further education in these areas. Intellectual Merit This project is providing a simple mechanism to inform a significant group of K-12 STEM educators of strategies available to incorporate service learning and experiential learning into their curriculum in order to encourage students to pursue careers in these fields. By developing a central repository for these educational resources, and making this resource user-friendly and easily accessible, educators are more likely to implement them in their curriculum. The project is evaluating, distilling, and classifying the most easy-to-use, inexpensive, and effective methods. By helping students to "make the connections" between STEM subjects and real-world issues, the educational strategies are expected to increase student interest in STEM disciplines, enrich learning experiences for students, and enhance the skills of STEM educators on the content and application of STEM subjects. The strategies have been shown to enhance the interest of girls and other under-represented populations in these fields. The PI has extensive experience in incorporating service learning into science and engineering curriculum. Broader Impacts Educators will more easily tie basic STEM principles to real-life applications and will promote service learning as a method of teaching course content as well as social responsibility and ethics, and show students the "human" side of science, math and engineering. The project is expected to 1) promote the entry of women and minorities into the STEM fields, 2) increase the potential pool of engineers and scientists in the U.S., 3) contribute to the development of STEM educators, and 4) enhance cultural sensitivity, ethics and social responsibility in future STEM workers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Pinnell, Margaret Rebecca Blust University of Dayton OH Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 200000 1544 SMET 9178 0533553 January 1, 2006 GSE/DIS Opportunities for Wisconsin Women in Science, Technology and Engineering. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is offering Opportunities for Wisconsin Women in Science, Technology and Engineering (OWWSTE), a training program for secondary teachers and counselors in Wisconsin to increase awareness of gender bias in science and technology education, and to introduce educators to regional and national programs available to promising female students in science, technology and engineering. OWWSTE will provide teacher and counselor leaders with media (including an inspirational and informational video), instructional tools, and training that they can share with peers in their districts during in-service training sessions or at summer academies. Wisconsin has almost 70,000 teachers in 426 school districts. Many of these school districts are small and rural, such that students only have a choice of one high school and junior high. This project will target teachers and career counselors in secondary schools, a crucial age range when girl students lose interest and confidence in their abilities in science and math. Intellectual Merit OWWSTE will work closely with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the Wisconsin Science Network, and the Wisconsin Academy for Staff Development Initiatives (WASDI) to identify school districts that have a particularly low percentage of women taking upper level science, math and technology courses. Administrators in these agencies will also assist in identifying appropriate counselor and teacher leaders from school districts. Numerous faculty leaders from the University of Wisconsin System, particularly faculty who were trained by the NSF sponsored Women and Science Project, will also be involved with teacher and counselor training sessions. While Wisconsin has many active science and engineering programs geared toward girls and young women, many teachers and counselors are unaware of these valuable programs. The workshop and instructional materials funded by this program will focus on successful programs, particularly those easily accessible to students in the upper Midwest, and techniques for secondary educators to increase enrollment of women in upper level high school science and technology courses. Additionally, discussions with program leaders will demonstrate methods to avoid gender biases in science, math, and technology education. Finally, educators will become more aware of programs and techniques to introduce their promising female students to career paths that they had not imagined previously. Teacher and counselors will leave the summer workshop with the tools and information necessary to disseminate to train fellow educators in their districts. The training materials will provide detailed outlines of lesson plans for in-service workshops, and a video will include interviews with successful women scientists from Wisconsin, coverage of science, technology and engineering programs available to girls and young women in Wisconsin, and a discussion of gender-conscious pedagogy. Broader Impact This program has the potential to reach every secondary-level counselor and educator in Wisconsin because of its pyramidal structure and the portability of the program. Similar programs that have been implemented in other states have seen significant gains in female student participation and enrollment in STEM courses. This program will be evaluated by surveys of female senior and juniors at participating high schools related to their career goals. An increase of 10% of female student declaring an interest in majoring in science, engineering or technology will be considered a success for this program. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Sandrin, Susannah Heidi Fencl Marc Goulet University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh WI Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199891 1544 SMET 9178 0533558 October 1, 2005 Collaborative Research: EXT: Mobilizing Implementation Of Effective Practices To Increase Participation Of Women In Computing. The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) seeks to establish an extension service for nationwide, significant, and sustained increase in enrollment and graduation of women in undergraduate information technology bachelor's degree programs. The goal is to actively target an existing coalition of academic departments. This coalition, the NCWIT Academic Alliance, is eager to implement effective practices for increasing participation of women in their programs. A key process in the plan is to develop quickly many types of "exemplar institutions" that will serve as replicable role models of success. Processes and outcomes of these exemplars will be broadly disseminated, and support will be provided for change efforts, increasing the likelihood that other institutions can successfully emulate the effective processes. Exemplar institutions will serve as proof points to the entire nation and will become hubs for accelerated regional change. A Bell Labs Fellow and a respected member of the computing research and information technology community of deans will lead the reform effort. Social scientists who are experts on issues of women in computing and program evaluation will implement, consult, collect and analyze data. A nationally recognized leader in assessing programmatic educational reform will conduct the external formative evaluation of the proposed extension service. Our Unified Program of Change includes annual workshops for disseminating evidence-based effective practices and for supporting outreach, recruiting, and dissemination to regional communities. We will provide customized consultations with experts in implementation and industry members as well as small grants for research-related innovation and development by faculty. Evaluation is built into every aspect of the project to maximize positive outcomes for all stakeholders. Our model of active dissemination and implementation of known effective practices to a group committed to effecting real change will allow us to create exemplar institutions quickly. Such institutions can serve as proof points to the entire nation and will become hubs for accelerated regional change. Intellectual Merit: This project is uniquely situated for success in increasing the participation of women in computing. The Academic Alliance is in place, growing, and eager to implement interventions. Each member is committed to implement only practices shown in research to increase recruitment and retention of women. Interventions will be closely evaluated through rigorous social science methods, led by expert social scientists. Each Academic Alliance member will be supported in collecting and analyzing its own data for ongoing formative evaluation, and will supply data to NCWIT for summative evaluation. The multi-pronged approach to each intervention will focus on changing the system, not just overcoming "deficiencies" among female students. Thus it requires fewer resources and will be sustained beyond the funding period. Broad Impact: Increasing women's participation in IT has far-reaching national consequences. Not only do information and computing technologies pervade all aspects of our everyday lives in an unprecedented way, but all engineering and science discovery and innovation are now considered to be dependent on computational science. Increasing the pool of qualified computing professionals supports national goals: nanotechnology, the Cyberinfrastructure Initiative, and our economic, security, defense, and health care systems all depend on computing. Increasing the participation of women not only provides for national needs, but improves the development and design of computing systems, applications, and products through the integration of diverse ideas while helping overcome economic disparities for women. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Alexander, Baine University of Wisconsin-Madison WI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 0 1544 SMET 9178 0533564 April 1, 2006 GSE/EXT: California WomenTech Extension Services Project (CalWomenTech). The California WomenTech Extension Services (CalWomenTech) is serving the California Community College (CACC) system, to increase the participation of women in technology education programs. Services are provided by the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS) in Alameda, California, in collaboration with the City College of San Francisco (CCSF). Intellectual Merit. Emphasis is placed on serving Community Colleges that are also Technology Centers in CA: 1) The California Community College System's Technology Centers; 2) The Engineering Technology Center, a statewide Project of the California Department of Education; and 3) NSF's Advanced Technology Education (ATE) Centers/Projects in California. Eight to ten Technology Centers will form CalWomenTech Leadership teams of approximately 10 members each, a mix of technology and math and science faculty, administrators, counselors and business partners. Activities and products planned for this community are: development of a CalWomenTech website to serve as both a knowledge base of best practices from the national education community and best practices from CalWomenTech Centers as they are implemented; development of template collateral recruitment materials; a 2-day WomenTech training sessions; follow-up consultation and on-site technical assistance to the community colleges to support implementation of Project strategies; periodic trainings on specialty topic areas; and facilitated peer-to-peer mentoring. The Services build on two previous grants to IWITTS: the WomenTech Project, which increased the number of women enrolled and retained in technology education in three national community college demonstration sites and a project that developed a teacher training video Futures: Preparing Young Women for High Skill,High Wage Careers. (IWITTS has sold thousands of copies the latter since 1997.) The PI has extensive experience serving as a consultant and technical assistance provider to the community college system including NSF ATE Centers. The collaborator from City College of San Francisco is a leader in technology education. Evaluation will be conducted by an external consultant from the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley College. Other partners include Dr. Marshall Gartenlaub who leads the Centers of Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) as California Statewide Director and also chairs the California VTEA Advisory on Industry and Technology and Dr. Scott Griffith, Dean of the Engineering Technology Center, a statewide Project funded by the CA Department of Education - housed in American River College - and PI of the RoboEducators' ATE Project. Broader Impacts. The Extension Service will develop an infrastructure and a knowledge base on best practices to increase the participation of women across the system of California Community Colleges. The model is unique in its connection of a broad menu of best practice strategies to the field, with a feedback loop on implementation experience, and the goal of impacting a statewide system. While many gender best practice strategies exist, little has been done to test wider replication and infusion in a system or even multiple institutions. California's community college system is a good choice for this type of effort, due to the opportunity to impact many community colleges - it has the largest number in the country - and because California collects disaggregated gender data by program in each of its colleges and this information is available on a public database with only a one-year lag time, greatly facilitating evaluation of the success of the Extension Service. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Milgram, Donna Carmen Lamha Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science CA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 1680512 1544 SMET 9178 0533565 October 1, 2005 Collaborative Research: EXT: Mobilizing Implementation of Effective Practices to Increase Participation of Women in Computing. The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) seeks to establish an extension service for nationwide, significant, and sustained increase in enrollment and graduation of women in undergraduate information technology bachelor's degree programs. The goal is to actively target an existing coalition of academic departments. This coalition, the NCWIT Academic Alliance, is eager to implement effective practices for increasing participation of women in their programs. A key process in the plan is to develop quickly many types of "exemplar institutions" that will serve as replicable role models of success. Processes and outcomes of these exemplars will be broadly disseminated, and support will be provided for change efforts, increasing the likelihood that other institutions can successfully emulate the effective processes. Exemplar institutions will serve as proof points to the entire nation and will become hubs for accelerated regional change. A Bell Labs Fellow and a respected member of the computing research and information technology community of deans will lead the reform effort. Social scientists who are experts on issues of women in computing and program evaluation will implement, consult, collect and analyze data. A nationally recognized leader in assessing programmatic educational reform will conduct the external formative evaluation of the proposed extension service. Our Unified Program of Change includes annual workshops for disseminating evidence-based effective practices and for supporting outreach, recruiting, and dissemination to regional communities. We will provide customized consultations with experts in implementation and industry members as well as small grants for research-related innovation and development by faculty. Evaluation is built into every aspect of the project to maximize positive outcomes for all stakeholders. Our model of active dissemination and implementation of known effective practices to a group committed to effecting real change will allow us to create exemplar institutions quickly. Such institutions can serve as proof points to the entire nation and will become hubs for accelerated regional change. Intellectual Merit: This project is uniquely situated for success in increasing the participation of women in computing. The Academic Alliance is in place, growing, and eager to implement interventions. Each member is committed to implement only practices shown in research to increase recruitment and retention of women. Interventions will be closely evaluated through rigorous social science methods, led by expert social scientists. Each Academic Alliance member will be supported in collecting and analyzing its own data for ongoing formative evaluation, and will supply data to NCWIT for summative evaluation. The multi-pronged approach to each intervention will focus on changing the system, not just overcoming "deficiencies" among female students. Thus it requires fewer resources and will be sustained beyond the funding period. Broad Impact: Increasing women's participation in IT has far-reaching national consequences. Not only do information and computing technologies pervade all aspects of our everyday lives in an unprecedented way, but all engineering and science discovery and innovation are now considered to be dependent on computational science. Increasing the pool of qualified computing professionals supports national goals: nanotechnology, the Cyberinfrastructure Initiative, and our economic, security, defense, and health care systems all depend on computing. Increasing the participation of women not only provides for national needs, but improves the development and design of computing systems, applications, and products through the integration of diverse ideas while helping overcome economic disparities for women. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Cohoon, Joanne University of Virginia Main Campus VA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 834051 1544 SMET 9178 0533580 October 1, 2005 GSE/EXT: Collaborative Research: Mobilizing Implementation of Effective Practices to Increase Participation of Women in Computing. The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) seeks to establish an extension service for nationwide, significant, and sustained increase in enrollment and graduation of women in undergraduate information technology bachelor's degree programs. The goal is to actively target an existing coalition of academic departments. This coalition, the NCWIT Academic Alliance, is eager to implement effective practices for increasing participation of women in their programs. A key process in the plan is to develop quickly many types of "exemplar institutions" that will serve as replicable role models of success. Processes and outcomes of these exemplars will be broadly disseminated, and support will be provided for change efforts, increasing the likelihood that other institutions can successfully emulate the effective processes. Exemplar institutions will serve as proof points to the entire nation and will become hubs for accelerated regional change. A Bell Labs Fellow and a respected member of the computing research and information technology community of deans will lead the reform effort. Social scientists who are experts on issues of women in computing and program evaluation will implement, consult, collect and analyze data. A nationally recognized leader in assessing programmatic educational reform will conduct the external formative evaluation of the proposed extension service. Our Unified Program of Change includes annual workshops for disseminating evidence-based effective practices and for supporting outreach, recruiting, and dissemination to regional communities. We will provide customized consultations with experts in implementation and industry members as well as small grants for research-related innovation and development by faculty. Evaluation is built into every aspect of the project to maximize positive outcomes for all stakeholders. Our model of active dissemination and implementation of known effective practices to a group committed to effecting real change will allow us to create exemplar institutions quickly. Such institutions can serve as proof points to the entire nation and will become hubs for accelerated regional change. Intellectual Merit: This project is uniquely situated for success in increasing the participation of women in computing. The Academic Alliance is in place, growing, and eager to implement interventions. Each member is committed to implement only practices shown in research to increase recruitment and retention of women. Interventions will be closely evaluated through rigorous social science methods, led by expert social scientists. Each Academic Alliance member will be supported in collecting and analyzing its own data for ongoing formative evaluation, and will supply data to NCWIT for summative evaluation. The multi-pronged approach to each intervention will focus on changing the system, not just overcoming "deficiencies" among female students. Thus it requires fewer resources and will be sustained beyond the funding period. Broad Impact: Increasing women's participation in IT has far-reaching national consequences. Not only do information and computing technologies pervade all aspects of our everyday lives in an unprecedented way, but all engineering and science discovery and innovation are now considered to be dependent on computational science. Increasing the pool of qualified computing professionals supports national goals: nanotechnology, the Cyberinfrastructure Initiative, and our economic, security, defense, and health care systems all depend on computing. Increasing the participation of women not only provides for national needs, but improves the development and design of computing systems, applications, and products through the integration of diverse ideas while helping overcome economic disparities for women. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Sanders, Lucinda Robert Schnabel Lecia Barker University of Colorado at Boulder CO Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 1605897 1544 SMET 9178 0533581 August 15, 2005 GSE/DIS Midwestern Rural-Urban Collaborative Porject. Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU) in collaboration with Drury University is initiating the Midwestern Rural-Urban Collaborative (MRU Collaborative) project. The Collaborative is a mechanism for disseminating information about the activities of organizations throughout Missouri, Kansas, and Northeastern Oklahoma that promote the participation of girls in all fields of science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM). The region includes several urban areas and a large number of smaller rural communities. The region's rural communities are characteristically isolated and have limited access to the resources that encourage girls to pursue STEM activities. The Collaborative is disseminating models and information learned from two NSF-funded projects: "Opening the Horizon" (2000-2004), an informal program for middle school girls, and the model Northwest Girls Collaborative Project developed by the Puget Sound Center for Teaching Learning and Technology. The model has the following elements: o Outreach: An advisory board called the Champions Board identifies organizations involved in STEM activities in the region that are a good fit with the network. Members are from industry, retail, and educational institutions in the area. o Forums and Conferences: A series of conferences and forums are organized to share information on how to make STEM more accessible for girls. They are held at various locations around the region and use video conferencing and online technologies to maximize the number of participants. o Mini-Grants: To encourage collaboration among participating organizations mini-grants (up to $1000) are awarded to groups working to develop assessment activities and projects that will enhance the delivery of STEM programs to girls in this region. Intellectual Merit The project enhances the quality of STEM programs in the targeted region by encouraging thoughtful and meaningful collaborations and evaluations, drawing on extensive experience of much larger projects. Information gained through the assessment of the individual programs and of the collaborative efforts proposed here will enhance the understanding of how STEM resources can be used in the most efficient and effective manner. The proposed MRU Collaborative will establish a coordinating system that leverages available resources of the collective. Broader Impact By disseminating information from previous and ongoing STEM programs the proposed activities will serve as a model for collaborations between other urban and rural educational programs throughout the country. The cumulative strength of a network of small programs influences the region, attracts support and investment, and improves the quality of the programs. Ultimately, the effort addresses the need to attract more girls into science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Kemp, Paula Scott Sigman Barbara Wing Kishor Shah Missouri State University MO Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 198377 1544 SMET 9178 0533585 August 1, 2005 GSE/DIS: Tech Team/TeacherLine Partnership. ETV Endowment of South Carolina is training 150 new middle school teachers in Title I school districts in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia in a program that promotes learning of inquiry-based, gender-equitable learning practices, particularly in relation to math, science and technology. The teacher training components of a multi-year, NSF-funded demonstration program called Tech Team are the basis for the program (see www.knowitall.org/techteam). Intellectual Merit The core goals of the Tech Team/TeacherLine Partnership professional development models are: (1) to establish and nurture a commitment to professionalism among new teachers; (2) build a substantial foundation of inquiry-based, gender equitable learning practices, particularly in relation to STEM- related teaching and learning; (3) encourage full integration of inquiry-based learning objectives into the regular classroom and the after-school program network; and (4) create an ongoing learning community amongst new teachers that supports and challenges their practice and provides a forum for sharing innovative ideas and best practices. The program will use TeacherLine, which is a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) series of on-line professional development courses staffed by scholars in state-of-the-art teaching practices wherein teachers can earn re-certification and gradate credit. The Administrators will host several symposia and on-site training opportunities to develop appropriate versions of Tech Team programs in their area. Each year of the two-year program will culminate with a summer camp to address issues of program implementation and provide a forum where participating teachers can showcase projects. Symposia will be conducted using a combination of face-to-face meetings and web conferences through the project's Web portal. The program will offer twenty-one mini-grants of $2200 each to establish a Tech Team after-school program to those teachers successfully completing the first year of the program. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation will determine the effectiveness of the training and professional development, with an emphasis on the integration of inquiry-based learning objectives into the regular classroom and the after-school program network. Broader Impact Establishing a professional community in the first five years of teaching is critical to helping new teachers build effective teaching strategies. Professional development is a key avenue through which new teachers create important links between theory and practice and discover inspired ways of bringing these skills into the classroom. The project is providing new teachers with the technical, theoretical, practical and professional support and resources necessary to understand and incorporate the practice of project-based, gender equitable teaching. This model broadens the potential for both after-school Tech Team programs and in-class integration of inquiry-based learning of technology, math and science, with the ultimate goal of retaining more skilled teachers by means of this experience and increasing the number of girls interested in science and technology. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Newman, Betsy Urica Floyd Candance Thompson ETV Endowment of South Carolina, Inc. SC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199980 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0536999 April 1, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Women in Science and Engineering: A Guide to Maximizing their Potential. An-ad hoc committee, overseen by the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) will produce a report guide to faculty, academic administrators and leaders, funding organizations, and government officials to maximize the potential of women scientists and engineers and ensure the leadership of the nations science and engineering (S&E) research enterprise. Much work has been done to assess the representation of women in academic faculty. However, few studies have adequately considered implicit and explicit barriers to career advancement and the intersectionality of race and gender when examining the representation of women among university faculty. What is needed is a synthesis of this data to produce a comprehensive interdisciplinary guide to effective policies and practices for recruiting, hiring, and retaining women faculty. The study committee will integrate the wealth of data available on gender issues across all fields of S&E, including data pertaining to institutional recruitment, retention, and promotion practices and policies. This study would address its findings and recommendations to each of the layers of faculty, administration, and funders who determine institutional culture and implement policies. The committee will recommend practical measures and policies to mitigate gender bias and other factors that limit career advancement for women scientists and engineers. Diversity appears to be an important factor in creativity and productivity. In the corporate world, studies have shown that the companies with more women in leadership positions performed better financially. Women are an increasing proportion of those earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in S&E fields, however they have not been hired into academic faculty positions commensurate with this increasing representation. The committee will focus on academe, but will examine other research sectors to determine effective practices and develop findings and recommendations for recruiting, hiring, promotion, and retention of women S&E researchers ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Haak, Laurel National Academy of Sciences DC Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 100000 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0540016 August 15, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Proposal - FORWARD to Professorship. The University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University and Gallaudet University join together for a three-year collaborative effort to enhance, present and assess the FORWARD to Professorship workshop for pre-tenured women in science, engineering and mathematics (SEM). The workshop has been developed and presented three times under a previous ADVANCE Leadership award. The need persists: each year the workshops are oversubscribed and participants report satisfaction from, and enthusiasm for, the workshop experience. Between 87 and 99 percent of the participants rated the sessions as good or excellent in this last year (2005) and 100% of the participants said they would recommend it to their colleagues. In the next three years, the collaborative team plans: __ to continue the workshop, __ to enhance specific elements of the workshop such as the negotiation segment, __ to extend the coverage to include a new component entitled MIND THE GAP in which they will concentrate on women who have had or are planning a SEM career interruption, __ to develop a support structure beyond the workshop, and __ to do more detailed evaluation and assessment. __ Finally, the co-PIs will work with their respective institutions to create lasting change with respect to diversity in the faculty ranks. The intellectual merit of the project lies in the development of cross-disciplinary skills training methods and materials for women (and men) contemplating, or in, tenure-track faculty positions, the creation of a community of women with similar high level training in SEM disciplines that can be reached and studied over a number of years, and a study of the situation for women in SEM career interruptions. The broader impacts of the project are extensive. The project aims to broaden the participation of women, minorities and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the faculty ranks, thereby contributing to the national need to diversify the SEM workforce. The project provides access to role models in these populations as well as a support network, both of which will enhance success rates in the academy. This increased success will in turn influence the student population in SEM disciplines. The project also influences and creates systemic change in institutions of higher education by informing the incoming classes of faculty, as well as deans and chairs through their participation in the workshop and in the findings. Graduate and undergraduate students will also learn from working on the project and be encouraged to pursue a path leading to professorship. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Heller, Rachelle George Washington University DC Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 143056 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0540800 August 15, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Research - FORWARD to Professorship. The University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University and Gallaudet University join together for a three-year collaborative effort to enhance, present and assess the FORWARD to Professorship workshop for pre-tenured women in science, engineering and mathematics (SEM). The workshop has been developed and presented three times under a previous ADVANCE Leadership award. The need persists: each year the workshops are oversubscribed and participants report satisfaction from, and enthusiasm for, the workshop experience. Between 87 and 99 percent of the participants rated the sessions as good or excellent in this last year (2005) and 100% of the participants said they would recommend it to their colleagues. In the next three years, the collaborative team plans: __ to continue the workshop, __ to enhance specific elements of the workshop such as the negotiation segment, __ to extend the coverage to include a new component entitled MIND THE GAP in which they will concentrate on women who have had or are planning a SEM career interruption, __ to develop a support structure beyond the workshop, and __ to do more detailed evaluation and assessment. __ Finally, the co-PIs will work with their respective institutions to create lasting change with respect to diversity in the faculty ranks. The intellectual merit of the project lies in the development of cross-disciplinary skills training methods and materials for women (and men) contemplating, or in, tenure-track faculty positions, the creation of a community of women with similar high level training in SEM disciplines that can be reached and studied over a number of years, and a study of the situation for women in SEM career interruptions. The broader impacts of the project are extensive. The project aims to broaden the participation of women, minorities and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the faculty ranks, thereby contributing to the national need to diversify the SEM workforce. The project provides access to role models in these populations as well as a support network, both of which will enhance success rates in the academy. This increased success will in turn influence the student population in SEM disciplines. The project also influences and creates systemic change in institutions of higher education by informing the incoming classes of faculty, as well as deans and chairs through their participation in the workshop and in the findings. Graduate and undergraduate students will also learn from working on the project and be encouraged to pursue a path leading to professorship. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Sorensen, Charlene Gallaudet University DC Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 128810 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0540801 August 15, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Proposal - FORWARD to Professorship. The University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University and Gallaudet University join together for a three-year collaborative effort to enhance, present and assess the FORWARD to Professorship workshop for pre-tenured women in science, engineering and mathematics (SEM). The workshop has been developed and presented three times under a previous ADVANCE Leadership award. The need persists: each year the workshops are oversubscribed and participants report satisfaction from, and enthusiasm for, the workshop experience. Between 87 and 99 percent of the participants rated the sessions as good or excellent in this last year (2005) and 100% of the participants said they would recommend it to their colleagues. In the next three years, the collaborative team plans: __ to continue the workshop, __ to enhance specific elements of the workshop such as the negotiation segment, __ to extend the coverage to include a new component entitled MIND THE GAP in which they will concentrate on women who have had or are planning a SEM career interruption, __ to develop a support structure beyond the workshop, and __ to do more detailed evaluation and assessment. __ Finally, the co-PIs will work with their respective institutions to create lasting change with respect to diversity in the faculty ranks. The intellectual merit of the project lies in the development of cross-disciplinary skills training methods and materials for women (and men) contemplating, or in, tenure-track faculty positions, the creation of a community of women with similar high level training in SEM disciplines that can be reached and studied over a number of years, and a study of the situation for women in SEM career interruptions. The broader impacts of the project are extensive. The project aims to broaden the participation of women, minorities and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the faculty ranks, thereby contributing to the national need to diversify the SEM workforce. The project provides access to role models in these populations as well as a support network, both of which will enhance success rates in the academy. This increased success will in turn influence the student population in SEM disciplines. The project also influences and creates systemic change in institutions of higher education by informing the incoming classes of faculty, as well as deans and chairs through their participation in the workshop and in the findings. Graduate and undergraduate students will also learn from working on the project and be encouraged to pursue a path leading to professorship. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Murphy, Sheena University of Oklahoma Norman Campus OK Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 73898 1739 OTHR 9150 1739 0000 0542132 October 1, 2005 GSE/SGER Investing in People: Valuing a More Diverse Engineering Workforce. Evidence is mounting that the science and engineering departments with strong records of graduating diverse undergraduate populations exist within universities that are committed to improving the cultural climate for women and have gender-focused initiatives. The literature on the need for and benefits of diversity in both academics and industry is extensive, but is almost without exception, lacking a systematic assessment of the economic value of increased diversity. Montana State University is focusing, in this exploratory project, on development of an integrative framework for quantification of the net benefits of increased diversity in the SET fields, with direct application to the engineering disciplines. The framework extends the well established human capital investment theory to quantify the private and social/public net benefits of an engineering graduate, to provide a rationale for the key factors that account for the magnitude of the social/public benefits, and to provide an empirical assessment of the net benefits for a selected set of academic institutions based on secondary data and personal interviews. The framework can be used to infer the opportunity cost of restricting the pools of human capital that are contributing to the productivity in the engineering fields, and to assess the value of diversity in other SET disciplines. Without such assessments it is difficult to argue for allocating greater resources to increase diversity in both undergraduate and graduate education and in academic ranks, and to continue to support gender-focused initiatives. Intellectual Merit: The proposal is novel and transformative in three key ways: (1) it provides for a systematic assessment of the both the benefits and costs of an engineering degree at different institutions under different assumptions regarding occupational opportunities and external effects; (2) it integrates results and findings from engineering and educational research into an exploratory assessment of the value of diversity and other gender-based initiatives in the SET fields to quantify the economic benefits of an engineering graduate, and (3) it provides a potentially transformative approach for quantifying the opportunity cost of not tapping women and minorities for engineering careers and for testing selected diversity-based hypotheses. Conducted by a unique team combining expertise in economics (especially addressing the returns on scientific research and higher education), engineering education, recruitment to engineering, and diversity initiatives, the analysis will involve dialogues with industry, key academic administrators, and underrepresented populations in the engineering disciplines. Broader Impacts: The framework can provide administrators and researchers with information on the returns to investments in diversity and gender-based initiatives in engineering colleges and conversely on the opportunity costs of not retaining and encouraging participation of women and other underrepresented populations in the engineering workforce. The information is critical due to the increased demand for well trained engineers in many critical areas of our economy, the marked decline in the relative production of US engineering graduates, and increased pressures for a more diversity in higher education in the SET fields. The analysis will highlight the types of information that may be needed to better quantify the value of increased diversity in the SET disciplines. National and international policy reports that argue for the role of engineers in national economic competitiveness could be enhanced by this study. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Capalbo, Susan Anne Camper Nicole Ballenger Montana State University MT Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 191422 1544 SMET 9237 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0542562 August 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award. The goal of this project is to transform the Schools of Science and Engineering at Rice University by increasing the number of women faculty; strengthening the gender-neutrality of the climate in a way that identifies and values the unique skills of each individual and rewards contributions; and enhancing opportunities for women to assume and succeed in leadership positions. Approximately one-third of the faculty in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology areas at Rice will reach normal retirement age within the next 8 years. This should provide an exceptional opportunity to seek to significantly increase the numbers of women faculty, including women of color. The ADVANCE program will capitalize on the strong commitment to gender equity at Rice University and robust linkages to the leadership of the institution to address the key issues of recruitment, retention, and climate that affect women in academia. To achieve this transformation, three specific goals are being pursued: 1. Increase the number of women at Rice Aspiration: Hiring and retention of women faculty at levels that better reflect available pools of Ph.D.s within disciplines. Recruitment Activities: Workshop for Career Success, database of qualified applicants, introducing best recruitment practices, engaging non-traditional entry tracks for women to enter the academy. Retention Activities: Workshop for Faculty Success, database of service and teaching, introducing best practices for chairs and staff. 2. Create a positive and welcoming work environment for women at Rice Aspiration: Women and men report similar levels of satisfaction in climate surveys. Individual Activities: Mentoring, coaching, and reverse mentoring. Institutional Activities: Engagement of department chairs in institutional transformation, updating institutional policies to increase opportunities for success of women faculty, data collection and analysis, and discourse on leadership. 3. Evaluate what works to advance women and share this information Aspiration: Publications in professional journals and materials made readily available. Evaluation: Critical assessment by social scientists to produce publishable data as well as general guidelines for effective action. Dissemination: Use of website and Connexions as mechanisms to provide easy access to materials for adaptation by other institutions and holding a national Workshop on Best Practices. The success of this program provides the opportunity to distinguish Rice for its excellent climate and for its efforts in highlighting and encouraging achievement of women faculty with model activities that can be adapted and applied to other institutions. The series of initiatives focused on dissemination of developed materials enables project knowledge to be broadly available to other institutions undertaking transformational initiatives. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Quillen, Carol Sallie Keller-McNulty Michelle Hebl Kathy Collins Daniel Carson William Marsh Rice University TX Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 2630922 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0544754 November 1, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Research: Evolving Biological Sciences - WEBS Symposia for early career female scientists. Women Evolving Biological Science (WEBS) will be an annual three-day symposium aimed at addressing early career issues related to transitions from early career stages to tenure track positions and leadership roles in academic and research settings. The goal of WEBS is to increase significantly the retention and advancement of women in academia in biological sciences in order to enhance excellence and create greater diversity in academic and scientific leadership. The intent of focusing on this career stage is to address the attrition of women between the postdoctoral or research faculty arena and the tenure track. As a nation, the U.S. cannot afford to continue to lose highly trained scientific talent. WEBS will address issues of early career transitions in biological sciences, with emphasis on the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. WEBS will support participants who have earned their doctoral degrees within the past two to eight years and who do not have tenure, in order to address the critical transition period from graduate studies and post-doctoral positions to permanent research and teaching positions. Each WEBS symposium will focus on skills development and on topics participants identify as important to their ability to succeed during the critical transition from graduate school to leadership roles in academic settings. This effort has support from the Society for the Study of Evolution, the University of Washingtons School of Aquatic and Fishery Science, and the North American Benthological Society. More than 10 professional societies have committed to help advertise the workshops, demonstrating the recognition of the importance of defining strategies to retain and advance the talented pool of doctoral recipients in the biological sciences. This award is supported by an ADVANCE Leadership award. Leadership Awards support the efforts of individuals, small groups, or organizations in developing national and/or discipline-specific leadership in enabling the full participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Forde, Samantha University of California-Santa Cruz CA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 26817 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0544823 June 1, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Cross-Disciplinary Initiative for Minority Women Faculty. The goal of this Leadership Award is to increase the representation of minority women faculty in science and engineering. It employs an innovative approach to study, understand and address the unique challenges facing women of color in the academy by drawing on the interdisciplinary knowledge base of both the social sciences and the hard sciences and engineering, by bringing women faculty together across disciplines for self empowerment, support and constructive problem solving. A series of national workshop-based conferences provide a framework for professional development, the development of effective strategies and sharing of best practices and for sustenance of a community of practice that participates in networking, mentoring, data collection and dissemination. Under the direction of the PI, the wealth of data and individual narratives collected within the community of practice are developed in a format suitable for publication and broad dissemination. The cross-disciplinary initiative supported by this ADVANCE Leadership Award contributes to the success and advancement of minority women faculty in science and engineering, thereby enhancing their retention and increasing their ranks. The increased presence of these women enhances faculty diversity and provides the role models and self images that contribute to the enhanced recruitment, retention, and ultimate success of minority and women students, all of which is necessary to build a diverse science and engineering workforce required to maintain national prosperity ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Barabino, Gilda Cheryl Leggon Donna Qualters Northeastern University MA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 300001 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0545229 July 1, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership: Advancement of Research Oriented and Education Oriented Associate Professors to Full Professors. The goal of this project is to improve the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) national academic workforce by increasing the participation of women at all levels. CSE is the only scientific discipline that has experienced a significant drop in the participation of undergraduate women in the last twenty years. In order to keep the nations competitive edge in the global science, technology and economy, women must be recruited and retained in critical fields such as CSE. Women in CSE academic programs have few role models among their most senior and visible faculty: In the academic year 2003/2004, less than 10% of CSE full professors were women. Successful, senior female faculty provide the role models, teachers, mentors, and "existence proofs" that female students need if they are to see careers in CSE as viable and that male students need if they are to develop appropriately balanced views of female colleagues. This CRA-W project addresses the problem of too few full professor women faculty by expanding the Associate Professor Cohort Program (CAPP) that aims to increase the percentage of CSE women faculty with the rank of full professor by forming and mentoring a cohort of women from the associate professor ranks. The cornerstone of the Cohort Project is the involvement of senior women, appointed as CRA-W Distinguished Professors, who actively participate as role models, mentors, and advisers. The project builds a community of associate professors, providing them with mentoring, leadership training, encouragement and ongoing peer-support activities. The program includes Professional Development Workshops - one for women faculty whose primary function is research (CAPP-R) and one for women faculty whose primary function is education (CAPP-E), a series of smaller meetings in conjunction with technical conferences/seminars, and ongoing electronically-based support activities. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Soffa, Mary Lou Mary Irwin Computing Research Association DC Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 268602 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0545269 June 15, 2006 ADVANCE LEADERSHIP AWARD: Peer Mentoring Summits for Women Engineering Faculty of Color. This award addresses the persistent under-representation of women of color (African-American, Hispanic, Native American) on engineering faculties in the U.S. Recent studies have documented that the number of women engineering faculty from groups under-represented in science and engineering is typically less than one percent. For example, in the field of chemical engineering at the top 50 departments, African American and Hispanic women together made up less than 0.75 % of the reported ChE faculties; Native American Women were non-existent on chemical engineering faculties. This proposal directly addresses the goal of NSFs ADVANCE Program, which is to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering. This proposal presents an initiative to bring together a group of women that are diverse in their race, ethnicity, discipline and institution type to conduct targeted peer mentoring and set in motion an infrastructure for discipline-specific career enhancement networks. The primary activity (over a three-year period) will be a series of professional development summits that are both discipline-specific and multidisciplinary. In the first year a 2-day summit will convene at NCSU for all engineering disciplines. In years 2-3, Discipline Cluster mini-summits will take place using a format designed at the first summit by women in their respective subject areas. In the final year there will be a summit to mark the culmination of the series under this grant and a strategic planning meeting to plan to move this endeavor out to the disciplines through either professional societies (if appropriate) or other channels. Evaluation and project assessment will cover longer- term outcomes of the summit such as the development and utility of effective research and mentoring networks. The broader impact of this effort will be seen in enhanced understanding of the factors contributing to the retention and advancement of women engineering faculty and in improved research and professional networks among a highly trained group of faculty who are often isolated in their professional settings in academic departments. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Grant, Christine Jessica DeCuir North Carolina State University NC Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 299995 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0545273 November 1, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Collaborative Research: Evolving Biological Sciences - WEBS Symposia for Early Career Female Scientists. Women Evolving Biological Science (WEBS) will be an annual three-day symposium aimed at addressing early career issues related to transitions from early career stages to tenure track positions and leadership roles in academic and research settings. The goal of WEBS is to increase significantly the retention and advancement of women in academia in biological sciences in order to enhance excellence and create greater diversity in academic and scientific leadership. The intent of focusing on this career stage is to address the attrition of women between the postdoctoral or research faculty arena and the tenure track. As a nation, the U.S. cannot afford to continue to lose highly trained scientific talent. WEBS will address issues of early career transitions in biological sciences, with emphasis on the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. WEBS will support participants who have earned their doctoral degrees within the past two to eight years and who do not have tenure, in order to address the critical transition period from graduate studies and post-doctoral positions to permanent research and teaching positions. Each WEBS symposium will focus on skills development and on topics participants identify as important to their ability to succeed during the critical transition from graduate school to leadership roles in academic settings. This effort has support from the Society for the Study of Evolution, the University of Washingtons School of Aquatic and Fishery Science, and the North American Benthological Society. More than 10 professional societies have committed to help advertise the workshops, demonstrating the recognition of the importance of defining strategies to retain and advance the talented pool of doctoral recipients in the biological sciences. This award is supported by an ADVANCE Leadership award. Leadership Awards support the efforts of individuals, small groups, or organizations in developing national and/or discipline-specific leadership in enabling the full participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Horner-Devine, Claire Joyce Yen University of Washington WA Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 273180 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0545361 September 1, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Determining and Using National Science Faculty Demographics to Empower Women and Guide Solutions. Strengthening US scientific industries and technologies, by increasing US citizens in the scientific workforce, in particular women and minorities, has become a prime concern and major national goal. Underrepresented groups must pass through educational institutions in order to join the scientific workforce. Creating suitable environments, attitudes, and behavior in academic departments is key to diversifying science professions. Female and minority students need to see and interact with faculty mentors and role models who have had similar life experiences. This research will focus on quantifying and retaining such faculty. This project will also develop a data-driven, entertaining technique to generate discussion of topics which may be difficult and threatening to some. Developing programs based on data and making them as entertaining and non-threatening as possible will be of interest to majority populations who need them the most. Proposed activities to address the presence of and barriers for underrepresented groups in research universities, particularly in science and engineering departments are to: Establish the current representation of women, minorities, and disabled among the tenured and tenure track faculty, Establish the rate of change in these groups, Establish national origin of current chemistry faculty and chemical engineering faculty, Analyze and compare chemistry data by division (analytical, biochemistry, inorganic, etc.), and Construct seminars based on data and narratives, which could be used in workshops to enable attendees to understand and avoid contributing to barriers facing underrepresented groups. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Nelson, Donna University of Oklahoma Norman Campus OK Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 300000 1739 OTHR 9150 1739 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0545393 August 15, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Big Sky Leadership Initiative to Advance Women Into Careers in Research Leadership. The Big Sky Leadership Initiative (BSLI) will advance women as research leaders via a sustainable, tiered and cascading system of mentoring and professional development. The BSLI draws on Montana State University's existing strengths, its prominent interdisciplinary research centers and crosscutting programs, its well-positioned senior women faculty in sciences and engineering, to develop an innovative system for mentoring women scientists, social scientists and engineers at different career stages and transition points. Each track of the BSLI has specific goals and contributes to a systemic and sustainable program. Senior women will enter into formal mentoring relationships with research leaders at outside institutions who have extensive experience developing and maintaining complex research centers. In turn, this network of senior women will mentor early-to-mid-career women faculty, providing them opportunities to develop their research and introducing them to the organizational structures through which interdisciplinary research is accomplished. BSLI also includes an integrated series of four two-day, intensive leadership development workshops on a variety of topics of importance to scientists and engineers. Formative and summative evaluation and dissemination of the program results are included. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Monahan, Susanne Gwen Jacobs Anne Camper Montana State University MT Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 299222 1739 OTHR 9150 1739 0000 0545422 September 15, 2006 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling in Academic Science and Engineering. This award supports development of tools for institutional transformation to address the under-representation of women in academic science and engineering, including training materials, web pages and other resources to enable people to apply research findings in the development and application of best practices. Ultimately, the knowledge base of legal cases and social psychological research, combined with an effective public outreach and dissemination strategy, will be available to academic leaders and faculties seeking to understand and address both the causes of and solutions to the under-representation of women in science and engineering. The project seeks to develop a compelling business case for gender equity. through readily accessible information about major patterns of glass ceiling and maternal wall bias and stereotyping, based on a comprehensive literature review of social psychological studies and social cognition theory. The project brings together a unique combination of legal experts and social scientists to develop materials that will promote equity in sciences and engineering. The project reflects integration of cutting-edge research with effective dissemination techniques. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Williams, Joan University of California, Hastings College of the Law CA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 296000 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0546843 August 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Women in Science and Engineering System Transformation (WISEST). The goal of the Women in Science and Engineering System Transformation (WISEST) project, at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), is to increase the number, participation, and leadership status of women, majority and minority, in eleven science and engineering (STEM) departments through institutional transformation. WISEST will use an innovative approach of a network of faculty facilitators from all STEM departments working with department heads and an executive committee of key administrators and a social scientist. This network will carry out five integrated and mutually reinforcing strategies: warm the climate and decrease the isolation of women STEM faculty; recruit minority women faculty through an unique mentored postdoctoral program; transform STEM departments to foster diversity and womens leadership; promote womens scholarship and teaching; and improve the ability to track and report on gender equity. Proposed outcomes for STEM women faculty include: increased numbers of majority and minority faculty; improved retention rate; salary equity with men of similar accomplishments and productivity; increased percentage of leadership positions; improved job satisfaction; and increased national visibility for our scholars. The intellectual merit of WISEST is that it will assess the impact of systemic change to erase gender stereotyping rather than individual remediation and it will specifically extend the focus of action to include the postdoctoral level to recruit faculty. Its broader impact will be the creation of a life-friendly work climate for all UIC faculty. WISEST will share its experiences nationally, and serve as an exemplary model for fostering gender equity and diversity in academe. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Tam, Mo-Yin Peter Nelson Brooke Shipley Mitra Dutta Dwight McBride University of Illinois at Chicago IL Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 2640000 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0547373 November 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Advancing Cornell's Commitment to Excellence and Leadership. Cornell University is committed to diversity and gender equity and to an institutional environment where all faculty can achieve their greatest potential in research, education, and service. Despite the universitys commitment, gender diversity remains a significant problem that affects the quality of Cornells enterprise. The representation of women faculty in science and engineering (S&E) falls below the level of female PhDs produced nationally. The NSF ADVANCE program provides a unique opportunity to increase the number of women S&E faculty at Cornell and thereby positively affect the universitys environment. The proposed goals are ambitious: over the five year life of the grant, achieve 20% women faculty in each S&E Department and increase the number of senior women S&E faculty. A 20% target was chosen to move the representation of women from token status to a critical mass in each department, the environment that most determines faculty daily life. At present 27 of the 51 S&E departments are below this critical mass. The more ambitious longer-term objective is that a third of the S&E faculty be women by 2015, Cornell Universitys sesquicentennial. The approach to institutional change described in this proposal is based on the following principles: successful implementation of diversity strategies requires genuine support from high levels of an organization; inequalities that result from forces external to the institution can be effectively addressed by institutional policies and strategies; accountability for achieving diversity goals reduces biases against women and minorities; and, representation below 15-20% of a unit heightens the visibility of women, leading to a series of barriers to advancement. Achieving the projects short- and longer-term goals requires a commitment not only to recruitment, but also to retention, development, and promotion of women faculty, which will be achieved through the efforts detailed in this proposal. The main thrust of this proposal is to create an integrated campus wide set of initiatives and to ensure their implementation and success through the creation of the CU-ADVANCE center, that will permanently reside in the Provosts Office. As is common with elite, private universities, decision-making and policy design and implementation are highly decentralized at Cornell. As a result, past efforts to increase the representation of women faculty have been fragmented across colleges and departments, with no easy way for best practices to be shared. For this reason, the majority of the budget is for programs and support staff that will connect faculty and decision makers across departments and colleges in a way that would not be possible otherwise and for a on-going university wide evaluation of progress in each area. Cornell has a rich history of inclusion of women and many womens firsts in higher education. With an ADVANCE grant, Cornell can return to its commitment to leadership by demonstrating that reaching a critical mass of women scientists and engineers at an elite, research-intensive institution is possible, and more generally that the advancement of women scientists and engineers can and should include such institutions. Intellectual Merit In addition to the proposed direct efforts toward recruitment, retention, promotion, and development, two sociological studies will be conducted as part of the formative and summative evaluation strategies. A longitudinal study of assistant professors will elucidate whether and how the experiences of women and men faculty differ and will determine which barriers to advancement are unique to women in S&E, which affect all women faculty, and which are common to all faculty. These results will help identify and isolate factors that differentially contribute to the career success of men and women. A second study will examine the impact of changes in the demographic composition of departments on social relations among faculty members. To date, no research has been conducted on the dynamic aspects of gender composition, though understanding these dynamics clearly is an important outcome of increasing the number of women faculty. Broader Impact Women S&E faculty at several neighboring institutions will participate in workshops and seminars throughout the grant period. In addition to affecting the Cornell faculty, this grant will indirectly influence future S&E faculty nationwide. A majority of Cornells bachelors (60%) and doctoral (80%) degrees are conferred in science and engineering fields. An unusually large number of our female and male undergraduates later receive doctoral degrees, and, in fact, Cornell ranks third as the undergraduate institution where women engineering faculty were trained. The presence of greater numbers of female faculty at Cornell will, therefore, have a truly transformational impact nationally. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Fuchs, Kent Sheila Hemami Marjolein C.H. van der Meulen Kim Weeden Melissa Thomas-Hunt Cornell University NY Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 2640000 5408 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0547427 September 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: More Than The Sum Of Its Parts: Advancing Women at NJIT Through Collaborative Research Networks. NJIT proposes an innovative, exportable, and low-cost solution to this conundrum of small numbers. The strategy builds on social science researchers observation that women researchers often respond to a chilly university climate by creating an empowering environment in their own labs - that is, they achieve in microcosm what they are not able to achieve in macrocosm: functional critical mass. Functional critical mass changes more than the number: it generates strategic power for sustainable cultural change. This NJIT project tests this concept by facilitating a network of interdisciplinary research collaborations among current NJIT women faculty and select junior and senior male peers. The project jump-starts this process by seeding a collaboration in Geospatial Technologies -- an area that has applications to many disciplines, including Homeland Security and Emergency Response Management -and plans to use it as a template to create other nodes. By positioning these research micro-communities in the interstices between disciplinary departments--the structural holes in the NJIT organizational map - the project exploits what some sociologists have called the strength of weak ties-- that is, information and control advantages of being a broker in relations between people otherwise disconnected in the social structure. The project also creates an ongoing Conversations About Collaboration Seminar to serve several purposes: 1) provide a high-status venue for the members of the template collaboratory to present their research and to talk about the advantages of interdisciplinary collaboration; 2) to provide opportunities for women faculty (especially junior faculty) to network with a select cadre of junior and senior peers, both female and male; 3) to offer incentives (in the form of small travel grants) for new collaborative work to women faculty and their chosen research partners; 4) to facilitate privileged information flow to women faculty and their chosen research partners about new research agendas in industry and government; and 5) to match junior women faculty with institutionally savvy mentors in senior faculty and administrative ranks, under the proactive leadership of NJITs provost, who has a strong record of supporting women and supporting interdisciplinary in research. The Collaboration Seminar is co-hosted by NJITs new Industrial Diversity Advisory Board, composed of senior executives in business and industry -- a link that further increases the social capital of the participants. In addition to acting as a venue for the dissemination of research data, the Seminar also provides best practices training in the process of collaboration itself, including cross-gender and cross-cultural communication skills and greater sensitivity to gender schema. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Steffen-Fluhr, Nancy Priscilla Nelson Sima Bagheri Zoi-Heleni Michalopoulou Lisa Axe New Jersey Institute of Technology NJ Jessie A. Dearo Continuing grant 778198 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0547730 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: The University of Maryland Eastern Shore ADVANCE Program. The goal of the UMES ADVANCE Program is to make major changes at the University which will increase the number of women in STEM disciplines, help women within these disciplines earn promotion, gain tenure, transition to leadership roles and reduce isolation within their departments. The three objectives are to: Increase the percentage of tenured women faculty in the STEM disciplines at UMES from 9% to 21% by enhancing the academic infrastructure at UMES to promote career advancement for women faculty in STEM disciplines. Change administrative policies and procedures at UMES and add new administrative programs to promote career advancement for women faculty in STEM disciplines. Develop the UMES ADVANCE Women's Center which will utilize a holistic approach toward women faculty career development. There are many barriers and obstacles that must be overcome by women in academia especially minority women, and this is most pronounced in the STEM disciplines. Through institutional transformation, and organizational commitment, the UMES ADVANCE program will remove these barriers by developing methods and broadening the knowledge base to address the under-representation of minority women in STEM disciplines. The program will introduce both novel strategies and modified existing approaches outlined by organizations such as the Association of Women in Science and other ADVANCE programs. Such activities will increase opportunities that will address women's development, advancement and increased productivity by focusing on a combination of activities including sabbatical leave for UMES women faculty in the STEM disciplines, establishment of a joint UMES/UMBC ADVANCE Academic Exchange Program, revision of the UMES leave policy for dependent care, establishment of an Administrative Fellowship Program, revision of tenure and promotions criteria in the STEM disciplines to reflect a broader definition of scholarship and development of the UMES ADVANCE Women's Center using a holistic approach. The goal of the UMES ADVANCE Program is to make major changes at the University which will increase the number of women in STEM disciplines, help women within these disciplines earn promotion, gain tenure, transition to leadership roles and reduce isolation within their departments. As such, UMES will serve as a model for developing academic and administrative infrastructure for promoting the advancement of women careers. While the UMES ADVANCE Program will address the needs of women in STEM disciplines, it will also provide the much needed expansion of the research on underrepresented minority women in STEM disciplines at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Since a major activity of the UMES ADVANCE Program is to convene a conference on underrepresented minority women in STEM disciplines, a wide audience of stakeholders will benefit from the circulation of the proceedings of the conference. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR johnson, linda Ibibia Dabipi Joseph Okoh Thelma Thompson-Deloatch University of Maryland Eastern Shore MD Jessie A. Dearo Continuing grant 450000 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0548113 September 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Advancing Women in Science, Math and Engineering at Marshall. The goal of this project is to empower a strong core of administrators and female science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty to initiate and maintain institutional climate change, and improve the recruitment and success of female faculty. The Program provides a unique setting in which to test an important model of faculty administrator partnership for implementing change at a primarily undergraduate institution and within the West Virginia (WV) higher education system. The Program will impact STEM faculty in four Marshall University Colleges through an integrated approach comprised of 1) The Recruitment and Networking Initiative to apply aggressive strategies to increase the number of female STEM faculty; 2) The Faculty Development Initiative to provide multiple methods to help new faculty balance and integrate teaching and research responsibilities, and to foster collaboration among STEM faculty; 3) The Research Enhancement Initiative to improve faculty research capabilities, and provide resources that enable departments to better attract and retain talented female faculty; and 4) The State and Institutional Policy Changes Initiative specifically focused on changing university and state policies identified to be significant barriers to the advancement of female STEM faculty at Marshall. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Harrison, Marcia Beverly Delidow Judith Silver Elizabeth Murray Patricia Logan Marshall University Research Corporation WV Jessie A. Dearo Continuing grant 1199916 1738 OTHR 9150 1738 0000 0548130 August 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Eradicating Subtle Discrimination in the Academy. Nationally and at The University of Arizona, far too few women seek--and succeed in faculty careers in science and engineering fields. The destructive role played by subtle discrimination is becoming well-understood. Without intervention, an overly homogeneous culture tends to reproduce itself through the operation of unsuspected biases. Even well-intentioned interventions may be thwarted by subtle discrimination. The University of Arizona seeks not just to diversify its science and engineering faculty but to permanently eradicate subtle discrimination, building programs to counteract its effects while cultivating new practices and new ways of thinking. The Provost, academic Vice Presidents, and Deans will join in developing and implementing strategies on three fronts. First, new programs will be launched to increase the number of stars among women scientists by fostering the development of social capital through networking, collaboration, and mentoring with local, national, and international scientific communities. Second, new expectations will be set for the stewardship of faculty careers through programs aimed at leaders, administrators, and departmental groups, including inquiry-based learning. Third, inequitable practices will be eradicated through development of technology with a dual function of gradually changing attitudes while directly changing the way business is done at the university: software implementations of personnel processes will have built-in mechanisms for evaluating the impact of every decision on overall equity. Eradicating subtle discrimination against women faculty will produce healthier science and engineering disciplines, and it will inevitably elevate awareness of all other forms of subtle discrimination. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Tolbert, Leslie Randall Richardson LouAnn Gerken Allison Vaillancourt University of Arizona AZ Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 2606714 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0548311 August 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Investing in Leadership Potential and Faculty Opportunities at Brown University. The goal of the Institutional Transformation Award Program at Brown University is to increase the level of opportunity for faculty and implement mechanisms to protect and nurture faculty success. The program will provide transparent formal programs to provide the ingredients for success often available informally, to guarantee access for women faculty. This will ensure that once recruited women faculty will have a working environment that will allow them to achieve their full potential and ultimately assume positions of power. The ADVANCE program at Brown will include 1) a leadership program for women science faculty that will help them to develop peer networks and assume leadership positions, 2) a faculty development program for all faculty part of which will be a mentoring program designed to create a cadre of faculty informed about gender equity issues, 3) a department chair training program aimed at improving departmental climate and making departmental policies fair and transparent, and 4) a visiting scholar program that will bring experts to Brown to design model programs for the above. Broader Impacts: One of the goals of the program is to demonstrate that providing access to formal transparent faculty development programs ameliorates the problems of hidden bias and evens the playing field between male and female faculty. The program is expected to have the following specific outcomes: 1) reduce faculty attrition, including attrition of women and minority faculty; 2) increase the number of women promoted to full professor; 3) decrease the time in rank of associate professors; 4) increase the number of women rising to leadership positions in either academic administration or areas of scholarly leadership; 5) prevent mid-career burnout by encouraging collaborative projects and brokering opportunities for science faculty to become involved in such projects; 6) increase the amount of funded research by alerting faculty to potential opportunities. All of these potential outcomes will provide a return on investment for academic institutions. Scientific Merit: Collecting indicator data for the proposed program and disseminating it to the community will represent a significant contribution to understanding the barriers that inhibit the advancement of women scientists. The goal of the ADVANCE program is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic/administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Palmore, G. Tayhas Mary Fennell Johanna Schmitt Pamela O'Neil Mariko Chang Brown University RI Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 2621270 1738 OTHR 9150 1738 0000 0548323 September 1, 2006 ADVANCE CHALLENGE: TOPS--Target of Opportunity Strategies - Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Engineering. The Pratt School of Engineering (Pratt) at Duke University proposes an effective program to increase the diversity, including gender diversity - in the engineering academy. Pratt's success in hiring outstanding women faculty in engineering was accomplished by reserving one to two faculty lines each year at the School level for departments and strategic initiative leaders to compete for by recruiting targets of opportunity. TOPS is more than a recruiting strategy. It is an effective and sustainable methodology for attracting underrepresented faculty to the engineering academy. It consists of developing a longitudinal database of outstanding under-represented students at various stages of their graduate studies (with a focus on minority women), tracking their progress, having consistent interactions with these students over time, encouraging them to pursue an academic career, making home visits to their respective institutions, inviting them to Duke for visits, and ultimately recruiting them into the academy. TOPS aims to overcome a key entry barrier--the inclusion factor. To help transform the engineering discipline, the TOPS methods and results are disseminated to the engineering and science communities through the TOPS web site, coaching clinics, and research publications. The TOPS program collaborates with complementary programs. Pratt plans to recruit faculty who are applying their talents, in part, to improve the quality of life, life without pain, without fear, and in harmony with the environment. Intellectual Merits: Through the TOPS program, important social research presents data regarding critical mass versus tokenism; comparative studies on the experiences of students and faculty within Pratt to a comparison group of equivalents in science departments; and evaluate the perception that engineering is a masculine field and is not a people-oriented discipline. TOPS is committed to a rigorous assessment and study of the proposed methods, techniques, and impacts. Broader Impacts: Through TOPS, Pratt develops Best Practices for recruiting, retaining, and advancing under-represented, particularly female, faculty in engineering and science. The dissemination of these Best Practices are expected to positively impact engineering and science disciplines, and the nation by enhancing the country's ability to solve problems and create a better world. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Brown, April Wendy Wood Nan Marie Jokerst Lori Setton Duke University NC Jessie A. Dearo Continuing grant 599743 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0548354 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: RAMP-UP: Reforming Advancement Processes through Institutional Transformation. The goal of RAMP-UP, Rensselaer's Program for Institutional Transformation, is to reform university advancement processes to increase the participation of women in the senior ranks, particularly in science and engineering. Using a model of professional self-regulation, RAMP-UP puts the work of reforming academic advancement squarely in the hands of the self-regulating mechanisms found at all levels of the university at the department, at the school, at the university, and on the professions as a whole. RAMP-UP builds on a deep understanding of the systemic issues to reform advancement processes starting at the department level. Pipeline departments ( departments that have succeeded in bringing in women into the junior ranks, but still lack a senior presence ) will focus on enhancing the departmental environment to support the full participation of women faculty with the goal of identifying and recruiting senior researchers from industry. Cluster departments ( departments that have already developed significant clusters of women ranging from junior through senior ranks) will work to reform advancement processes by developing departmental Guides to Advancement and investing in community building. Transformation Departments (departments that have barriers to post-tenure advancement) will pursue an in-depth understanding of the departmental dynamics that contribute to the barriers for post-tenure women, and will implement faculty development plans to alleviate the institutional barriers to advancement. RPI also plans to further develop a program of School-level Faculty Advocates to serve as advocates and advisors for individual faculty members, and to lead an effort to produce School Guidelines that will make annual review more transparent, fair, and consistent. To make advancement processes more equitable at the university level, Ramp-Up is directing three activities. First, under the auspices of the Faculty Senate, a Faculty Senate Task Force for the Revision of the Faculty Handbook is codifying advancement processes. Second, an Open BioSketch database is being created to provide decision makers and candidates with concrete information about prior successful cases of advancement. Third, an Institute Advocate, in a new three-year faculty position within the Office of Institute Diversity, has begun to serve as a liaison between individual faculty and the university hierarchy at all levels including promotion and tenure deliberations. At the national level, Ramp-Up will partner with senior ADVANCE faculty on projects targeted to reforming professional associations, including Publications Guidelines for Bias-Free Review to assist academic publications to implement double blind peer review. This project's intellectual merit is reflected in the application of the conceptual framework of professional self-regulation to systematically address reform through a series of projects integrated across all levels of the profession. The broader impact of this work will be in providing another model for advancement reform, in the context of a private polytechnic research university. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Geisler, Cheryl Deborah Kaminski Robert Palazzo Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 1380654 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0548401 September 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: For the Future of the UNC Charlotte Faculty. Following a four-year self-study to explore equity, diversity, and inclusiveness, UNC Charlotte is poised for transformation into an institution where all faculty perceive that access to power, rewards, promotions, and leadership opportunities are equitably distributed. Project goals are focused on the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in STEM faculty positions and women in university-wide leadership positions. Strategies for change focus on structural reform, broad faculty awareness and engagement, and decision-maker accountability. A Faculty Affairs Office (FAO) will serve as a sustainable structural focal point for policy revision and a portfolio of programs designed to foster awareness, seek solutions, and disseminate project actions and outcomes. A competitive awards program will engage academic units to examine the status of women, including women faculty of color, and develop creative approaches for the specific needs of the unit. The FAO will be located in the Provost's Office to facilitate administrative accountability for making gains towards ADVANCE goals. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Lorden, Joan Roslyn Mickelson Yvette Huet Teresa Dahlberg Arnie Cann University of North Carolina at Charlotte NC Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 2153725 5408 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0548426 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: The Path to Leadership: Collaborative Institutional Change. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (CPP) will create recruitment, retention and development systems to enable women in STEM to advance to leadership. Activities are proposed in four areas: Institutionalize policy/practice structures for attracting, retaining and advancing faculty. Activities include a Provost Advisory Committee, assessments, ADVANCE Scholars, and information resources. Increase the number of female STEM faculty, and in particular, women of color. Activities include improving search committees and recruiting, a Partner Placement Program, and partnerships with minority serving institutions. Advance female STEM faculty in their careers by enhancing the RTP process. Activities include systematic pre-tenure performance feedback; professional learning communities; and faculty development in teaching, research and service. Increase STEM women's capacity to influence decisions and policy. Activities include mentoring, leadership internships, and developing multiple paths to leadership. Many of the strategies have not been tried at a primarily teaching university. Features that will add knowledge about advancing STEM women in academia are collaboration with minority-serving institutions to recruit faculty, transformation of RTP into a learning process; and a broad definition of leadership that allows faculty to develop according to their own interests. The program will increase the representation of women, particularly under-represented minorities, in positions at CPP. Strategies will be evaluated for effectiveness so successful approaches can be disseminated and replicated. The project will promote teaching and research by working to attract and tenure STEM women and will enhance partnerships through collaboration with minority-serving institutions. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Hacker, Barbara Donald Straney Edward Hohmann Jill Nemiro Peggy Perry Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc. CA Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 2596799 5408 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0549084 July 31, 2005 ADVANCE Leadership Award: MentorNet ACE: Academic Career E-Mentoring for Women in Science and Engineering. MentorNet (www.MentorNet.net) was founded in 1997 as an innovative large-scale electronic mentoring strategy, pairing women studying engineering and related sciences at colleges and universities with female and male professionals in industry for yearlong, structured mentoring relationships, conducted via email. MentorNet has grown into an online community, leveraging its extensive web site, email, and other electronic communications technologies and related systems and software to offer structured one-on-one, group and peer mentoring for its members on a large scale. Over the last five years, MentorNet has matched nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students with e-mentors working in industry and government in its One-on-One mentoring program; it has also received numerous requests from both students and faculty to support academic e-mentoring. Based on results of past work, evaluation findings and other research, the PI proposes to expand MentorNet into MentorNet ACE, a new project focused on substantially refining and expanding MentorNet.s programs to include e-mentoring services addressing the needs of women students and untenured faculty seeking or pursuing academic science and engineering careers. To that end, MentorNet plans to develop specialized components of its One-on-One Mentoring Program, enabling one-on-one mentoring relationships based on 1) matching graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with tenured faculty members as mentors, and 2) matching untenured faculty with tenured faculty mentors. MentorNet will develop a comprehensive approach for this project, with programmatic features tailored to the needs of the specific protege-mentor populations. ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Muller, Carol MentorNet CA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 88568 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0550078 September 15, 2005 Increasing Minority Participation in Tropical Biology: Supporting activities for the OTS Advisory Committee for Academic Diversity (ACAD). Project Summary Intellectual Merit The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) a consortium of more than 60 colleges and universities requests support for its Advisory Committee for Academic Diversity (ACAD) to produce a manual of best practices that addresses identification, recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities in the environmental and biological sciences, a critical need within the scientific community. The foundation for the manual will data and information presented at a research symposium sponsored by ACAD and OTS at Howard University last summer. ACAD is a standing committee of the OTS Board of Directors and is responsible for providing advice and council to OTS on broadening participation of underrepresented minorities at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels. Since 1999, OTS has increased its efforts to attract minority students to the field of tropical initiatives such as ACAD and the Minority Scholars Program. Broader Impacts Creation of a manual of best practices is an important next step to increasing the number of African Americans, Hispanic, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders who pursue careers in the environmental and biological sciences. The Organization for Tropical Studies for much of its 42-year history has primarily focused on working with private, elite colleges and universities. The ACAD committee through this project will foster greater participation of state, HBCUs, Hispanic Serving, Tribal colleges and universities in the OTS consortium. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Losos, Elizabeth Duke University NC Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 49991 9133 SMET 9178 0555773 January 1, 2006 GSE/SGER Women Working: Thinking, Creating, Making Science. The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and the Feminist Press will cultivate young women's interest in the sciences through the publishing and dissemination of a series of books for high school girls called Women Working: Thinking, Creating, Making Science. These 12 volumes will focus on the world of working women scientists, both in traditional fields and in nontraditional ones. As the U.S. competes in a global marketplace of ideas, technology, and industry, it is more important than ever that science education in the schools encourage the talents of all students, women as well as men. Studies show that girls do not have equal access to science instruction, in part because stereotypes continue to inform instructors and parents and discourage female students. Images of women in science-both in life and in curricular materials-continue to be needed. Intellectual Merit By the end of high school, the numbers of girls in science courses drop significantly, and by the time they go to college, many young women lose confidence in themselves and especially in their ability to do math and science. In February 2005 the American Institute of Physics issued a report on women in physics and astronomy, finding that while nearly half of high school physics students are girls, only one fourth of bachelor's degrees earned in physics are awarded to women. Exploring the publication of this series of books is a potentially high gain project using a high risk approach. The small exploratory effort will fuse research on the issues with biography, embedding research findings in popular biographies aimed at high school students. The project expects to increase the visibility of women scientists through the creation of visible role models and awareness about how women use science. Women Working: Thinking, Creating, Making Science will explore how social expectations translate to women's presence or absence in the sciences. The exploratory and preliminary work will combine inputs from scientists, science writers, women's studies experts, experts on women in science and engineering (CWIT at UMD Baltimore County), professional associations (APS, AWM, AAS, WIN), educators (NSTA), librarians (New York Public Library), industry (L'Oreal), and students in order to develop a strategy for embedding research in the biographies and still make them appealing reading. The approach is neither a research study nor a curriculum development effort; it is a creative exploration of how to use popular writing to highlight complex research and workforce issues. Broader Impact Feminist Press books are distributed nationally through a professional agency, and publicized and marketed professionally, using print media, television, and radio. The project will in addition pursue nontraditional channels of national dissemination through partnering with professional science societies, teacher associations, and industry; and through sending women scientists--early in their careers--to speak with high school students about their experience in science. In addition to the distribution and usage of the books in schools and libraries, materials will be delivered through postings on the website of the Feminist Press (www.feministpress.org), and through CDs, DVDs and videos. Major national studies of diversity in science and engineering have affirmed the critical need for popular media to reshape "the face" of scientists and engineers. The effort is potentially transformative in its reach. It could disperse the stereotypes that continue to portray science as a male profession, and replace them with the realities of actual women scientists today. The main goal is to generate enthusiasm and interest for science among high school girls, but it will influence educators, parents, and scientists and engineers too. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Schwartz, Brian CUNY Graduate School University Center NY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 198340 1544 SMET 9237 9178 0600399 August 1, 2006 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Comprehensive Institutional Intervention Strategy at Iowa State University. The goal of this project is to investigate the effectiveness of a multilevel participatory action model to produce institutional transformation resulting in the full participation of women faculty in science, technology, engineering and math fields in the university. This model focuses on transforming departmental cultures (views, attitudes, norms and shared beliefs), practices (what people say and do), and structures (physical and social arrangements) as well as university policies through active participation of individuals at all levels of the university. Faculty in nine focal departments, chosen from the College of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture, will form the core department-level working groups. A three-step process for departmental transformation will include focus group and needs assessment meetings, training sessions tailored to meet the unique needs of individual departments, and collaborative problem solving sessions involving department faculty and ADVANCE program leaders. Developing and implementing best practices for fostering cultures, practices and structures of inclusion will be the goal at the department level. Department chairs and ADVANCE professors will be key change agents. At the same time, the university-wide focus will be on identification of subtle and overt impediments to equity and on policies that will help dissolve these barriers. The Provost, Associate Provost, Deans, College Equity Advisors, College Diversity Committees, Department Chairs, and ADVANCE professors will develop and transform policies to increase the transparency of decision making, institutionalize flexible career options, strengthen and expand mentoring efforts, increase awareness of administration, faculty and staff regarding issues for women in STEM fields and expand strategies specifically for advancement of women of color. Retreats and networking meetings will facilitate interactions within the university, building a community of women STEM faculty which will reduce isolation. A national conference, hosted at Iowa State University, will bring leading experts to campus to share strategies for change and provide a forum for dissemination of best practices, particularly in the area of flexible faculty careers. The Iowa State University ADVANCE Leadership Team has worked together for three years on institutional issues related to the advancement of women faculty in STEM. Led by the Associate Provost, the ADVANCE Leadership Team has hosted visits by national experts on diversity, developed and revised key policies, and developed a network of faculty and administrators who have participated in ISU STEM retreats for women. Partnerships with existing ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grantees will continue to be a key component of this on-going effort. The multidisciplinary ADVANCE Leadership Team will be centrally involved in coordinating this project with individual members serving in key roles as change agents throughout the university. Data from focal departments, colleges and the university will be gathered and used to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach in institutional transformation. Successful strategies and actions will be generalized to be implemented in other departments and at other universities. The results of this research, regarding the effectiveness of the participatory action model as a driver for institutional change, will be shared with other ADVANCE institutions and presented nationally in journals and at conferences. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Carlson, Susan Diane Debinski Bonnie Bowen Carla Fehr Sharon Bird Iowa State University IA Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 2549670 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0601257 June 1, 2006 Cankdeska Cikana STEM Planning Project. The focus of this planning effort is not only the assessment of STEM offerings, but also, the development of a strategic plan specific to the STEM courses. It will include the examination of expansions needed to maximize student opportunity and increase success in current bottleneck courses. Further, the college needs to identify additional course offerings and physical and human resource necessary to add to those. The long term impact of this project is expected to provide significant increases in three areas: course completions in the STEM courses; graduations; and transfers to four year schools. The college's major focus will be on the development of a strategic plan which emphasizes the inclusion of the Dakota culture. Further, the college has historically developed programs which are responsive to the needs of students. This prior experience will be applied to the STEM effort with additional materials included from reviews of other Tribal college STEM programs. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Lindquist, Cynthia Efthalia Esser Cankdeska Cikana Community College ND Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0601843 November 1, 2006 Puerto Rico-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, Phase IV: Sustaining Numerical Goals and Building Permanent Pathways to Graduate Studies. The Puerto Rico Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (PR-LSAMP), Phase IV, builds on the successes of the alliances over the past 15 years in increasing the number of qualified, underrepresented minorities participating in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. Phase I and II focused on the revision of the STEM curriculum to emphasize depth of understanding, promote active learning, incorporate technology, and develop broad-based mathematics skills. Mentoring and research activities are standard support activities for undergraduate students matriculating in the alliance programs. In Phase III, the alliance built on these academic enhancements by developing interactive web-based learning for mastery of difficult concepts, developing electronic modules to expand interdisciplinary capabilities of undergraduates, scaling up of the successful teaching/learning strategies, developing Information Technology skills in STEM students, and expanding the research and mentoring program to include a large number of students. In Phase IV, PR-LSAMP, through its systemic, integrative and collaborative approach that builds on institutional initiatives to improve STEM education will: (1) continue to increase the baccalaureate production of students in STEM disciplines; (2) continue to increase the number of students who complete a Ph.D program in a STEM field; (3) sustain the annual number of BS STEM graduates from PR-LSAMP institutions to provide a significant pool of STEM graduate degrees; (4) sustain and enhance the direct student support strategies that have proven successful to retain and motivate undergraduate STEM students to pursue graduate studies, such as undergraduate research experiences and mentoring, and (5) sustain the collaborative network among STEM faculty from the different PR-LSAMP institutions for exchange of and mentoring in the implementation of successful strategies to enhance the teaching and learning process. An elaborate tracking system is in place to track the progress of Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) fellows. PR-LSAMP tracks the academic progress of fellows while participating in BD programs and entrance into a Ph.D program as well as through completion of the Ph.D and entrance into the workforce. The alliance consists of the University of Puerto Rico System which includes two graduate centers (UPR-Rio Piedras and UPR Mayaguez); 6 four-year campuses (Humacao, Cayey, Arecibo, Aguadilla, and Bayamon; and the Inter-American University System, which includes two 4-year institutions (Bayamon and Metro). ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Gomez, Manuel Ana-Rita Mayol University of Puerto Rico PR Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 4101500 9133 SMET 9179 9178 9150 7204 0602359 October 1, 2006 Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Phase IV. Project Summary The underrepresentation of minorities in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce remains a national problem fourteen years after the National Science Foundation (NSF) initiated the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program. By all accounts, however, great progress has been made as indicated by the consistent trend of increasing enrollment and baccalaureate STEM degrees by underrepresented minorities (URM) in the LSAMP program since the beginning of the program in 1991. Figures show that baccalaureate degrees awarded at LSAMP institutions increased from 3,914 in 1991 to over 24,000 in 2004, and URM enrollment increased from 35,000 to over 200,000 as the number of LSAMP sites increased from 6 to 35. As one of the six oldest NSF alliances in the nation, Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ALSAMP) has been at the forefront of efforts to increase the quantity and the quality of underrepresented minorities receiving baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields. The alliance has made outstanding progress in increasing enrollment and undergraduate degree production and changing the culture in STEM education at member institutions. With this experience, successful Phase I-Phase III awards and three Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) awards, the alliance is poised to undertake a Phase IV proposal to completely sustain the project by the end of NSF funding. To do this a team effort involving all member institutions and chief academic officers was needed. In preparation for the LSAMP Phase IV application, each alliance member was asked to identify particular campus programs for inclusion in the phase IV proposal and strategies and resources for sustaining those efforts after NSF support ends. In addition, the ALSAMP Principal Investigator met in Atlanta, Georgia, with Dr. Ansley Abraham, Director, Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)-State Doctoral Scholars Program, to solicit support for the proposed efforts from that organization. Information and application material regarding minority fellowships were also solicited from the Ford Foundation, NSF and other agencies. An executive committee meeting was then held to discuss the programs and recommendations for sustainability. This proposal grew out of the discussions at this meeting. ALSAMP currently has a variety of student support programs designed to meet the needs of undergraduate students, as well as students at the high school to college and the college to graduate school junctions in the academic pipeline. Over the period of the ALSAMP Phase IV award, these programs will be sustained and institutionalized. The ALSAMP program sustainability is divided into two parts; undergraduate student programs and BD student programs. Undergraduate student programs include scholarship support, mentors, research conferences and graduate school preparation activities. BD student programs include fellowship and other support. Details on how each partner institution will sustain the project on their campus as well as how alliance-wide programs and the BD programs will be sustained are included in the proposal. These efforts will include SREB, the Ford Foundation, the NSF Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and others. Intellectual Merit - The project is an important step in advancing knowledge and understanding of the factors involved in assisting minority students in the attainment of baccalaureate degrees in science technology, engineering and mathematics and bridging the gap between college and graduate school. In addition, important knowledge on the process for achieving sustainability will be provided as a model for other similar projects. The project results will add to the knowledge base in educational and evaluation. Broader Impacts - The project broadens the participation of underrepresented groups by the inclusion of a large number of minority students in the target population for the program. In addition, a large number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities are included in the Alabama alliance, and the project efforts will involve a diverse pool of students and faculty. Discovery and understanding are advanced by the collaboration between disciplines and institutions. Evaluation and assessment findings will be documented and disseminated to other researchers in education and at national meetings. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS HRD EHR Dale, Louis Mary Braswell University of Alabama at Birmingham AL Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 4590795 9133 7172 SMET 9179 9178 0602425 November 1, 2006 LSAMP Phase IV (2006-2011) Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities (WAESO). Project Summary: LSAMP Phase IV (2006-2011) Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities (WAESO) WAESO combines the efforts of an alliance of 35 colleges and universities, 8 professional organizations, 2 government laboratories, 9 educational organizations, 21 corporations, 147 academic and support programs, 500 resource individuals, approximately 85% of whom are scientists, engineers, and other faculty, and 15% administrators with just over 40% of these resource individuals being underrepresented minorities. Overall Objective: Phase IV WAESO is a comprehensive, concerted, sequenced effort that proposes to use LSAMP NSF funding for underrepresented undergraduate student activities, including the transition of college sophomores, juniors, and seniors toward graduate school and the development of high technology products with application or dissemination both regionally and nationally. Through the Bridges to the Doctorate program our LSAMP will continue our successful multidisciplinary faculty mentoring network to transition these students to STEM Ph.D. programs. Moreover, with NSF Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) support, PHASE IV WAESO students will be assisted through the doctorate and even beyond to faculty status or careers in the corporate or government sectors. Based on the successes of Phase I and Phase II in doubling the number of graduates per year of our target population and being on pace for a similar doubling goal in Phase III, we propose to take on the formidable task of achieving B.S. degree rates reflective of our substantial underrepresented minority population. Using the information form the census bureau (http://www.census.gov) USA July 2004 reports for Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah state that our region has a population which of the 12,370,000 people estimated in this report, 34% (compared with 28% nationally) are American Indian, African American, and Hispanic. In order to move much closer to achieving parity with the relatively stable overall STEM B.S. degree production rate for the proposed Phase IV cohort of 10,551, we propose the numerical goal in the year 2011 of 2,630 STEM B.S. degrees awarded to American Indian, African American, and Hispanic as accomplishing much towards achieving parity with our regional population of these Americans, which would result in a representation of greater than 25% and put us well on the way to successfully reaching parity. Specific Goals: Based on the tremendous success of our current WAESO LSAMP Phase III alliance that has been funded in part by a NSF cooperative agreements since 1990, we specifically propose to: (1) Further institutionalize our highly successful Phase III activities to ensure that alliance goals and objectives will continue to be achieved beyond NSF support; (2) Double once again the annual BS degree rate from a new (adjusted due to cohort membership changes) current baseline of 1,315 underrepresented student science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) BS degrees to 2,630 within five years (by 2011); (3) Further expand, sustain, and connect LSAMP BS graduates, especially LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate fellowship students, with our MGE@MSA AGEP and other AGEPs nationally to create, enhance, and institutionalize permanent pathways to successful graduate study and academic careers. The intellectual merit of our proposed activity is that we will draw upon and expand our alliances large existing communities of underrepresented minority STEM scholar/researcher/teacher/mentors and student apprentice scholar/researcher/teacher/protgs working collaboratively to further structure and sustain a research-based hot house environment to create wide-spread regional systemic change with dramatically positive national implications and repercussions. The broader impacts of our proposed activity is to achieve and sustain a level of admission, development, graduation, placement, promotion, and tenure of baccalaureate, masters, doctoral, post-doctoral, junior faculty, and senior faculty underrepresented STEM scholars in proportion to the diversity of our society as a whole. We have strong reason to believe that our WAESO LSAMP alliance will become a national model for the strengthening and diversification of STEM students and faculty to ensure that the U.S. will continue to lead the world in research and technology despite the increasingly intense global competition of the 21st century. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS HRD EHR Garcia, Antonio Albert McHenry Ana Moore Frederick Young Gary Keller Arizona State University AZ Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5078500 9133 7172 SMET 9179 9178 0602653 November 1, 2006 LSAMP SUNY Phase III Research Project: Research on Student Support Services and Graduate Issues. The State University of New York Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (SUNY LSAMP) Phase III educational research project focuses on student support services and graduate issues. The project employs a mixed method research plan, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, to answer questions pertaining to undergraduate and graduate level student attainment into the professoriate and to work toward models of best practices. The study will examine such questions as: 1) What are the elements of a successful tutoring program? 2) Variations in staffing and the delivery of services: what are the principal benefits and challenges in undergraduate research? 3) What is the relative importance of various motivations on underrepresented minority students as they complete college and look toward the future? 4) What factors lead minority graduate students to aspire to or reject careers in the professoriate? Project results will identify successful approaches and the reasons for the success. A model will be developed for planning academic and personal support as well as successful strategies to encourage progression to graduate study for minority students in a variety of settings. The results of the study will be disseminated through scholarly articles, presentations at conferences, via relevant websites and through the National Center for Inclusive Education at Stony Brook University. The 33 other National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliances will be direct beneficiaries of the dissemination results using a number of different forums. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Ferguson, David Henry Etzkowitz SUNY at Stony Brook NY Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 199648 9133 SMET 9178 0602734 November 1, 2006 LSAMP: Islands of Opportunity Alliance. Project Summary The Pacific region has a rich treasury of people from diverse backgrounds who are unfortunately underrepresented in the sciences, but who have great potential to contribute to society in STEM areas if the barriers and obstacles that exist are ameliorated and appropriate opportunities are provided to encourage students success. Special barriers include isolation, often inadequate resources for secondary level science education, insufficient ability for remediation of science and mathematics skills in colleges, and a resulting "leaky pipeline" of students from underrepresented groups who graduate in the STEM disciplines. We propose establishment of an Islands of Opportunity Alliance within the Louis Stokes-Alliances for Minority Participation Program of NSF to help staunch the leaks in the pipeline through fulfilling four specific objectives. Our first objective is to set up Alliance activities that will improve recruitment of underrepresented students into STEM majors at Alliance schools through the establishment of bridge programs, improved articulation agreements for science courses among Alliance campuses, and creation of targeted recruitment activities. Our second objective is to provide research and/or internship experiences for these undergraduate students in STEM fields. Our third objective is to improve retention of underrepresented students through graduation with a baccalaureate degree in STEM fields through improved advising, mentorship programs, peer tutoring, academic skills workshops, establishment of an annual Alliance conference for students and faculty, and creation of communication outlets for Alliance members, including a newsletter and web site. Our fourth objective is to improve instruction in STEM fields through faculty development including cultural awareness workshops, summer research opportunities, bown bag seminars and new faculty orientation workshops. Intellectual Merit The Islands of Opportunity Alliance builds upon the successes of past and current LSAMP Programs throughout the country, utilizing practices that have been shown to best accomplish the primary goal of increasing graduation rates of underrepresented students in STEM fields. The Alliance has adapted these best practices to the unique cultural and geographic setting of the Pacific region, utilizing the extensive scholarship on crosscultural communication and on learning styles of islander peoples, and administrative structures that have succeeded in spanning the vast distances between islands. Broader Impact Hawaii and the Pacific region in general spans a large proportion of the globe, having great strategic, economic, and cultural significance for the nation. The people of the Pacific are an important resource for the U.S. who can provide greater contributions to economic, intellectual and scientific growth at local and national levels. The Pacific peoples have used native scientific principles to navigate over thousands of miles of ocean in what may be considered one of the wonders of human achievement. They have much more to offer the world in the coming century. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Tseng, Rose Neal Smatresk Bernard Ploeger University of Hawaii at Hilo HI Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1435139 9133 SMET 9178 0602740 November 1, 2006 Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Phase IV. PROJECT SUMMARY Page A The Louis Stokes Mississippi Alliance for Minority Participation LSMAMP James Perkins-LSMAMP Project Director Jackson State University PROJECT SUMMARY The LSMAMP institutions are focusing their collective resources on the rich pool of STEM students to motivate and mentor them toward BS, MS degrees and impact significantly on the number choosing the pathway to a STEM doctorate. The synergy that will result from these institutional interactions to increase minority Ph.D.s will transform the instructional, research and administrative aspects of cooperation among these institutions in ways never before envisioned. The requested support for continuation of the LSMAMP to Phase IV will accelerate this process and contribute to increasing the numbers of minority students entering the Ph.D. pipeline. The funding of the Phase IV program will continue to strengthen the foundation for institutionalization of the program in the state of Mississippi. The MAMP Bridge to the Doctorate program, coordinated by JSU for the alliance and supported by NSF, provides the resources to support 24 minority students to pursue graduate STEM degrees (MS) and then bridge to doctoral programs at MAMP institutions or other doctoral institutions across the nation. The MAMP Bridge to the Doctorate program was distinguished as being only one of two in the nation to place 100% of their Cohort I Bridge to the Doctorate students into doctoral programs. The program developed for Cohort I students will be shared with all MAMP institutions as a model to be replicated on each MAMP campus to leverage the NSF funding and increase the total number of undergraduate MAMP students targeting doctoral studies. Students? having undergraduate research experiences is fundamental to the success of the Bridge to the Doctorate program. Undergraduate research will be a major focus of the Phase IV MAMP program. Each MAMP sites will provide undergraduate research experiences for their students. MAMP sites will place students in research internship positions at MAMP institutions or at partner institution sites. MAMP students will present their research at the annual MAMP research symposium. Students will also be encouraged to present the results of their research projects at state and national conferences and meetings such as the Mississippi Academy of Sciences (MAS), the National Council on Undergraduate Research, the NSF JAM Conference, ABRCMS, and other professional conferences in their disciplines. The large number of minority students attending the MAS conference each year, and the steadily increasing number presenting papers, has benefited the students and has made an indelible impression on the Academy, fostering a climate of increasing diversity in the scientific environment of the state and region. The Phase IV MAMP will include a fresh approach to tracking students after they complete their BS. A robust website incorporating web-portal technology will be developed to support communications, networking and student tracking across the MAMP community. Intellectual Merit: The goal of the LSMAMP program is to establish a secure pathway for underrepresented minority students to obtain BS, MS and PhD degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This proposed project will build upon existing relationships between MAMP institutions, and partnering institutions, e.g. University of California campuses, LBL, LLNL, AGEM and MRC to increase the number of minority students enrolling and matriculating in MS and Ph.D. STEM graduate programs within and outside of the state of Mississippi. Broader Impacts: The LSMAMP program will increase the number of Ph.D. degrees in STEM areas awarded to minorities, especially African-Americans. We will PROJECT SUMMARY Page A provide well-qualified and diverse faculty members for U S universities and colleges, as well as impact the number of scientists and engineers holding the doctorate for employment in the STEM workforce. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Mohamed, Abdul Glake Hill Jackson State University MS Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 5491190 9133 SMET 9179 9178 9150 7206 7204 0602742 November 1, 2006 LSAMP Pacific Alliance Phase II. Building a National Model for Excellence in Native American Higher Education Programs LSAMP Pacific Alliance University of Alaska Anchorage The Pacific Alliance Universities University of Alaska Anchorage University of Alaska Fairbanks University of Hawai'i Manoa University of Washington Alaska Native Civil Engineering graduates Andy White and Michael Nabers helped architects and engineers to design a new 12,000 square foot building on the UAA campus to house the Pacific Alliance. Pacific Alliance Recruitment, Retention and Placement Strategies Pre-College program: empowerment & excitement about careers in engineering and science computer building with trig, physics & chemistry High School to University Bridge: Summer experiences for entering freshman Internships with Calculus Prep Graduate School Peer mentoring & co-enrollment Presentations and technical papers Organized study groups Collaborative experiences Faculty cross-cultural training Faculty mentoring Internships National & international conferences Grant writing experience Graduate research and undergraduate research Workshop for Teaching Assistant (TA) instruction Faculty Mentoring Peer Mentoring Supporting community Professional mentoring Graduate student mentoring Research Undergraduate Retention Learning Community Co-enrollment Team building Group study Advising Scholarships Internships Overview Our objective is to effect a systemic change in the hiring patterns of Indigenous Americans in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by increasing the number of individuals on a career path to leadership within STEM fields. We will double the 2005 Indigenous STEM graduation rate over the next 5 years. Intellectual merit: Beginning with high school juniors, structured programs lead students each step of the way through high school, into the undergraduate years, on to graduate school, and into professional life. At each level the goal is to create empowerment and excitement around engineering and science. We have doubled the Alliance wide Indigenous STEM graduation rate from 46 students in 2000 to 95 during the last academic year. Enrollments of Indigenous students in STEM disciplines have climbed from 344 students during the 2001- 2002 academic year to 795 during 2004-2005. We have leveraged $3.2 million in NSF funding with contributions of approximately $11 million dollars from our many partners. Broader Impact: Our students are among the poorest people in the nation. The parents of some of our Alaska Native students were raised on the tundra as nomads and are the first generation of people in their families to ever use money. Indigenous students have historically come to our Universities under-prepared in math and science. We would do years of remedial work at the University before these students were able to successfully complete a University level course. In many of the high schools with high populations of Native students, coursework was not available that would foster success in STEM degree programs. We are now bringing Indigenous people who are prepared in math and science to Alliance Universities in numbers that are unprecedented at our institutions. They are graduating and moving on to graduate schools. At UAA, the University is in construction phase for a 12,000 square foot building to house the Pacific Alliance and the Indigenous Peoples Institute for Engineering and Science Education. The new Institute will be a focal point as our programs are replicated across the nation. We are having a profound and positive impact on the students, their families, and their communities that will endure for generations. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Schroeder, Herb Elaine Maimon University of Alaska Anchorage Campus AK Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1300963 9133 SMET 9178 0602850 November 1, 2006 LSAMP SUNY Phase III: Infrastructures and Processes for Student Achievement and Advancement. SUNY LSAMP Phase III Processes and Infrastructures for Student Achievement and Advancement Proposal Abstract SUNY LS AMP Alliance is a coalition of sixteen institutions within the State University of New York (SUNY) system, one of the largest public college-university systems in the nation. This coalition works in collaboration with federal, state, local government agencies, funded programs and professional and community based organizations. The Alliance is broken up into five regions located throughout New York State: Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Hudson Valley and Long Island. Other participating campuses are: Broome, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Tompkins Cortland, Schenectady, Nassau, Suffolk community colleges, Buffalo State, Old Westbury, and Farmingdale four year colleges. Other alliance partners are SUNY Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Building on our successes in Phase I and II, in Phase III we plan to continue to develop the processes and infrastructures that will build student achievement and advancement from undergraduate to graduate study. We plan on accomplishing this by focusing on lessons learned and charting the future. We have learned that advancement happens through interventions at critical transition points, provision of comprehensive longitudinal services, and support of activities that lead to academic excellence such as achieving excellence in introductory gatekeeper courses and a developmental series of research experiences. SUNY LSAMP students are academically strong students who receive a comprehensive network of support services and who are majoring in STEM disciplines with a future goal of engineering or scientific research. Students are receiving financial support for participation in key program components with a priority for students that are engaged in research and internship placements. Each campus also has many outreach and educational activities that are open to all STEM students. The goals of SUNY LSAMP Phase III are: 1. To continue to build and improve the processes that increase student achievement and advancement in order to significantly increase the completion of underrepresented minority (UREP) science, technology, engineering and mathematics ( STEM )bachelors degrees and progression to graduate study by: Continuing to improve retention and performance of UREP students in STEM majors by providing comprehensive academic and support services to between 400-500 students a year. Providing support at critical transition points: high school to college, lower division to upper division, 2 year to 4 year, bachelors to graduate school and graduation to workforce. Building on existing efforts to put together a comprehensive series of interventions that increase aggregate student progression of UREP students into graduate school in STEM disciplines. 2. To take a leadership role in the infrastructure changes that will institutionalize LSAMP goals on the local, state and national level by: Continuing to increase direct financial support for SUNY LSAMP to reach program self-sufficiency. Building capacity in STEM research through local and national efforts to increase research and scholarship about UREP STEM issues and export the results of research to promote national best practices. Working as an agent of change in STEM curriculum and pedagogy. Intellectual Merit In Phase III, SUNY LSAMP will undertake a major project that will build research capacity in STEM with a research project that will have two main foci: 1.It will examine the barriers and support needed to implement key support activities in order to provide a model for the delivery and administration of support services and 2. It will identify the various factors, attitudes and experiences that lead UREP STEM students to graduate school and on to the professoriate in order to integrate those practices that help increase the number of students entering the pathway to graduate school Broader Impact The projects mission is to disseminate best practices from the program evaluation and the research project on the state and national level through the National Center for Inclusive Education housed at Stony Brook, the program web site and through the production of scholarly articles and presentations at relevant conferences about UREP STEM recruitment and retention issues. The emphasis on the success of under-represented groups will help to produce an inclusive high technology workforce crucial to this country. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Kenny, Shirley Henry Teoh David Ferguson Stacie Nunes Peter Partell SUNY at Stony Brook NY Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 3599638 9133 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0602862 April 1, 2006 Increasing Research Opportunities for Undergraduates: A Program for Native American and Pacific Islander Students. Abstract The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) at Duke University in collaboration with the All- Nations and Pacific Alliances for Minority Participation provides field research experiences for Native American and Pacific Islander undergraduate students. The eight week research program takes place in Costa Rica at the Las Cruces Biological Station, an important research station in the Neotropics and a major OTS center for hands-on training in field-oriented research. The goal of the Native American and Pacific Islander program is to continue to provide an intensive field research experience for Native American and Pacific Islander undergraduate students. The new program is structured around an eight-week stay in Costa Rica and Panama, during which the participants will conduct research at the OTS Las Cruces Biological Station, among other sites, and visit indigenous communities. The focus of the program is the development of the students interest in biology and their capacity to conduct independent field research. The program introduces participants to biodiversity, cultural diversity and community-based conservation issues of the tropics. The NSF Louis Stokes Alliances for Participation (LS-AMP) program funded a successful pilot program of 15 students in 2005 under grant HRD 05-03308. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Losos, Elizabeth Duke University NC Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 1003766 9133 SMET 9178 0603091 November 1, 2006 LSAMP: Kentucky - West Virginia Alliance for Minority Participation. LSAMP: Kentucky West Virginia Alliance for Minority Participation Project Summary Increasing both the total number of STEM degrees awarded, and the number of STEM degrees awarded to underrepresented students, are priorities in both West Virginia and Kentucky. The 2000 Census reported that over 25% of the U.S. population was African- American, Hispanic or Native American. These same minority groups made up only 9% and 4.1% of the population in Kentucky and West Virginia respectively. These numbers represent a recruitment challenge for the Alliance but have also served to strengthen the resolve of the participating institutions. The KY WV LSAMP alliance is a collaboration of ten academic institutions, the KY-NSF Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the WV-NSF EPSCoR, two state agencies, and the initial stage of a developing industrial support base. The Alliance partners submit this Phase I proposal to significantly increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented students receiving baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields, and enhance their research career aspirations. The current baseline total number of minority STEM baccalaureate degrees annually for these Alliance institutions is 128. This value is derived from 5-year averages where available to more accurately establish an appropriate baseline value. Current institutional databases are unable to individually distinguish Asian and Pacific Islanders. Thus, the values reported for minority populations in this proposal consist of African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. The 5-year target at the end of the Phase I project is to increase this number by 111%, achieving an annual minority STEM baccalaureate degree production of 270. The partners of the KY WV LSAMP submit this Phase I LSAMP proposal to reach the goal of creating diverse campus environments and increasing minority STEM baccalaureate degree production. The developed approach incorporates those six identified characteristics of successful programs in a manner tailored for the Alliance institutions and the two states. The focus areas for our approach are: Recruitment and retention Research experiences Transitional experiences Climate Curriculum reform Postgraduate career aspirations Role models In addition to individual campus activities in these areas, the Alliance will be enhanced by a best-practices committee of partner institutions for each focus area. Alliance-wide activities include an annual student research symposium, and workshops on such topics as the benefits of graduate school, preparation for graduate school, research career options, incorporating diversity into the curriculum, mentoring, and recruitment and retention of minority STEM faculty. The potential impact of this program will be visible on both campus and state levels. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity is the increased knowledge base related to teaching and learning practices for STEM disciplines, the knowledge base regarding practices for improved retention, and the development of improved curriculum materials and practices for STEM disciplines. The foremost broader impact is the increase in minority STEM baccalaureate degree production. This will broaden the math, science, and engineering participation of underrepresented students in two states. The increase in skilled workforce has the potential to significantly stimulate the competitive position of the two states relative to that available with the current educational levels, and in doing so, attract new jobs which diversify the economic base. Improvements in the faculty demographics add expanded research capacity to academic community and broaden the participation of underrepresented faculty in STEM disciplines. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Todd, Lee Ingrid St. Omer University of Kentucky Research Foundation KY Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1458237 9133 SMET 9178 9133 0603099 November 1, 2006 Urban Massachusetts LSAMP. PROJECT SUMMARY Page A Urban Massachusetts Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Project Summary The Urban Massachusetts Alliance for Minority Participation (UMLSAMP) is comprised of the University of Massachusetts Boston, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Lowell, and Wentworth Institute of Technology and their community college colleagues Bunker Hill, Roxbury, Bristol, and Middlesex Led by UMass Boston, The UMLSAMP is designed to address three interrelated problems. First, the number of underrepresented students at the Alliance institutions majoring in STEM fields is relatively small. In Fall 2004, only 820 Alliance undergraduates were enrolled in a STEM major, 12% of the total. Of the students who do enroll in a STEM major, far too few graduate--only 99 STEM BS degrees were awarded to underrepresented minority students by Alliance institutions in 2004. Finally, there is a lack of alignment between courses and programs offered by community colleges and the four-year institutions to which the majority of their students transfer. Lack of alignment also often greatly increases the amount of time it takes students to progress to degree completion. The Urban Massachusetts LSAMP (UMLSAMP) will aggressively recruit underrepresented minority students from local high schools and partner community colleges who have an interest in STEM. The UMLSAMP will implement new and expand existing bridge programs for incoming freshmen and for community college transfer students where students will take intensive math courses, interdisciplinary STEM courses and work part-time in research labs. The UMLSAMP will implement facilitated study groups for the gateway courses to further ensure success. AMP students will be provided mentored research experiences and other scholarly activities, including opportunities to attend research seminars, talks, and conferences. AMP students will have access to a drop in center and will receive intensive mentoring from peers, faculty, advisors focused on making sure the students, especially during the first two years, successfully progress into and through college and helping them develop and define their academic and career goals. Finally UMLSAMP members will focus on articulation and alignment of STEM courses and degree programs between the community colleges and the four year institutions. The Alliance members value the synergy that results from working collaboratively and, in addition to joint governance of the Alliance, have planned several activities to capitalize on the group?s collective wisdom and energy, including joint planning and implementation of activities, common data metrics and benchmarks and identification of institutional obstacles that impede the progress of underrepresented students in STEM majors, and an annual research and best practices conference will be rotated among the Alliance Institutions. We expect to achieve the following outcomes by the end of five years: 1. 50% increase in the number of Black, Hispanic, and Native American students majoring in STEM fields. 2. 150% increase the number of BS STEM degrees conferred on Black, Hispanic, and Native American students 3. 150% increase the number of students who successfully transfer from Alliance community colleges into BS STEM majors. Each of the Alliance members have extensive experience in minority student development and PROJECT SUMMARY Page A have drawn upon the literature on the retention of low income, first generation, and underrepresented students and studies of best practice in minority student development in the sciences (intellectual merit) in designing the proposed LSAMP. The Alliance will implement activities with intellectual merit which will have several broad impacts. First, the impact of project activities on student success in gateway math and science courses will be carefully evaluated and those that are most effective will be institutionalized. Second, because the project has a particular focus on underrepresented students and on transitioning community college students to baccalaureate degree programs, it will contribute important knowledge to the field. Finally, project results and effective strategies will be disseminated to other institutions through an annual report on "Lessons Learned" and "Best Practices." ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Langley, Winston Joan Becker University of Massachusetts Boston MA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1871796 9133 SMET 9178 0603176 October 1, 2006 CO-AMP Phase III. A-1 Louis Stokes Colorado Alliance for Minority Participation CO-AMP Phase III Project Summary Colorado State University (CSU) in collaboration with the University of Colorado at Boulder, Fort Lewis College, Colorado State University at Pueblo, Metropolitan State College of Denver, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado at Denver, Colorado School of Mines, Adams State College, Trinidad State Junior College, Pueblo Community College, Din College, AIMS Community College, four tribal nations, and industry constitute part of the CO-AMP consortium that was formed in 1995/96. The consortium is proposing COAMP Phase III that will undertake a comprehensive effort to address the following activities in connection with under-represented students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines: Recruitment, retention & leadership programs Longitudinal tracking Summer outreach programs Graduate school placement The primary goal of the LS CO-AMP Phase III Proposal is to continue increasing the number of underrepresented minority students successfully completing baccalaureates degrees in STEM disciplines in Colorado. Phase III of CO-AMP will build upon the momentum and the success of LS CO-AMP, which began in 1995. The underrepresented students (Hispanic, African American, Native American, and Pacific Islanders) who are enrolled in the undergraduate STEM degree programs at the participating institutions will benefit greatly from the proposed activities. The efforts of the Consortium will extend from the pre-freshmen level to enrollment in graduate school programs. The CO-AMP consortium has been the major driving force at the institutions involved since 1995 to encourage and motivate students to excel and graduate with a B.S. degree in the STEM fields. The enrollment and visibility of diverse students has increased at the participating institutions which is demonstrated by the 68% increase in the LS CO-AMP enrollment since its inception. Student performance in their respective disciplines has improved tremendously. A significant level of support, in addition to that from the NSF, has been provided by the central administrations, the Departments and Colleges of the Consortium institutions, Industry, and the Colorado Institute of Technology. Very importantly, the faculty and staff members of the Consortium institutions have provided essential support without which the activities of LS CO-AMP could not have been so successful. CO-AMP participating institutions, industry, tribal councils and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education are expected to continue their support of the project from 2006 to 2011. The success of this consortium will continue to be shared with the other LS AMPs in the nation. In addition, CO-AMP will work with the Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) to place more underrepresented students in STEM graduate studies. By linking the resources of the Consortium institutions and partners and by continuing ongoing efforts to solicit funding from all available sources, LS CO-AMP will continue to promote institutionalizing the successful programs it has developed within the Consortium institutions. This is essential to assure that the benefits to students, which occur from these programs, continue after funding from the NSF is no longer available. Intellectual Merit Colorado LS CO AMP is looking to continue increasing the number of underrepresented undergraduate students graduating with a Bachelors Degree in STEM disciplines. In addition, LS CO-AMP Phase III is planning to matriculate underrepresented (UREP) students into graduate school to ensure a future balance of the representation of minority students in STEM graduate disciplines. During Phase III, the Consortium will work toward institutionalizing and sustaining its program activities after the NSF Funding expires. LS CO-AMP has had considerable success during Phase I and II, and the Consortiums success will be amplified during the proposed LS CO-AMP Phase III project. The anticipated successful collaboration with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the legislature, and congressional representatives, will strengthen the sustainability of LS CO-AMP in the State of Colorado. Broader Impact Through the assessment of the activities and the collaboration of LS CO-AMP with other alliances such as AGEP, McNair Scholarships Program, and Rocky Mountain Middle School Math Science Partnership, LS CO AMP plans to increase awareness of cultural differences and necessary institutional changes to positively sustain support of UREP STEM undergraduate and graduate students after NSF funding expires. Moreover, the results of the Phase III programs and activities will add substantially to the understanding of the issues and the challenges of UREP students in graduate and undergraduate STEM disciplines. The focus of LS CO-AMP Phase III is to continue the recruitment and the retention activities of Phase I and Phase II, as well as to matriculate the UREP undergraduate students into graduate school. This commitment to graduate education will produce more UREP STEM faculty members who, in turn, will help in bringing more diverse students to the classroom. It will also enable effective and sustainable institutional transformation to enhance diversity in STEM disciplines. In addition, this diversity commitment will improve the overall climate for UREP students in the State of Colorado and nationwide. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Miranda, Rick Peter Dorhout Hector Carrasco Brian Argrow Larry Johnson Ernest Chavez Colorado State University CO Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 3973999 9133 SMET 9179 9178 0603199 November 1, 2006 All Nations Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program. Project Summary The goal of All Nations Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ANLSAMP) program is that of substantially increasing the number of American Indians and other under-represented minorities who enroll in STEM disciplines at partner institutions and complete B.S. degrees in the STEM fields. In order to achieve this goal, the ANLSAMP partner institutions have designed program components that will increase the number of American Indians who will graduate with A.A. and B.S. degrees in these fields. ANLSAMP is uniquely situated in that it works with most of the nations tribal colleges as well as a number of majority colleges/universities. We have assembled these particular groups for two reasons. First, a greater number of American Indians are pursuing higher education at tribal colleges. The participation of this group of course, insures that NSF funding will impact the greatest number of Native American students. Second, since many tribal colleges do not have STEM bachelors degree programs, it is important to have majority institutions within our network to bridge our students from the associate degree level to the bachelor degree and beyond. ANLSAMP has developed the following list of five-year objectives to accomplish the goal presented above: Increase by 100%, the enrollment of American Indian students in STEM disciplines at Associate degree-granting institutions. To increase by 100%, the enrollment of American Indian students in STEM disciplines at Bachelors of Science degree granting institutions. To increase by 100%, the number of American Indians who received Bachelors degrees in STEM disciplines. To double the number of Bachelors Degree programs in STEM at tribal colleges, from 3 to 6. To enroll 15% of the STEM bachelor degree recipients in graduate degree programs. Thirty-six institutions of higher education have come together to form an Alliance with the specific intent of influencing American Indian students as well as other under-represented minority students to pursue and attain associate and bachelor degrees in one of the science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The under-representation of American Indians in the STEM professions has been highlighted and targeted as an action item at the national level over several decades. However, the participation of American Indians in STEM careers has shown only marginal improvements over the years, such that their current representation amount to less than 0.5% of the STEM workforce. This low representation has the potential of failing to tap into the unique capabilities and talents of American Indians. ANLSAMP has carefully considered its project development in order to meet the intellectual merit required of an LSAMP project. As a consequence of an evaluation of the levels of commitments and needs and of the availability of resources, ANLSAMP has re-organized its partner institution into three tiers. This tier structure will build capacity and facilitate the participation of all STEM faculty and students at partner institutions while, at the same time, ensuring that program objectives are accomplished. The ANLSAMP partner institutions will utilize a 4-R model to address the four most important areas for our students and our program. They are: 1) Recruitment, 2) Retention, 3) Research and, 4) Reporting. Within each R, our focus is that of continually providing opportunities to substantially increase the number of Native American STEM students who enroll in and graduate from partner institutions. Upon the successful implementation of program activities, the Alliance leadership expects to observe a significant and sustained increase in STEM student enrollment at the partner institutions. The increase in enrollment will accrue from the success of the recruitment initiatives within the high school and two-year colleges. The enhancement of the academic activities for student participants, the culmination of tutoring, mentoring and field and internship experiences are expected to stimulate and sustain students interests with a concomitant increase in student retention rates. The activities presented in this proposal are expected to generate an increase in the rate of student persistence and progression in pursuit of these accomplishments. The broader impact for this program reaches beyond American Indians in higher education. The Alliance leadership expects that the support from the NSF, the non-federally funded internships and scholarships along with in-kind contributions from the partner institutions will ultimately pay significant dividends to the States in which partner institutions are located, to the nation and in particular, to American Indian Communities. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Wheeler, Zetra Salish Kootenai College MT Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1622298 9133 SMET 9178 0603239 November 1, 2006 California LSAMP Phase IV. CAMP Summary The Louis Stokes California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) a ?Phase III? Alliance funded by the National Science Foundation, is a prime University of California initiative to diversity the student population and the future faculty. Phase IV will continue the grant, HRD No. 0115115. UC Irvine serves as the lead campus and fiscal agent, under the established cooperative agreement. The primary goal of the eight UC campus partners (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Diego and Riverside) is to significantly increase the number of B.S. degrees granted to undererepresented minority students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) majors at the University of California and to prepare these students competitively for the nations top graduate schools. This is accomplished through shared best practices, networking, and a cultural change in the campus climate. CAMP represents a systemwide community of UC faculty, program staff, and students working toward a set of shared goals, including not only B.S. degree completion but continuation on to graduate school, completion of the Ph.D., and entry into the scientific and engineering workplace. This collective effort has contributed to a 78% increase in B.S. degrees granted by UC from the baseline year (1990-91), for a total of 12,396 bachelors degrees awarded to date to underrepresented minorities by UC. In addition to faculty mentored research experiences and peer mentoring and tutoring, principal activities include collaborative learning, presenting at scientific conferences, science writing and co-authorship, technology proficiency, and preparation for advanced degrees. Graduate education is currently supported by the supplemental activity, Bridge to the Doctorate, which currently has three cohorts, hosted respectively at UCLA, UCI, and UC San Diego. The Bridge Fellows represent a robust effort to encourage and support minority graduate education and completion of the doctorate. The Bridge to the Doctorate also represents the foundation for continuing the AMP program into Phase IV. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Drake, Michael University of California-Irvine CA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2987000 9133 SMET 9178 0603747 September 1, 2006 AGEP/HRD SGER: enhancing the Cyberinfrastructure for National AGEP Integration: Rapid Prototyping and Evaluation of a Pilot NY AGEP Collaboratory. Introduction: With the goal to address the severe national shortage in the number of domestic members of underrepresented populations (i.e., African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders) pursuing doctoral degrees in the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program was initiated by the NSF in 1998. During the last 7 years, the program has grown from few alliances in 1998 to 27 AGEP alliances nationwide in 2005. While these AGEP alliances are required to collaborate amongst themselves in order to better fulfill the program goals, transaction costs and financial constraints prevent them from collaborating more effectively on a regional or national basis. This limitation may hinder the full potential and growth of the AGEP Program because individual alliances may miss out on opportunities for the identification and sharing of best practices and lessons learned from other AGEP alliances. The purpose of this project is to explore the degree to which the strategic deployment of cyberinfrastructure can broaden and deepen collaboration amongst AGEP alliances in NY State, as a pilot study, and to lay the empirical foundation for a larger proposal to strengthen the national integration of AGEP alliances. Intellectual Merit: To accomplish these goals for enhanced collaboration and sharing of best practices and resources throughout the national AGEP community, we have designed our study to be implemented in two phases: The focus of Phase One will be to build a pilot collaboratory for the emerging partnership of the New York AGEP alliances. This pilot NY AGEP Collaboratory will serve as the prototype of a National AGEP Collaboratory that may be proposed after evaluation of the pilot data. In Phase Two of the proposed project, we will expand membership in the pilot collaboratory to the remaining three AGEP alliances on the East Coast. Again, this pilot East Coast AGEP Collaboratory will help us to learn valuable lessons as we plan for a proposed National AGEP Collaboratory project. Guided by literature on the development of Cyberinfrastructure and Collaboratories, we propose to study the three overarching domains around collaboratory practices. We characterize these domains as: (1) people-to-people; (2) people-to-information; and (3) people-to-facilities. Each of these domains is critical to the needs of the AGEP alliances. Formative and summative evaluation of the pilot study will be undertaken to provide the analysis that will help in making decisions about the subsequent phases of the project, leading up to the national AGEP Collaboratory. Areas that will be evaluated include administrative capacity, planning and research, affiliate capacity building, and enhancing outreach capacity. Broader Societal Impacts: In addition to the project's direct impact on the participating AGEP alliances in terms of building their capacities and increasing their efficiency to facilitate the achievement of their objectives to support the development of more members of underrepresented populations achieving the doctorate in the STEM disciplines and entering the professoriate, the project has broader impact at regional and national levels. The universities and their student populations in general will benefit from increased opportunities for collaboration amongst the participating universities, including brown bags, courses, seminars, and research opportunities. These technologies will make it easier to engage local communities in research activities where relevant. Nationally, the lessons learned form this project can be applied not only to the future AGEP collaboratory, but to other loose networks and alliances of interdisciplinary and multi-institutional actors. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Cogburn, Derrick Syracuse University NY Lenell Allen Continuing grant 188223 1515 SMET 9179 0605980 August 1, 2006 Tribal Colleges Building Tribal Communities: A Workshop Proposal. This project will convene tribal college leaders and faculty, tribal community leaders, and other policy stakeholders in a workshop to disucss the future of tribal colleges in the new century. The PI has a vast background in writing about tribal college history and current progress. The proposing institution has its roots in tribal college leadership, and has a strong track record of facilitating such activities. The proceedings will be compiled and publicized by the PI, and can be used to inform tribal college policy decisions. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Boyer, Paul Joseph McDonald Salish Kootenai College MT Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 212597 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0607081 July 1, 2006 GSE/RES Assessing Women in Student Environments (AWISE) Moving Assessment of Women Studying Engineering into the Classroom. University of Missouri Columbia is addressing the national goal of increasing the number of women studying engineering by examining the impact of classroom experiences on women engineering students, and the experiences and barriers experienced by women engineering students who begin study at a community college (CC). Assessing Women in Student Environments (AWISE) will enable comparative and cross institutional assessments of core engineering curricular experiences (e.g. team interactions, student to student interactions) and CC experiences by developing instruments that measure both male and female student experience. Research will be conducted at Penn State Universitys main campus in three departments and its satellite campuses (which act as CCs). Intellectual Merit Research questions include: To what extent do the following occur, as reported by students: team projects, student to student interactions in non-formal teams or lab work, and student to faculty interactions? How do students participate in these activities or interactions in engineering classrooms and laboratories? How do students perceive these activities? For all above questions, are there differences between men and women, ethnic minority and majority students, CC students and main campus students, main campus students in different engineering departments, and students who began their degrees at a CC and those who began at the main campus? AWISE will develop high quality tools for producing a national data set answering research questions on classroom instructional practices at institutions nationwide. This can ultimately can promote engineering curricular change and even provide insight into why the percentage of women studying engineering seems stalled at about 20% nationally. The results are likely to be valuable to a large portion of the engineering education community given that AWISE data will be collected at a large engineering school with a diverse student population. AWISE will determine through valid research the impact of ABET 2000 criteria on the use of teams, which are assumed to be beneficial to underrepresented students. In addition, the project will examine how CC students, who are a significant source of women studying engineering, experience the process of transferring to a four-year institution, what experiences are helping to prepare them to transfer successfully, and what experiences are impeding that process. Broader Impact AWISE will have broad impact in the following domains. Assessment capacity building. The creation and dissemination of high quality classroom assessment tools will provide the basis for national-level assessment and comparisons. Women & under-represented minorities in engineering. The findings can identify best practices for creating equitable classroom climates at 2 and 4-year institutions, and facilitate the success of women, minorities and CC transfer students. Engineering faculty and administrators. AWISEs design and dissemination plans focus on faculty involvement. Through their participation in this type of survey, faculty can become aware of the need to seek high quality assessment as the basis for sound curricular changes; aware that some new pedagogical methods are not necessarily beneficial; and aware that there are special issues that arise for CC transfer students, particularly for women who begin their postsecondary engineering at CCs. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Marra, Rose Robert Pangborn Laura Pauley Cliff Lissenden Barbara Bogue University of Missouri-Columbia MO Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 442269 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0610634 December 15, 2005 The Science Education Resource Virtual Diversity Center. Abstract In partnership with the Science.gov Alliance, the principal investigator, Dr. William E. McHenry and the co-principal investigator Dr. John S. Colonias propose to create a web-based comprehensive one-stop science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational resource tool the Science Education Resource Virtual Diversity Center (SER Virtual Diversity Center). The SER Virtual Diversity Center will feature: (1) STEM education programs by category of federal support; (2) promising practices and lessons learned from federal STEM education supporting agencies as well as from the institutions they support; (3) STEM-based educational resources for students and parents; and (4) a virtual electronic campus designed to assist institutions in sharing STEM educational courses and degree programs using the internet. Merit. The SER Virtual Diversity Center will serve as the major STEM education content portal for federal programs that target increasing participation from women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities in the STEM workforce and eventually serve as a tool for sharing information on all strategies designed to address the nation's STEM workforce needs. The SER Virtual Diversity Center will use technology-enabled processes to connect federal agencies with each other and with higher education faculty and administrators; K-12 teachers, counselors, administrators; students and parents in order to achieve dramatic improvement in efficiency for those involved in increasing minority participation in STEM -- especially federal agencies. Impact. As outlined in the BEST Report, the participation of American students in STEM fields must dramatically increase if America is to remain competitive in a global economy. With the American population becoming more diverse, students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields must be encouraged to participate. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Tribal Colleges have a record of unparalleled success with these students. The NSF's HRD Programs, especially the Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) and alliance programs, are examples of the impact partnerships between the federal government and minority-serving institutions can have on increasing the capacity of those institutions for producing STEM professionals. Purposively, the SER Virtual Diversity Center will enable federal agency program officers to better access information across agency lines, coordinate science education initiatives, and connect agencies more directly with higher education institutions and their faculty and school districts and their teachers, counselors, students, and parents to create STEM knowledge-based communities. The authors propose to create a one-stop SER Virtual Diversity Center through which federal agency program officers and others can view: (1) STEM education programs by category of federal support; (2) promising practices and lessons learned from federal STEM education supporting agencies as well as from the institutions they support; (3) STEM-based educational resources for students and parents; and (4) a virtual electronic campus designed to assist institutions in sharing STEM educational courses and degree programs using the internet. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR McHenry, William Jackson State University MS Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 276166 1582 SMET 9179 9178 9150 1582 0618406 September 15, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination: Partnership of Women in Engineering, Research and Science - PoWERS. Texas Tech University (TTU) and Texas Tech Health Science Center (HSC) have partnered to advance the status of women faculty in engineering, science, medicine and research by addressing specific problems identified by task force studies and administrators at both institutions with "best practices" from proven ADVANCE- supported programs. These programs are being implemented in the eight departments in the College of Engineering (COE), four science departments in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), two departments in the School of Pharmacy (SOP), and four departments in the School of Medicine (SOM). These programs include a comprehensive recruitment plan, two mentoring programs, the third-year review, and an improved exit interview process. The mentoring programs are important because they enable the small number of experienced women to reach more junior women across the 74,000 sq miles of the TTU system. The recruitment program will train search committees on the value and effective approaches to a robust search process that results in a pool of highly qualified men and women in the final candidate pool. The third-year review will lead to better preparedness on the part of the faculty candidate for tenure and promotion; and the exit interviews will uncover gender-related factors that contribute to faculty leaving the university. All the ADVANCE programs adapted for use at TTU and HSC will be evaluated using both qualitative and quantitative methods throughout the award period, thus revisions of the programs can be made pro-actively. Further, an advisory board with internal and external members, a concept adopted from University of Texas at El-Paso's ADVANCE project, is being used to provide timely and continuous guidance throughout the project period. The intellectual merit of this project lies in creating an integrated and comprehensive approach to improving the numbers of women faculty in engineering, science, medicine, and research at TTU and HSC to uncover the root causes relevant to recruitment and retention. The broader impacts of this project include advances in understanding effective recruitment and retention practices to help create the next generation of leaders in science and engineering. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Hoo, Karlene Caryl Heintz-Wyatt Charlotte Dunham Stephanie Leeper Cynthia Raehl Texas Tech University TX Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 499590 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0618940 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: Collaborative Research for Horizontal Mentoring Alliances. The proposed project is an innovative approach to facilitate the advancement of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to the highest ranks of academic leadership. This project will enhance the leadership, visibility, and recognition of participating faculty members with an effective peer mentoring strategy involving the establishment of five-member horizontal mentoring alliances of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to engage in discussions and workshops focused on career and leadership development. Cyber-enabled networking of the alliances will augment the peer-support structure and facilitate the sustainability of the alliances. The partnership of four co-principal investigators will facilitate project management. The proposed horizontal mentoring alliances will directly impact the career development of twenty senior women faculty members at different liberal arts institutions. Ultimately, the career advancement achieved by each faculty member will instill confidence in female students of their future career success in STEM fields and provide paradigms for junior female faculty members to model their own careers. The cyber-facilitated expansion of the network to senior women faculty members in STEM disciplines at the participating institutions will develop a cohort to serve as leaders of institutional change. The project will contribute to the national knowledge base on practices that can enhance the academic career advancement of women in science and engineering through the career development resources generated by each alliance and from a set of recommendations on this peer mentoring approach that will be developed at a concluding summit meeting. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Rossi, Miriam Vassar College NY Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 52641 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0618977 January 1, 2007 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: Gender Equity in STEM at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The ADVANCE/PAID Program at the University of Missouri Program will partners with and adapt successful ADVANCE Programs at the University of Michigan and New Mexico State University. The goals of the program are to educate STEM administrators and faculty about the impact of unconscious gender bias on women's advancement, to identify best practices in support of gender equity, and to establish a support and mentoring infrastructure for women in mid-career faculty positions. Social science research shows that institutional structure and practice are major sustaining elements of the underrepresentation of women in faculty and leadership positions in STEM. Mizzou ADVANCE interventions target unconscious gender bias and faculty women's isolation, which are identified as primary mechanisms producing inequity. Research based on the interventions will contribute to understanding how educational outreach across STEM and reductions in faculty isolation affect institutional structure and how such strategies can be used to eliminate barriers to women's advancement. This project helps establish the effectiveness and transferability of current ADVANCE interventions, thereby contributing to knowledge of institutional solutions that promote the advancement of women. It provides senior faculty with the skills, relationships, and climate that promote advancement, which, in turn, enhances the position of women in STEM at all ranks. It contributes to improving graduate education by involving graduate students in research activities that illustrate best practices concerning gender equity. Additional minority participation is included through involvement of STEM faculty from Lincoln University, an Historically Black College and University, in professional development workshops ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Litt, Jacquelyn Meera Chandrasekhar Suzanne Burgoyne Michael Middleton Jill Hermsen University of Missouri-Columbia MO Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 499993 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0619027 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: Collaborative Research for Horizontal Mentoring Alliances. The proposed project is an innovative approach to facilitate the advancement of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to the highest ranks of academic leadership. This project will enhance the leadership, visibility, and recognition of participating faculty members with an effective peer mentoring strategy involving the establishment of five-member horizontal mentoring alliances of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to engage in discussions and workshops focused on career and leadership development. Cyber-enabled networking of the alliances will augment the peer-support structure and facilitate the sustainability of the alliances. The partnership of four co-principal investigators will facilitate project management. The proposed horizontal mentoring alliances will directly impact the career development of twenty senior women faculty members at different liberal arts institutions. Ultimately, the career advancement achieved by each faculty member will instill confidence in female students of their future career success in STEM fields and provide paradigms for junior female faculty members to model their own careers. The cyber-facilitated expansion of the network to senior women faculty members in STEM disciplines at the participating institutions will develop a cohort to serve as leaders of institutional change. The project will contribute to the national knowledge base on practices that can enhance the academic career advancement of women in science and engineering through the career development resources generated by each alliance and from a set of recommendations on this peer mentoring approach that will be developed at a concluding summit meeting. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Gourley, Bridget DePauw University IN Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 42282 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0619052 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: Collaborative Research for Horizontal Mentoring Alliances. The proposed project is an innovative approach to facilitate the advancement of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to the highest ranks of academic leadership. This project will enhance the leadership, visibility, and recognition of participating faculty members with an effective peer mentoring strategy involving the establishment of five-member horizontal mentoring alliances of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to engage in discussions and workshops focused on career and leadership development. Cyber-enabled networking of the alliances will augment the peer-support structure and facilitate the sustainability of the alliances. The partnership of four co-principal investigators will facilitate project management. The proposed horizontal mentoring alliances will directly impact the career development of twenty senior women faculty members at different liberal arts institutions. Ultimately, the career advancement achieved by each faculty member will instill confidence in female students of their future career success in STEM fields and provide paradigms for junior female faculty members to model their own careers. The cyber-facilitated expansion of the network to senior women faculty members in STEM disciplines at the participating institutions will develop a cohort to serve as leaders of institutional change. The project will contribute to the national knowledge base on practices that can enhance the academic career advancement of women in science and engineering through the career development resources generated by each alliance and from a set of recommendations on this peer mentoring approach that will be developed at a concluding summit meeting. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Wright, Laura Furman University SC Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 43773 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0619150 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: Collaborative Research for Horizontal Mentoring Alliances. The proposed project is an innovative approach to facilitate the advancement of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to the highest ranks of academic leadership. This project will enhance the leadership, visibility, and recognition of participating faculty members with an effective peer mentoring strategy involving the establishment of five-member horizontal mentoring alliances of senior women chemistry faculty members at liberal arts institutions to engage in discussions and workshops focused on career and leadership development. Cyber-enabled networking of the alliances will augment the peer-support structure and facilitate the sustainability of the alliances. The partnership of four co-principal investigators will facilitate project management. The proposed horizontal mentoring alliances will directly impact the career development of twenty senior women faculty members at different liberal arts institutions. Ultimately, the career advancement achieved by each faculty member will instill confidence in female students of their future career success in STEM fields and provide paradigms for junior female faculty members to model their own careers. The cyber-facilitated expansion of the network to senior women faculty members in STEM disciplines at the participating institutions will develop a cohort to serve as leaders of institutional change. The project will contribute to the national knowledge base on practices that can enhance the academic career advancement of women in science and engineering through the career development resources generated by each alliance and from a set of recommendations on this peer mentoring approach that will be developed at a concluding summit meeting. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Karukstis, Kerry Harvey Mudd College CA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 361168 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0619159 September 15, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: National Leadership Development Workshops for Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Department Chairs. While women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have made significant strides in the last several decades, gender discrepancies still exist in these disciplines. The strategies and programs for institutional transformation created by the first two rounds of ADVANCE schools to support the advancement of women faculty in STEM have gone far beyond administrative rhetoric. They have challenged and redefined the status quo and have benefited not only women faculty, but also the faculty at large. In general, at many universities and colleges, faculty professional development is not explicitly addressed. While research, and increasingly teaching, support has been available on campuses, other areas of faculty work (service, leadership, networking, etc.) have received very little attention. Yet these areas are critical to success of the faculty overall, and play an important role in the likelihood of advancement, particularly for women faculty. Academic leaders, and particularly department chairs, carry considerable responsibility for departmental faculty recruitment, advancement, and retention. In this respect, they are key players in the institutional transformation process and in setting the climate of their departments. Few resources are available to support this role, however, and many chairs have little regular access to other department chairs, who could provide peer mentoring. The goal of this ADVANCE PAID proposal is to provide department chairs with the resources, skill development, and peer networks that will support more effective department leadership and governance, and contribute to a more positive department culture for all faculty. The University of Washington will implement a series of two-day national leadership workshops over a three-year period for department chairs, deans, and emerging leaders in STEM. One workshop will be held each year at the University of Washington (UW), and in two of the three years, a second workshop will be held at an alternate regional site. These workshops are based on the UW ADVANCE program's quarterly leadership workshop series and two national pilot workshops. A pre-workshop mentoring-for-leadership event will be offered to women faculty at each workshop. Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of this proposal is the creation of leadership and professional development opportunities for STEM department chairs and emerging leaders, particularly women faculty. The workshops will provide opportunities for academic leaders to address issues of gender equity, leadership, faculty recruitment, faculty professional development, family-friendly policies, and policy implementation. Each workshop will result in the creation of resources to support and advance issues relevant to the success of all faculty, and women faculty in particular. Broader Impact: The national scope of the workshop allows the impact to be far reaching. The University of Washington will collaborate with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other institutions to include department chairs and faculty of color, particularly women. Holding workshops at regional locations will increase participation and ideally create local communities of department chairs who can continue to network and learn from each other, and potentially replicate parts of the workshops at their own institutions. The national workshops provide a venue for STEM department chairs from around the country to exchange best practices and strategies. Up to 250 department chairs and emerging leaders are expected to attend the workshops. The project team will also be available for consultation with institutions interested in hosting local, campus-based workshops. All workshop materials will be widely distributed via websites, presentations, papers, etc. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Cauce, Ana Mari Eve Riskin Joyce Yen University of Washington WA Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 500000 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0619979 January 1, 2007 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award. This award to the Women in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI), an NSF-funded ADVANCE Institutional Transformation project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, supports further development and evaluation of interventions to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering. The PAID funds will enable WISELI to (1) continue conducting and evaluating two workshop series and (2) produce ten evidence-based brochures/booklets. The UW-Madison and other universities will use these tools in their efforts to increase the hiring, retention, and promotion of women and underrepresented minority faculty in STEM fields. The workshops and evidence-based guides serve to educate faculty, staff, and administrators on the impact of unconscious biases and assumptions. Two specific workshops will be continued at UW-Madison. In Workshops for Search Committee Chairs, a variety of formats is used to reach chairs of search committees, search committee members, and administrators who interact with search committees. Through an interactive format, five essential elements of a successful search are highlighted, stressing the importance of understanding how unconscious biases and assumptions might enter the search and screen process. An effective format for disseminating the workshops themselves has already been developed and implemented, and this award will support further evaluation and dissemination of the effective practices that can be adapted for use in other institutional settings. The second workshop series is a Climate Workshop for Department Chairs. Based on principles of active learning, this three-session workshop relies on a skilled faculty facilitator who works with a small group of chairs to gain a deep understanding of how climate is manifested in their departments, and together design concrete steps to take which will improve climate in their departments. A dissemination plan for these workshops will be developed during the PAID grant period. Guides will be developed and field-tested in connection with these workshops, and in other national workshops run by fellow ADVANCE sites. The intellectual merit of the project is in the integration of scholarship from the existing literature on unconscious biases and assumptions and the effects of these assumptions on the advancement of women. Evaluation of workshop results indicates that educating individuals about the existence of these unconscious tendencies can reduce or eliminate their impact. The broader impacts of this project lie in the promise of increased participation of women and minorities in the highest levels of academic science and engineering. The guides are a mechanism for increasing the diversity of faculty, providing useful tools to campuses interested in educating their faculties and administrators about the impacts of unconscious biases and assumptions on important evaluation points such as hiring or tenure, and on departmental climate. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Sheridan, Jennifer Jo Handelsman Amy Wendt Mary Carnes University of Wisconsin-Madison WI Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 499991 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0620000 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination: SEM Transformation through "Small Wins". ADVANCE Auburn: SEM Transformation through "Small Wins" will develop, adapt, and implement the "small wins" approach for producing lasting change for increasing the representation, participation, advancement and success rate of women faculty in science, engineering and mathematics (SEM) disciplines. The "small wins" approach (Meyerson and Fletcher, 2000) advocates transforming a workplace through a series of small positive changes used to improve the working environment for those who are disproportionately affected by unsupportive and oftentimes inconsiderate practices in the workplace. Since the changes produced by "small wins" are incremental and locally driven, the approach is non-threatening and more easily accepted by an entrenched culture such as often exists in the SEM academic disciplines. Successive "small wins" build upon themselves such that substantive and lasting changes in the work environment and culture are achieved and assimilated over time. This award will develop and apply the "small wins" approach to transform the SEM disciplines at Auburn University and, subsequently, at other institutions. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Sollie, Donna Marie Wooten Overtoun Jenda Alice Smith Daniel Svyantek Auburn University AL Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 450000 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0620013 September 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: ESCALATE: Engineering and Science Careers in Academia: Learning from ADVANCE and Translating Effective. The ESCALATE program, in collaboration with the NSF-sponsored ADVANCE program at the University of Michigan, advances on two fronts, career development and climate change, by developing and implementing nine strategies to improve the advancement of women in academic science and engineering at Wayne State University. This project focuses on broad-based institutional change in sciences and engineering, departmental change in two engineering programs and career development activities for women faculty in sciences and engineering. Infusing Institutional Climate Change: A Resource Team is formed from applicants interested in learning more about women's circumstances and strategies for institutional change, as well as willing to work for change in the campus community. The UM Theater Group will present interactive workshops to campus leaders that teach about equity in hiring and tenure processes, and about mentoring. WSU initiates and participates in a Joint Urban Presence intended to develop strategies for sharing skills known to be effective in working with urban students. Departmental Transformation: Two engineering departments will engage in self-study and develop strategies for increasing women's numbers and advancement. An Annual Women's Career Symposium is held where women faculty, advanced graduate students, and post-docs in the sciences and engineering meet to learn about practical solutions to everyday dilemmas, to network with others, and to guide the research team's efforts. Monthly Career Network Meetings focused on specific issues or disciplines will allow opportunities for women from UM and WSU to network. A Web Resource for Career Advancement will be developed that allows on-line networking of women faculty. Career Development Grants for women faculty in sciences and engineering provides funds to overcome barriers to career advancement, such as travel to funding agencies, childcare at conferences, and for speakers to come to the campus. Wider Horizons allows inviting women faculty and others from area colleges and universities to career network meetings, which will spread the networks of women. Intellectual Merit: Built on a broad base of scholarship, the proposed activities remedy two central concerns: 1) that women become isolated from networks needed for success as scientists and engineers; and 2) that cultures of academic science and engineering are not aware of their impact on women and need transformation to take women's needs, interests, and desires into account. By explicitly teaching women about the range of experiences that other women report, developing strategies responsive to emerging dilemmas, and connecting women to networks where they can find support for being women and for being better scientists and engineers, the project improves women's social capital. Also, infusing change at the institutional level in hiring, evaluation, and tenure processes enhances women's chances of being hired, retained, and making lasting contributions to science and engineering. Broader Impacts: The WSU efforts explicitly infuse information about women's circumstances into science and engineering academic settings, which integrates research and education. Through networking efforts, institutional change initiatives, and the Joint Urban Presence, this project takes seriously NSF's call for diversifying the academic science and engineering workforce. Innovative dissemination strategies and an interdisciplinary approach improve the applicability of findings to a wide range of academic communities. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Tonso, Karen Ece Yaprak Allen Batteau Michele Grimm Diane Pawlowski Wayne State University MI Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 499858 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0620022 September 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: Creating Faculty Change Agents to Transform Academic Science and Engineering. The proposed project will bring together effective elements from the current UM IT program to form a new activity, STEP (Science and Technology Excellence Program). STEP's goal is the creation of faculty change agents through intensive faculty study of key processes in the career trajectory of scientists and through intervention activities. The proposal draws on the social science literature regarding unconscious bias, accumulation of disadvantage, critical mass, and theories of organization and seeks to contribute a new model for intensified institutional change. The project goal is to engage groups of male and female STEM faculty in a program of self-education and commitment to becoming active change agents within their academic institutions. The program will bring together several successful activities developed in the course of the UM ADVANCE Institutional Transformation project. This project will contribute a new model for intensified institutional transformation by engaging senior faculty in an intensive (concentrated) and extensive process of becoming change agents within a network of faculty committed to the same goals, and supported over time. Broader impact: The program will directly reach 300 STEM faculty drawn from UM, the Midwest region, and nationally. The first cohort of UM faculty will participate in networks of later participants, some of whom will also take actions nationally within their disciplines, increasing the impact on the STEM fields. All faculty participants should become better advocates within their institutions and serve as models and leaders for colleagues. Because faculty participants will be operating in departmental teams and larger networks, they will also model alliances of men and women scientists and engineers. The project will include the development of a companion website that will serve several purposes. It will provide information about the model developed through this project, including resources, reading lists, and a toolkit for developing similar programs at other institutions. In addition, it will manage a discussion board to allow participants to maintain connections developed through participation in the program and provide opportunities to share information and as well as help one another problem-solve particular challenges. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Stewart, Abigail Constance Cook Janet Malley University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 499906 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0620057 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Award: GVSU-UM Partnership for Advancing Women in Science and Engineering. With the goal of advancing the participation of women in the academic sciences and engineering, Grand Valley State University (GVSU) and the University of Michigan (UM) propose a partnership to (1) adapt and implement interventions at GVSU from the UM NSF ADVANCE project and (2) develop a synergistic component that creates a collaborative pipeline for future faculty to benefit both institutions. The UM interventions include faculty mobilization for peer education on recruitment and development of a recruitment handbook; interactive theater to raise issues about climate in the sciences and engineering; a professional development fund to attract and retain women in the sciences and engineering at GVSU; and networking for women science and engineering faculty (within and outside the institution). At GVSU, the interventions will address institutional factors impeding women's entry and retention in full-time, tenure-track positions in science and engineering and will offer opportunities for networking and support for professional development. At UM, the collaborative pipeline will benefit future faculty, whether ABD or PhD, as they gain vital classroom experience and are exposed to an alternative career path at an institution with a predominantly undergraduate focus. Given this focus, partnering with us will also help UM build in appropriate mechanisms to assess the impact of such programs on students. Finally, this project has implications beyond GVSU and UM: it will provide a model for collaboration between colleges and universities whose primary focus is undergraduate teaching and doctoral training institutions, with greater research emphasis. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Menon, Shaily Abigail Stewart Kathleen Underwood Grand Valley State University MI Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 499922 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0620073 September 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: PAID at Idaho State University. The WeLEAD program at Idaho State University develops and implements interventions to increase the number and improve the progression of STEM faculty to full professor and into leadership positions. The program sponsors career development workshops for new associate professors, as well as an annual research symposium; facilitates internal and external grant applications; and provides opportunities for STEM faculty to attend leadership workshops. Seed grants and travel funds are awarded for developing new research programs, and to facilitate collaborative research projects, manuscripts, and grant proposals. To keep the pipeline full for mid-career interventions, networking opportunities are provided with STEM faculty by meeting with candidates at the on-site interview, and reconnect with them at new faculty orientation and scheduled events. The intellectual merits of this proposal include obtaining a clear understanding of how models for promoting STEM faculty can be applied effectively to a geographically isolated and economically disadvantaged institution. The broader impacts of the project maximize the contribution of scientists as academic leaders and role models for aspiring scientists in Idaho, as well as to serve as a model for advancing faculty regardless of discipline or gender. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Easterly, Debra Catherine Kriloff Idaho State University ID Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 499908 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0620083 June 1, 2007 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award - Increasing Junior Faculty's Productivity and Leadership. The Hunter College Gender Equity Project will partner with the City University of New York's (CUNY) central administration on two initiatives that will involve 8 CUNY campuses. First, a series of workshops modeled after those developed through Hunter's ADVANCE award will address gender and race schemas; integrate material on the impact of gender and race on careers of faculty; and discuss how to develop individual, institutional, and discipline-level solutions to the underrepresentation of women and minority-status scholars. Second, comprehensive grant-writing assistance in conjunction with a course release (funded by CUNY) will be offered to 6 women a semester. Analyses of curricula vitae for participants and comparison non-participants will allow Hunter to determine the effectiveness of both programs. Presently, little is known about the determinants of scholarly productivity at teaching-intensive institutions and very little about how to develop scholars. Analyses of productivity have focused on faculty at research-intensive institutions. Whether the variables that predict productivity at those institutions operate similarly at teaching-intensive institutions is not known. This award represents an effort to do more for women faculty, faculty of color, and underserved students at the largest and most diverse public urban university system in the United States. CUNY is a teaching-intensive institution where faculty have difficulty conducting research and obtaining external funding. Since students' opportunity to engage in research at the undergraduate level predicts their future participation in science, supporting CUNY's current scientists will produce more women and minority-status scientists in the future. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Valian, Virginia Vita Rabinowitz Gillian Small Annemarie Nicols-Grinenko Jennifer Raab CUNY Hunter College NY Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 499901 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0620087 January 1, 2007 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Award: Building a Community of Women Geoscience Leaders. This award for Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination supports the following objectives: Build a community of northeast U.S. geoscience women by implementing: 1. Professional development workshops and writing retreats to provide faculty with key skills to reach their full potential as academic and scientific leaders, 2. Workshops with geoscience department chairs to help develop effective strategies for recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty and for enhancing departmental climate and excellence. 3. Maintenance of a database of academic geoscientists. With this award, support is provided to develop a network of women geoscientists through community-based professional development workshops and writing retreats. In addition, the award supports development of workshops for geosciences chairs, who are key leaders in enhancing departmental climate. Workshops will focus on approaches to departmental assessment and strategy development to increase department diversity, providing a productive environment for all faculty. Intellectual merit arises from the application of promising ADVANCE Institutional Transformation practices to a unified set of disciplines across multiple types of institutions. The project seeks to determine practices that are most effective at different types of schools and can be used by departments with minimal institutional support. These results will serve as a model for other regions and other STEM fields. Broader impacts include engaging faculty in defining and disseminating strategies to broaden participation in the geosciences community. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR O'Connell, Suzanne Wesleyan University CT Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 259593 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0620101 January 1, 2007 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Award: Building a Community of Women Geoscience Leaders. This award for Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination supports the following objectives: Build a community of northeast U.S. geoscience women by implementing: 1. Professional development workshops and writing retreats to provide faculty with key skills to reach their full potential as academic and scientific leaders, 2. Workshops with geoscience department chairs to help develop effective strategies for recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty and for enhancing departmental climate and excellence. 3. Maintenance of a database of academic geoscientists. With this award, support is provided to develop a network of women geoscientists through community-based professional development workshops and writing retreats. In addition, the award supports development of workshops for geosciences chairs, who are key leaders in enhancing departmental climate. Workshops will focus on approaches to departmental assessment and strategy development to increase department diversity, providing a productive environment for all faculty. Intellectual merit arises from the application of promising ADVANCE Institutional Transformation practices to a unified set of disciplines across multiple types of institutions. The project seeks to determine practices that are most effective at different types of schools and can be used by departments with minimal institutional support. These results will serve as a model for other regions and other STEM fields. Broader impacts include engaging faculty in defining and disseminating strategies to broaden participation in the geosciences community. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Holmes, Mary Anne University of Nebraska-Lincoln NE Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 228774 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0620102 October 1, 2006 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award: Promoting Institutional Change at the University of Oklahoma and within the Big XII Conference. The University of Oklahoma (OU) runs an ADVANCE PAID project tailored to the central states. The centerpiece of the activity is a biennial Big XII Workshop on Faculty Recruitment, Retention and Leadership. As a member of the Big XII Conference of Institutions of Higher Education, OU will invite each Big XII school (Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech) to the new event in 2007, asking them to bring a team to OU to work on faculty recruitment, retention and leadership for their campus. Teams will be required to include administrators and STEM as well as Social Sciences faculty. The second workshop in Year 4, in the fall of 2009, will showcase the fruits of these teams' labors and reinforce the collaboration between the Big XII schools to address the issues of faculty recruitment, retention and leadership with a specific focus on the advancement of STEM women in academia. The workshop activities will be centered on diversifying the faculty and building teams and strategies to promote members of underrepresented groups in the faculty and to positions of leadership. The special focus is on women in STEM disciplines, but the activities benefit all disciplines of these comprehensive universities. The workshop will make use of the best practices culled from current NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (IT) programs, in particular those that have worked well at large public institutions with strong faculty governance. The workshops will dovetail with the adaptation and implementation of practices at OU to promote women in STEM disciplines, to help them succeed in academia and to move into positions of leadership. The Intellectual Merit of the project is rapid dissemination and adaptation of best practices of the existing ADVANCE IT projects to twelve institutions in the central states, including three EPSCoR states, through two proposed Big XII workshops and through tailored programs on the OU campus for institutional change in advancing STEM women faculty in academia. The Broader Impacts of the project include 1) a broadening of ethnic minorities involved in STEM academic endeavors, 2) outreach to women undergraduate and graduate students at all institutions of higher education in Oklahoma through the annual Women in Science Conference held at Langston University (a HBCU), 3) collaboration with government agencies in the region in diversity efforts and 4) outreach to Native American populations, specifically the Chickasaw Nation and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Murphy, Sheena Kelly Damphousse Keri Kornelson Lori Snyder University of Oklahoma Norman Campus OK Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 500000 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0620112 January 1, 2007 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Award: Alliance for Faculty Diversity in STEM. This award supports a faculty alliance that seeks to best utilize the diverse labor force of New Mexico for the 21st century by expanding participation in academic careers in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at three Ph.D. granting institutions: New Mexico State (NMSU), New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT), and University of New Mexico (UNM). In addition, a training pipeline for students and post-doctoral fellows, targeting AGEP students, will be provided by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as a non-funded participant. NMSU is a successful ADVANCE-IT institution (2002-2006). By focusing on improving standard practice for recruitment, retention and promotion, the percentage of women hired into STEM faculty positions doubled. Using best practices developed through the ADVANCE grant, NMSU will disseminate to alliance members the materials and practices that have been effective at increasing representation and participation to enhance competitiveness in academic science. Mechanisms for dissemination include off-site workshops, distance delivery and face-to-face meetings, The overall goals are to: Develop and retain a representative faculty in science and technology careers, through the use of mentoring and Promotion & Tenure programs, and developing department heads as effective leaders among alliance participants; Create a sustainable grass-roots committee structure at each institution to carry forward the initiatives of the proposal, institutionalizing faculty development and department head training in concert with upper Administration support; and Provide a pipeline for students into the professoriate and post-doctorate training via the NM-Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NM-AGEP). The principal- and co-investigators are sensitive to the issues at each institution and poised to motivate faculty and department heads. They are fully supported by the Provost/Division leader at their institutes, as evidenced by letters of support. Each NM institution will adapt those practices that are viewed as useful by the local committee, and continue to share new effective practices. Department heads play a critical role in bringing about institutional change within academia. Leaders at this level translate the broad goals and objectives of the institution framed by higher administration into concrete outcomes by developing strategies to encourage faculty members to behave in accordance with those goals and objectives. It is also crucial that faculty 'buy in' to these initiatives which will be accomplished by the proposed alliance structure as currently used at NMSU. The proposal emphasizes consensus building among administrators and senior faculty about how to broaden participation in STEM, especially among the professoriate. This PAID award seeks to bring about changes within the participating institutions as well as poise their students for success in the professoriate. The learning process that will be experienced by key mid-level administrators and faculty from each participating institution will enable change at these four institutions. The program will be rigorously evaluated so that the products of this process can be presented, demonstrating successful approaches to enhance recruitment and retention of women and minorities in science and engineering at all levels of academia. The diverse institutions in New Mexico can serve as the model for the nation. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Sterling, Tracy David Johnson Leslie McFadden Tara Gray Julianna Fessenden New Mexico State University NM Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 500000 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 9150 0620123 January 1, 2007 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Award: Partnership for Faculty Equity and Diversity. The five southern California campuses of the University of California (UC) system propose an ongoing series of workshops and seminars targeting senior academic administrators. The Partnership campuses are: Irvine (UCI), Los Angeles (UCLA), Riverside (UCR), San Diego (UCSD), and Santa Barbara (UCSB). The proposed workshops and seminars allow dissemination of lessons learned and best practices that have enabled UCI to dramatically increase hiring of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields during the ADVANCE award (September 2001-present). While excellent progress has been made in recruiting women to UCI, the Partnership will focus on strategies to retain and advance women and minority faculty. The workshops promote understanding, facilitate training, and encourage implementation of the novel programs developed at the Irvine campus and by other ADVANCE initiatives. Experts on institutional transformation and faculty diversity agree that the top administration must provide accountability for diversity for deans and department chairs to implement effective strategies for recruiting, retaining, and advancing a diverse professoriate. In order for changes to "filter down" to the departmental level, higher administrators need to develop strategies for holding deans accountable for their units so that the deans will then develop strategies for holding departments accountable. Chairs are the key link between upper level administrators and the faculty. Department chairs' key role in implementing new policies, like the UC family friendly policies, coupled with the challenge of constantly shifting chairs who may not have gained the interpersonal relations and bureaucratic skills essential for equitable implementation, implies a pressing need for chairs' training. Department chairs, as "climate regulators", serve an essential function in ensuring that faculty members who make use of such policies do not experience retaliation by their departmental colleagues. The University of California is the largest public university in the United States with over 200,000 students on ten campuses employing more than 8,000 ladder-rank faculty members. The system's student population is quite diverse, yet the faculty population remains predominantly white and male. In recent years, many campuses have increased the rate of hiring women and minority faculty members, yet retention of these promising scholars through the rigorous review process will require that administrators are capable of implementing new policies (e.g., family friendly policies) while at the same time ensuring a work environment that welcomes faculty from diverse backgrounds. The Implementation Team involves scholars and professionals who are diverse in terms of discipline, ethnicity, and gender. The diversity of this team will be key in implementing a program that appeals to administrators from broad backgrounds and weaves sensitivity to gender and ethnic issues throughout the planned programming. The expectation is that the programs for provosts, deans and chairs become a model for other institutions that care about faculty equity and diversity. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Killackey, Herbert Yolanda Moses Rosina Becerra Jorge Huerta Maria Herrera-Sobek University of California-Irvine CA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 500000 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0621210 September 1, 2006 NSF-TCUP Planning Proposal. BMCC will assess current STEM curriculum and identify changes, which will provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to continue their education at 4-year institutions or enter STEM related careers that are essential to meet the needs of the communities BMCC serves. To assess current STEM curriculum, BMCC will form two committees. An internal STEM planning committee will meet two times per month for the entire planning year. These meetings will allow BMCC instructors, staff, and administrators the opportunity to conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of current STEM curriculum. This analysis will be shared with an external Advisory Development Committee. The external committee will consist of experts from universities across Michigan, the Tribal Chairman from a neighboring tribe, whose students represent a significant presence at BMCC, and the Director of Michigan Works. The external committee will further refine the analysis of STEM curriculum and assist BMCC in analyzing 4-year institution and industry requirements for STEM related careers. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Cameron, Samantha Bay Mills Community College MI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49068 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0621350 August 1, 2006 Planning Grant for Nebraska Indian Community College STEM Education and Research. The purpose of this planning grant is to thoroughly evaluate Nebraska Indian Community College's (NICC's) current STEM resources, assess STEM needs of the institution, and from this create a comprehensive STEM development plan. At each step of the process, the Tribal communities will be involved through Talking Circles, allowing for community input and also bringing STEM issues to the forefront in the communities. Results of findings will be disseminated to the Tribes and to other Tribal colleges, as well as through the internet. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Eschenberg-Bad Moccasin, Ardis Nebraska Indian Community College NE Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 49619 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0622767 June 1, 2006 Enhancing Access and Fostering Technology Based Education for Students with Disabilities. The University of Akron is requesting funding for the Research in Disabilities Education Focused Research Initiative (RDE-FRI) aimed at increasing the quantity and quality of students with disabilities in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. The three major objectives of the project are: 1) encourage specific learning disabilities (SLD) and typical students to explore STEM as a future career choice by building their confidence and efficacy in STEM, 2) develop empathy and better appreciation of diversity amongst students who would traditionally enter engineering programs and 3) develop understanding, better appreciation of diversity, and an elaborated sense of teaching and learning amongst the participants. To achieve these objectives, we propose a three-year intensive Saturday and summer workshops. These workshops will be used to provide learning experiences, access to engineering laboratory and field experiences for the participants, which include pre-college 6 to 8 grade students from Summit and Stark counties. Exciting hands-on activities based on the Society of Automotive Engineers? ?A World in Motion?, smart balloon, civil materials, and information technology are designed to capture and spark the interests of these students in the STEM fields. The materials presented at the workshop will illustrate aspects of inclusive technology and engineering classrooms education that will help the students succeed. The proposal is truly an integrated project among the Electrical and Computer, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering departments at The University of Akron. The project consists of: (1) A summer workshop involving hands-on experiments; (2) Saturday workshops throughout the academic year; and (3) e-mentoring program throughout the academic year by college students, professional mentors and the professors. The summer workshop is designed for 10 SLD students, 10 typical students, 5 college students and 5 science/special education teachers. In both Saturday and summer workshops, participants will work in small groups consisting of 2 SLD students, 2 typical students, 1 college student and 1 science/special education teacher. These workshops offer participants the opportunity to think independently, to work collaboratively, and to design innovatively. This project will add to our understanding of the effectiveness of mentoring and intervention aimed at increasing the interests of SLD pre-college students in STEM. The merit is evident by the unique demonstration of the integrated engineering and science concepts presented at the workshop. We will cultivate interest and understanding between SLD students, their peers and typical students. The PI will actively evaluate the different group?s (SLD, typical student, college students, science/special education teacher) attitudes towards STEM education. In addition, this program will provide on-going e-mentoring for participants in order to foster their positive attitudes towards STEM. This program will be the first such program in Northeast Ohio aimed at increasing the interest of SLD students in STEM education. Specifically, the broader impact include: (a) direct STEM learning experience to 15 teachers, 15 college students, 30 SLD students and 30 typical students; (b) improvement in self confidence of SLD students in STEM; (c) the opportunities for SLD middle school students to demonstrate innovations, mathematics and science skills; and (d) a framework to facilitate the education of science and engineering by the special education teachers. Since some of the experimental developed during the workshops will be distributed to the participants? middle schools for inclusion in their science curricula, hundreds more middle school students will benefit. Perhaps one of the major benefits of this program is the peer-to-peer relationship. These participants will provide exposure to the others that may not ordinarily occur. The same can be said for the student-teacher-professor relationship. In this project, SLD students are placed in the least restrictive environment and are challenged along with their typical student classmates to strive for excellence, and to learn new skills that will build their confidence towards a career in STEM. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Lam, Paul Craig Menzemer Jiang Zhe Julie Zhao University of Akron OH Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 282969 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0622854 September 1, 2006 Speech to Text Systems: Comparative Analysis of Text Generation and Display Methods. Objectives: The purpose of this research proposal is to test the hypothesis that present day computer-based Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems can be effective and costefficient alternatives to human-generated text generation systems or sign language interpreters, and that the method of displaying the information plays a crucial role in the learning process. The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), one of eight colleges of RIT, together with a consultant from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), will test this hypothesis. Intellectual Merit: Working with Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HOH) student participants mainstreamed in baccalaureate programs at RIT, we will test three text-generated systems, and three different text presentation systems, under realistic but well-controlled lecture-venue conditions. We will compare these systems for accuracy in rendering the lecturer's narrative, evaluate students' comprehension of lecture content, and analyze ease of use and deployment from both the student participants' and the lecturers' points of view. The proposed research will be conducted in two stages. In Stage 1, we will evaluate three different speech to text systems: (1) CART, a word-for-word real-time speech-to-text closed captioning service driven by a steno machine operator; (2) C-Print, a meaning-for-meaning display and note-taking system driven by a captionist using abbreviation-expanding software; and (3) ASR speech-to-text transcription driven by the most powerful conversational speechrecognition software available on personal computers (Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 Preferred). In Stage 2, we will use the best text-generation system from Stage 1 to perform display tests comparing three different methods of putting text and non-text content into close visual proximity: (1) a heads up display of the text generated by the text generation system; (2) a PCbased system developed at RIT that allows continuous broadcast of the text stream, a PowerPoint display, and/or video stream of the lecturer to adjacent panes of conventional web browsers on the participant's personal computer; (3) the same composite display projected on a screen. Broader Impacts: Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HOH) individuals, as well as people with other disabilities such as learning disabilities (LD), dyslexia or attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), are often denied full participation in educational, civic, cultural, medical and employment-based activities. Some venue operators do provide sign language interpreters, real time display systems or note-taking systems, but the practice continues to be rare because logistics are challenging and expenses are significant. Recent advances in ASR systems have the potential to expand availability of near-real-time display and/or transcription, and reduce communication and educational barriers that still distance D/HOH from the rest of society. Our findings will offer expanded strategic options and data-based guidance to people who are D/HOH and to providers and administrators of services to D/HOH people. The results from this study will also be of great benefit to people who have other disabilities, and for people for whom English is a second language. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Lalley, Peter Catherine Beaton Dan Bogaard Rochester Institute of Tech NY Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 269542 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0622857 September 1, 2006 User Centered Digital Library: Transforming Resources for Individual Preferences. Abstract Transforming Resources for Individual Preferences The WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) proposes to embed the capacity to transform and customize presentation of content based on individual user profiles within WGBH's TEACHERS' DOMAIN, a K-12 library of rich-media science resources that support standards-based teaching and learning. The project will enable teachers or students with disabilities to locate accessible resources within all current and future collections offered by TEACHERS' DOMAIN; identify what kind of content is being presented; determine if the content will transform to fit their presentation preferences; and identify equivalent or alternative forms of the content that better meets their stated preferences. The Center for Children and Technology at the Educational Development Center (EDC) will evaluate the usability and effectiveness of these resources with students with disabilities and their teachers. Intellectual Merit of Project IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS) accessibility specifications have been developed by an international working group comprised of leading learning companies, educational institutions and standards groups. Specifications define a universally designed infrastructure for adaptable learning systems and content that will respond to individual needs and preferences. TEACHERS' DOMAIN will be the first-ever full implementation of IMS accessibility specifications embedded in a complete set of classroom resources. It will provide a real-world model that promotes accessibility as an essential design element that enables teachers and students to easily identify accessible learning content. Evaluation research will identify potential impacts on teacher practice and student learning and suggest areas to be explored in the future within large-scale assessments using these permanent resources. Broad Impact of Project This project will result in a significant amount of accessible, high quality science resources that serve science educators and teachers working with students with disabilities. The project will be prominently profiled within major communities dedicated to technology and learning the National Science Digital Library, the IMS Global Learning Consortium, the National Science Teachers' Association and will utilize partner dissemination networks that regularly reach organizations and educators that serve students with disabilities; science educators and curriculum developers; state education systems and school boards; education-focused professional organizations and trade groups; developers and purchasers of distributed learning platform and resources; developers; and distributors and producers of educational multimedia. The project will also serve as an international model of how digital libraries that utilize IMS specifications can automatically respond to individual needs and preferences, paving the way for improved learning experiences for all users. This will set a standard of accessibility that teachers, students and administrators should demand from learning platforms and content providers. Ideally, this will help catalyze demand for accessible learning platforms and appropriately tagged resources. This outcome will greatly impact the ability of teachers to more effectively and efficiently meet their students' needs for accessible and meaningful content. It will also greatly impact the ability of students with disabilities to access and benefit from distributed learning resources. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Rothberg, Madeleine Babette Moeller WGBH Educational Foundation MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299999 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0622882 August 15, 2006 Preparing Students with Learning Disabilities for Careers in Math and Science by Achieving Curriculum Standards. Objectives: The objectives for this project include reducing the achievement gap between the performance of students with learning disabilities and their non-disabled peers in math; enhancing the math preparation of individuals with LD to enter postsecondary institutions to pursue programs and degrees in math, science, engineering, and technology; and the national dissemination of instructional resources in the form of lessons and online tutorials aligned with curriculum standards that have been validated to improve the achievement of students with LD . This proposal builds from a major internally funded project identified as the Blending Assessment with Instruction Program (BAIP) that is comprised of two validated interventions in the form of lessons for teachers to employ in their instruction and online tutorials for independent use by students with LD. Both interventions are aligned with curriculum standards in math. The research initiative is designed to investigate the effects of the lessons and the tutorials on the achievement of students with LD in math. Significance and Intellectual Merit of Research: National Center for Educational Outcomes reported in 2004 that not only were students with LD performing below all students across the country, but also that the gap actually grew significantly larger as students got older (Thurlow & Wiley, 2004). Research has found that students with LD typically function two to four grades below expectancy across the mathematics curriculum (Parmar & Cawley, 1997). Many students with LD perform poorly on assessments that are tied to state standards (Thurlow, Albus, Spicuzza, & Thompson, 1998). Thurlow et al determined that only 34% of students with LD passed a state test on basic math skills, versus 83% of their non-disabled peers. This is of serious concern given that students with LD are held to increasingly higher standards and will need higher-level math and reasoning skills to meet the demands of high school and beyond. In less than 20 years, one in every four jobs will require technical skills (Tarlin, 1997, as cited in Jarrett, 1998), and many careers require a strong basis in math. If students do not experience a standards-based curriculum at an early age, they will be disadvantaged when being assessed via a standards-based assessment as required by NCLB. To focus only on postsecondary interventions to increase the presence of persons with LD in math, science and technology careers fails to recognize what research demonstrates as the contributor to the underrepresentation of persons with LD in the math, science and technology fields. Research Strategy: We propose to research the effects of BAIP in aligning local curricula with national curriculum standards and statewide assessments as a model for improving the performance of students with LD. The lessons and tutorials are developed for grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 in compliance with NCLB. Two distinct empirical approaches are planned. First, lesson tests will be directly tied to content. These tests will be piloted to assure their validity and reliability. Once quality tests are available, they will be administered prior to and following lesson use with targeted students. In concurrence with this "experimental group" testing, we will pre and post test other comparable students with the same measures. As we will not be able to control for group equivalence due to the absence of randomization to intervention, and also considering that the pre and post test measures will not be equivalent, analysis of covariance procedures will be used to control "pre-lesson" instructional group differences. This method will be used within schools and as numbers of participants increase will carry out more robust empirical studies relying on hierarchical linear modeling. Thus in six months we will quasiexperimentally research the impact on learning of the lessons. Finally, student item score results will be evaluated descriptively to guide us regarding needed lesson changes. Comparisons will be made across students with LD who experience (a) the lessons taught by teachers, (b) tutorials, (c) lessons and (d) tutorials with disability and non-disabled peers. Broader Implications of Proposed Research: The vast majority of students with LD receive their math instruction in the general education classroom. Thus, the project has the potential to benefit all teachers and, ultimately, all students. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Meyen, Edward James Miller Donald Deshler John Poggio Diana Greer University of Kansas Center for Research Inc KS Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299867 1545 SMET 9178 9150 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0622885 October 1, 2006 SciTrain: Science, Math and Technology for All. Abstract The Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) and the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) at Georgia Tech propose an alliance with the Cobb County School System to create SciTrain, a multi-faceted project to enhance the capacities of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers in high schools. Building upon successful research and programs conducted by CATEA and CEISMC, it will use multiple evaluations to determine the most important needs of teachers and focus upon teacher evaluations of project success. SciTrain's goal is to create more effective teachers and more powerful learning experiences for students. SciTrain will create Web-based courses for high school educators to instruct them in the creation of STEM coursework for students with disabilities. The online courses will demonstrate methods for approaching access problems and will train teachers to generate their own ideas and solutions for accommodations. They will provide instruction on the creation of both adapted curricula and labs. Each course will be composed of discrete modules tailored to the needs of teachers, each addressing a fundamental issue in accessible STEM education. Teachers will be able to study individual modules or complete entire courses for continuing education units (CEUs) and professional learning units (PLUs). The result will be improved STEM education for high school students. SciTrain will work closely with Cobb County, Georgia high school instructors to ensure focused research and evaluation of its project results. Courses will be tested with these teachers prior to release to a national audience. Cobb County teachers will also participate in ongoing evaluation of project results, serving as a test-bed for the SciTrain model in action. Intellectual Merit The proposed program is vital to expanding knowledge about methods and practices to ensure the full inclusion of all students in STEM education. SciTrain will unite universal design practices with several fields of study/activity, including: science pedagogy, assistive technology, human-computer interaction, distance learning and disability studies. The project will leverage extensive prior and ongoing research at Georgia Tech and partner institutions. Broader Impact The proposed program is vital in providing education for teachers in an area often neglected in their educations. Through improved educational practices, it will enhance accessibility of STEM education for students with disabilities, as well as improving participation in STEM education and careers for these students. Improved STEM education will broaden the participation of students with disabilities currently an underrepresented group in STEM education. SciTrain will also enhance the infrastructure for research and education by providing extensive online resources that can be used by anyone, anywhere to address accessible STEM education. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Todd, Robert GA Tech Research Corporation - GA Institute of Technology GA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 359258 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0622900 December 1, 2006 Software for Math Education for the Deaf. Objectives: The objectives for this project include reducing the achievement gap between the performance of students with learning disabilities and their non-disabled peers in math; enhancing the math preparation of individuals with LD to enter postsecondary institutions to pursue programs and degrees in math, science, engineering, and technology; and the national dissemination of instructional resources in the form of lessons and online tutorials aligned with curriculum standards that have been validaAbstract Deaf education, specifically in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), is a pressing national problem. Our project addresses the need to increase deaf children's abilities in math with a unique approach (realistic and grammatically correct 3D animated signing) that significantly improves on the state of the art by creating emotionally appealing fluid 3D signers, a factor that plays a decisive role in learning for deaf students. Mathsigner software is designed to engage deaf learners and their parents in "hands-on, minds-on" experiences, leading to deeper understanding of fundamental ideas in accordance with current No Child Left Behind and general curricular guidelines. The general goal of the project is to develop and evaluate animation-based software to increase: (1) opportunities for deaf children to learn via interactive media; (2) effectiveness of (hearing) parents in assisting with the education of their deaf children; and (3) effectiveness of teachers for deaf children. Intellectual Merit This project addresses a critical need. Research demonstrates that deaf individuals are significantly underrepresented in the fields of science and engineering (Burgstahler 1994). Historically, it has been difficult for them to gain entry into higher education that leads to STEM careers (Caccamise & Lang 1996). Several factors contribute to this disparity: (1) significant delay in deaf children's literacy; (2) difficulty in conveying in sign language basic science/mathematical concepts, a task for which there are currently no tools; and (3) the inaccessibility to incidental learning (exposure to media in which mathematical concepts are practiced and reinforced). Deaf children lack access to many sources of information (e.g. radio, conversations around the dinner table) and their incidental learning suffers. Consequently some mathematical concepts that hearing children learn incidentally in everyday life have to be explicitly taught to deaf pupils. Our software will fill this void. The Mathsigner project is unique because it seeks to: (1) use advanced technology to teach mathematics to signing K-6 deaf students; (2) provide equal access and opportunities by overcoming known deficiencies in math education as reflected in the under-representation of deaf people in fields requiring math skills; and (3) provide a model for teaching technology for deaf people in general that can contribute to improving deaf education around the globe. The project is informed by advanced linguistic research on American Sign Language structure and grammatical use of facial expressions. We have assembled an expert team to accomplish this goal. Professor Adamo-Villani, Purdue Department of Computer Graphics Technology, is an award-winning graphic designer/animator and creator of 2D and 3D animations aired on national television. She initiated the development of teaching technologies for deaf children using advanced computer animation techniques and outlined the math education program itself. Professor Wilbur, Purdue Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, is internationally known for her research on American Sign Language (ASL) and its relevance to improving deaf education and literacy. The Indiana School for the Deaf is a fully accredited school and a national resource center. It is recognized nationally for its leadership in education, its advocacy of American Sign Language and being the first ted to improve the achievement of students with LD . This proposal builds from a major internally funded project identified as the Blending Assessment with Instruction Program (BAIP) that is comprised of two validated interventions in the form of lessons for teachers to employ in their instruction and online tutorials for independent use by students with LD. Both interventions are aligned with curriculum standards in math. The research initiative is designed to investigate the effects of the lessons and the tutorials on the achievement of students with LD in math. Significance and Intellectual Merit of Research: National Center for Educational Outcomes reported in 2004 that not only were students with LD performing below all students across the country, but also that the gap actually grew significantly larger as students got older (Thurlow & Wiley, 2004). Research has found that students with LD typically function two to four grades below expectancy across the mathematics curriculum (Parmar & Cawley, 1997). Many students with LD perform poorly on assessments that are tied to state standards (Thurlow, Albus, Spicuzza, & Thompson, 1998). Thurlow et al determined that only 34% of students with LD passed a state test on basic math skills, versus 83% of their non-disabled peers. This is of serious concern given that students with LD are held to increasingly higher standards and will need higher-level math and reasoning skills to meet the demands of high school and beyond. In less than 20 years, one in every four jobs will require technical skills (Tarlin, 1997, as cited in Jarrett, 1998), and many careers require a strong basis in math. If students do not experience a standards-based curriculum at an early age, they will be disadvantaged when being assessed via a standards-based assessment as required by NCLB. To focus only on postsecondary interventions to increase the presence of persons with LD in math, science and technology careers fails to recognize what research demonstrates as the contributor to the underrepresentation of persons with LD in the math, science and technology fields. Research Strategy: We propose to research the effects of BAIP in aligning local curricula with national curriculum standards and statewide assessments as a model for improving the performance of students with LD. The lessons and tutorials are developed for grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 in compliance with NCLB. Two distinct empirical approaches are planned. First, lesson tests will be directly tied to content. These tests will be piloted to assure their validity and reliability. Once quality tests are available, they will be administered prior to and following lesson use with targeted students. In concurrence with this "experimental group" testing, we will pre and post test other comparable students with the same measures. As we will not be able to control for group equivalence due to the absence of randomization to intervention, and also considering that the pre and post test measures will not be equivalent, analysis of covariance procedures will be used to control "pre-lesson" instructional group differences. This method will be used within schools and as numbers of participants increase will carry out more robust empirical studies relying on hierarchical linear modeling. Thus in six months we will quasiexperimentally research the impact on learning of the lessons. Finally, student item score results will be evaluated descriptively to guide us regarding needed lesson changes. Comparisons will be made across students with LD who experience (a) the lessons taught by teachers, (b) tutorials, (c) lessons and (d) tutorials with disability and non-disabled peers. Broader Implications of Proposed Research: The vast majority of students with LD receive their math instruction in the general education classroom. Thus, the project has the potential to benefit all teachers and, ultimately, all students. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Wilbur, Ronnie Nicoletta Adamo-Villani Purdue University IN Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299999 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0622930 October 1, 2006 Reaching the Pinnacle. For U.S. leadership in science and engineering, there is no more important issue than the development of a skilled technical workforce. As a Nation, we are not attracting the numbers of science and engineering students our Nation needs to sustain its leadership. Nor are we successfully tapping all our domestic resources, especially under-represented minorities and women. The pool of potential science and engineering students will increasingly reflect the growing diversity in the American workforce and society. So warned Warren Washington, Chairman of the National Science Board in his statement to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space on May 22, 2002. RASEM2 will complete its 5th year of funding in October of 2006 and is seeking another 5 years as a progression towards institutionalization. RASEM2 is penultimate in the establishment of "best practices" in service to students with disabilities in STEM education. Premier to its efforts is the Mentoring program, whereby RASEM2 has supported hundreds of college students with disabilities in a manner that promotes success. Forty of our mentors have graduated and moved on to employment in STEM or graduate school. Two of our Mentors have obtained their Ph.D. and are now professors at established universities. Mentoring and mentor projects have further outreached to hundreds more K-12 students with disabilities through creative hands-on math, science, and engineering activities. RASEM2's Teacher Outreach Projects have similarly touched thousands more lives. Our RASSI Summer Institutes bring contemporary experiences to students with disabilities during that critical time middle school when students decide on the most likely career path. Partner projects allow our fellow institutions the option of evolving their ongoing efforts toward student success to include students with disabilities or to tap into their particular expertise and apply it to students with disabilities. Reaching the Pinnacle is the ultimate. It solidifies and extols our achievements for consumption and use by the world at large. The pursuit of models that optimize the transformation high school students with disabilities into college students with disabilities enrolled in STEM career tracks suggested our research approach. Special education students and students with special needs must develop a transition plan starting as early as their freshmen year in high school. It is not unusual for universities to send representatives from the offices for students with disabilities to participate in the process. This involvement does not address STEM in any significant way or offer strategies that will direct the student toward this end. RASEM2 Reaching the Pinnacle proposes to have STEM professionals guide the process with appropriate support delineated in the transition plan as the student progresses through high school. Comparisons to students with equal capabilities, but not the same opportunity, will indicate the effectiveness of the support. Differing levels of intervention will reveal the strategy with the highest potential for achieving the goal. RASEM2 Reaching the Pinnacle proposes activities that will have significant impacts on a nation that must leave no stone unturned in its quest for dominance in STEM education and achievement. Students with disabilities, through the efforts of the RADs, will help lead the way back to preeminence. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Poel, Elissa New Mexico State University NM Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 1851154 1545 SMET 9178 9150 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0624444 September 1, 2006 GSE/RES: Persistence Research in Science and Engineering (PRiSE). High school students in the U.S. are exposed to many in-class strategies and activities, as well as extra-curricula programs that are aimed at increasing the interest of females in pursuing careers in science and engineering. Teachers' freedom to choose to address the issue of making science friendlier to females and to choose the methods to employ makes it difficult to conduct controlled educational experiments to measure effectiveness. Epidemiological methods are ideal for mining the backgrounds of first-year college students for predictors of interest in science and engineering, while controlling for demographic differences. This study will examine the connection between the exposure of high school students to a variety of interventions and their later persistence in course-taking and selection of major for 4,000 four-year and two-year college students nationwide, focusing deliberately upon predictors of persistence for women. While much can happen in college to dissuade students from STEM majors in their first college year, relatively few are newly attracted to these fields. Once declaring a major, attrition of males is somewhat greater than it is for females. However, the number of females with initial interest in college is several times smaller than for males. We see a great opportunity in identifying the strategies that impact female interest in STEM careers while in high school. This study has the capability to both reveal and bolster the use of the most promising educational practices, including many developed and disseminated by NSF-funded programs, in our nation's multi-faceted educational system. The intellectual merit of the project is that it will provide and disseminate evidence for the efficacy of a variety of both novel and traditional approaches for attracting female students to STEM careers for which considerable current dispute is ongoing. Epidemiological techniques from public health and medicine offer a cost effective and well understood methodology to simultaneously test multiple hypotheses while controlling for a multitude of demographic and background factors. The study will use online follow-up surveys of students, professors, and teachers to gather sensitive and more qualitative data to complete the analysis. The broader impacts of the project include the measurement of the effect of a variety of both traditional and new teaching practices and activities. With public debate raging about the underrepresentation of female scientists and engineers in the workforce, there is a need for an examination of the fruitfulness of the universe of alternatives in the nation's classrooms. Measuring the relative merits of such approaches, while controlling for critical background and demographic factors, will help teachers and schools decide on the optimal methods for providing a quality science education to all of their students, especially those who are in groups currently underrepresented in STEM careers. Colleges will benefit from the identification of the most effective programs for their own outreach activities in their local communities. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Sadler, Philip Harvard University MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 494955 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624457 September 15, 2006 Targeted Infusion Project: Integration of Plant Genomics into the Undergraduate Curriculum. The Fort Valley State University (FVSU) HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project will incorporate plant genomics into the undergraduate curriculum of the Plant Science, and Biology departments. Genomics is a rapidly advancing interdisciplinary science. This project will implement new inquiry-based investigations to allow students to further understand scientific method. To accomplish this objective a Plant Genomics senior level course will be developed and newly designed genomics modules will be incorporated into several existing courses such as: Genetic Engineering, Plant Biotechnology, Plant Breeding, Techniques in Molecular Biology, Botany, Microbiology, Research Methods, and Special Projects. The acquisition of a sequencer will provide students hands on experience with genomics research and facilitate on-going research efforts of faculty and students at FVSU. Students enrolled in these courses will be better prepared for various careers in the biological sciences, particularly in the burgeoning fields of genomics and bioinformatics. The teaching materials developed at FVSU will be disseminated through a course website, conference presentations, and workshops for juniors and faculty members. The project will provide new educational tools for universities and colleges nationwide in order to help them meet the need for individuals knowledgeable in genomics. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV PLANT GENOME RESEARCH PROJECT HRD EHR Dhir, Seema Sarwan Dhir Melinda Davis Fort Valley State University GA Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149568 1594 1329 SMET OTHR 0000 9178 0624493 September 1, 2006 GSE/RES: Gender, Race, and Science: Asian American Women as Model Minority?. Young women's participation in science education in the U.S. continues to be lower than that of young men. Not all women have the same experiences in science education, however. Asian Americans have high levels of education and socio-economic status, even relative to Whites. Educational paths in science are often seen by Asian Americans as good options given their objective criteria and high social returns. Among Asian Americans, both men and women are heavily represented in the sciences. Thus the image of the "model minority" does apply to Asian Americans in the science education system. But Asian Americans are not a monolithic group. The major focus of this research is on the complex ways in which race and gender come together to influence Asian American women's experiences in science education. Although the gender gap in science participation is smaller in the Asian American student population than in the White population, it is important to note that it still exists. Asian American women are virtually invisible in the social science literature. Simplistic stereotypes about submissive, subservient Asian American women and notions of Asian Americans as the model minority have worked to limit careful research on Asian American women in science. This study will explore the STEM education experiences of young Asian American women using both mature (National Educational Longitudinal Survey) and new (web-based survey that includes vignettes) data collection technologies to test hypotheses about how race, gender, and Asian American culture come together to influence the science experiences of young Asian American women. The project's intellectual merit includes the use of innovative methods that promise to provide new approaches to data collection and survey techniques. The conceptual framework used to examine young Asian American women's (and men's) experiences in science integrates critical gender theory (which acknowledges gender as a powerful macro structure that hierarchically organizes society but which also acknowledges gender as a source of agency) and a multi-cultural approach (which stresses the diversity in these structures and the unique gender and family systems in minority cultures). The study will provide information on science experiences, perceptions of science abilities, and sources of encouragement and discouragement for Asian American women at various points in the STEM education system (from 8th grade through the post-secondary school years). The broader impact of this research will advance knowledge in the area of science talent development beyond simplistic notions of race and gender that do not acknowledge the complex ways in which race and gender interact and do not focus on diversity and complexity within the "model minority" Asian American subculture. The research will draw attention to a little studied population. Additionally, it will reveal potential agency in understudied groups and the ways in which immigrant communities invest in their children's (male and female) education. These issues have implications for how science is taught, how minority students' talents are perceived, and how other programs and STEM interventions could integrate multi-cultural issues into programs and policies. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hanson, Sandra Catholic University of America DC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 255679 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624507 October 1, 2006 GSE/RES: A Social-Ecological Study of Gender, Relationships, and High School STEM. This project examines the underlying factors behind the under-representation of girls and women in STEM and in systems' interaction with individuals by systematically examining and comparing the multiple spheres of influence ("social ecology") on urban girls' and boys' educational experiences and aspirations related to STEM study and career development. The new knowledge generated by this study will increase understanding of girls' and other under-represented groups' (racial and ethnic minorities, low-income youth) retention in and attrition from the STEM "pipeline" during the high school years. The study will be conducted by the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College, in collaboration with Tufts University and the Boston Museum of Science, and the Boston Public Schools (BPS) Science Department. Study participants will be drawn from students at exam schools and/or science-themed schools within BPS, a large and diverse school system in which 45% of students are Black, 32% Hispanic, 14% White, and 8% Asian; 74% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Research questions for the study include: (1) How do the extent and type of STEM-relevant support provided by relationships in students' lives influence educational experiences and aspirations related to STEM study and career development; (2) Do patterns of STEM influence differ by gender and race/ethnicity for urban public high school students; and (3) What typologies of support and influence best predict STEM persistence in high school? This is a mixed-methods study featuring integrated qualitative and quantitative data collection and data analysis. Intellectual Merit--The study will add to existing knowledge on girls' retention in and attrition from STEM by examining gender-based differences in girls' and boys' formal and informal science education experiences, including interest, choice, achievement and use of STEM-related resources. The field has lacked theory-driven, prospective studies of persistence in STEM fields that examine students' lives in their multiple contexts. The original contribution of this research is that it will draw from and synthesize three theoretical traditions to increase understanding of girls' access to and persistence in the STEM pipeline: the social-ecological tradition (which examines multiple levels of influence in students' lives, ranging from proximal (e.g., family and school) to more distal (e.g., availability of post-secondary STEM programs, cultural-level beliefs about gender roles); the trilogy model of STEM success (engagement, capacity, and continuity); and relationship science (which examines relationships, their specific characteristics, and the specific functions they perform). The three theoretical approaches will complement each other for a more differentiated understanding of variability in girls' persistence in STEM fields. Broader Impact--The increased knowledge generated by this study will inform ways to increase the participation of girls and other under-represented groups (e.g., racial and ethnic minorities, low-income youth) in sustained STEM study and subsequent employment, in the interest of broadening and diversifying the future STEM workforce. The investigators will work with science educators and outreach program directors to integrate the knowledge into their programs. Dissemination venues include local science education associations as well as national groups such as the Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network, the American Society of Engineering Education, and the National Science Teachers Association. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Porche, Michelle Peter Wong Anne Noonan Wellesley College MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 498256 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624537 August 15, 2006 GSE/RES: Collaborative Research: Potential Recruits in Engineering: A Longitudinal Study of Diverse Academically-able Young Women's Views of Engineering as a Career. The proposed research is an original investigation of how academically-able young women, who might be recruits to engineering, learn about the engineering profession. The collaborative three-year study, using participatory action methodology, qualitative methods, and quantitative measures, will "seed" the women's explorations of engineering as a career and then examine how racially, socio-economically, and geographically diverse young high school women come to know the profession of engineering. It aims to analyze the young women's career exploration journey, the influences that shape their sense of the profession, and their views and feelings about their career options in engineering at the conclusion of the exploration experience and beyond. The study will include 120 diverse (African American, Latina, American Indian, and Euro-American) participants in 3 states and 11 sites. Intellectual Merit The study offers a new perspective and innovative methodology to address the question, why are there so few women, including women of color, in engineering and how might this imbalance be lessened? In the career exploration phase of the study, young women who are academically-able but not already interested in engineering will be encouraged to direct and document their own approach to what they learn about engineering. By encouraging the women's own career explorations and reflections, and using current and appropriate-for-youth communication technologies, the PIs intend to elicit their "authentic" perspectives on engineering as a field of study and a career choice. This approach is different from much current research that documents young women's lack of interest and participation in engineering but does not directly investigate how young women see and perceive the profession while they explore its career potential. In addition, the study will contribute valuable information to the career development literature by identifying features and themes of young women's attitudes and decision-making about engineering as a career option. Moreover, by examining diverse young women's own views over time, this research will provide a deeper and richer understanding of gender, youth, and multicultural standpoints in relation to the engineering profession. Broader Impacts On a broad national scale, this study seeks to discover and describe the career exploration experiences of a diverse population of young women. It also seeks to examine the reasons for the disinterest in engineering of young women as they consider future career options. The study aims to provide knowledge to expand the engineering workforce as well as to support diversity and multicultural initiatives currently underway in academia and industry. Dissemination of the findings will be through higher education, business communities, and professional societies, catalyzing deeper sensitivity toward those underrepresented in the engineering ranks. This will be accomplished primarily through presentations at professional association conferences, publications in peer-reviewed journals and popular press venues, and web sites. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Eisenhart, Margaret University of Colorado at Boulder CO Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 262605 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624583 September 1, 2006 GSE/RES: Adolescents' Identification with Televised Portrayals of Male and Female Scientists. This study has two main purposes. First, it will assess specific character attributes, gender stereotyped and gender counter-stereotyped attributes as well as attributes known to promote identification with televised characters, for scientists portrayed in television programs popular among middle school-aged children. Second, the proposed study will examine middle school-aged children's identification with specific attributes featured in portrayals of scientist characters in selected television programs. This three-year research project uses a content analysis to characterize the gender stereotyped and gender counter-stereotyped attributes as well as attributes known to promote identification with television characters as found in televised portrayals of scientist characters. In addition, this research project uses an audience study to examine children's identification with specific attributes of televised portrayals of scientist characters. The content analysis will examine scientist characters in 10 randomly selected episodes of 14 television programs found to be popular among middle school-aged children: Dexter's Laboratory, Magic School Bus, Kim Possible, CSI, CSI-Miami, CSI-New York, Danny Phantom, The X Files, Bill Nye The Science Guy, MythBusters, Jimmy Neutron, The Simpsons, Friends, and DragonFly TV. Participants in the audience study will be approximately 350, 12- to 14-year-old children enrolled in 7th grade in three southwestern Michigan regional middle schools. Participants will watch six television programs selected based on the extent to which gender stereotyped and gender counter-stereotyped attributes as well as character attributes known to promote identification with televised characters, are exhibited by the scientist characters. The audience study will assess students' identification with these attributes as found in televised portrayals of scientist characters. The students' identification with these attributes will be correlated with measures of their attitudes toward science, attitudes toward women in science, perceptions of gender roles, science self-concept, and future interest in science. The intellectual merits of the proposed research are to 1) document the public image of scientists as represented in television programs popular among middle school-aged children and 2) investigate children's identification with specific character attributes found in scientist characters shown in these television programs. The proposed research expands knowledge of the factors that encourage girls' participation in SET and explores ways of influencing girls' perceptions of SET careers so that girls view SET careers as viable, and subsequently, are more likely to consider future careers in SET. The proposed research also is important for expanding knowledge of the factors that expand boys' view of SET in ways that make them more accepting of girls and women in SET, thus improving the recruitment and retention of women in SET. The broader impacts of the proposed research focus on increasing the participation of women in SET and address the societal and cultural changes needed to encourage girls' participation in SET. The broader impacts of the research findings are as follows: 1) inform the development of effective instructional materials (videotapes, CD/ROMS, films, and web sites) designed to increase girls' participation in SET; 2) provide media practitioners with research-based information to support the development of programs in the popular media (television, films, computer games) that promote positive public images of SET professionals; 3) promote the use of media models as role models to encourage girls in SET; 4) integrate research on the influence of the mass media as socialization agents with instruction and curriculum development in science education; and 5) identify new strategies for expanding and diversifying the SET workforce. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Steinke, Jocelyn Marilee Long Lisa Ryan Maria Lapinski Western Michigan University MI Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 498354 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624584 October 1, 2006 GSE/RES: Markers of STEM Success (MOSS): An Eleven-Year Longitudinal Study of High Achieving Young Women's Interests, Experiences, and Preparation for STEM Careers. Over the past seven years data have been collected on 250 young women, ages 11-20 after they attended a summer camp for high achieving girls. This research project provides an opportunity to extend and redirect the current database for a study of STEM career choice. The research questions related to the STEM Career Choice Model are: 1. How do interests in STEM careers affect high achieving young women's experiences and educational preparation over time? 2. How do experiences, over time, affect high achieving young women's interests and educational preparation? 3. How does the educational preparation of high achieving young women, over time, affect their interests and experiences? 4. What are the critical events within high achieving young women's experience, interest, and education that affect STEM career decisions? The model will be tested to understand how these factors interact with one another, over time, in an iterative, recursive, non-linear fashion. Coupled with the identification of critical events, this study will provide greater insight into women's STEM career choices. Intellectual Merit-- Findings will more fully define the factors of the model and how these factors interact to achieve the increased participation of women in STEM careers. The findings will map individual career trajectories that are taken by high achieving young women from middle grades into gradate school or their careers. The study assumes that there are identifiable critical events that occur over time that attract and retain high achieving young women to STEM careers. This beginning pipeline approach collects data annually at regular intervals, and the data are easily recalled and retrieved by the subjects as they remain in or leak from the pipeline. This approach of working toward a STEM career is somewhat different and more accurate than working back from the end of the pipeline asking a STEM college major or graduate student to recall their personal histories from middle school or high school. Broader Impact-- There are very few, if any, longitudinal studies of high achieving young women from middle grades into graduate school or first careers. The new data has the potential to provide researchers with information that may lead to a better understanding and conceptualization of STEM career choice in terms of critical events within the factors of interest, experience, and education for high achieving women from ages 11-24. The broader impact will emerge from the identification of the nature, timing, frequency, and form of these critical events. With this knowledge timely and motivating environments and educational experiences may be developed in a cost-effective manner leading to increased interest among young women in STEM careers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Berenson, Sarah Mladen Vouk Joan Michael Roger Woodard Susan Bracken North Carolina State University NC Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 511512 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624606 September 15, 2006 GSE/RES: The Role of Social Interaction in the Development of Scientist Identities and the Retention of Undergraduate Women in Science Majors. This study combines traditional elicitation (survey and interview) methodologies with the ethnographic examination of naturally occurring social interaction in formal and informal educational contexts among undergraduate majors in three disciplines in which they remain underrepresented--physics, chemistry, and mathematics ("science")--in order to determine the sorts of interactions that are most effective in facilitating the development of scientist identities among undergraduate women and retaining them in the national pipeline toward science careers. The project takes advantage of the unique situation of UC Santa Barbara, which delivers science instruction to undergraduates both in a traditional letters and sciences college and in a small, innovative college via a variety of pathways. The selection of UCSB as a research site allows for comparison of science-related social interactions that arise within classroom, laboratory, and informal settings while holding relatively constant many of the variables that would intervene in a cross-institution comparison. It is anticipated that reporting a scientist identity will correlate with displaying such an identity interactionally via linguistic features. It is also hypothesized that the display of a scientist identity will be favored in contexts such as research settings, which allow students to make claims or introduce new information rather than report already established facts. The primary focus of the analysis is on women's experiences and interactions in undergraduate science, but male undergraduate science majors in all three groups are included to provide a cross-gender comparison. It is expected that interactions that promote women's retention in science will also promote men's, and hence the educational recommendations based on the findings will not only help women advance in science careers but will also expand the ranks of U.S. scientists generally. Intellectual merit: A detailed understanding of the specific linguistic and interactional practices that encourage women to adopt scientist identities and to persist in STEM majors is of crucial importance in increasing the number of women seeking careers in STEM. The study builds on existing findings regarding the role of social interaction in undergraduate women's retention in STEM, yet offers a new conceptual and methodological direction for the investigation of this issue by expanding from the domain of reported experiences to the heretofore little-explored arena of naturally occurring science-related social interaction at the undergraduate level. In addition, where a great deal of previous research on gender and undergraduate science education emphasizes factors inhibiting women's pursuit of science, the proposed study focuses on undergraduate women who have made a commitment to science by declaring a science major, in order to discover how daily science-related social interactions contribute to the development of a scientist identity and to retention in the national science pipeline. Broader impacts: The broader impacts of the proposed study will make the findings useful to educators and beneficial to students nationwide. First, the study's combined quantitative and qualitative methods are complementary for the end user as well for analysts: while quantitative data have the advantage of allowing for generalizations that can guide broad strategies of educational policy and practice, qualitative data are concrete, specific, and context-rich, and hence they will be more effective than quantitative evidence in demonstrating to educators, parents, and students the specific interactional practices associated with women's retention in science. The results will be disseminated to the academic research community and through outreach via presentations at high schools, via a website and informational video. These tools will bring the findings to students, parents, educators, and the general public. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Bucholtz, Mary University of California-Santa Barbara CA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 564224 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624630 August 1, 2006 Targeted Infusion Grant: Enhancement of Chemical Education Through the Acquisition of NMR, AA and GC-MS instruments for Training and Research. The Oakwood College HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project will allow the college to improve and strengthen its chemistry program to meet American Chemical Society (ACS) certification requirements. This will be accomplished through the acquisition of two critical pieces of equipment (Atomic Absorption, and Gas Chromatograph with a Mass Spectrometer Detector) and the upgrading of a 60 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to an FT-NMR instrument. Oakwood College is a Historically Black Seventh day Adventist institution. The student body is 98% minority and 57% female. There are 60 chemistry and biochemistry majors and 232 biology majors that will be impacted by the instruments requested. The proposed equipment will enhance the undergraduate experience in the entire chemistry curriculum. New and innovative experiments will be selected and incorporated into several existing courses at every level to increase the breath and depth of chemical education. New courses which could not be offered without the new equipment will be developed and offered in the department. The Oakwood College Chemistry Department will then be in a position to seek ACS certification of its program. In addition to positioning the college to earn this important nationally recognized certification, the new instruments will increase the number of students conducting undergraduate research in the department. PROJECTS HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR LaiHing, Kenneth sumathy raman Oakwood College AL Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 148871 1978 1594 1253 SMET OTHR 9178 9150 1978 1594 0000 0624670 October 1, 2006 GSE/RES: Attributional Gender Bias: Investigating Teachers' Explanations for Girls' vs. Boys' Performance in Math. This research seeks to investigate how a specific yet pervasive gender bias can be reduced among middle school math teachers by addressing their theories about intelligence. This attributional gender bias involves the tendency to generate different attributions (explanations) for female versus male students' performance in math: boys' successes in math are attributed to ability, while girls' successes are attributed to effort; but, boys' failures in math are attributed to a lack of effort and girls' failures to a lack of ability (Fennema et al., 1990). The proposed research will test whether inducing an incremental (effort-based, malleable) theory of intelligence--as opposed to an entity (ability-based, fixed) theory--can reduce this bias among math teachers. If teachers view intelligence as malleable rather than fixed, then they should perceive both girls and boys as having the propensity to succeed in math. The attributional gender bias should be difficult to maintain when ascribing to an incremental theory of intelligence. The project consists of a pilot study followed by the main study with three data collection points. The pilot study will be conducted to methodically develop stimuli to induce an incremental theory of intelligence and to refine the dependent measure for assessing attributional gender bias. The main study will be conducted to test the following hypothesis: participants in an experimental group exposed to incremental theory stimuli will engage in less attributional gender bias (1) relative to control group participants, who will not be exposed to the stimuli, and (2) at three points following exposure to the stimuli. Participants will complete assessments before and immediately after exposure to stimuli and during each of two subsequent semesters, in order to determine the duration of the hypothesized effects. This will allow investigation of whether the manipulation continues to impact teachers as they confront new and existing relationships with students. Intellectual merit This research project is an effort to apply social-psychological research on attribution and intelligence theories to the issue of barriers to girls' learning and participation in STEM. Given the pervasiveness of the attributional gender bias documented by previous research, it is important to investigate what conditions can produce attenuation of the bias. Middle school teachers interact with large numbers of students who are at a critical transition period in their academic and personal lives. As a potential source of influence in girls' attitudes and responses to STEM, teachers create interpersonal dynamics and classroom conditions that may inhibit involvement with math and science, likely without consciousness of the psychological processes that guide their behaviors. Previous research suggests that an incremental theory of intelligence is associated with positive academic outcomes. If an incremental theory of intelligence can reduce attributional gender bias by broadening individuals' conceptions of intelligence and (by association) math performance, then this finding will expand our knowledge of what conditions facilitate girls' learning and interest in STEM. Broader Impacts The experimental design of the proposed research is such that it can be replicated by other researchers concerned with how social-psychological processes influence the adults who construct STEM educational environments for girls. Depending on the outcomes of this research, the project may instigate further research in the scientific community on the link between teachers' and students' gender attributions, conceptions of ability and performance, and teacher-student dynamics in relation to gender. Furthermore, because this research will be undertaken in a predominantly Latino working-class community, it would indicate whether previous findings on attributional bias and intelligence theories generalize to the proposed population. This project will be an initial step in approaching the issue of how girls' performance in STEM is perceived against the backdrop of ethnicity, culture, and socioeconomic status. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Espinoza, Penelope Arturo Pacheco University of Texas at El Paso TX Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 478166 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624689 August 15, 2006 GSE/RES: Collaborative Research: Potential Recruits in Engineering: A Longitudinal Study of Diverse Academically-able Young Women's Views of Engineering as a Career. The proposed research is an original investigation of how academically-able young women, who might be recruits to engineering, learn about the engineering profession. The collaborative three-year study, using participatory action methodology, qualitative methods, and quantitative measures, will "seed" the women's explorations of engineering as a career and then examine how racially, socio-economically, and geographically diverse young high school women come to know the profession of engineering. It aims to analyze the young women's career exploration journey, the influences that shape their sense of the profession, and their views and feelings about their career options in engineering at the conclusion of the exploration experience and beyond. The study will include 120 diverse (African American, Latina, American Indian, and Euro-American) participants in 3 states and 11 sites. Intellectual Merit The study offers a new perspective and innovative methodology to address the question, why are there so few women, including women of color, in engineering and how might this imbalance be lessened? In the career exploration phase of the study, young women who are academically-able but not already interested in engineering will be encouraged to direct and document their own approach to what they learn about engineering. By encouraging the women's own career explorations and reflections, and using current and appropriate-for-youth communication technologies, the PIs intend to elicit their "authentic" perspectives on engineering as a field of study and a career choice. This approach is different from much current research that documents young women's lack of interest and participation in engineering but does not directly investigate how young women see and perceive the profession while they explore its career potential. In addition, the study will contribute valuable information to the career development literature by identifying features and themes of young women's attitudes and decision-making about engineering as a career option. Moreover, by examining diverse young women's own views over time, this research will provide a deeper and richer understanding of gender, youth, and multicultural standpoints in relation to the engineering profession. Broader Impacts On a broad national scale, this study seeks to discover and describe the career exploration experiences of a diverse population of young women. It also seeks to examine the reasons for the disinterest in engineering of young women as they consider future career options. The study aims to provide knowledge to expand the engineering workforce as well as to support diversity and multicultural initiatives currently underway in academia and industry. Dissemination of the findings will be through higher education, business communities, and professional societies, catalyzing deeper sensitivity toward those underrepresented in the engineering ranks. This will be accomplished primarily through presentations at professional association conferences, publications in peer-reviewed journals and popular press venues, and web sites. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Bruning, Monica Jill Bystydzienski Iowa State University IA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 330954 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624693 September 1, 2006 Education Research Grant: Examining the Post-Baccalaureate Decisions of High Ability Black STEM students. Howard University will conduct research that contributes to the basic understanding of how students navigate their undergraduate STEM education and eventually make the transition into STEM graduate study. While a number of studies describe the trends and status of African American participation in STEM careers, more work is needed to understand the mindset, thought processes and experiences of students who do pursue graduate degrees in STEM. We know little about the factors that lead students to pursue STEM graduate degrees. Nor do we truly understand the unique role of the HBCU experience that leads to that choice. Howard proposes to conduct a research study to describe how some students at Howard University, an HBCU, make choices about their post-baccalaureate careers. This study will lead to a better understanding of the common traits and characteristics of those students who choose to pursue STEM graduate degrees. The intellectual merit of this proposed research lies in understanding how HBCU STEM undergraduates navigate their post-BS career choices. Through interviews, focus groups and surveys, we will identify the conceptual foundations students need in order to pursue graduate STEM education, seek to understand this transitional experience across gender lines, disciplines and citizenship and transform the findings and insights gained from this research into practice. Most importantly, however, we aim to contribute to the literature by expanding the knowledge base about this understudied group (i.e. African Americans at HBCUs) which will allow the HBCU STEM community to identify where additional research is needed and how to enhance the effectiveness of intervention programs. Although we are particularly interested in those students who pursue STEM graduate degrees, we will explore the full array of options that students have, including professional school (medicine, dentistry, business, law) and immediate entry into the workforce. The research team is led by an engineer with extensive education research experience and an educator with experience in STEM education research. For the last three years, this team has overseen a longitudinal study as part of the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education (CAEE) funded by NSF. Preliminary findings from this study sparked the interest in examining career paths and the post-baccalaureate experiences of African American students in the sciences and engineering. The dissemination goal of this project is to share the findings with a variety of audiences to enhance the scholarly discussion on two broad topics; increasing the numbers of minorities who pursue STEM graduate education, and increasing the awareness of the importance of conducting STEM-based education research in the HBCU community. The engineering and science community as well as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning community will be interested in the results of this study. As a national leader in the on-campus production of African American Ph.D.s and the production of Black undergraduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s, Howard is uniquely capable and holds a social responsibility in creating these broader impacts. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Fleming, Lorraine Dawn Williams Howard University DC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 1018792 1594 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624720 October 1, 2006 GSE/RES - Milestones and Danger Zones for Talented Women in STEM. Intellectual Merit--The pathway to STEM careers in the United States has milestones and danger zones for girls and women. In college, particularly, there are critical experiences that seem to reduce young women's interests and opportunities in STEM. What is striking in the research literature is that studies of college women at the beginning of the career path tend to focus on intra-psychic variables such as self-efficacy, while the individual and environmental variables that are most critical to the success of academic women scientists at the end of the career path are seldom investigated. For example, the tendency of current ability tests to under-predict young women's potential in math and science, particularly minority women's potential, has prevented the important variable of ability from being considered. However, a new model of women's talent development that takes into account the effects of privilege status on measured ability provides an intriguing opportunity to apply this model to the prediction of persistence in STEM. In addition, involvement in relationships and family seem to deter or disrupt women's progress toward tenure and promotion much more than men's. This project tests a new model of persistence in science that incorporates not only the most frequently studied variables, but also the variables of ability, privilege, and gender relations. Traditionally aged college women at three ethnically diverse campuses who are in the 90th percentile and above on achievement tests who are interested in STEM careers will be the participants in this research. The cross sectional design will assess young women at three critical college milestones using established measures of ability, achievement, self-efficacy, vocational identity, college environment, and mentoring as well as newly developed measures of distance from privilege and gender relations. An innovative method of analysis, multiple-sample structural equation modeling (SEM), will be used to test the model of persistence. Broader Impacts--The results of this study should have broad implications for guiding and educating talented college women in STEM. First of all, an understanding of how privilege interacts with levels of ability has the potential to change the ways in which admissions procedures and advisement protocols for STEM fields are formulated. Second, if environment plays as large a role in this investigation as recent studies have suggested it will, then interventions to increase women's participation in STEM must focus more on changing the environment of higher education in science and engineering and less on changing women's psychological characteristics and behaviors. Third, a recognition of the importance of gender relations must turn attention to the ways in which the peer culture and the college environment collaborate with women's apparent tendency to compromise their own career dreams in order to nurture, assist, and promote the goals of others. The dissemination plan reaches out to faculty, administrators and counselors in STEM departments, as well as scholars doing research in the area. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Kerr, Barbara Karen Multon University of Kansas Center for Research Inc KS Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 499852 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624724 September 1, 2006 GSE/RES Beliefs, Behavior, Belonging: The Role of Perceptions, Supports and Student Engagement in Predicting STEM-Related Interests in Early-Adolescent Girls and Minority Youth. Intellectual Merit - The objective of this project is to characterize the change, stability and growth of STEM interests, goals and behaviors among girls and minority youth, during the ages of 10-17. The central hypothesis is that perceptions, student engagement, sense of belonging, and peer, teacher, and parent supports play a crucial role in girls' and minorities' STEM interests and choices at critical points in their educational and career trajectories. This will be a longitudinal study that will characterize the role of school and person factors in the development of STEM-related interests and choices of girls and minority youth. The study has three aims which will determine: 1) how these crucial factors associated with STEM interests and goals develop, change, or remain stable over time for girls (ages 10-17) compared to boys, and for students of varying race/ethnicity and socioeconomic levels, 2) if the hypothesized model predicting STEM interests is supported, and 3) how gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic level moderate associations among model variables. A diverse sample of 900 students, grades 5, 7 and 9, will be followed for three years. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies will be used to test the central hypothesis. Survey instruments, focus groups and interviews will be used each year of the project. The fundamental new knowledge obtained about the development of STEM interests is expected to advance the fields of developmental, vocational, and multicultural psychology, teacher education, education science, and gender and racial equity in STEM. Broader Impacts - The project integrates teaching, learning and research by directly involving students in the proposed project. Educational infrastructure will be enhanced by providing research opportunities and training to students in education research. Over time, a broader network of educators, counselors, and education scientists who are prepared to address gender and minority equity issues in STEM may develop. Results and interventions that result from the project will be disseminated widely, through academic, public school and general public venues, as well as through a web site designed for young people and those who work with them. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Shoffner, Marie Carolyn Callahan Joanne Cohoon Keonya Booker University of Virginia Main Campus VA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 499841 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624738 September 1, 2006 GSE/RES: Does Project-Based Learning Matter to Undergraduate Women in Engineering? A Study of Performance, Interests, and Participation in Gateway Technical Courses. Project-Based Learning (PjBL), is an increasingly implemented, yet controversial pedagogical technique in undergraduate education. PjBL is broadly promoted in science and engineering training, yet the benefits and drawbacks of learning, motivation, and participation have not been rigorously studied. There are few reliable studies on the impact of PjBL on women, and even fewer studies that describe successful PjBL-related innovations to guide the design and implementation of successful programs at other institutions. This project will help to address these critical gaps in the educational research literature. The study that will identify gendered patterns of performance, interests, and participation in engineering in relation to teaching methods and curricula undergraduates receive in their "gateway" or introductory technical courses. Specifically, the PIs will examine how engineering-related (i.e., physics, mathematics, and engineering) classrooms that emphasize PjBL compare with classrooms that emphasize other innovative or traditional methods, in terms of their effects on women. Over three years, the PIs will conduct an in-depth, qualitative and quantitative study on the experiences of 600 female and male students in twelve classrooms across four high-caliber engineering schools with high percentages of women (32% to 43%, compared to the national average of 22%): California Institute of Technology, The Cooper Union, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, and Harvey Mudd College. Intellectual Merit: The study may advance knowledge about the effectiveness of PjBL relative to traditional and other methods in terms of student performance, interests, and participation as well as provide advanced knowledge of how curricular and pedagogical structures influence academic and social experiences of undergraduates. This project will generate and advance the knowledge about issues related to the participation of undergraduate women in science and engineering and will bring immediate and long-term contributions to theory development. Broader Impacts: This study may contribute knowledge about ways of creating more equitable and welcoming environments to encourage more women to participate in engineering. Results and analyses will be shared with institutional partners through workshops. Findings will also be disseminated through national conferences, journal publications, and other national outlets. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Zastavker, Yevgeniya Maria Ong Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering MA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 354287 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0624866 September 1, 2006 Science and Technology Enhancement Program (STEP). Texas Southern University Science and Technology Enhancement Program (STEP) will implement various strategies in order to increase the number of African Americans and female graduates in chemistry, mathematics and physics. The activities will include 1)student recruitment and retention, 2) faculty development in teaching and scholarly achievement and 3) curricular reform and enrichment through the use of information technology. The TSU STEP recruitment efforts has as its goal an increase in the graduation rate. The efforts will focus on aggressively recruiting high achieving students, addressing and removing academic barriers through supplemental curriculum programming in gatekeeper courses and creating a student-centered culture of excellence and high expectations. Faculty development will ensure appropriate integration of technology. The project will treain faculty in the use of Blackboard, ensure full integration of technology and on-line instruction and increase the number of STEM faculty members who engage in research opportunities and in the supervision of undergraduate research. TSU will partner with other institutions in this effort. Curriculum reform will include the incorporation of web-based technology and computational methods as n integral part of the curricula for STEM majors. The project will involve faculty from Biology, Chemistry, Computer Scinece, Engineering Technologies, Mathematics and Physics. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Wilson, Bobby Victor Obot Texas Southern University TX Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2521000 1594 SMET 9178 7204 0624929 September 15, 2006 Education Research Project: NSU Evaluative Research Study of STEM Programs for Improved Retention, Progression and Graduation. Norfolk State University (NSU) will conduct an educational research project that will provide a comprehensive formal evaluation of a NSU Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) student scholarship program (DNIMAS). We believe that such an undertaking is necessary at this point-in time because there is a considerable history of minority STEM enrichment programs that have largely reported success, but have reported such success anecdotally and have not disseminated their findings in a manner that can help others to systematically adopt those educational strategies and philosophies that contribute towards the creation of a significant increase in the number of underrepresented students pursuing STEM training and career entry [Matsui, 2003]. The current deficit of information detailing successful minority STEM training is not necessarily the fault of institutions and organizations that have sponsored or implemented such programs, but rather results from the inherent difficulty in maintaining longitudinal connections with students, who participated in special STEM training programs [Brainard and Carlin, 1999]. Also, the analysis of many formal evaluations of minority STEM training initiatives typically focus on students' outcomes and behaviors, and do not usually conduct in-depth queries of all personnel, such as professors, administrators, counselors, and educational support staff, who also play a significant role in carrying out STEM education programs. This research project will produce a very detailed analysis of the scholarship program with all of the obvious and not-so-obvious features of this training environment. Some of what might be called obvious features would include mandatory tutorials, seminars, and externships, to name a few; while the not-so-obvious features would be the formation of student study and support groups, faculty mentoring and role modeling, and the extent of family and community connectedness. Our research project will utilize a variety of assessment instruments and consultations that have been recognized to provide comprehensive and reliable programmatic data. These assessment instruments will measure such parameters as attitudes towards knowledge and learning, academic performance, career awareness, knowledge of study skills, meta-cognitive levels, nature of their interactions with other STEM students and faculty, personal confidence, academic and personal support from family and friends, utilization of University resources, choice of and utilization of problems-solving strategies, Internet reliance, and willingness to take risks. This research will evaluate the effectiveness of the full scholarship program and examine it as a proposed model to support retention, progression, and graduation of other students in STEM and other university programs. Also this research will evaluate the NSU Engineering Department's core faculty and integrated curriculum program, where retention is addressed in the classroom by emphasizing the unity of all knowledge through the use of an integrated curriculum. A series of research questions will serve as the framework for developing a comprehensive set of program evaluation metrics. It is important that the defined metrics that will be determined by this proposed research project measure program strategies, activities and results that are an integral part of the targeted NSU STEM programs. The intent of this research project is to demonstrate that practical applications and research are interconnected as well as to ensure that students completing NSU programs in engineering and ultimately all STEM degree programs at NSU will be both "workforce ready" as well as have the capability to transfer their knowledge to troubleshooting and to the design of new systems and applications. The core faculty team have well-developed and synergistic approaches that will address weaknesses that students may encounter in the gateway courses. Furthermore, the integrated curriculum approach may prove to allow students to understand the relevance and interrelatedness of topics as they are presented, rather than having to wait months and sometimes years before they are able to realize how to use various tools that they may have learned earlier. In many STEM departments, even though there is now considerable effort being placed on tutorial support for students enrolled in gateway courses, there still needs to be more emphasis on pedagogy and presentation skills by faculty teaching the gateway courses. The expected impact is to determine the critical success factors that lead to an increase in the progression and retention rates of students enrolled in gateway STEM courses at NSU and to ultimately increase the graduation rates of all students in STEM fields. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV ENGINEERING EDUCATION HRD EHR Maclin, Arlene Camellia Okpodu Norfolk State University VA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 957196 1594 1340 SMET OTHR 9178 110E 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0624940 July 1, 2006 Planning Grant: Exploring an Undergraduate Academic Pathway to Mathematics and Computer Science. Voorhees College will implement a comprehensive analysis of the Voorhees STEM educational programs as part of a planning process to develop a five-year Implementation Project proposal to HBCU-UP. Voorhees College is a private, historically black, coeducational, liberal arts, baccalaureate degree-granting institution, affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The HBCU-UP planning grant will identify and explore teaching and learning strategies to improve teaching and learning in the STEM curriculum. They will concentrate on exploring the critical transition points along the educational pipeline from public school to graduate school. The planners will also consider strategies to systematically increase the number of Voorhees students attending graduate school in the STEM disciplines. The planning process includes strong planning strategies such as site visits to HBCUs with Implementation Projects, and the extensive analysis of current curriculum and institutional data. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Jackson, Nathaniel Rachid Bendidi Randy Justice Voorhees College SC Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0625028 August 1, 2006 Targeted Infusion Grant - Enhancing Research Infrastructure in Chemistry. The Claflin University HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project will upgrade the laboratory sections of chemistry courses to include inquiry-based spectroscopic, chromatographic and computational techniques while providing a research-based course in spectroscopic techniques. The intellectual merit of the project is based on the strengthening of the research infrastructure at Claflin University by advancing the onsite instrumentation in the chemistry department and the incorporation of specialized separation and spectroscopy modules in advanced chemistry courses. The Claflin chemistry department was recently approved by the American Chemical Society (ACS). An expectation of all ACS certified departments is that of a strong, competitive/research-based curriculum in chemistry and current, modern instrumentation that is used by professional chemists in academia and industry. Specifically, this project will focus on the acquisition of two major analytical instruments that are widely used for chemical analyses i.e. High Performance Liquid Chromatograph-Diode Array Detector (HPLC-DAD) and a Fluorescence Spectrophotometer. In addition, a specialized course in Practical Spectroscopy will be offered as an advanced course under the ACS chemistry core. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy analyses are also a requirement for ACS sustainability. Therefore, this new course will focus on pulse NMR, instrumentation, and 1- and 2-D NMR methods. The broader impacts of the project include the training and preparation of underrepresented minority scientists for the STEM workforce. Claflin University is one of the oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the South. The college has a long tradition of providing basic education in the sciences for underrepresented students. U. S. News and World Report ranked Claflin " number 1 Best Value and number 3 among Americas Best Comprehensive Colleges in the South." Claflin University has produced the third largest number of African American undergraduate students in science and mathematics of any HBCU in the state of South Carolina, and the fifth largest number amongst all universities within the state. Not only will this project affect chemistry majors, but non-science majors enrolled in Physical Science will learn about separation analyses and how to compare spectra from a product to those of starting materials. PROJECTS HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR Peters, Angela Joseph Rugutt Uruthira Kalapathy Claflin University SC Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 155000 1978 1594 1253 SMET 9178 9150 1978 1594 0625092 August 1, 2006 Targeted Infusion Grant: Development of a GIS Certification Program and Preparing for GIS Accreditation at North Carolina Central University. North Carolina Central University, through the HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project, will develop curriculum leading to two certification options in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for students: GIS certification through an independent certifying body for geography majors; and offer in-house GIS certification to students and faculty from other Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) majors. Through funding, the Geography and Earth Sciences Department will create additional courses and revise current offerings to adequately prepare geography majors for certificate examinations from an independent entity, the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). Faculty at NCCU will work collaboratively with ASPRS to develop a certification process for students. Additionally, NCCU faculty will develop GIS modules for courses offered to STEM majors and create and offer an in-house NCCU certification for STEM majors. GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Barnett, Albert Jasper Harris Gordana Vlahovic Rakesh Malhotra North Carolina Central University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 188310 1733 1594 SMET OTHR 9178 0000 0625105 August 1, 2006 Targeted Infusion Proposal: Accelerated Implementation of Developmental Model for Learning Outcome Assessment and Evaluation. The Norfolk State University (NSU) HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project will implement an assessment and evaluation process (AEP) designed to enhance student learning, application of diverse assessment strategies, and continuous improvement. The Targeted Infusion Project will accelerate the full implementation of the NSU AEP which is one component required by ABET for accreditation. ABET is the sole accrediting agency for engineering programs in the United States. According to ABET, assessment and evaluation are the most problematic areas for programs seeking accreditation. This project will implement a recently proposed general model for outcome assessment developed at the University of Pittsburg. The Besterfield-Sacre model outlines characteristic performance behaviors for each of the ABET a-k outcomes, and the model further classifies the performance behaviors according to the Bloom Learning Taxonomy, a developmental model for student learning. NSU has adopted this model in the design of its assessment and evaluation plan, and this project will help to extend the initially constructed general performance criteria toward a set of discipline-specific criteria that maintains relevance to the ABET a-k outcomes and that is classified by the Bloom taxonomy. To our knowledge, this effort would be the first study of this nature for electronics and optical engineering programs. Norfolk State remains the only HBCU with an Optical Engineering program, and upon accreditation, the NSU program will be one of only three in the nation (University of Arizona and University of Alabama-Huntsville, have been accredited by ABET). Norfolk State will likely produce fifteen engineering graduates in its first graduating class. It is projected that by 2010, more than double that number will graduate annually. Hence, NSU has the potential and the opportunity to become a top producer of African-American engineers in the nation. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV ENGINEERING EDUCATION HRD EHR Jones, Sean Patricia Mead Norfolk State University VA Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 150993 1594 1340 SMET OTHR 9178 110E 0000 0625155 September 15, 2006 Strategic Plan for Enhancement, Expansion and Development of Undergraduate Programs (SPEED-UP). J.F. Drake State Technical College in Huntsville, Alabama is a two-year Historically Black Institution. Their HBCU-UP project SPEED-UP (Strategic Plan for Enhancement, Expansion and Development of Undergraduate Programs) will provide the infrastructure to i) expand professional development opportunities for STEM faculty; ii) enhance and expand Drake's current STEM curriculum and articulation agreements and iii) expand outreach to underrepresented groups to increase STEM participation. Through the SPEED-UP project, Drake plans to offer professional development for faculty in the areas of peer learning, interactive learning, Just-in-Time Teaching and Supplemental Instruction. In the area of curriculum development, Drake will re-design the mathematics, physics, biology and computer information systems curriculum through the use of some of the techniques emphasized in the professional development activities. In addition, Drake will implement summer bridge programs for high school students and for adults, which should increase interest in STEM programs, especially with the students that they serve. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Reutter, John George Winn Joyce Rentz Mattie Davis J F Drake State Technical College AL Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2018442 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0625165 September 15, 2006 Enhancing Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering at Allen University (ESTEM-AU). Allen University is a private, liberal arts, historically black university located in Columbia, South Carolina. The HBCU-UP project, Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at Allen University (ESTEM-AU) will 1) revise course contents and integrate technology into STEM curricula and instruction; 2) develop undergraduate research program and improve critical transition activities for recruitment and retention and 3) broaden and strengthen the research program for faculty. To achieve its goals, the ESTEM-AU project will institute a variety of course modifications in mathematics, chemistry, biology and physics. Among the approaches that will be utilized are 1) an Integrated Instructional Delivery System in freshman and sophomore level courses which include multimedia electronic lecture notes, tutorials, online testing and online assignments; and 2) Discvery Learning Approaches. Equipment and professional development activities will strengthen the integration of technology into STEM instruction and curricula. Allen University will develop activities to increase the involvement of undergraduate students in research during the academic year and summer months. The summer internships will rely on collaboration with major research institutions. In addition, they seek to increase the preparation of incoming freshman students through a summer bridge program. Faculty will be supported in their ESTEM-AU efforts through professional development workshops, faculty exchanges, and collaboration with visiting scientists and research institutions. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Inyangetor, Patrick Allen University SC Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2019086 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0625175 September 15, 2006 STEM Development at MILES. Miles College, a four year Historically Black liberal arts instition in Birmingham, Alabama aims for an increase in the production of well-prepared, competitively trained minority graduates who enter the workforce or pursue graduate studies in STEM disciplines. In order to attain this goal, Miles will utilize HBCU-UP funding to 1) develop an effective recruiting college bridge program; 2) develop a comprehensive STEM undergraduate research infrastructure and 3) develop and implement an effective graduate bridge program. The HBCU UP project at Miles will include several bridge programs. The Summer Science Enrichment Academy will be aimed at high school students and will strengthen their academic base. The Summer Science Institute will be aimed at Freshman and Sophomore undergraduates, and will include academic courses as well as research techniques. The most innovative is a summer bridge program for students from Lawson State Community College, also an HBCU. The institutions have existing articulation agreements, and this bridge program will serve to strengthen the relationship. Students will be afforded scholarships and research training. The Miles College HBCU-UP project will benefit from collaborations with the LS-AMP project, especially in the implementation of graduate school preparation activities. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR LAMAR, HATTIE Charles Woods Osman Bannaga Miles College AL Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 1887322 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0625289 December 15, 2006 IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT: Interdisciplinary Experience For Undergraduates in Science, Math. Engineering & Technology (STEM). Fort Valley State University (FVSU) will strengthen the undergraduate recruitment and retention activities in the STEM disciplines with a second five-year HBCU-UP Implementation Project. This project will advance the mission of the University by providing high quality STEM degree programs that increase the participation of individuals from minority groups in STEM. The expected project outcomes include: 1) increased STEM graduation; 2) increased faculty participation in research, publications, and grants writing; 3) enhanced quality of undergraduate research experiences; 4) strengthened partnerships with academic institutions and private companies; 5) increased use of technology in teaching and research in all STEM disciplines; and 6) increased numbers of STEM students completing the path from high school through college to graduate school. Intellectual Merit: The project consists of a comprehensive set of activities which will strengthen the overall STEM curricula at FVSU. The development of research infrastructure and partnerships with other institutions and private companies will have an impact on the academic and research programs at FVSU beyond the project period. This project will develop a model for interdisciplinary collaborations in research and curriculum particularly suitable for small teaching institutions. Broader Impact: The project will produce better prepared, competitive, students for the STEM workforce and establish a pipeline of students into graduate and professional programs. This program will serve as a recruitment and retention tool for the institution and enable FVSU to gain visibility as a student-centered institution that provides opportunities for undergraduate student research. The NSF REU-Site in biotechnology and Collaborative Summer Internship with major institute programs in STEM at FVSU can serve as a model for other minority serving institutions seeking to promote undergraduate mentoring and research programs in STEM. Through cross-disciplinary links and links to larger universities and laboratories, FVSU will create an exemplary program that will provide sustainable research experiences for students and a fulfilling research environment for faculty. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Rivers, Larry Sarwan Dhir Melinda Davis Seema Dhir Julius Scipio Fort Valley State University GA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 1148928 1594 SMET 9178 0625329 August 15, 2006 Planning Grant for C. A. Fredd State Technical College. Shelton State Community College, a two year institution in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, consists of the C.A. Fredd State campus (which is designated as a Historically Black College and University) and the Martin campus. Shelton State will implement a comprehensive analysis of the C.A. Fredd State campus' Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) educational programs as part of a planning process to develop a five-year Implementation Project proposal to HBCU-UP. The planning grant will use a straight forward, sequential strategy using the basic scientific method: Hypothesize, Collect Data, Analyze Data, Identify Problems, Develop Solutions, and Create Plan of Action. The planning grant objectives include the: 1) Assessment of the present needs in STEM Courses by careful compilation and analysis of historic data; 2) Professional development of faculty to enhance their knowledge of model STEM enhancement programs and their expertise in developing solutions for enhancing STEM programs at their campus; 3) Creation of plans to strengthen STEM resources including laboratories and technology; 4) Development of a curricula redesign and restructuring plan that will improve participation by minorities and close gaps from high schools to the community college and four year institutions; and 5) Development of a strategy that will enable the college to identify, recruit, and retain minority students in STEM majors and careers. The planning grant will allow the institution to develop and enhance partnerships within the community to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the College in order to move towards growth and improvements in each STEM area. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Cochrane, Camille Sara Brenizer Freeman Nancy Channing Howington Shelton State Community College AL Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 50000 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0625331 July 1, 2006 Targeted Infusion Grant : Use of Television Drama to Make Chemistry More Appealing to Minority Students. The Hampton University HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project will develop a new Forensic Chemistry Concentration for students. There has been a wave of interest and desire among young people to pursue careers in forensic science in recent years. The wave of interest in this field is an opportunity to attract more minority students into this and other scientific disciplines. The Hampton University Forensic Chemistry Concentration will be a modification of the existing chemistry curriculum to incorporate selected courses in Criminal Justice System, Criminology, Statistics, and Micro-techniques. New courses in Forensic Chemistry and Physical Methods in Forensic Chemistry will be developed along with an accompanying laboratory manual. A Forensic Chemistry Laboratory will be established to support teaching and research in forensics. Capstone activities will be an integral part of the program. This will be accomplished by two Summer internships that students will be required to take during the summer following the sophomore and junior years, respectively. A designated chemistry faculty member will serve as coordinator of the program. It is expected that the graduates of this track will be well prepared to enter advanced degree programs and subsequent research careers in forensics, or join entry-level jobs in crime laboratories, law enforcement agencies, criminal investigations, government agencies, or private laboratories. When this concentration is fully implemented, it is expected that within five years the total chemistry enrollment will rise from the current enrollment of 69 to about 100 students. This project will serve as a model for others interested in implementing similar concentrations. A similar concentration is planned in the Biology program at Hampton in subsequent years. This project stands to contribute significantly to the diversification of the forensic science workforce as a whole. PROJECTS HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR Urasa, Isai Hampton University VA Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 151658 1978 1594 1253 SMET OTHR 9178 1978 1594 0000 0625362 September 1, 2006 Strengthening Undergraduate STEM Research and Education at Clark Atlanta University. Clark Atlanta University, through its HBCU-UP project, will implement activities to enhance the preparation of its graduates for post baccalaureate study in STEM disciplines. The institution will establish a Post-Freshman Academic Consolidation and Enhancement Program (PACE), an intensive 8 week study, for majors from all STEM disciplines. The institution will also implement curriculum revisions and enhancements in mathemaitcs, computer and information science, physice, chemistry, biology and psychology. Paralleling this curriculum reform will be faculty training, especially in student assessment techniques. Clark Atlanta will also institute summer undergraduate research experiences, seminars, workshops, enhanced student advisement as well as academic year undergraduate research experiences, all aimed at the overarching goal of increasing the depth and breadth of the academic preparation of the undergraduate Science, Engineering amd Mathematics students with an aim of motivating them to pursue doctoral studies. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Brown, Carlton Cass Parker Clark Atlanta University GA Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 1999425 1594 SMET 9178 0625410 September 15, 2006 Philander Smith College HBCU-UP Grant. Philander Smith College, through the HBCU-UP program, plan to improve student recruitment and retention, redesign curriculum in science and mathematics, and strengthen the instructional, training and research infrastructure. Through partnership with area high school students, the university will implement academic year and summer bridge programs to increase the interest in and awareness of STEM programs at Philander Smithe College, as well as strengthen the science and mathematics preparation of incoming students. The program will utilize collaborative learning, supplemental instruction, lecture series, and student-to-student mentoring to ensure success of the program. Faculty will re-design traditional gate-keeper courses in order to increase retention of students. These courses, College Algebra, College Chemistry and Applied Computer Science, will incorporate changes in instructional strategies, be infused with technology, and will benefit from an enhanced view of the relationship of the course materials with those of other discipline. Additionally, courses in applied computer science and cross-disciplinary research will be developed. The project will supplement in-class instruction with increased undergraduate student research and enhancement of the college's technology infrastructure. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR James, Frank Cynthia Burroughs Philander Smith College AR Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 1774750 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0625731 September 1, 2006 Education Research Grant: Encouraging Students to Pursue Undergraduate Degrees in STEM Fields by Exposing them to Fundamental STEM Paradigms via Interactive Visual Arts Modules. This project will study the efficacy of using simulation environments that include artistic elements to enhance STEM curricula at the high school level and for freshmen non-STEM majors in college. Simulation environments are a subset of virtual reality environments, and they offer new approaches for engaging students in STEM disciplines and encouraging them to pursue further study in those disciplines. A simulation environment which includes artistic components is being developed at the Center for Excellence in Telecommunications and Space (CETS) in the Computer Science Department at Morehouse College. The environment being developed will focus on presenting essential paradigms in the various STEM disciplines via interactive simulations that include elements of artistic creativity and passion. The interactive technologies being developed by CETS represent a series of hands-on activities that utilize advanced capabilities in the areas of location sensing, speech recognition, natural language query, networking, virtual reality, and image manipulation systems. Using these sophisticated tools, students can manipulate, in a virtual environment made up of visual artworks, objects that involve STEM concepts. In the process of engaging in the manipulations students will not just learn the concepts, but also get an opportunity to apply them in the virtual world. Students will then use an information management system designed by CETS to collect and store data about the manipulations and engage in graphical representations of the data. The learning environment will emphasize interactivity, and it will employ a natural language interface along with the CETS location-aware mobile data retrieval system to incorporate the students? movements into the virtual environment. The education research questions that will be investigated include: Does Simulation Learning (via interactive visual art modules) increase a student's interest in STEM fields?; What is the appropriate orchestration of art and STEM in an interactive environment to produce the largest increase in a student's interest in STEM fields?; Is there a difference in the amount of increased interest between high school students and college freshmen? If so, what would account for observed differences?; and Does an increase in a student's interest in the STEM areas result in the students pursuing undergraduate degrees in STEM fields? HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Johnson, Amos Bryant Marks Morehouse College GA Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 1045695 1594 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0627272 September 1, 2006 Enhancement of Research Infrastructure in the Materials Science and Engineering Program at Tuskegee University. The Center for Advanced Materials at Tuskegee University (T-CAM) contributes to the basic and applied research in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). It includes a Ph.D. program in MSE and supports research and education of a large number of minority undergraduate and graduate students. T-CAM faculty have developed state-of-the-art facilities to conduct research in many aspects of advanced materials and acquired expertise in chemical synthesis and analysis, processing/manufacturing, performance evaluation, and modeling of advanced materials and structures. However, several areas of research still need significant enhancement for Tuskegee University to become competitive among institutions that conduct cutting-edge research in MSE. The areas that have been identified for enhancement and development with funding through the RISE program include: 1) in-house manufacture of carbon nanotubes, 2) manufacture and characterization of advanced fibers reinforced with carbon nanotubes and other nano fillers, 3) research in advanced electronic materials, 4) videoconferencing capability, and 5) development of junior African-American faculty members to enable them to join the research and education programs in MSE. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Jeelani, Shaik Kalyankumar Das Mahesh Hosur Vinette Ashford Gregory Murphy Tuskegee University AL Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9178 9150 0627276 October 1, 2006 Development of Biological and Chemical Sensors for Bioenvironmental Research. Morgan State University (MSU) is advancing the fundamental scientific and technological knowledge necessary for the development new biological and chemical sensors for use in bioenvironmental research. This research is essential to the long-term success of Morgan's PhD in Bioenvironmental Sciences and Doctor of Engineering programs and will assist MSU's transition from a traditional undergraduate teaching institution to a doctoral-comprehensive research university. The interdisciplinary research projects are an outgrowth of previous NSF-RISE funding, which produced strong collaborations among researchers at Morgan in the School of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, School of Engineering, and the University of Alabama at Huntsville. These research collaborations can potentially make major contributions to the fundamental understanding of the design and development of dual use biosensing systems for monitoring the impact of environmental pollutants on urban and rural ecosystems, as well as for homeland security applications. . A synergistic research program is being developed based on the following subprojects: 1) Synthesis and modification of heptamethine near-Infrared dyes; 2) Development of a dual fluorescence lifetime biosensor; 3) Prediction of adhesion molecule expression using a random walk technique; 4) Development of novel anion and amines sensors. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Kennedy, Alvin Angela Winstead Morgan State University MD Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9178 0630274 August 1, 2006 Sciences and Mathematics Integrated in Lifelong-Learning Experiences (SMILE); Fall 2006 and Spring 2007; Charleston, SC. The overall goal for Sciences and Mathematics Integrated in Lifelong-Learning Experiences (SMILE) is to increase opportunities for, and to instill confidence in kindergarten-12, undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. In partnership, the Southeast Regional Clearinghouse (SERCH), the Lowcountry Hall of Science and Math (LHSM), and five Space Grant Consortia will build on NASA's investment of serving the needs of STEM educators working with students with special needs. Two meetings will be facilitated at the College of Charleston (COFC), Charleston, South Carolina, in the Fall of 2006 and Spring of 2007 to share ideas and available resources for faculty and students with disabilities on the 46 member campuses of five Space Grant consortia in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. These meetings will result in the sharing of ideas and collaborative planning of a Southeastern/Mid-Atlantic Regional Alliance for Persons with Disabilities in STEM Education (RAD). RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Runyon, Cassandra College of Charleston SC Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 30000 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0630370 September 1, 2006 Center for Astrophysical Science and Technology. The CREST project at Florida A&M University will integrate education and research in astrophysics and will produce new knowledge and enhance the research productivity of the faculty involved. In addition, a central objective is to increase the number of African-American Ph.D.s in Astrophysics and Astrochemistry. The Center will support collaboration between the FAMU Physics and Chemistry departments and will facilitate the startup of a Ph.D. program in Chemistry. The program will have a Center component and 3 research subprojects in the field of Astrophysics. The Center will also establish a laboratory astrophysics program, which has both a new undergraduate minor and a research area at the Ph.D. level. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Weatherford, Charles Joseph Johnson Bidhan Saha Ray O'Neal Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4024932 9131 SMET 9179 9178 0630372 October 1, 2006 Center for Laser Science and Spectroscopy (CLASS). Hampton University proposes to establish a multidisciplinary CREST Center for Laser Sciences and Spectroscopy (CLaSS), which will build upon the existing scientific resources and faculty expertise available in laser spectroscopy. The vision of the Center is to develop a world-class, multidisciplinary laser spectroscopy research and education center that is a new national resource at an HBCU. The Center will integrate research, education, research training, and outreach in selected areas of science and engineering. The mission is to increase the number of doctoral degrees in important areas of science and technology awarded to underrepresented groups. The goals of the Center are to: 1) develop a multidisciplinary research center that will use laser spectroscopic techniques to advance the fundamental understanding of selected problems at the forefront of science and engineering; 2) enhance the undergraduate and graduate curricula by integrating research training to provide students with a solid foundation in laser spectroscopy; 3) involve students in an extensive program of research training and professional development including participation in national and international conferences, internships with our industrial partners, seminars presented by eminent scientists, and intensive training in scientific writing and presentations; and 4) develop innovative pre-college and undergraduate outreach programs that motivate student interest in pursuing careers in science and engineering. The K-12 outreach programs will be conducted in close collaboration with the Hampton and Newport News public school systems. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Temple, Doyle Uwe Hommerich JaeTae Seo Bagher Tabibi Hampton University VA Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 5000000 9131 SMET 9179 0630388 September 1, 2006 Creation of the Center for Research and Education in Optical Sciences and Applications. Delaware State University (DSU) will establish the Center for Research and Education in Optical Sciences and Applications (CREOSA). Its mission will be to (1) promote multidisciplinary research and education in optics and the related fields of physics, chemistry, engineering, computer science, mathematics, and biology; (2) enhance the research capabilities of DSU by engaging faculty in research that integrates the education of a diverse population of students; (3) provide a rich intellectual environment for collaborative research among faculty and students from various departments; and (4) develop research and educational collaborations with the larger community, including industry, minority-serving colleges and universities, other universities, and high schools. Optical science will be the primary research focus , because it is intrinsically interdisciplinary, offering rich capabilities with exciting applications and innovations in many fields. DSU will use existing core competencies and facilities as the foundation to build CREOSA into world-class optics center that will involve and mentor high school, undergraduate, and graduate students at DSU, preparing many underrepresented minority students for STEM graduate studies and careers. Also through CREOSA, research engagement will become a common thread from introductory coursework through graduation, and the Center will grow multidisciplinary collaborations within and beyond campus. The goals of CREOSA are to: 1. Integrate strong and dynamic research with education in optical sciences and applications to enhance the research environment at DSU. 2. Develop multidisciplinary collaborations involving a diverse population of students and faculty from DSU and beyond. 3. Work with STEM departments to increase the number of underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students in STEM, with the goal of doubling STEM degree production within 10 years. 4. Create and implement STEM curricula that incorporate research engagement, including a senior thesis option. 5. Strengthen the research infrastructure at DSU in terms of people, equipment, and access to scientific information. 6. Lay the foundations for a PhD program in optical sciences. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Melikechi, Noureddine Aristides Marcano Gour Pati Delaware State University DE Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4605816 9131 SMET 9179 9178 9150 0630456 November 1, 2006 Center for Functional Nanoscale Materials. The Center for Functional Nanoscale Materials at Clark Atlanta University (CAU) will foster multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary fundamental research discoveries, innovation, and education in the rapidly developing and important field of nanotechnology. The Center's research projects will encompass the Preparation and the Photocatalytic Reactivities of Nanostructured TiO2/Al2O3 Composites; the Syntheses and Studies of the Properties of Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes, Nanoporous Multifunctionalized Organosilicates, and Biofunctional Nanoscale Materials. The Center will significantly enhance the research capacity in nanotechnology at CAU by providing support for students, technical and administrative support for faculty, and upgrades to equipment for carrying out the research and education enterprise. CAU will provide salary support for a new faculty position in the area of nanotechnology. The Center will increase the number of talented minority students staying the course in the science and technology pipeline by providing scholarships for promising high school students to enter the program as Nano-scholars and by providing competitive stipend and tuition support for graduate students. The Center will allow CAU to leverage its participation in other NSF STC programs and extend opportunities for research in nanotechnology to undergraduate and graduate students. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH HRD EHR Khan, Ishrat Barbara Baird James Reed Patricia Marsteller Clark Atlanta University GA Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 3098038 9131 7298 SMET OTHR 9179 7715 5976 1066 0000 0630849 August 15, 2006 Pikuni Integration of Technology Into Academics Phase II. Goal 1 Increase enrollment in STEM classes by establishing a summer math/science institute for high school juniors and seniors with research interns assisting in the planning, promotion, and implementation of the institute. These participants will serve as feeders to the internship program and to the STEM courses. Further, the interns will work with high school students in the lab setting monthly and become mentors to these students. A Career Day and recruiting of non-traditional students who are working in STEM fields will also assist. Goal 2 Increase retention of Native American graduates from STEM fields through implementation of a series of STEM lectures with lecturers from four-year colleges as well as visits to BCC of former BCC STEM graduates to expose their successes. Key to the success of this goal will be follow-up visits to Montana colleges to trace BCC STEM graduates. Goal 3 Strengthen STEM research infrastructures will involve developing partnerships with institutions/organizations which can do scientific testing for our research when the college lacks the equipment and moving beyond wind energy to alternative energies. The grant will encourage the broadening of research at BCC by BCC STEM faculty becoming more involved in the research activities. This will be accomplished by assisting them in developing a research component to their courses and/or a research capstone course. Goal 4 Improve technology by offering a GPS-GIS summer workshop for BCC students, build a mini math lab for the math department and involved in data collection for both TSET and RSI. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Atwell, Beverly John Salois Blackfeet Community College MT Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1500000 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0631248 January 1, 2007 Improving Science, Technology and Math Programs at Little Priest Tribal College. Little Priest Tribal College's (LPTC) "Improving Science, Technology and Math Programs at Little Priest Tribal College" (ISTAMP) project seeks funding that will improve in-class and program retention, increase the intensity of the support methods used with students, change teaching methods in order to make the college's science programs more exciting, develop an internship program that hooks students into undergraduate research, and initiate the development of a Geographic Information Systems, Geographic Positioning System, and Visualization associate degree program. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Redleaf-Collett, Betty Little Priest Tribal College NE Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 787700 1744 SMET 9178 0631339 February 1, 2007 Olta'i shohnizingo doo binaanish yaanidiyigo ohoollah: Taking a Math and Science Pathway. Our emphasis is on supporting the "whole" student -- acknowledging that in the rural and Native American culture, relationships among families, extended families, and clanships as well as the relationships with the environment are critical in the process of learning for the individual and community. This proposal addresses the importance of providing students, their families, and the communities with ways to further value math and science, both as a vital component in their daily lives and a career choice. Three Goals of O[ta'7 shohn7zingo d00 binaanish yaanidiy8'go 0hoo[aah: Taking a Math and Science Pathway: . Increasing STEM student recruitment by (1) engaging Middle (6-8 grades) and High Schools (9-12 grades) (2) increasing the availability of science laboratory instruction at the college and (3) creating certifications to encourage STEM workforce development (4) by recruiting interested freshman, undeclared majors and liberal arts majors into a science cohort program . Increasing STEM student retention by (1) enhancing the relevancy of STEM to family and community (2) improving math placement tools (3) STEM academic content reinforcement and (4) better academic advising. . STEM Faculty Development involving (1) more relevancy in course content for students (2) broader instructional options for teachers (3) more course delivery methods and (4) faculty career development. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Carroll, Marnie Mark Bauer Janel Hinrichsen Dine College AZ Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 1500000 1744 SMET 9178 0631340 October 1, 2006 Planning Grant for forging a collaborative initiative, "Sciences of Sustainability Through Instructional Technology Transfer. This is a planning project designed to augment the institutional relationship of College of Menominee Nation, located in Keshena, Wisconsin and Salish Kootenai College, located in Pablo, Montana around their mutual commitment to promote the sciences in support of sustainable development. While strong administrative linkages exist between the two colleges, no such comparable network exists among the faculty of the two institutions. That faculty linkage is an essential component to the development of our proposed long term initiative, and we envision a broadly integrated collaboration merging research, instruction, and extension services as a consequence of this award. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Powless, Donna Holly Youngbear-Tibbetts Virgil Dupuis College of the Menominee Nation WI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 50000 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0631344 September 1, 2006 FBCC Student Cohort STEM Project. The Fort Berthold Community College proposes to develop a Learning Community of 60 STEM students during the next 3 years. Each student will receive financial incentives, special seminars, enrichment and cultural activities with an emphasis on research resulting in advancing knowledge and understanding in the various STEM disciplines. The students will experience a structured first year including a specialized team of instructors comprised of math, science, technology, and tribal studies. This team, lead by the Academic Dean, has the requisite qualifications based on experience acquired from the previous TCUP grant and will design research based instruction utilizing the constructivist teaching strategies perfected in the past TCUP grant. The following second year will have students select their emphasis area: math, science, technology, or engineering. Each STEM student will be assigned to a cohort and will commit to continue their education past the two-year degree. The TCUP project will assist with the transfer process and transition to a four-year institution in a STEM field. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Baker-Big Back, Clarice Fort Berthold Community College ND Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1602000 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0631364 August 1, 2006 Phase II: Magakata Woslolye Oaye (Cultivating Science into the Future). Phase Two of the OLC TCUP program, the Magakata Woslolye Oaye (Cultivating Science into the Future) project, builds upon the infrastructure and initiatives developed in Phase I to expand academic and professional development opportunities for students, faculty, and community members in areas of STEM. The vision of the Magakata Woslolye Oaye program is to develop a model to strengthen science leadership at Tribal Colleges. The three goals of the Magakata Woslolye Oaye program are to: 1. Train existing Oglala Lakota College STEM faculty to become Principal Investigators and leaders and increase the number of funded original research projects. 2. Use existing infrastructure and resources to improve academic coursework and student learning by incorporating localized original research projects and community based service-learning projects. 3. Adapt the existing commercial enterprise to a more sustainable socialized enterprise model. To reach these goals, three STEM faculty members will design a research project to answer an environmental question relative to the Pine Ridge reservation. Each faculty will serve as a team leader, recruit, and train four undergraduate students to work on the research team. In addition, they will serve as the project Principal Investigator and guide the team in writing a proposal to submit to a local review panel to receive project funding from the OLC Phase II program. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Tinant, Charles Oglala Lakota College SD Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 1567491 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0631402 December 1, 2006 NSF Vision 21: Phase II. In 2001, SIPI received a five-year TCUP Implementation Grant to support the development of science, mathematics, engineering and technology education. SIPI proposed a comprehensive academic enhancement project, entitled 'Vision 21: Expanding STEM higher education for Native Americans in the 21st century', designed to build capacity among faculty and improve the school's science education infrastructure. Vision 21 Phase I resulted in SIPI being well positioned in three areas. First, we have a well-trained teaching faculty with a broad repertoire of instructional strategies. Second, we have a state of the art science education facility with well-equipped labs across the natural and physical sciences. Third, we have an established undergraduate research experience program with a proven record of enhancing student success. We propose to leverage this strong underpinning with our Phase II request, and have chosen two overarching themes, and 4 goals, which extend our reach beyond the basic capacity building of Phase I. In Phase II we will focus on: I. Access to higher education Goal 1 Improve outreach to area schools so as to help students move effectively from high school to SIPI, and on to high-demand STEM careers, through early assessment and better aligning secondary and postsecondary curriculum. Goal 2. Increase access of Native American college students to science and technology degrees through distance education. II. Best strategies to prepare students for future careers as technologists, scientists and engineers Goal 3. Improve curriculum and course offerings within STEM associate degree programs to prepare students to be successful at four-year institutions and/or to assume productive careers in the STEM workforce Goal 4. Increase student and faculty research capacity. Intellectual merit SIPI is a national community college with students from over 100 tribes whose TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Montoya, Valerie Nader Vadiee Ronald Hooks Katherine Mitchell Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute NM Lura J. Chase Interagency Agreement 994551 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0631603 December 1, 2006 GSE/DIS: THE SOUNDS OF PROGRESS: The Changing Role of Girls and Women in Science and Engineering. WAMC will produce and nationally distribute two dissemination products: Part 1) A series of eight, long-form, magazine-style radio stories about research-based strategies and methods throughout the U.S. working to inform educational practice, specifically within the effort to increase the participation of girls and women in STEM education and workforce; and, Part 2) a series of 26 two-minute radio stories about fascinating women throughout history that have overcome incredible obstacles to make significant contributions to STEM fields and education. These two radio series will be broadcast throughout the US on WAMC's nationally-syndicated radio programs--The Best of Our Knowledge, a show about education, educational policy, innovation, and research; and 51%, a show about women and issues and policies affecting them. They will also be available for listening on WAMC's Women in STEM website (www.womeninscience.org), and distributed nationally on compact disc. WAMC anticipates the following broader impacts associated with this project: - Reaching and educating a nationwide audience of radio listeners about the national effort to close the gender gap in STEM education and careers; - Reaching and educating significant national audiences within the education community and within targeted audiences of young women, parents and organizational leaders; informing educational practices with regard to the objectives, methods, findings and impacts of gender-based research strategies and methods; - Reaching and educating a targeted audience of girls and young women (with a priority emphasis on minority and disabled populations) who will have the opportunity to learn that STEM education and careers are possible and within reach. The intellectual merit of this project lies in WAMC's radio programming placing a national spotlight on research which specifically highlights teaching styles, curriculum designs, pedagogical approaches, etc., that have contributed to the knowledge base addressing gender related differences in learning, and have promoted educational experiences that positively affect student interest, performance, and choice of careers. In addition, intellectual merit lies in the research, production and presentation of quality radio programming that depicts the lives and work of successful women in STEM fields and careers throughout history. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Busby, Glenn Mary Darcy WAMC Northeast Public Radio NY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199800 1544 SMET 9178 0631679 September 1, 2006 GSE/EXT: Great Science for Girls: Extension Services for Gender Equity in Science through After-School Programs. Great Science for Girls: Extension Services for Gender Equity in Science through After-School Programs (GSG Extension Services) will use 21st century technologies in combination with in-person professional development, customized consulting services, and evidence-based, gender-equitable curricula to create a unified program of change around girls and STEM. The project will bring together the Educational Equity Center at the Academy for Educational Development (EEC/AED) and two AED Centers that have worked extensively in the after-school field: the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research (CYD) and the National Training Institute for Community Youth Work (NTI) as partners. In addition, the project will work in partnership with regional intermediary organizations that provide training and technical assistance to after-school centers; and after-school centers directly serving girls and other underserved youth. Intellectual merit-- GSG Extension Services will build the capacity of after-school centers to deliver evidence-based programming that provides a learning environment for girls that includes opportunities for leadership; active, intelligent engagement with concerned adults and other students; inquiry-based, hands-on experimentation; risk-taking; challenges and problem-solving; cooperative learning; and fun. Integral to this project will be EEC/AED's Science, Gender and After-school On-Line Community of Practice (COP). The COP will serve as an online virtual support system for program implementation, and an important follow-up tool for program participants. In addition, the COP will provide ongoing, cutting-edge information and services to a national client base, and act as a continuous link between researchers and practitioners. Broader Impacts: During the five-year project period, GSG Extension Services will make significant impact by building the capacity of 16 national intermediary organizations to implement the unified program of change with 10,880 youth workers in the 2,720 centers they serve, ultimately reaching 162,800 girls. Through this comprehensive approach, GSG Extension Service will advance STEM opportunities for the large number of low and moderate-income girls and other underrepresented students who attend after-school programs. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Froschl, Merle Barbara Sprung Cheri Fancsali Academy for Educational Development DC Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 1975901 1544 SMET 9178 0631724 February 1, 2007 GSE/DIS - Public Engagement for the Dissemination of The Gender Chip Project. This dissemination project seeks to expand the participation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science education by implementing a broad, national public engagement campaign to disseminate The Gender Chip Project. The goal is to advance discovery and understanding about the way that girls and women access STEM educational opportunities and careers. The Gender Chip Project is a multi-platform program which includes, a one-hour film documentary and companion set of enrichment materials designed to deepen discussion and inquiry, while also offering further experiential activities for youth interested in STEM. The overall program, which builds upon the documentary as a foundation, features targeted classroom curricula, a comprehensive action workshop toolkit, and an evolving web site that aggregates research findings, best practices, professional development activities and evaluation instruments. Workshops, training and presentations will reach more than forty institutions and organizations, both large and small, spanning the country. It will engage more than 6,000 individuals throughout these sectors: (1) middle and high school teachers and counselors; (2) college and university faculty and administrators; (3) after-school and organizational nonprofit program staff; (4) professional development associations; (5) corporate personnel; (6) local, regional and national gender equity and STEM-related conference attendees. INTELLECTUAL MERIT-- The Gender Chip Project is a vehicle to advance discovery, understanding and action about the way girls and young women access STEM and computer technology educational opportunities and careers. The documentary and materials have been designed to stimulate dialogue, inquiry and action, especially among groups underrepresented in STEM careers. The documentary, web site, workshop and curricula materials have been developed in collaboration with leaders in STEM and gender equity research and education to provide the materials, training and support for adults who serve and mentor girls. BROADER IMPACT-- By deepening current partnerships and reaching out to regional and national organizations, and recognized leaders, programs, and other NSF grantees working in this area, this dissemination project will contribute critically needed resources and training opportunities for a variety of groups and individuals across the country who have a direct and indirect impact on young women's decisions about whether or not to pursue, and stay with STEM careers. The Gender Chip Project takes the theme of "how do women realistically begin to participate in wider STEM arenas as they prepare for adulthood and careers" to a broader and deeper level of discussion and action. By disseminating the film and all its companion materials throughout a variety of platforms -- from live interactions to materials always available online, the Gender Chip Project will significantly support and encourage key STEM educators and mentors making a difference in young women's lives and professional choices. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Donohue, Jean Media Working Group KY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199856 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0631754 December 1, 2006 GSE/DIS: WISSC via Web: A Dissemination Project Making GSE Research Useable for Practitioners Supporting Women in STEM Studies and Careers. This project will apply research discoveries by launching the development of a first-of-its-kind, economical, and rapidly scaleable new web-based tool for schools, universities, and families to use in encouraging young women to 1) persevere in studying science, mathematics, and engineering, and 2) hold fast in their ambition to build careers in these fields. The project will disseminate both research and the tool that makes it useable for practitioners by allying with activities sponsored by CRESMET--Arizona State University's Center for Research on Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology. A previously developed taxonomy--Women in STEM Studies and Careers (WISSC) Taxonomy--will be used as a basis for the web tool. The tool will contain links from the issues listed in the taxonomy of barriers and supports, to information in written, audio, and video formats that will illustrate context, enhance the understanding of each issue, and provide extensive intervention information for educators, parents and family, peers, and girls and women themselves. The WISSC web tool will be developed as a part of the Virtual Counseling Center now housed in CRESMET and disseminated to all educators in Arizona as well as nationwide. Intellectual merit-- The development of the proposed web tool will facilitate broad dissemination of major findings from the results of NSF-sponsored research focusing on young women and STEM careers. It will educate professionals, parents, and girls on some of the challenges facing girls and women pursuing STEM careers, and organize this information so that it can be easily accessed and used by providing direct connections from information to interventions. The web tool will provide a useful bridge between practitioners and the research literature that will enhance the abilities of educators, parents and young women to access and make use of information and interventions informed by research. Broader impacts-- Through existing networks at ASU, 60,000+ teachers, counselors, and school leaders in the state of Arizona will be reached. Allying with CRESMET and the national network of collaborators the center leverages through currently operating MSP and TPC funded projects will enable the national dissemination of the WISSC tool, its foundational taxonomy, and the new knowledge created by researching and evaluating its impact on young women and those who advise and mentor them. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Horan, John Arizona State University AZ Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 200000 1544 SMET 9178 0631765 September 1, 2006 GSE/DIS: SciGirls Museum Adventures from DragonflyTV. SciGirls is a national dissemination project, which puts resources from the PBS science series DragonflyTV into the hands of outreach professionals at PBS stations and educators in after school programs for girls. The current project leverages PBS' nationwide network of member stations to connect the educational research community with practitioners in the field. Thus far SciGirls has trained over 100 educators and community leaders and reached 2,300 girls in grades 3 through 8. SCIGIRLS MUSEUM ADVENTURES has four objectives: 1) to provide museum educators with DragonflyTV videos that model authentic inquiry in museum settings; 2) to expand SciGirls activity guides with new museum-based activities and research-based strategies specifically for museum educators; 3) to create a set of online, streaming videos that demonstrate best practices in gender-inclusive teaching; and 4) to facilitate feedback between our participants and the research community and deepen our understanding of the most effective ways to engage girls in STEM activities. Intellectual Merit--The strength of SciGirls lies in its comprehensive multimedia approach and its foundation in the inquiry-based strategies defined in the National Science Education Standards. The videos provided in SciGirls emphasize the process of science, rather than a collection of science facts. They provide real-world models of inquiry that all girls can do. Taken together, the SciGirls resources stimulate discussion, build confidence and pave the way for girls to investigate science questions on their own. The educational strategies provided by SciGirls are based in research into gender- inclusive STEM teaching and learning, translated into strategies that can be easily used by after school educators to create successful STEM experiences for girls. Broader Impact--SCIGIRLS MUSEUM ADVENTURES will provide museum educators at ten sites with materials that can be used in their programs for years to come. The entire set of resources--streaming videos and Activity Guides--will be available on DragonflyTV's Web site at www.pbs.org. The outcomes of the project will be shared with the informal science education research community. Findings will be reported at the annual PBS National Center for Outreach Conference. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hudson, Richard Twin Cities Public Television MN Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 250036 1544 SMET 9178 0631766 August 15, 2006 Collaborative Research: GSE/EXT: National Girls Collaborative Project. This extension service project involves extending and focusing a collaborative model of networking girl-serving projects, organizations and institutions, in order to increase their capacity for continuation of activities and/or reaching a broader community. Collaboration, as an interactive process, enables professionals across projects and communities to generate and carry out creative solutions and strategies that maximize benefit beyond that which one project or community could accomplish alone. It is the intent of the expanded National Girls Collaborative Project to disseminate research-based best practices in informal learning environments and assessments and evaluation that would further advance the work of existing and evolving girl-serving projects and provide a forum to share results. The goals of this extension project are to: 1. Maximize access to shared resources within projects and with public and private sector organizations and institutions interested in expanding girls' participation in STEM. 2. Strengthen capacity of existing and evolving projects by sharing best practice research and program models, outcomes and products. 3. Use the leverage of a network or collaboration of individual girl-serving STEM programs to create the tipping point for gender equity in STEM. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the use of the collaborative model to deliver research-based best practices to practitioners as well as the creation of a system for communicating implementation data to create a dialogue among practitioners and between researchers and practitioners. The broader impact of this project is demonstrated by the combination of networks, organizations, educational institutions and community-based organizations engaging in structured activities designed to increase organizational capacity. Although there have been hundreds of girl-serving STEM projects and targeted strategies to close the gender gap in STEM, we may have not yet reached the tipping point that transforms these individual efforts into systemic, nation-wide change. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Blackwell, Gloria American Association of University Women DC Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 756250 1544 SMET 9178 0631769 January 1, 2007 GSE/DIS: A Coherent Global Web Portal of Resources for Women and ICT. A network of organizations headed by the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT) at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), in partnership with the Association of Progressive Computing Women's Networking Support Program (WNSP), Global Alliance for Diversifying the Science and Engineering Workforce, International Network of Women in Science and Technology (INWES), National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), Women in Global Science and Technology (WIGSAT), WINNETEU25 (Web portal hosted by the 25 member Women's Resource Centers of the European Union), Women in Engineering Program Advocates Network (WEPAN), and World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) Capacity Building Committee will build a web portal that centralizes access to thousands of widely scattered resources on the issue of and solutions to the global technology divide between men and women, and the under-utilization of women in the development of information technology. This project will build a global bridge between research and practice by creating a centralized web portal that will open up lines of communication between international researchers and program implementation personnel to develop the best possible practices based on sharing global knowledge. This will allow U.S.-based programs to develop and implement the effective programs needed in education and the workforce to attract a diversity of workers, including women. Intellectual merit - The project will innovatively use user-centered web design and development methods to create a universally useable web portal. The portal content will be carefully selected and described by a content team representing both research and education practice to assure high quality resources. The value added is consolidation and access to already existing resources that are scattered across multiple research disciplines and across the spectrum from research and evaluation findings to international practice. Broader Impact -The Global Portal project will increase access to already existing resources and will support girls and women's access to, literacy in, and participation in IT around the globe and will enhance the U.S.' efforts to address women's continuing under-participation in IT by providing fuller access to international research in the area and by better connecting resources and knowledge about best practices to engage females. The web portal will enhance the infrastructure for research and education by focusing on providing access to quality global resources on subjects related to women and IT. Better access will enable international collaboration between researchers, and among those in the education and development fields, especially between a wide array of fairly recently created organizations. Increasing women's participation and facilitating degree completion fulfills the identified national need of increasing skilled and highly educated employees in these fields. CWIT will work to disseminate the information through traditional faculty networks and CWIT's expansive network of partners developed through conferences, papers, proceedings and its website, which receives over 150,000 visitors every month. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Komlodi, Anita John Suess University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 261972 1544 SMET 9178 0631771 August 15, 2006 GSE/DIS: FYI Site: Research Findings on Gender and Games for the Game Industry and Game Design Educators. Communicating key research findings to the game industry has the potential to raise industry consciousness about the impacts of negative stereotypes and suggest tangible ways to make games more appealing to girls and women. Reaching students in game design programs and their teachers could also help educate the next generation of game designers become more aware of and concerned about gender and games. This project will use audience participation design methods and stakeholder involvement to envision and create a persistent, technologically advanced, informative, authoritative, interactive online vehicle for disseminating gender and games research findings, carefully tailored to the overt and subtle professional and personal needs and interests of the target audience of commercial, educational, and serious game industry professionals and game design educators. The project is developed and supported through the Michigan State University GEL Lab (Games 4 Entertainment and Learning). Intellectual Merit--FYI Site will be designed to disseminate gender and game research findings to inform and ideally modify commercial and educational game industry practices so they will better serve and inspire girls and women. In developing FYI Site technologists and a design team will listen carefully to researchers, commercial and educational game industry professionals and game design educators with the goal of optimizing form, style, content, and social interaction of this modern, specialized industry-academia conduit. Participation and promotion will be fostered through stakeholder involvement including formation of a volunteer editorial board. Broader Impacts-- FYI Site will reach a larger audience by making carefully tailored information available when the game professional or educator encounters a need for that content. FYI Site can serve as a prototype and model for other entertainment research-industry conduits. By exploring Web 2.0 technologies such as audio and video podcasting and social tagging, FYI Site merges emerging technologies with user centered design practices. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Heeter, Carrie Brian Winn Michigan State University MI Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 197855 1544 SMET 9178 0631773 January 1, 2007 GSE/DIS: A Dissemination Project To Increase Girls Raised in Tennessee Science (GRITS). This project consists of three interventions. The primary intervention will be the development of a GRITS "Traveling Roadshow" and companion website with supporting materials about gender bias, careers in STEM and best practices in STEM education. The second objective is to include a new focus on how science is done which will highlight women and minority scientists from Tennessee, the work that they do, and why they choose the science career path. Finally, the project will provide educators and parents in east and west Tennessee with assistance, knowledge, and materials on how to encourage middle and high school girls to explore STEM careers by planning and hosting a regional Expanding Your Horizons Conference. INTELLECTUAL MERIT-- GRITS will advance knowledge and understanding on issues of STEM education and career opportunities for middle school and high school girls throughout Tennessee. GRITS will provide parents, teachers, and guidance counselors with new insights on how to encourage their daughters in STEM classes and careers. Teachers will be given information on how to incorporate best practices in STEM in their classroom, reaching both girls and boys. This project brings together a GRITS "community" that will explore creative concepts to disseminate information about STEM careers in Tennessee where many girls do not attend college or even graduate from high school. BROADER IMPACT-- GRITS promotes a greater understanding of STEM careers for girls and women as well as supports teaching, training and learning about opportunities in STEM education and careers. Girls in urban areas as well as in rural Tennessee and in Appalachia will be encouraged to participate in GRITS. This project will build a community of Girls Raised in Tennessee Science. The GRITS community will grow even further through regional EYH conferences. A major impact will be the enhancement of scientific and technological understanding among the participants, including teachers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Iriarte-Gross, Judith Middle Tennessee State University TN Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199908 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0631789 August 15, 2006 GSE/EXT: National Girls Collaborative Project: Advancing the Agenda in Gender Equity for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This extension service project involves extending and focusing a collaborative model of networking girl-serving projects, organizations and institutions, in order to increase their capacity for continuation of activities and/or reaching a broader community. Collaboration, as an interactive process, enables professionals across projects and communities to generate and carry out creative solutions and strategies that maximize benefit beyond that which one project or community could accomplish alone. It is the intent of the expanded National Girls Collaborative Project to disseminate research-based best practices in informal learning environments and assessments and evaluation that would further advance the work of existing and evolving girl-serving projects and provide a forum to share results. The goals of this extension project are to: 1. Maximize access to shared resources within projects and with public and private sector organizations and institutions interested in expanding girls' participation in STEM. 2. Strengthen capacity of existing and evolving projects by sharing best practice research and program models, outcomes and products. 3. Use the leverage of a network or collaboration of individual girl-serving STEM programs to create the tipping point for gender equity in STEM. The intellectual merit of this project lies in the use of the collaborative model to deliver research-based best practices to practitioners as well as the creation of a system for communicating implementation data to create a dialogue among practitioners and between researchers and practitioners. The broader impact of this project is demonstrated by the combination of networks, organizations, educational institutions and community-based organizations engaging in structured activities designed to increase organizational capacity. Although there have been hundreds of girl-serving STEM projects and targeted strategies to close the gender gap in STEM, we may have not yet reached the tipping point that transforms these individual efforts into systemic, nation-wide change. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Peterson, Karen Rose Marra Brenda Britsch Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology WA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 1343197 1544 SMET 9178 0631817 December 1, 2006 SCC STEM Project. The project is a direct result of a funded NST TCUP Planning Grant. It has been determined that recruitment, retention, and research are the greatest needs. Students at SCC will build its capacity to offer STEM disciplines through reformed STEM coursework, research, and internship activities. The proposed activity will yield data which will assist SCC in STEM enhancement. This approach will also provide facilitate matriculation of our two-year graduates into a four year institution of higher education or the job market. Faculty will develop a research base and research agenda, which will involve all SCC students, faculty members, and other tribal programs. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Sangrey, Cory Douglas Crebs Stone Child College MT Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 992436 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0635067 July 15, 2006 Broadening STEM Leadership at Tribal Colleges and Universities and Alaska Native-serving Institutions. Quality Education for Minorities Network will conduct a series of leadership development opportunities for a selection of highly qualified and experienced faculty at tribal colleges and universities or at Alaska native serving institutions of higher education. The workshops will include nationally recognized leadership development experts, group discussions, and individual and group projects. Fellows will develop an administrative project of their own choosing in consultation with the other fellows and the workshop organizers. They will conduct these projects as "take home" assignments at their institutions, and will complete the projects within a year to report back to their colleagues at a series of two follow up workshops. PROGRAM EVALUATION TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 1018029 7261 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0636220 March 1, 2007 Targeted Infusion Grant Rust College Computer Science Curriculum Modification. Rust College will update the Computer Science Curriculum to reflect advances in the field of Computer Science and meet industry standards with a HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project. The project will create six courses in the Computer Science Degree Program and create a Unix/Linux Laboratory. These changes will make the Rust College Computer Science Degree Program more competitive for students with other institutions. Intellectual Merit: Updating the curriculum will increase the skills and knowledge of Rust College graduates and prepare them to be more competitive in the job market and more prepared for graduate school. Our plan will update our curriculum by developing a new Unix/Linux Operating System Programming course, and a new Programming Logic and Design course (students will develop programming solutions to real world problems). These courses will help to hold the attention of students and help them realize that their work can have a meaningful effect. Two new advanced programming courses (Advanced Programming in JAVA and Algorithm Design and Analysis) will give our students the needed skills for being more competitive nationally and globally in the job market. Computer Science Capstone and Computer Science Seminar Courses will also be created and implemented within the funded period. Broader Impact: The project will successfully prepare Rust graduates for graduate school and industry. The updates for our Computer Science Curriculum will enhance our program and promote discovery and understanding of the programming procedures of in-demand operating systems and programming languages. The curriculum modification will attract more students to Rust College since the new program will be comparable to other available degree programs in the area. The new degree should also be a more enticing major for freshmen who have not yet chosen a major field of study. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Yeh, Frank Brahima Mbodje Rust College MS Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 157578 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0636291 September 1, 2006 Targeted Infusion Grant: Revamping Engineering Technology Programs to Include an Interdisciplinary Curriculum in Distributed Energy and Environmental Studies. The project will revamp two academic programs in the department of Engineering Technology (ENGT) at Savannah State University in order to provide students and the community the opportunity to participate fully in the rapidly unfolding and dominant socio economic issues of energy and environment. Specifically, Savannah State University will offer formal and focused education in alternative energy technology (AET) and environmental engineering technology (ENVET) within the Electronics Engineering Technology and Civil Engineering Technology degree programs. The project will result in the curriculum for certificates in Distributed/Alternative Energy Systems Technology, Environmental Restoration and Management Technology, and Energy and the Environment Studies. The technical content of the curriculum to be developed will address contemporary societal/national problems such as, the energy crises, the impact of fossil fuel on the environment, and environmental remediation and waste management. The curriculum will produce graduates knowledgeable of alternative energy technologies for the rapidly emerging industry. The curriculum will consist of formal course work, undergraduate research training and internships. This curriculum will meet national standards as would be affirmed by TAC of ABET accreditation of the two degree programs in the department. This curriculum will be accessible to students in the social sciences as well as the natural sciences who may wish to minor in any of the specific areas. The curriculum will thus be designed to reflect an interdisciplinary content and will address both the social and technical aspects of energy, and environmental issues. Most importantly, the new curriculum will offer Engineering technology students the opportunity to concentrate in one of the focus areas in their baccalaureate degree programs. The project will produce a cadre of minority engineering technologists, scientists and social scientist with the competencies to participate in the alternative energy industry as technologists, decision makers, community/civic activists and better custodians of the environment. It will help to produce a diversified workforce for the alternative energy industry, and the environmental services industry as well as educate individuals from disenfranchised communities on the efficient use of energy and environmental responsibility. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Jayaraman, Kuppuswamy Alex Kalu Savannah State University GA Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 149967 1594 SMET 9178 0636397 September 1, 2006 Computers and Laboratories Integrated with Mathematics to enhance Biosciences (The CLIMB Project). The project, Computers and Laboratories Integrated with Mathematics to enhance Biosciences (CLIMB), will develop a curriculum and courses that integrate mathematics, computer science, and biology. The project will attract students who are interested in applying powerful mathematical and computational tools to advance understanding of biological phenomena and the solution of problems in the life sciences. The project will: (i) develop and implement new courses needed for a mathematically strengthened Bachelor of Science in Biology; (ii) develop and implement laboratory activities in existing biology courses that will give the students experience in acquiring and analyzing quantitative data from real experiments; (iii) develop and implement minors in mathematical/computational biology available to students majoring in Mathematics, Biology, Biotechnology, or Computer Science; and (iv) lay the groundwork for a future Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical and Computational Bioscience. Intellectual Merit. The CLIMB project will develop new minor degree tracks, courses, and instructional laboratory activities that integrate mathematics, biology, and computational science providing students with important interdisciplinary knowledge and skills necessary to advance the frontiers of knowledge today. Moreover, the interdisciplinary interactions needed to create and develop the curricula and courses are likely to stimulate novel research projects and collaborations at the interface between mathematics, life sciences, and computing that would involve DSU faculty and students. Broader Impacts. The CLIMB project will modernize, integrate, and upgrade curricular offerings in mathematical/computational biology at an Historically Black College/University, helping to attract and provide strong academic opportunities to underrepresented minority students and women. It will foster and stimulate collaborations and interactions involving faculty and students in mathematics, biology, biotechnology, and computer science, creating a dynamic and lively learning community in STEM. The project is expected to result in an increase in the number of African American and female graduates in these fields, along with their competitiveness for graduate study and careers. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Lott, Dawn Melissa Harrington Delaware State University DE Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149017 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0636409 September 1, 2006 Targeted Infusion Project: Development of Bioengineering Concentration in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Prairie View A&M University. Prairie View A&M University will transform its chemical engineering program by establishing a bioengineering concentration within the department. Through this project, the department envisions three general areas of undergraduate education and research: (1) Bioprocess; (2) Bioseparations and (3) Biomedical Engineering. The overarching mission of the bioengineering concentration is to provide an intellectually rigorous undergraduate educational program that emphasizes fundamental engineering and life sciences and that will prepare students to pursue further education in bioengineering or successful careers in businesses related to various bioengineering industries. The intellectual merit of this project stems from its response to a current national focus and the emergence and growth of the field of bioengineering across the United States. Prairie View A&M has positioned itself to respond. The project will benefit from recent hires in the department of chemical engineering, from partnership with two NSF Educational Research Centers, and partnership with University of Kansas, the University of Iosan and Washington University in St. Louis in a Center for the Environmental Beneficial Catalysis. Prairie View A&M University, during its 130 year history, has been at the forefront of graduating African American engineers. It is one of eleven accredited engineering programs at an HBCU, and, through this project, will become only the second to offer an option of a chemical engineering degree with a biology focus. This project will broadly impact the engineering community, as 95% of the engineering students at Prairie View A&M are African American and 59% are women. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV ENGINEERING EDUCATION HRD EHR Osborne-Lee, Irvin Michael Gyamerah Felecia Nave Prairie View A & M University TX Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 196218 1594 1340 SMET OTHR 9178 7204 0000 0636958 September 1, 2006 Targeted Infusion Grant: Advanced Technologies Laboratory (ATL) at. The Lawson State Community College HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project will combine advanced technology and engineering related curriculum with a Modular Production System (MPS) to create real-time learning for a broad spectrum of underrepresented students in Technology and Engineering STEM careers. Alabama manufacturers are constantly seeking a diverse workforce with the skills required to design, assemble, and maintain production lines using a systems approach to troubleshooting. They are seeking engineers and technicians who can diagnose, locate and fix any problem in a manufacturing production line. To meet this demand Lawson State Community College will purchase and install a Modular Production System and implement 4 courses that will use the system. Intellectual Merit: The Lawson State Community College project will establish and equip a premier Advanced Technologies Laboratory (ATL) which will be utilized by the seven instructors in the Manufacturing and Engineering Division. The new lab will enhance employability of residents and will serve as an economic catalyst through collaboration between the College and the 300 members of Manufacture Alabama. Four new courses developed by manufacturers and postsecondary faculty will be taught in the lab. Students in Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM), Electronics/Electrical Engineering, Industrial Electronics/Industrial Systems, and Computerized Numerical Controls (CNC) disciplines within the Manufacturing and Engineering Division will benefit from the ATL. Broader Impact: The impact of the project will be improved technology instruction, articulation of curriculum, and an increased number of highly skilled technicians and engineers that complete a STEM degree and matriculate to a four-year institution. The project also includes manufacturing seminars for high school and college instructors; educational workshops for business and industry; and presentations at conferences such as the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers (NCATC). The lab will also help to broaden the diversity of manufacturing technicians through active recruitment of underrepresented populations into advanced technology and engineering fields. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Murray, Charles Nancy Wilson Lawson State Community College AL Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149518 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0639653 October 1, 2007 AGEP: Colorado Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. The University of Colorado at Boulder will establish an enlarged Colorado Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. This new Alliance will include original partner Colorado State University (CSU), and 2 new partners: the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research (UCAR), and the University of Colorado's urban Denver campus. The Alliance activities will be expanded to include an elite post-doctoral program that supports mentoring by the highest tier of award winning faculty, and a comprehensive professional evaluation to identify sustainable institutional factors that have the highest impact on promoting parity in graduate education and successful advancement to the professorate. Problem Statement and Motivation. To remain globally competitive in science and technology, US institutions must increase the participation of groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields, particularly at the doctoral level. In the coming decades underrepresented minorities will compose a growing fraction of the population, and if their representation within STEM fields does not increase, the total number of US STEM PhDs will decline substantially relative to the overall U.S. population. The Colorado AGEP has developed the following goals to address these national concerns: . To translate the significant increases in minority STEM PhD enrollment realized during the last project period, into corresponding increases in PhD conferrals, such that the number of PhDs awarded increases from an average of 12 per year to an average of 24 per year over the next 5 years . To increase minority STEM PhD enrollment by 67%, from the current 111 students to 185 students . To develop stable cohorts of minority STEM doctoral students with retention rates comparable to their majority counterparts, and scholars that continue into the professoriate with tenure rates comparable to their majority counterparts . To provide targeted professional development opportunities, which increase the competitiveness of recent PhD recipients and postdoctoral fellows for careers in academe . To institutionalize a value added promotion and tenure credit for faculty that successfully mentor underrepresented minority graduate students through a PhD or postdoctoral fellowship . To change institutional cultures and establish sustainable diversity programs that do not solely depend upon dedicated federal grant support by 2015 At Colorado Alliance universities, the value-added components to AGEP already in place are: . Proactive faculty support system that recruits and retains underrepresented PhD students and postdoctoral fellows; . Strong commitment to AGEP's goals at the highest administrative levels at each institution; and . Significant financial support from Alliance institutions. Together, the Colorado Alliance institutions have committed $1 million per year to support AGEP activities. The intellectual merit of this proposal lies in its comprehensive faculty-driven effort to seamlessly transfer students through doctoral education and career placement. The net gain will be 10 new, highly competitively trained postdoctoral fellows that will enter the professorate, and 120 new underrepresented PhD graduates. The broader impacts of this proposal lie in its potential to serve as a national model for the integration of a broad array of previously independent diversity programs, which will catalyze the institutionalization of AGEP's efforts, and significantly contribute to the diversity of the professoriate for generations. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Hernandez, Mark Peter Dorhout University of Colorado at Boulder CO Lenell Allen Cooperative Agreement 1750000 1515 SMET 9179 0639678 September 15, 2007 SREB-AGEP Doctoral Scholars Program. ABSTRACT HRD-0639678 Southern Regional Education Board Ansley Abraham The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) formed a partnership in 2002. This partnership resulted in the SREB-AGEP Doctoral Scholars Program. This program will continue and expand the participation of all AGEP programs in the Compact for Faculty Diversity Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, along with other services. The Institute began in 1994 and is the largest gathering of underrepresented minorities seeking a Ph.D. and who plan a career in postsecondary education. This grant will permit selected AGEP scholars representing all AGEP Alliances to attend the Institute for the next funding cycle. One hundred and seventy seven scholars will be supported for each of the first and second years of the cycle and two hundred and seven for each of the next three years. These scholars will be provided the full array of services and program activities that have contributed to the success of previous scholars attending the Institute. The Institute focuses on helping scholars build their teaching and mentoring skills and network with other scholars and faculty representatives. Scholars attend a large variety of workshops that enhance their skills and knowledge as they prepare for entry into the ranks of college and university faculty. Selected AGEP scholars have the opportunity to participate in the Institute with scholars from other programs with the same goal of entering academia. Other agencies that participate are the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Minority Ph.D. Program, and the Ronald E. McNair Post baccalaureate Achievement Program. The Compact for Faculty Diversity Institute on Teaching and Mentoring has become the centerpiece activity that combines the strengths of national and regional programs. As a national program, each fall the Compact convenes an Institute on Teaching and Mentoring which brings together all participating students and faculty for three days of intensive experiences. The Institute has been successful in attracting faculty and minority doctoral scholars from every state and Puerto Rico. Since it was initiated in 1994, over 6,000 attendees have participated in the Institute. The Institute is the largest gathering in America of racial/ethnic minority Ph.D. scholars seeking faculty careers in academia. Intellectual Merit... The intellectual merit of this program is demonstrated by the inclusion of the SREB-AGEP Doctoral Scholars Program in the AGEP community since 2002, and has resulted in a value-added component experiences for AGEP scholars. The participation of AGEP scholars in the annual Institute has provided them with experiences that have helped address a number of the problems as cited in many studies that minority graduate students often encounter as they pursue the Ph.D. Broader Impact... This unique partnership between SREB and AGEP will achieve two broad goals: 1) provide AGEP scholars with the knowledge, skills, and support that will increase the likelihood of success in graduate school; and 2) enhance preparation of AGEP scholars for a career as a college or university faculty member. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Abraham, Ansley Ken Pepion Southern Regional Education Board GA Lenell Allen Continuing grant 809302 1515 SMET 9178 0639698 September 15, 2008 PROMISE: Maryland's AGEP. ABSTRACT NSF-0639698 Maryland?s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) was founded in November 2002 and was officially named PROMISE (PROfessorial training for Mathematicians, Information technologists, Scientists, and Engineers), in April 2003. PROMISE is a strong alliance of the three public research universities in Maryland: the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC, the Honors University in Maryland), the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The mission of PROMISE going forward is to increase significantly the numbers and diversity of Ph.D.s who graduate from Maryland universities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Anyone who supports this mission, regardless of ethnicity, discipline, or status (part-time/full-time) is encouraged to participate in the activities of PROMISE as a partner to achieve the goal of developing highly skilled STEM professionals for the U.S. from a pool of traditionally under-tapped human resources. This alliance calls to action students from ethnic groups that are historically underrepresented in STEM. PROMISE is designed to cultivate and train leaders. By expanding the traditional program model of recruitment, retention, and successful graduation to include a strong emphasis on training and professional maturity, PROMISE seeks to develop students who prepare for leadership in their professions by becoming leaders in graduate school. To build these leadership qualities, PROMISE focuses on communication, public speaking, and other ?soft skills? together with an emphasis on academic and research excellence to empower students to achieve high levels of expertise and skill that the U.S. needs to tackle national technological concerns. PROMISE: Maryland?s AGEP has been extremely effective at increasing the number of minority doctoral students in STEM disciplines and building a strong sense of community. This was the focus of a previous award and sets the stage for the next phase of activities supported by this award. This alliance has a large number of students in the pipeline to graduate. Therefore, this award will provide funding to continue and augment the most successful recruitment and community building activities of the prior award. The focus of this award is on retention, dissertation completion, and transition to the professoriate. PROMISE will expand existing programs and develop new initiatives based on the successes and lessons learned to serve both the graduate students of Maryland and graduate students around the country. Many of the proposed activities have been piloted, and are poised to move into full implementation. Intellectual Merit: This project addresses the national need to increase participation of underrepresented minorities in science and engineering research careers, particularly in the professoriate. PROMISE: Maryland?s AGEP project will undertake a specific set of activities to address the problem of under representation at each key stage of graduate education with a focus on retention, dissertation completion, and transition to the professoriate. The project builds on the successful track record established individually and collectively by the PROMISE universities that have contributed to understanding what is required to successfully shepherd students through the Ph.D. (Bass et al., 2003; Tull et al., 2003; Tull et al.,2005). Broader Impacts: This project will have broader impacts in four critical areas. Foremost among these is an increase in the number of Ph.D. degrees awarded to underrepresented minorities in STEM disciplines. Improving the environment for minority STEM graduate students necessitates a change in the environment for all graduate students. Therefore, the project will have broader impact on graduate education generally, with these changes being institutionalized at PROMISE institutions. Third, the project will provide a broader and more holistic approach to graduate education that produces graduates who are prepared for academic careers. Finally, the project fosters partnerships that lead to impacts beyond PROMISE. This impact is achieved by building partnerships with other NSF funded initiatives such as the recently funded IGERT and engineering research center. These partnerships can achieve broader diversity, fostering connections between faculty at PROMISE institutions and colleges and universities that have a high production of minority STEM bachelor?s degrees for lasting change in recruiting and research collaborations, and building relationships with professional societies and NSF projects outside of Maryland. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Hirshman, Elliot Janet Rutledge Renetta Tull University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Lenell Allen Continuing grant 750000 1515 SMET 9179 0639735 September 1, 2007 Student to Academic Professoriate for American Indians - SAPAI. ABSTRACT HRD-0639735 University of Montana Penny Kukuk There is a need to increase the numbers of graduate degrees in science and engineering obtained by students from underrepresented groups in order to maintain science excellence in the United States (Nat. Acad. Sci, 2000). American Indian and Alaska Natives (AIAN), especially those in science and engineering fields, are severely underrepresented among faculty in academia, government and industry. Effective programs specifically focused on the members of the varied and unique tribal nations are desperately needed. Therefore, The University of Montana (UM) and The University of Arizona (UA) are collaborating with the All Nations Lewis Stokes Alliance for Minority Progress (ANLSAMP), Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in Arizona and New Mexico, plus the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to propose the "Student to Academic Professional for American Indians" (SAPAI) initiative. This consortium proposes to work with AIAN graduate students to increase graduate degree completion and facilitate their transition into the professoriate, particularly at TCUs. Specifically, the consortium aims to increase rates of degree completion for AIAN students in STEM fields who have completed all requirements for their graduate degrees with the exception of their dissertation or thesis and increase AIAN representation in STEM faculties at TCUs. The consortium proposes to accomplish these goals by conducting 8 week intensive Writing Retreats and through a program that matches the science faculty needs of TCUs with appropriate SAPAI Scholars and providing support for the scholars for their first year at the TCU. The consortium also proposes to prepare scholars to enter the TCU professoriate during an 8 week, intensive TCU Training Program. Intellectual Merit... This award has the potential to significantly impact science higher education for Native American students and to bring this cultural perspective more effectively to the overall STEM research agenda. The process for doing this, which includes a substantive writing workshop to help ensure dissertation completion and a carefully crafted training and matching process designed to increase STEM faculty at tribal colleges is impressive. The endorsement of the Sloan Foundation and the involvement on ANLSAMP also make this a very compelling project. Broader Impact... This program will address the deficiency of AIAN science educators in tribal colleges and universities. Because SAPAI scholars will be trained (TCU Training) to become excellent grant writers the potential for them to bring external support for research and science education into the TCU communities is high and could have important economic impacts on these communities. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Kukuk, Penelope Maria-Teresa Velez Eldena Bear Don't Walk Iris PrettyPaint David Strobel University of Montana MT Lenell Allen Continuing grant 900000 9150 1515 SMET 9179 9178 9150 0641553 September 1, 2006 Model Institutions of Excellence Dissemination Activities. PROGRAM EVALUATION HRD EHR Cunningham, Alisa Institute for Higher Education Policy DC Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 299411 7261 SMET 9177 0646175 September 1, 2006 The Science Education Resource Virtual Diversity Center. ABSTRACT The Science Diversity Center http://ScienceDiversityCenter.org The Science Diversity Center (SDC) is a web-based comprehensive one-stop science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research resource tool designed to: (1) assist federal agencies that fund STEM initiatives to obtain and share timely and accurate program and project information in a user-friendly format with stakeholders, researchers and others; (2) provide and expedite sharing of strategies that address the nation's critical STEM workforce capacity-building and competitiveness needs; (3) increase and broaden participation in STEM career fields for individuals from groups currently underrepresented in those fields of study, and for those who teach and otherwise support those efforts. After eighteen months of strategic development, the SDC in partnership with Science.gov, was launched and featured on the latter's web site. During that period the SDC investigator(s) demonstrated the feasibility and utility of designing unique "software robots" that allow the SDC to "mine" data from other federal agencies; schedule automatic "imports" of data imports; provide automatic corrections in the data, as well as to verify and validate the data. Automatic email reminders were also developed. During the course of its start-up, the principal investigator provided hands-on demonstrations with the Office of Science and Technology Policy's Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee; sister agencies; and, nonprofit STEM and workforce related stakeholders. It became apparent that the SDC tool, and its manifold and coordinated uses, could provide support and information also to and for majority institutions, as well as for intra-NSF Directorate research programs, NSF funded research centers, and to preliminarily for projects currently under development. The supplement is sought to further build, refine and enhance the Center's actual and potential technical applications and its conceptual reach, including immediate assistance to research center needs, and student-faculty research experiences. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV PRES AWDS FOR EXCELL IN SCI SCI & TECH CTRS (INTEG PTRS) HRD EHR McHenry, William Jackson State University MS Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 350000 9131 1594 1593 1297 SMET 9179 9178 0646359 September 1, 2007 AGEP: Connectivity and Implementation. This project proposes to strengthen the national network of partnerships and resource sharing for the NSF?s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) through the services of the Institute for Broadening Participation (IBP). IBP will serve as a hub for a wide variety of services specifically oriented toward the goal of creating a truly national network of AGEP institutions. This project will maximize connectivity at multiple levels within the AGEP community. IBP is a small, coordinating organization which has worked with the Division of Graduate Education at NSF for the past four years. IBP has developed an implementation model for supporting a national network in an effort to increase the number of underrepresented minorities and women in STEM fields. An extensive infrastructure has been built for gathering, storing and exchanging information between programs, potential students, minority serving institutions and organizations and student mentors, with a resulting increase in the number of students who successfully navigate the transition from their undergraduate programs to graduate school. IBP has also begun developing an infrastructure to assist graduate students in the next steps in their career paths, post doctoral opportunities, faculty and other positions. This new national model demonstrates how educational initiatives designed to achieve significant cultural and structural change can be implemented by a small staff dedicated to the overall objective of broadening participation in STEM. IBP is now positioned to assist AGEP in strengthening and extending its national network of program leaders, students, potential students, and student mentors. An enhanced national network will increase the visibility and capabilities of this effort, attract entry level scientists to STEM careers, and produce a diverse new cadre of scientists and leaders for the public and private sectors by increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in the academy. Intellectual Merit By dedicating a small staff to these goals, IBP has been able to develop an innovative and comprehensive approach for addressing underrepresentation in all contexts. By researching the issue, identifying problems, and posing, testing, and refining solutions, IBP has made significant progress in developing tools and methods to reduce barriers for students from less advantaged backgrounds, to cross the technology divide and to make information accessible to students who may have fewer resources. This IBP approach and the related tools created and disseminated will make an important contribution to producing a diverse STEM workforce bringing a wide variety of talent and perspectives to these fields. Broader Impact IBP?s work is geared toward two broad impacts. First, increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities in AGEP programs will contribute to the creation of a STEM workforce which is as diverse and inclusive with respect to social makeup. Second, IBP?s comprehensive approach can serve as a model for adaptation by any regional or national program that seeks to diversify and increase their human resource pipeline. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT IGERT FULL PROPOSALS HRD EHR Thomas, Sandra Institute for Broadening Participation ME Lenell Allen Continuing grant 1056238 1515 1335 SMET 9179 9178 0646685 September 1, 2006 GSE/SGER: Developing a Research Agenda for STEM Women in Leadership. The proposed project will lay the foundations for an international conference on women in leadership to be held in Fall 2007. This exploratory research project will examine what is known about women in leadership throughout various sectors and identify what further research is needed to improve our understanding and knowledge. This project will encompass A. Research Review: a thorough review of the research on women's leadership in different sectors. B. Development of Comprehensive Bibliography: from the research review, a bibliography will be developed and made widely available. C. Identification of Researchers: researchers working in the different sectors will be identified; a selected number will be invited to participate in the conference. D. Development of Conference Framework: the issues and questions to be addressed at the conference will be developed. E. Preparation of Grant Proposal: grant to support the conference will be developed and submitted. Intellectual Merit: The project and conference will provide insight into our understanding of STEM women in leadership and of women's leadership in STEM, across different sectors and disciplines, in an interdisciplinary way that has not been broached. Broader Impact: The interdisciplinary approach of this project will lead to a clearer understanding of women in leadership, and will yield strategies and approaches to crossfertilize successes across different sectors. The potential impact of knowledge transfer from one sector to another could lead to strategies for significantly increasing the advancement of women to leadership positions. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR McNeely, Connie L George Mason University VA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 33366 1544 SMET 9178 0646774 September 1, 2006 HBCU-UP Conferences. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will coordinate the 2007, 2008 and 2009 undergraduate student research conferences for awardees of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP). The general conference format will include: (a) pre-conference workshops and professional development, as well as poster sessions for faculty and administrators from HBCU focused on curricular innovations in undergraduate education, including strengthening undergraduate research programs and evaluation; and (b) a 2-1/2 day general conference for undergraduate students from HBCUs that will include posters and oral presentations and sessions on applying for and persisting in graduate school or science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) bachelor degree employment. Other conference features will include exhibitors showcasing graduate programs, fellowships, summer undergraduate research programs, and employment opportunities. Development and implementation of each of the conferences will span a 15 month period. The conferences will be planned with advice from a planning committee of HBCU-UP faculty. The final themes for each of the conferences will be decided with the planning committee but will center on strategies to strengthen the STEM research capacity at HBCUs and provide students from HBCUs with the knowledge and skills needed to smoothly transition into the STEM workforce or into graduate programs. Based on past participation numbers about 800 participants per year are expected: including 425 students, 175 faculty, and 140 exhibitors. Other invitees will include program directors, officers and staff from NSF, other federal agencies and foundations, and representatives from businesses, professional societies, and the media. The conference will also be coordinated with the NSF Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program and the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT) Recruitment Network. Both the AGEP and IGERT programs seek to broaden participation of underrepresented groups in graduate school and the Ph.D. workforce. The evaluation for each of the conferences will capture actions that participants intend to take immediately after the conference and an online follow-up survey will capture actions that faculty and awardees take three months after the conference. Pre- and post-publicity will be managed by the AAAS Office of Public Programs and products will include a web site and a conference program book with student abstracts will be produced each year. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR George, Yolanda American Association For Advancement Science DC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 1097011 1594 SMET 9178 0649533 November 1, 2006 Tribal College and University Profiles. This project will develop, publish and disseminate a reference guide to the nation?s 35 tribally controlled colleges and universities. Tribal College and University Profiles will feature descriptions of each institution, as well as introductory information on the history and philosophy of the tribal college movement. In addition, it will summarize the role and impact of NSF-supported STEM education initiatives. The proposed reference guide supports the National Science Foundation?s STEM and capacity building initiatives targeting tribal colleges. Because tribal colleges are small, rural and underfunded, their needs and accomplishments are frequently overlooked by policy makers and funders within the public and private sectors. Publication of Tribal College and University Profiles brings greater visibility to the movement and creates opportunities for tribal colleges to showcase accomplishments and identify new partnerships. The project will result in publication of a professionally written and designed book of approximately 96 pages. With an anticipated print run of 4,500 copies, it will be widely distributed among mainstream educational institutions, federal agencies, policy makers and nonprofits. The guide will also be distributed to tribal colleges, the National Science Foundation, and associations affiliated with the tribal college movement. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Boyer, Paul Salish Kootenai College MT Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 147702 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0650410 January 1, 2007 GSE/SGER: Cross-National Differences in Women's Participation in Computer Science Education between India and the United States. In the United States, the percentage of women earning bachelor's degrees in computer science (CS) is relatively low. Alarmingly, the proportion of women who considered a major in CS has recently fallen to never-before-seen levels. However, contrary to the situation in the United States, most indicators suggest that there has been a significant increase in the number of women pursuing a bachelor's degree in information technology (IT) related fields including CS in India. This is despite the prevalence of Indian patriarchy--a system of male dominance legitimized within the family and society through superior rights, privileges, authority, and power granted to men. This study will examine female participation in CS education in India and compare it with the situation in the United States. It builds on previous NSF-funded research in the United States by using similar measures for a population in India. This current effort is co-funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE). The study is an international collaborative effort with faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) and the University of Delhi. This international collaborative effort will be combined with an interdisciplinary approach to link expertise in social sciences with expertise in CS. CS faculty at the University of New Mexico, IIT Chennai, IIT Bombay, and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai will serve as consultants. Combining insights from the American and Indian perspectives on the one hand and social science and CS disciplines on the other hand will improve our understanding of complex issues on gender and CS education in both countries more thoroughly than would be afforded by working within the confines of a single national perspective and discipline. Intellectual Merit Intellectually, this project will be the first study to address gender issues in CS education from a cross-national perspective. It will shed light on how the wide disparities in the careers of men and women from different countries in CS come about, are maintained, and reduced. Broader Impact Broader impacts include strengthening bonds between the United States and India as they build upon their national expertise toward furthering joint research. The project will demonstrate how CS instruction and curriculum can be restructured to improve the participation of women in the United States as well as in India. COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Varma, Roli University of New Mexico NM Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 61766 7298 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0652559 September 1, 2006 GSE/RES Girls' Science Practices in Urban High Poverty Communities. Teachers College, Columbia University, proposes to study girls' science practices in urban high poverty communities. Missing from the discourse in urban science education and gender education is a framework for how urban girls appropriate, organize, and activate scientific literacy in pursuit of their own lives, as individuals and as members of larger communities. Scientific literacy refers to an individual's understanding of and abilities to access and utilize key scientific concepts, principles, process skills, discourses, and habits of mind. One way to better understand how urban girls appropriate, organize, and activate scientific literacy is to document and analyze their "science practices." Drawing from research on "literacy practices" (Moje, 2000), the team defines science practices as the means by which one engages in science and the reasons and motivations for doing so. Thus, the investigation focuses on the content areas of urban ecology and forces and motion as a means to obtain insight into how and why urban girls engage in science meaningfully. "Engagement in science" is viewed as having three parts similar to Moje's purposes for literacy practices: developing conceptual understandings of scientific concepts (meaning-making); developing and using the habits of mind that reflect a propensity towards scientific thinking (expression of scientific identity); and participating in or doing science in authentic ways (participation). The three-year study has the following objectives: 1. To document, describe and analyze high-poverty urban girls' science practices in both form and function in the context of two specific middle school content areas; 2. To document and describe those reform-based pedagogical strategies enacted by teachers that help girls to successfully leverage their science practices in their efforts to engage meaningfully in science; 3. To explore the relationship between girls' science practices and science learning; 4. To disseminate effectively research findings to the broader research and practice communities. Using a mixed-methods approach (broad scale survey, case study, and design experiments), the team will conduct the study in four middle schools that serve diverse ethnic and racial and high-poverty populations in the Harlem and South Bronx regions of New York City. The intellectual merit of this research is that it should yield a set of working conjectures about girls' science practices and the pedagogical strategies that support those practices. If we can better understand, document, and analytically describe girls' science practices in reform-based science education settings and their impact on girls' engagement with science, then we will be better able to work with teachers and curriculum developers to tailor program design and instructional practice to best support girls. The broader impact of this study is that it will contribute to increasing the achievement and motivation for engaging in science among high-poverty, urban, middle school girls. The findings will have direct import for specific demographics that have not been represented well in the sciences and science related fields. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Calabrese Barton, Angela Michigan State University MI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 381086 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0703290 November 1, 2007 Texas LSAMP Phase IV. The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) LSAMP Phase IV will extend an alliance of three institutions: 1) Texas A&M University (TAMU), a Tier I research institution, 2) Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), a Historically Black College and University, and 3) Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC), an Hispanic Serving Institution. To sustain gains made during Phase I, II, and III of the TAMUS LSAMP, alliance institutions will develop strong ties with 5 community colleges, which each have large underrepresented minority (URM) student enrollment. The community colleges are Palo Alto College (San Antonio); North Harris Montgomery College, both the North Harris and Cy-Fair campuses; Houston Community College- Northeast campus; and Del Mar College (Corpus Christi). INTELLECTUAL MERIT - TAMUS LSAMP IV has a GOAL of broadening the participation of underrepresented minorities (URM) in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) disciplines to the successful completion of a bachelor's degree and who are well prepared and ready to matriculate into a doctoral program. Objectives include: 1. Enhance community college partnerships for recruitment of URM students into STEM majors through integrated interactions with alliance institutions. 2. Expand retention efforts for STEM URM undergraduates with a focus on firstyear and transfer URM students at alliance institutions. 3. Promote and encourage URM student pursuit of doctoral degrees and building of a community of scholars from the undergraduate to graduate school levels and across alliance institutions. 4. Provide international experience for a select group of TAMUS LSAMP IV students for increasing and diversifying the pool of globally trained STEM graduates PI Dr. Karan Watson, Dean of Faculties and Associate Provost, and Regents Professor of Electrical Engineering, TAMU, will be joined by co-PIs: Dr. David Prior, Executive Vice-President and Provost, TAMU; Dr. Karen Butler-Purry, Professor of Electrical Engineering, TAMU, and current TAMUS LSAMP Phase III Project Director; Dr. Milton Bryant, Dean of Engineering, PVAMU; and Dr. Frank Pezold, Dean of Science and Technology, TAMUCC. These research faculty will seek to advance discovery of successful mechanisms to increase URM student retention, graduation and pursuit of doctoral degrees, and URM student involvement in international study abroad. BROADER IMPACTS - The involvement of PVAMU, a Historically Black College and University, and TAMUCC, an Hispanic Serving Institution, will broaden the participation in STEM of URM groups, as will participation by TAMU, as research intensive institution, and 5 community college partners since all enroll large numbers of URM students. LSAMP IV will benefit society by increasing participation of URM groups in STEM, and by providing opportunities and activities at the undergraduate and graduate levels that lead to educational and career enhancements of URM students. LSAMP IV will also enhance the infrastructure of research and education by advancing undergraduate research and pursuit of graduate and doctoral STEM degrees at alliance institutions and through the replication and dissemination of successful models for URM community college transfer students. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Watson, Karan Frank Pezold Karen Butler-Purry Kendall Harris Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1221000 9133 SMET 9178 7204 0703326 November 1, 2007 The North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance For Minority Participation--Phase IV. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Thompson, Alton Joseph Monroe North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University NC Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2891100 9133 SMET 9178 7204 0703356 June 1, 2007 LSAMP: North Star STEM Alliance. The North Star STEM Alliance will broaden the participation of underrepresented minorities in Minnesota in STEM baccalaureate education. The 18 Alliance partners include public and private colleges and universities, community colleges, the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Minnesota High Tech Association. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities will be the lead institution. The configuration of 16 educational institutions, a high technology association with over 300 members, and a leading science and technology museum provides a resource-rich opportunity to address the engagement, capacity, and continuity (ECC) of underrepresented minorities in STEM. Using the critical transition points of middle school to high school, high school to first year of college, first year to sophomore year, transfer from 2-year to 4-year institution, and from lower division to STEM majors, the Alliance sets the following objectives: increase the level of interest in STEM careers by secondary and postsecondary non-STEM students in the targeted population; increase the number of students in the targeted population completing a college preparatory/STEM preparatory high school program; increase the number of high school seniors of the targeted population enrolling in Alliance pre-college STEM and STEM baccalaureate degree programs; increase the number of students from the targeted population completing the associates degree and transferring to the 4-year Alliance schools: and increase the number of students from the targeted population persisting to the STEM baccalaureate. The North Star STEM Alliance will provide a comprehensive longitudinal set of initiatives to address these objectives at the critical transition points. The initiatives will include Alliance-wide community building conferences, bridge programs, peer-to-peer learning, undergraduate research opportunities, industry internships and professional development, contextual STEM course module development workshops, college prep STEM high school curriculum, and public communication campaigns of current STEM research. The intellectual merit of the Alliance project includes a contribution to the statewide discussion of student achievement in higher education in Minnesota, with a particular emphasis on STEM and underrepresented minorities, and on what works, what matters, and why. Due to the rigor of the entering qualifications for pursuing STEM, the Alliance outcomes will augment the discussions of the appropriateness and accuracy of predictors of student performance in institutions of higher learning, especially in regards to underrepresented minorities. In addition, because of the diversity of the educational missions of Alliance partners, the project will stimulate discussion on the scholarly literature on access and equity in higher education and the policy implications for interventions at varying educational institutions. The inclusion of high-achieving underrepresented minorities amongst the institutions also presents an opportunity for the Alliance to weigh in on specific intellectual achievement issues such as stereotype threat and overprediction, which are based on high-achieving minority populations. The Alliance's experience with overcoming the relative isolation of underrepresented minorities on campuses outside of the Twin Cities Metro area will also contribute to understanding the critical role of student cohort building. The broader impacts of Alliance activities will be the advancement of discovery and understanding by the involvement of underrepresented minorities in the current research of STEM faculty and scientists, the development of contextual STEM modules in the curriculum that can be replicated at other educational institutions, and the public communication of the current rigorous research of underrepresented STEM faculty. The Alliance will increase the number of underrepresented minorities exposed to activities that allow them to make informed choices about STEM careers. Undergraduate research initiatives across Alliance institutions will enhance the research and education infrastructure by allowing Alliance students and faculty from different disciplines and different institutions with limited research infrastructures to access science and technology and engineering research centers on Alliance members' campuses possessing these facilities. The composition of the Alliance will promote broader dissemination through collaborative presentations of Alliance pedagogical and research activities at the distinct professional organizations and conferences of Alliance members. The Alliance will benefit society by providing the foundation for the development of the next generation of civically engaged STEM scholars. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Barcelo, Nancy Paul Strykowski F. Abel Ponce de Leon Robin Wright University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1465126 9133 SMET 9178 0703422 August 1, 2007 Supplemental Planning project. The supplement will allow the college to examine its STEM program specifically focusing on Mathematics 120 (MATH 120). This course is the lower level remedial math course. Available statistics show more than half of all incoming students need this course and of these, half will fail the first attempt. For the CCCC students, this course is truly the critical gateway. To graduate, transfer to a four year college, and enter a STEM career, the student must succeed in this course. Through this grant, the college will pilot innovations in its math instructional delivery and identify critical changes needed in the infrastructure of the college to foster student success. The college fully expects the lessons learned in this project will have widespread application to first other STEM courses, but ultimately to all courses offered by CCCC. This is in keeping with the college's belief the STEM courses are a critical core element of the college. The college will use the prior three years as baseline data for purposes of comparing the test areas of this grant. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Esser, Efthalia Cankdeska Cikana Community College ND Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 149212 1744 SMET 9178 9177 9150 0703443 May 1, 2007 Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Indiana - Phase II. The LSAMP Indiana program was established in 2003, uniting Purdue West Lafayette, Purdue Calumet, IUPUI, Ball State, and Indiana University Bloomington in their goal to increase the number of underrepresented minority students earning baccalaureates degrees in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). As a Phase I program, LSAMP Indiana successfully established a longitudinal education consortium specifically designed to increase students' motivation and commitment to STEM fields. Within three years, 589 underrepresented minority students earned bachelor's degrees in the STEM fields through LSAMP Indiana. Most importantly, however, is that Phase I established a foundation of effective programs -particularly undergraduate research with faculty mentorship - that will be expanded and optimized during Phase II. As a Phase II program, LSAMP Indiana's goal is to expand our proven methods to triple the number of baccalaureate degrees earned by LSAMP Indiana participants within 5 years. LSAMP Indiana will achieve this goal by fulfilling the following objectives: (1) Expanding the LSAMP Indiana Alliance by three campuses, from five to eight primary members, and adding Ivy Tech Community College as a collaborative partner; (2) Expanding the Phase I Summer Transition and Academic Research (STAR) Program, which helps 1st and 2nd year students, to the three new Phase II partners; (3) Incorporating the Phase I Supplemental Instruction program into a new, more comprehensive program known as the Supplemental Higher Academic Retention Program (SHARP) Initiative, emphasizing undergraduate research and faculty mentoring that is complemented by Learning Communities, peer tutoring, and professional development activities; (4) Enhancing the Alliance's coordination and development programs to maximize collaboration and effectiveness. By fulfilling these objectives, LSAMP will continually expand the number of students served and retained, resulting in an annual yield of 457 baccalaureate degree recipients by 2012. Intellectual Merit: In Phase I, LSAMP Indiana has established a flexible and effective framework of braided programs that are now poised for growth. Of the 33 matriculated LSAMP Indiana participants who conducted undergraduate research with a faculty mentor during Phase I, 100% earned their STEM bachelor's degree and are now either continuing their education or pursuing a STEM-related career. This hands-on experience enables each LSAMP student to better identify with their STEM field by developing friends within the field and understanding laboratory detailed research methods. The Phase II program will build upon this success as well as reinforce it with other proven programs - such as Learning Communities and Peer Mentoring -creating an education continuum that spans from rising first-year students to senior year undergraduate researchers. The comprehensive nature of the experiences LSAMP Indiana programs provide will ensure our students develop the lifelong learning skills needed to transform natural curiosity into a successful STEM-related career. Broader Impacts: LSAMP Indiana's most critical broader impact will be significantly expanding the number of underrepresented minority students in the STEM majors and, ultimately, in careers related to the STEM field. In addition, however, the alliance is committed to conducting detailed assessments of our programs and then disseminating the results of our research through conferences, workshops and publications. This research will be relevant to all levels of higher education since Phase II LSAMP Indiana will be comprised of diverse campuses serving a broad range of socioeconomic areas - from rural to urban, from predominantly white to predominantly minority, and from community colleges to PhD-granting institutions. By sharing our research with the entire field, the positive impacts of our Phase II program will extend well beyond the Indiana LSAMP campuses and the tenure of this grant. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Sypher, Beverly Pamella Shaw Purdue University IN Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1717765 9133 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0703449 May 1, 2007 New York City Louis Stokes Alliance Phase IV. The New York City Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (NYC LSAMP) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) has spearheaded the increase in CUNY's annual baccalaureate degree production among underrepresented groups (African-American, Hispanic, Native American and Pacific Islanders) from 404 in 1991-1992 at the beginning of Phase I, to 852 in 2002-2003 (Phase III), and recently 633 in 2005-2006 (Phase III). From inception in the 1991/1992 academic year, the Alliance member campuses of the City University of New York have graduated over 9,000 underrepresented minority students with baccalaureate degrees in STEM. At the end of the fourteenth year (2006), the NYC LSAMP involves 17 of CUNY's 18 academic campuses, including the Graduate School and University Center (GSUC), CUNY's Ph.D. degree-granting unit. John Jay College will become the eighteenth member of the Alliance in Phase IV. The addition now allows for the inclusion of every undergraduate unit in the City University. The NYC LSAMP Undergraduate and Graduate Research Program, continues to be the heart of the NYC Alliance. Anticipated Outcomes/Broader Impacts LSAMP Phase IV will focus on program sustainability, intensify LSAMP activities to raise the graduation rate to 1,500 degrees per year in the STEM disciplines by 2012, increase the rate at which graduates pursue graduate education via Bridge to the Doctorate Initiatives and Bridge to Teaching Initiatives. LSAMP Phase IV activities will build on the successes of CUNY over the previous fifteen years of Phases I, II and III to ensure: 1) a substantial impact on the rate of attendance in STEM graduate programs by program participants; 2) increased rate of graduation of underrepresented minorities at the baccalaureate and associate levels at Alliance member institutions; 3) increased entrance into the teaching profession at the K-12 level and academia by underrepresented minorities; and 4) continuation of work in progress towards the formation of the CUNY Consortium for Minority Participation in STEM (CCMP-STEM), which will constitute the administration, institutionalization and sustainability of LSAMP activities by the City University of New York. LSAMP Phase IV continues the CUNY wide integrative activities started in 1992 and is responsive to changes within CUNY and on the national stage. Dissemination Activities The Urban University Series is an integrated university approach towards the recruitment of talented students to the university at the high school level, baccalaureate level, and the graduate level. The Urban University Series highlights the research work done by faculty and CUNY students involved in undergraduate and graduate research at CUNY, and serves as a networking event for minority scientists and engineers. The NYC LSAMP newsletter, published four times per calendar year and distributed nationally, will include profiles of all LSAMP program activities and students. Special supplements (electronic and print) will be produced devoted to the Bridge participants, and will focus on areas such as: choosing a thesis advisor, transition to graduate school, qualifying exams and proposals, and research publications. The NYC LSAMP Newsletter will provide a forum for dissemination of information about the existence, goals and results of the NYC LSAMP program. The LSAMP Virtual Community will be utilized to allows for communication and exchange of data and ideas. The current project (http://nyc-amp.cuny.edu) seeks to augment and couple the goals of LSAMP with the rapidly changing Internet space. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Parker, Neville Leon Johnson Louise Squitieri CUNY City College NY Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 3818000 9133 SMET 9179 9178 7204 0703452 July 1, 2007 LSAMP Phase I: The Upstate Alliance. The Upstate New York region, which spans from the Hudson River Valley to Lake Ontario on the North coast of New York provides an array of institutions of higher education ranging from community colleges to distinguished research institutions, and pioneering industrial and technological innovations. The alliance consists of Clarkson University, Cornell University, Monroe Community College, SUNY Onondaga Community College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Syracuse University. These institutions - public and private, large and small, undergraduate, comprehensive and doctoral, together determined to impact the region in the near-term by increasing substantially the number of underrepresented students who complete degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and, in the long-term, increase the numbers who move into related careers, including graduate school on the way to a professional or research appointment. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Spina, Eric Can Isik Gina Lee-Glauser John Russell George Langford Syracuse University NY Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1800000 9133 SMET 9178 0703510 November 1, 2007 FL/GA Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. Florida A&M University proposes to serve as the institutional host-site for the Florida - Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP) during Phase IV program operations. FGLSAMP is designed to promote and facilitate the programmatic goals of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) LSAMP program under the HRD Directorate. In accordance with the goals, objectives and effort of NSF to address the low participation and degree production within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by those ethnic groups identified as underrepresented in STEM disciplines, FGLSAMP will address this problem through its programmatic structure which promotes enhancement of academic performance, undergraduate research experiences, professional development, and preparation for pursuing STEM graduate degrees. The standard of success will be measured by our student participants': progression (to attain the B.S. degree); retention (within STEM disciplines); graduation (timely attainment); and STEM graduate enrollment (increasing STEM Minority enrollment). FGLSAMP will continue to employ a holistic approach to reform undergraduate education in the STEM disciplines along with identified "beast practices" as determined through it Steering Committee, while determining means to enhance and provide new program activities. FGLSAMP is designed to include a firm commitment of institutional administrators, faculty, staff, external partners, as well as parents and students. The goals of FGLSAMP are to significantly increase both the number of underrepresented minorities pursuing undergraduate degrees in STEM disciplines and the number of STEM B.S. degree recipients pursuing STEM graduate degrees. FGLSAMP will provide training opportunities to students in STEM disciplines while also providing an array of academic performance enhancement and support that will yield greater STEM retention and graduations rates among underrepresented STEM minorities. Additionally, to address the numbers of STEM B.S. recipients pursuing STEM graduate degrees, FGLSAMP has developed a formalize program component to prepare its undergraduate participants to pursue graduate degrees. This will be accomplished through an intensive programmatic design that has been accepted and adopted by the FGLSAMP Steering Committee. FGLSAMP will continue provide assistance for undergraduate research experiences that will include the introduction of international research opportunities for student participants. FGLSAMP will also continue to build and strengthen ties and inclusion of community colleges by the inclusion of 2 new associate level partners within the alliance. Community Colleges are a valuable source of human capital to enter the STEM academic pipeline. FGLSAMP program operations will be met through annual financial support from the National Science Foundation, a special appropriation from the State of Florida. Through the addition of two additional community colleges, FGLSAMP will be able to: 1) stimulate and increase student awareness of academic and professional opportunities in STEM areas and 2) create a larger network/pipeline between the community college students and FGLSAMP undergraduate institutions with which these two community colleges are affiliated. FGLSAMP will also capitalize and capture greater numbers of potential STEM majors prior to graduation and transfer to the upper division. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Turner, Ralph Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1826997 9133 SMET 9178 7204 0703554 May 1, 2007 2007 LSAMP: Virginia-North Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation (Phase I). The Virginia-North Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation (VA-NC AMP), a Phase I Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), is well poised to participate in the National Science Foundation's initiative to broaden participation of underrepresented populations in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and workforce. Eight colleges and universities in Virginia and North Carolina comprise the proposed VA-NC AMP: Four historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), including two Master's Colleges and Universities; and four Doctorate-Granting/Research-Extensive Universities, forging a strong public-private institutional partnership dedicated to student success across the Alliance. VA-NC AMP's goal is to double the number of STEM baccalaureate degrees awarded to students from underrepresented populations in STEM fields from an Alliance yearly average base, measured over academic years 2001 through 2005, of 524 to 1,053 by the end of 2012. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Martin, Marcus Nicholas Garber Carolyn Vallas University of Virginia Main Campus VA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2965815 9133 SMET 9178 0703584 May 1, 2007 UT System LSAMP Phase IV. The University of Texas (UT) System Alliance requests a five-year continuation of funding for its fourth and final phase of the National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program. The members of the UT System Alliance are UT Arlington, UT Austin, UT Brownsville, UT Dallas, UT El Paso, UT Pan American, UT Permian Basin, UT San Antonio, UT Tyler, Tarrant County Community College, Collin County Community College, El Paso Community College, Howard College, Midland College, Odessa College and San Antonio College. The Alliance's activities for this phase are to continue support for current NSF LSAMP undergraduate researchers; provide research support for new undergraduates and faculty mentors in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines; host a summer academy for students to do research at other UT System Alliance partnering schools; introduce an international research component with the Fulbright Exchange Program; and enhance an infrastructure that enriches students' experiences and professional development, creating opportunities for broad interaction and mentoring among Alliance partners, STEM faculty, undergraduate, master's, and doctoral-level students. Using 2000 UT System data as baseline, the Alliance is setting the following new overarching goals for 2015: 1) at least double STEM enrollment and baccalaureate degrees awarded to under-represented minority students; and 2) at least double STEM enrollment and master degrees awarded to under-represented minority students. The proposed project advances knowledge and understanding of the dynamics involved in a State-wide URM student retention effort. The PI, co-PI and campus coordinators have ample experience to conduct the project. In recent years, the PI and co-PI joined efforts in the development of a program aimed at increasing the retention and success of first year STEM student and have published their work. The PI also directed an undergraduate research program that supported a large number of STEM majors, and reported a high graduation rates. The fundamental research questions that the PI and team of collaborators investigate are: 1) to what extent can a focused system-wide effort influence the success of students that share a common profile (generally low income, largely under-prepared, first-generation college bound)? 2) What are the factors involved in changing the culture of a higher education school system so that it embraces undergraduate research and promotes its replication The proposed activities in the project activity promote discovery and understanding in STEM disciplines by directly promoting and supporting the training of undergraduate students and graduate students by their faculty mentors. The proposed activities explicitly broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (Hispanics, African-American, Native American, Women). Results will be disseminated broadly to enhance understanding of the issues of underrepresented STEM student retention and success. The most important benefit of this project is that it will enable long-term systemic change in the STEM workforce of the 21st century. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Flores, Benjamin Helmut Knaust University of Texas at El Paso TX Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 2815570 9133 SMET 9178 7204 0703729 September 1, 2007 New Baccalaureate Degrees and STEM Program Improvement at Salish Kootenai College. Salish Kootenai College will increase the number of baccalaureate STEM degree offerings at Salish Kootenai College and improve and enhance the existing STEM course and degree offerings of SKC by: creating a new B.S. in Biological and Chemical Sciences degree program; developing and introducing a new B.S. in Computer Engineering degree program; developing and introducing the new science, engineering, mathematics course offerings needed,using curricula in these courses that incorporate rigorous mathematical approaches; developing and introducing new course offerings to enable students graduating from the existing B.S. in Information Technology degree program to successfully enter graduate programs in computer science and information technology; modifying existing science, technology, and engineering course offerings to more fully incorporate rigorous mathematical approaches; and offering internship experiences to students pursuing STEM baccalaureate degrees that are designed to bridge the transition into the STEM workforce or into STEM graduate programs. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR SPECIAL STUDIES AND ANALYSES HRD EHR Chumrau, Alice Douglas Stevens Timothy Olson Salish Kootenai College MT Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1620409 1744 1385 SMET 9178 9150 0703747 September 1, 2007 Northern Cheyenne Connected Learning Network. Through efforts and strategies employed during Phase One of the TCUP grant Chief Dull Knife College has seen remarkable results in the area of student interest in, enrollment in and completion of math and science courses. During Phase Two the college will develop a ?connected learning network? with local partner schools and the universities to address several ongoing endeavors begun in Phase One of the TCUP project. The use of research to expose students to STEM careers and the improvement of students' capabilities in gatekeeper courses can have a combined effect of positioning the student for continued success in STEM undertakings. The college seeks to broaden and enhance the accomplishments of Phase One by continuing to offer research opportunities to our students on the university campus, but also to expand these research experiences to the home campus and Chief Dull Knife College. Research concepts, processes, and outcomes will be incorporated into science and math course work at the tribal college. Research findings will be presented by students at national meetings. The research carried out will be shared with surrounding high schools and the university partners through an Interactive Video system linking the laboratories and classrooms at the remote sites. The college will broaden the scope of computer-delivered mastery based math courses delivered on campus, as well as, assist local high schools in implementing a similar methodology for mathematics delivery. Transferring what we have learned in Phase One about math preparation and retention to the high schools and helping them adopt changes can have a huge effect on completion rates and level of ?math preparedness? for incoming college students. Increased preparation results in more choices in all areas of science, technology, and mathematics for the student. The curriculum in math and science at the college will be reviewed and revamped to reflect increased math-science integration. The faculty will also work closely with the Project Director to incorporate research into current curricula in science and mathematics. The college will also continue to offer summer workshops designed to interest students in STEM related course work and careers. Students will interact with instructors from NASA and local faculty on projects ranging from 3D animation and design to Lego Robotics. Throughout the various projects the students and interns will be asked to take on increasingly complex leadership roles with students in other levels of the program. High school students will model for the younger grades, tribal college students will model for high school students and university students will model for tribal college students. Connecting the campuses together through Interactive TV will afford a first foray into this type of mentor/leadership interaction for Northern Cheyenne students. Students involved in research at the tribal college and their high school associates will be able to link with siblings and relatives at the university research labs. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Littlebear, Richard Robert Madsen Jeffrey Hooker Chief Dull Knife Memorial College MT Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1500000 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0703827 January 15, 2008 Phase II: Hawaiian Values, Science and Technology: Advancing A New Paradigm for STEM Education. The proposed project builds upon the solid foundation of the successful Phase I University of Hawai?i Hilo?s Keaholoa1 STEM project (NSF Award 0223040), which is revolutionizing science education at the University of Hawai?i Hilo (UH Hilo) by convincing faculty and administrators to overcome institutional inertia and to make important changes in teaching, learning, research, and infrastructure to improve services to STEM departments and students, especially Native Hawaiian STEM students. The aim of this Phase II proposal is to build on the demonstrated success achieved in our initial NSF-TCUP Cooperative Agreement (2002-2007) by expanding services and strengthening institutional commitment to ensure lasting improvements in STEM retention and graduation rates for all students at UH Hilo, and ultimately to promote local Native Hawaiian leadership in the STEM professions. For the Keaholoa Phase II initiative we have adopted as our emblem the important Hawaiian cultural icon, the taro or kalo plant (Colocasia esculenta). This icon will be symbolic of our commitment to the articulation of appropriate pedagogy that embraces Hawaiian cultural knowledge and to the formulation of curricula; faculty and student research; student peer tutoring and mentoring that are uniquely effective in educating Native Hawaiian students. Keaholoa?s activities are designed to achieve the following Phase II objectives: 1. Collaborate with UH Hilo campus partners to create a Student Success and Retention Center (SSRC) through which to coordinate Phase I academic support services such as peer tutoring and mentoring in physical sciences and other activities that promote learning, engagement and success in STEM subjects and majors. 2. Continue and enhance Phase I faculty development to improve teaching effectiveness and the attractiveness of STEM majors through the incorporation of culturally significant perspectives in curriculum and instruction. 3. Continue and enhance the highly effective Phase I student/faculty STEM research program through which Native Hawaiian students participate in faculty research and help to inform the questions and methods of faculty research. 4. Continue and broaden outreach involving mentoring of middle and high school students, summer high school to college bride program, interaction with Hawaiian civic organizations, and articulation with community colleges that feed into UH Hilo. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Tseng, Rose April Komenaka Sonia Juvik Randy Hirokawa University of Hawaii at Hilo HI Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 500000 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0705355 November 1, 2007 Strengthening and Expanding the STEM Pipeline: A Pathway to Sucess. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Cooper, George Judith Salley South Carolina State University SC Martha L. James Cooperative Agreement 2900000 9133 SMET 9178 9177 9150 0711330 September 1, 2007 Academic Excellence Through Research and Mentoring. Shaw University's HBCU-UP project, Academic Excellence through Research and Mentoring, is aimed at enhancing the quality of STEM majors for admission to graduate schools, increase the flow of minority students from high schools and community colleges into STEM programs at Shaw University, build technology infrastructure including a testing/tutorial center and provide faculty development activities to increase grant capability and undergraduate research involvement. Shaw University has outlined an aggressive recruitment plan which includes family support activities, mentoring, tracking, and providing enrichment to the academic program such as internships, field trips, and conference attendance. The academic component of the project will focus on strengthening the technology infrastructure and the traditional gatekeeper courses in mathematics and physics. Funds will be used to equip a testing and tutorial center, as well as classrooms, and enhancing the living environment to support STEM student living-learning communities. The technology enhancement will be closely linked to the curriculum initiatives. The classroom instruction will be enhanced with the use of the computerized learning system developed at Clark Atlanta University. This delivery system includes multimedia lecture notes, and online testing and management. Other curriculum enhancements will include discovery approach for general chemistry courses, as well as innovative physics experiments. Faculty development activities in this implementation project will focus on strengthening faculty ability to obtain and manage grant funds, as well as increase faculty involvement in undergraduate research activities. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Thomas, Herman Deva Sharma Shaw University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 2020819 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0713853 September 1, 2007 Implementation: Building Successful Models for Research and Inquiry-Based Learning and Teaching. Claflin University, through funding from the HBCU-UP program, seeks to investigate the following questions: (i) How can high-risk mathematics courses deter students from majoring in STEM; (ii) What is the effect of success in mathematics to attrition rates in STEM; (iii) Can a research-intensive curriculum contribute to a career in STEM? (iv) Does the Claflin University curriculum meet criteria for exemplary mathematics and science teacher preparation? Claflin's HBCU-UP project, Building Successful Models for Research and Inquiry Based Learning and Teaching, is a comprehensive project that seeks to improve mathematics competencies at the undergraduate level; prepare and train a research-based student population to be competitive for graduate school and/or the research workforce; and to improve mathematics and science teacher preparation through extending the interface between research and pedagogy. The activities planned for addressing the questions and achieving the objectives of the project are based on research in STEM education. Claflin will implement supplemental instruction in Calculus I, building on current success in College Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Chemistry and Physics, where they have seen decreases in failure rate of 10% - 15%. They will also utilize mathematics software and a MathLab to provide additional online support for the students. In addition to the enhancements aimed at student success, Claflin is also focusing on developing a research-based curriculum and building an interdisciplinary research infrastructure, especially in the area of Bioscience Technology. An innovative aspect of Claflin's HBCU-UP project is its plan to build an exemplary model for science and mathematics teaching. They will focus on mathematics education majors at the secondary level, and early, elementary and middle education majors. For these students, a new Special Topics in Science and Mathematics Education course will be developed. Claflin aims to make this course a model for the nation in STEM teaching. The 4-week summer course will incorporate instrumentation, inquiry-based learning, molecular modeling and on-line delivery methods. The University has assembled a distinguished and experienced group of faculty to lead this project, and is expected to go a long way toward answering the questions posed. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Miller, George Angela Peters Claflin University SC Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 1488927 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0714197 May 1, 2007 EnVISIONS - Enhancing Visualization Skills--Improving Options aNd Success. Spatial visualization is considered to be one of the seven human intelligences and has been a topic in educational research over the past one hundred years. Based on previous research, two distinct themes emerge: 1) well-developed 3-D spatial skills are critical to success in STEM fields, including engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, medicine, and dentistry, and 2) the 3-D spatial skills of women typically lag significantly behind those of their male counterparts. Just as with any of the other human intelligences, there are some individuals who naturally possess excellent spatial abilities and some whose spatial skills are less than adequate. Unfortunately, many individuals whose spatial skills are weak tend to be women. We have found that women who are otherwise outstanding students are often discouraged from STEM fields if they struggle with topics that are seemingly a "breeze" for their male colleagues. In the past, the lack of formal spatial skills training had little impact on STEM disciplines because these fields were dominated by majority males with strong spatial skills. As we attract more women into STEM fields, the lack of prior experiences in the development of spatial skills looms as an increasingly significant problem to be addressed. Understanding the need for spatial skills training for some individuals, particularly women, Michigan Tech implemented a spatial skills course in 1993, developed primarily through a prior NSF grant, aimed at first-year engineering students. This course and the materials used in it have evolved significantly over the past 13 years, and its implementation has been shown to have a significant positive impact on the retention of women engineering students. With further assistance from the NSF, multimedia software and a workbook have been developed that are suitable for use at many levels in the educational spectrum, including pre-college grade levels. Simultaneous to this educational materials development, faculty at Penn State-Erie have been developing a comprehensive website, VIZ, aimed at helping individuals assess and improve their spatial skills. The EnViSIONS (Enhancing Visualization Skills--Improving Options aNd Success) project seeks to address serious shortfalls with respect to spatial skills development in our educational system. Through EnViSIONS we will meld the results and products from the activities at Michigan Tech and at Penn State-Erie and will disseminate them on a national scale. Faculty from seven different universities have agreed to pilot adaptations of these products which will then be disseminated to a broader audience through professional development workshops aimed at faculty and PhD students in the STEM fields. The intellectual merit of the proposed project is two-fold: the spatial visualization materials developed at Michigan Tech and Penn State-Erie are proven, research-based tools that will now be implemented elsewhere; and the project team will adapt the tools for a broader audience. The broader impacts of the project will be enhanced participation of women in STEM fields by removing barriers to success as well as improved understanding of issues regarding spatial skills through widespread implementation of adapted materials RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hamlin, Amy Norma Veurink Michigan Technological University MI Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199650 1544 SMET 9178 0714553 September 1, 2007 HBCU-UP: ASPIRE (Advancing Spelman College's Participation in INFORMATICS Research and Education) Project. The HBCU-UP project at Spelman College is a program for Advancing Spelman's Participation in Informatics Research and Education (ASPIRE). The project will include faculty development and research activities, curriculum development activities and student support activities in support of the overarching ASPIRE project goal: to improve the quality of STEM majors through innovative, interdisciplinary Informatics education and research activities. The curricular activities include the development of Informatics modules for introduction into STEM courses and development of new Informatics course. The modules will be included in Physics and Chemistry courses, as well as in first year seminars which will impact all STEM students. Supplemental Instruction will be implemented to address the needs of eleven bottleneck courses which various departments have identified based on grade distribution in those courses. Underlying the curricular and supplemental instruction activities are faculty development and research activities, which aim to increase faculty knowledge of informatics, and develop collaborative interdisciplinary informatics research teams of faculty and students. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Butler, Johnnella Andrew Williams Leyte Winfield Spelman College GA Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 2047085 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0714826 July 1, 2007 Targeted Infusion Grant: Acquisition of Instruments for Forensic Science Program Enrichment. Fayetteville State University (FSU) is a public institution of higher learning and serves the community in the Southern region of North Carolina. FSU is an HBCU with 73.4% African American, 3.7% Hispanic minorities and 69% female enrollment. FSU is the only institution in the 16-member University of North Carolina (UNC) System to offer Baccalaureate in Forensic Science; with concentrations in Forensic Biology or Forensic Chemistry. This project will support the acquisition of forensic laboratory equipment which will be used in several biology and forensic courses as well as support continuing education programs for practicing forensic scientists. Intellectual Merit: The Target Infusion Project will enhance the instructional and research capabilities and potential of FSU faculty increasing the likelihood of acquiring other grants. The project will improve the forensic curriculum at FSU in anticipation for accreditation. Graduating student will be better prepared for the workforce. In addition, students in Biology and Chemistry will have enhanced educational experiences. The project will also strengthen partnerships between the FSU, high schools, surrounding community colleges, and law enforcement agencies. Broader Impacts: This project will increase the number of underrepresented minorities engaged in forensic science instruction and research in STEM programs by increasing enrollment. The demand for trained forensic scientists nationwide is increasing as a result of the great backlog of criminal cases and the dependence of criminal cases on forensic analyses. Training on these state-of-the-art instruments will enhance student's chances of acquiring job and reduce on the job training time. Acquiring these equipments will also help the FSU to get accreditation of the program in near future as well. Successful implementation of the program activities holds potential for strengthening the social, economic, and intellectual fabric of the Southeastern region of North Carolina. In addition, the anticipated enrollment growth associated with the forensic science program, the demand for courses in chemistry, biology and criminal justice will also increase. As a result the departments of Natural Sciences and Criminal Justice would also experience growth. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR Johnston, Ronald Erin White Khalid Lodhi Cevdet Akbay Fayetteville State University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 149958 1594 1253 SMET 9178 1594 0714874 September 1, 2007 Assessing the Impact of a University/Community Coalition On the Mathematics Performance of Minority Students. Virginia State University, through a partnership with VSU, the local school district and community leaders, seeks to target mathematics and science issues in the communities surrounding VSU. Informed by research, the coalition will develop programs which will effectively place STEM in the forefront of local community awareness. The project will address the following research questions: -What specific social, cultural, cognitive, and personality factors are significant predictors of STEM achievement among African American students? -What is the impact of a well-developed academic-community partnership on increasing STEM participation and performance, and bringing about a shift in the community culture regarding STEM courses and the pursuit of STEM careers? -What is the effectiveness of an innovative mathematical pedagogy and interventions that address psychological, cognitive and social barriers in increasing participation and improving performance in STEM courses by African American students at the middle school, high school and college levels? The project will utilize the Algebra Project, founded by Dr. Robert Moses, in developing the pedagogical approaches utilized. The long term goal of this project is to develop an effective model that can be duplicated by many institutions around the country. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Hill, Oliver Cheryl Adeyemi Kimberly Boyd-Johnson Majid Amini Ishmail Conway Virginia State University VA Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 1062560 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0714885 September 15, 2008 Targeted Infusion Project: Engineering Technology Undergraduate Laboratories Enhancement with Graphical Development Tool. [HRD 0714885] Prairie View A & M University is revamping their current Engineering Technology undergraduate lab courses with LabVIEW, aiming to improve the delivery of laboratory and corresponding lecture contents, deepening student understanding of abstract concepts through physical implementation, enhancing their comprehensive skills from theory to practice, inspiring their interests in STEM subjects, and strengthening their marketability on graduation. Industry employment consists of almost entirely high-skill, technology-intensive jobs with wages well above the service sector. HBCUs can help to provide opportunities for students by updating the educational infrastructure to accommodate industry?s requirements in the job market. Through education, our underrepresented students have improved opportunities to achieve a well-compensated successful professional career. Industry demands for entry-level engineers are tremendous in recent years, due to the aging workforce and emerging techniques. PVAMU is working to address the problem encountered by U.S. industry in finding technically competent and highly skilled employees to fill the vacancies. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Akujuobi, Cajetan Suxia Cui Yonghui Wang Yongpeng Zhang Prairie View A & M University TX Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149927 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0714900 July 1, 2007 Targeted Infusion Grant: Enhancing the Undergraduate Biochemistry Experience by Implementing a Concentration in Biochemistry within the Chemistry Program. Advances and innovations in biotechnology have promoted significant bioscience research and business in the economic development of North Carolina, and the east coast bioscience and biotechnology centers. Nationwide, the impact of biotechnology, especially on the mapping of the human genome and the applications of such technological advances, has played a significant role in the economic development of this nation. This creates an opportunity to expand the career options for chemistry majors, especially at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU), which is located in the Piedmont Triad region, a major player in bioscience. The goal of this targeted infusion project is to implement a Concentration in Biochemistry within the existing chemistry program at WSSU to enhance the undergraduate curriculum in biochemistry experience. The evident impact of bioscience in research and industry creates a need to offer this biochemistry option not only to ensure interdisciplinary instructions and research training for students, but also to attract more minority students to this scientific discipline. These efforts will also support current initiatives at this institution to fulfill its economic development role. The objectives of this targeted infusion project are; (i) to implement an ACS-Approved Chemistry degree program with a Biochemistry Track, (ii) to adapt and integrate advanced techniques in biotechnology into the biochemistry laboratory instructions, and (iii) to provide instrumentation to support advanced biochemistry techniques that will secure the necessary continuum in instruction, training, and research efforts, for preparing students to be more perceptive to techniques used in bioscience research and industry. The long term goal is to establish an interdisciplinary biochemistry degree offering at WSSU. The intellectual merits of this project include preparing students in response to recent trends in biochemical and biological research and industry, contribute to the research base at the Chemistry Department, and further expose students to the interdisciplinary nature of research. The proposed advanced biochemistry laboratory incorporating a unifying theme on the green fluorescent protein culminating in the structural and stability studies by Circular Dichroism is an innovative part of this project. The modular sequence of the implemented experiments will provide a unified learning experience in the advanced biochemistry laboratory. The broader impacts of this project include the promotion of economical development in quality students to meet the needs of our society, which is increasingly dependent on advances made in science and technology. The curricular enhancement developed in this project to strengthen the undergraduate biochemistry experience will be published in appropriate journals, disseminated at local and national meetings, and made freely available via websites of both departments to promote teaching, training, and learning. An anticipated outcome of this project on the STEM program at WSSU includes an increase in the number of graduates, including underrepresented minority students, in the chemical and biochemical sciences. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC HRD EHR Mohammed, Abdul Maria Ngu-Schwemlein Jill Harp Winston-Salem State University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 149217 1594 1253 SMET 9178 1594 0714906 September 1, 2007 Targeted Infusion Grant: Forensic Science as an Enrichment Tool for the Development of Critical Thinking Skills. 0714906 With the popularity of crime shows such as "CSI" and "The New Detectives," interest in forensic science has skyrocketed. This increased interest has made the discipline an excellent vehicle to introduce scientific concepts, such as the scientific method, coupled with critical thinking skills, to a greater number of students. This project, based at Saint Augustine's College (NC) and shared by the Department of Biological and Physical Sciences with the Criminal Justice Department, will establish a forensic science laboratory that will house and be the focal point of laboratory learning and research. Forensic science technologies and analyses will be included in labs for forensic science majors, STEM majors, and nonscience majors, this broadening the curriculum and student learning experiences as well. (All students at St. Augustine's are required to take one of these labs.) Intellectual Merit: The application of forensic science in classroom learning will provide opportunites for students to learn science as well as to learn how to approach problem solving, and how to use critical thinking skills to find a solution. St. Augustine's curriculum and facilities also will be improved through this project. Broader Impact: Student learning opportunities will be improved in science and in critical thinking capability. Increased science experiences will improve students' analytical abilities and skill in working with data, which should prepare them better for graduate studies. The establishment of the laboratory is also expected to have significant impact on the local community through partnerships with K-12 schools, and with municipal and state science facilities. BROADENING PARTICIPATION HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Dusenbury, Renata Warren Dukes Saint Augustine's College NC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 150858 7487 1594 SMET BIOT 9183 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0714930 September 1, 2007 STARS-Plus. Norfolk State University, an HBCU that serves approximately 6,200 students including 765 enrolled in STEM disciplines, will focus this project on the development STEM majors in their junior and senior years. This project builds on a successful first HBCU-UP five year project, which targeted students at the beginning of their undergraduate careers. Many of the activities of the initial HBCU-UP project were institutionalized, thus allowing for growth of the program. The major activities of this STARS-Plus (Science and Technology Academicians on the Road to Success-Plus) project include: (i) partnerships with local high schools; a local community college and a local corporation; (ii) a summer bridge program, which will target community college students as well as incoming freshman students; (iii) a residential learning community for STEM students; (iv) a mentoring center; (v) tutoring program; (vi) curriculum development; (vii) graduate school preparation, including a formal credit course; (viii) research opportunities and scholarships for undergraduates and (ix) faculty development activities. Extensive and multifaceted, this project has the full support of the institution, and expects to learn from the activities through thorough evaluation and data driven decision making. These activities will serve as a model to the rest of the institution for ways to achieve the goals of: increasing the number of students in STEM disciplines; advance the climate of learning and scholarship; and increase the STEM graduation rate. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Barnes, Elsie Sandra DeLoatch Norfolk State University VA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 999861 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0714958 September 1, 2007 Education Research Grant: What Works in Producing African-American Science and Math Teachers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities?. Howard University, through the HBCU-UP Educational Research Project grant, aims to discover the institutional, instructional and individual factors that are related to success in producing African American science and mathematics teachers at HBCUs. Through application of mixed methods, the proposers seek to answer the following question: what factors lead to success in producing African American science and mathematics teachers at HBCUs? The methodology will include case study of teacher preparation programs, interview study of current African American science and mathematics teachers who are recent graduates of HBCUs, and a longitudinal study of a cohort of students majoring in science and mathematics at an HBCU. Analysis of the data will utilize qualitative and quantitative techniques, including issue-focused analysis, cross-case displays and synthesis, pattern matching and descriptive and multivariate statistics. The project aims to advance knowledge on best practices for the supply and preparation of teachers at HBCUs. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Freeman, Kimberley Cynthia Winston Howard University DC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 1181858 1594 SMET 9178 6860 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0714963 September 1, 2007 Education Research Project: An Empirical Investigation of the Success Factors Impacting African American Students in Engineering and Technology at Historically Black Universities. The HBCU-UP Education Research Project: An Empirical Investigation of the Success Factors Impacting African American Students in Engineering and Technology at HBCUs aims to identify factors that most significantly contribute to the success of academically gifted African American students in STEM disciplines enrolled at HBCUs. The study will apply a mixed methods approach utilizing qualitative and quantitative measures. The investigators will utilize focus groups, interviews, virtual chats, as well as web based instruments to gather information. This project hopes to better understand how to structure the collegiate experience, and has the potential of impacting not only HBCUs, but also the wider academic community. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Nave, Felecia Chance Lewis Fred Bonner Sherri Frizell Mary Alfred Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 1007146 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0714973 July 1, 2007 Planning Grant Arkansas Baptist College STEM Program. Arkansas Baptist College will implement a eighteen month planning grant under HBCU-UP. Arkansas Baptist College, a four year institution in Little Rock Arkansas, offers educational opportunities to all persons seeking an education regardless of age, ethnicity, sex, disability, race, religion, and national origin. Arkansas Baptist College proposes to conduct a comprehensive analysis to evaluate the current STEM programs at the college in order to develop a proposal for a five-year implementation HBCU-UP project. The HBCU-UP planning grant will; 1) assess and evaluate the needs in current and future STEM courses, 2) develop a curricula design and structure plan that will offer STEM degrees, and 3) develop a STEM model of successful learning for minority students. Arkansas Baptist College will collaborate with local business and industry leaders in order to identify the technical employment needs of the community. This planning grant will provide a blue print for improved education in Little Rock and the surrounding community. The intellectual merit of this project is in the use of data to assess the STEM curriculum needs and develop a plan to improve the STEM programs. As a result of this planning process the college will be able to prepare a competitive Implementation project proposal which could result in the establishment of new accredited associate and bachelor STEM degree programs at the college. The broader impacts of the planning grant project is to improve the STEM education and preparation of Arkansas Baptist College students who will enter the STEM workforce or go on for further education. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Jones, Johnny Nancy Greer-Williams Constance Meadors Arkansas Baptist College AR Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 49992 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0714976 July 1, 2007 A Planning Grant Project to Enhance Undergraduate Student Retention in Science, Technology, and Mathematics at HSSU. Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) will undertake a STEM program self-analysis to determine ways to improve student retention and student success at HSSU. In this Planning Project, HSSU has two objectives: 1) analyze the data that is currently on file and collected on a regular basis, and 2) collect new data that will show a more complete picture of the current students and putative future students. The methods to be employed consist of analysis of data that HSSU has been collecting on the student population over the past several years and collecting new data during the course of this project. This data will be used to help understand what factors can be identified from the existing data that bear on student success. The current data does not give a complete picture of student retention and student success in STEM courses and in the university overall. More data will be collected with survey instruments designed and conducted by project faculty, interviews with current and former STEM students and both surveys and interviews of secondary STEM teachers. The intellectual merit of this project is in the use of data to understand of the factors that result in student success and retention at HSSU. This insight will allow the faculty and administration to design a project to improve the STEM Programs, thereby improving the scientific and mathematical literacy and abilities of HSSU students. This improvement will result in greater student classroom success and retention in the university. Although this project will have no direct impact on facilities and instrumentation, it will allow identification of ways to improve these areas via an Implementation project. Most HSSU students are from underrepresented groups African-American, female, first generation, and low income therefore the broader impact of this project is that it will increase participation of these groups in STEM. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Smith, Dwyane Terry Werner Harris Stowe State College MO Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 49645 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0715004 September 1, 2007 Implementation Grant: Securing Success by Scaffolding Undergraduate STEM Researcher Development through Collaborative Institutional Reforms for Students and Faculty of TSU. Tennessee State University is a culturally and racially diverse HBCU, located in Nashville. Through the HBCU-UP funding, Tennessee State will embark on a comprehensive reform of faculty teaching practices, curriculum and programmatic elements. The goal is to increase the recruitment, retention and graduation rate of STEM majors through a developmental process that implements research-based teaching and learning techniques and practices, integrates student research based experiences into the STEM curriculum, and develops a mentoring embedded tutoring program. The activities that will be implemented as Tennessee State works toward their goal are: (i) Rising Freshman STEM Summer Institute to address the critical high school to college transition; (ii) Tutoring/mentoring program; (iii) STEM faculty development aimed at strengthening the pedagogical knowledge and research-based reform techniques in mathematics, chemistry, physics, computer science and engineering; (iv) Reform of Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Statics, Dynamics, Circuits and Thermodynamics, traditionally gate-keeping courses; (v) Rising Sophomore Research Skills Institute, giving integrated undergraduate research practica; and (vi) Providing for STEM Faculty Undergraduate Research Mentors. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR McEnerney, Kathleen Robert Newkirk Lonnie Sharpe Mohan Malkani Marino Alvarez Tennessee State University TN Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 1913361 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0715194 May 1, 2007 GSE/SGER: Developing An Extension Service Proposal to Recruit Middle School Girls to Information Technology Careers. This exploratory project will create the infrastructure for establishing an extension service for the rural, Appalachian regions of Virginia and surrounding states. The project seeks to engender a significant and sustained increase in interest which would lead to the choice of an information technology (IT) career among typically underserved middle school girls. The planning year will be spent in developing school, community, and industry partnerships and relationships with stakeholders; developing a rigorous evaluation plan that encompasses the entire project; and solidifying a unified program of change to increase the interest and choice of an IT career among a diverse, underserved regional population of middle school girls. INTELLECTUAL MERIT--This project builds on previous grants to the Women In Technology (WIT) research team to investigate barriers to females' pursuit of IT careers, the development and dissemination of a DVD and Facilitator's Guide to support parents, teachers, counselors and advisors as partners to girls in career decision-making, and multiple peer-reviewed journal articles, a book, and international research conference and national presentations. It will use an interdisciplinary team approach to provide insights into our understanding of rural, Appalachian cultures and the development of a model of change that can be replicated nationally using school counselors to reach middle school girls to increase the interest and choice of an IT career. BROADER IMPACT--The interdisciplinary approach of this project will develop an infrastructure and knowledge base of best practices to increase rural Appalachia middle school girls' interest and choice of an IT career. The model is innovative in focusing on middle school counselors as a community of practice and connecting this community to a broad range of best practice strategies and research with a feedback loop from implementation experiences to further inform practice. Virginia and the contiguous Appalachian region of states is a good choice for this effort given its increase in IT companies and opportunity for developing a rural model for effectively impacting the national IT workforce from an early developmental middle school age. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Meszaros, Peggy Elizabeth Creamer Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 61773 1544 SMET 9178 0715634 May 1, 2007 Implementation of the Self-Evaluation Indicator System (SEIS) and Academic Indicator Report (AIR) with Capacity Building in Evaluation and Best Practices for HBCU-UP Grantees. Systemic Research, Inc. will provide support for the NSF's HBCU-UP project in the area of data collection, data analysis, and dissemination of results for each HBCU-UP project, as well as for the overall program. Systemic Research, Inc., has developed a Self-Evaluation Indicator System (SEIS) and has utilized this system to work with awardees to produce and Academic Indicator Report (AIR). SEIS is a data collection instrument, collecting data on student, faculty and institution in order to assist in evaluating the impact of the HBCU-UP program on each campus, and the impact of the HBCU-UP project. In addition to the collection of quantitative data, Systemic Research combines qualitative information about each project in the production of the Academic Indicator Report. They will also develop and implement a Best Practices Clearinghouse as a means of disseminating proven tools used by HBCU-UP grantees in achieving the goal of strengthening the quality of STEM education on their campuses. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Kim, Jason Linda Crasco Systemic Research, Inc. MA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 366685 1594 SMET 9178 0719785 July 1, 2007 Targeted Infusion Grant to Add an Associate of Science Degree. The Targeted Infusion Project will add an Associate of Science Degree to the existing Liberal Arts, Business, and Religious Studies programs at Clinton Junior College, a Historically Black College in South Carolina. The intellectual mert: An Associate of Science Degree provides Clinton Junior College students the opportunity to compete with others in science, technology, and mathematic fields. In addition, an Associate of Science Degree option will strengthen the mathematical and science foundation of our students who plan to matriculate to four-year institutions. Traditionally, students at Clinton Junior College can only take the required mathematics and science classes for a Liberal Arts Degree, however many students express interest in STEM areas as a major but have no choice for an Associate of Science degree. The Targeted Infusion Project will provide support to hire professors in the STEM areas to develop and teach new courses as well as learn best practices at two-year and four-year institutions with Associate of Science Degrees in order to develop a strong Associate of Science Degree program at Clinton Junior College. The broader impacts: An Associate of Science Degree at Clinton Junior College will increase the number of African American undergraduate students who major in chemistry, biology, physical science, mathematics, and computer science. Approximately 70 % of the students at Clinton Junior College are African American males. Collaborative efforts with the middle and high schools throughout York County in the state of South Carolina will encourage more minorities to pursue STEM degrees at the College. Currently approximately 12% of Clinton's students volunteer at local elementary schools in science or mathematic classes and adding the Associate of Science Degree to Clinton Junior College should increase this number. As part of this project articulation agreements with four-year institutions for transferring Clinton Junior College students with an Associate of Science Degree will be formed with a minimum of two institutions. In addition, summer internships with four-year institutions will be provided which will increase the probability of these students continuing in the STEM areas ultimately increasing the number of students obtaining masters and doctorate degrees in STEM related fields. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Belton, Aaronita Clinton Junior College SC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 148645 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0725917 September 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: Supporting Math Access for Middle and High School Blind Students Through Adaptive Math Tutoring Technology (STEM Access). The project RDE-FRI: Supporting Math Access for Middle and High School Blind Students Through Adaptive Math Tutoring Technology (STEMAccess) is a 24-month, $300,000 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of this project is to address the relatively poor math achievement of middle and high school students who are blind and who have the academic ability to participate in STEM fields. This goal is addressed through a series of experiments to study three (3) primary objectives: The investigation of math problem solving cognitive processes in blind students with a focus on characteristics of word problems associated with successful problem representation; the evaluation of the contribution of mathematics motivation to math learning in blind students with a focus on self-regulated behaviors such as help-seeking and persistence; and the adaptation of technology-based instruction to help improve math problem solving in blind students. This project builds on the prior success of the PI's current and previous work on the cognitive and motivational outcomes of tutoring technology for non-disabled students in mathematics that was funded by NSF (DRL-0411886) and the US Education Department's Institute of Educational Sciences (R305K050086). This highly experienced team from the University of Southern California (USC), which is lead by an expert research psychologist, is conducting three (3) experiments with blind middle and high school students using quasi-experimental designs to compare the mathematics performance of the blind students to each other and to the mathematics performance of sighted students. The experiments involve 60 middle and high school students who are blind and recruited through an existing partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Program for Students with Visual Impairments. The data for the sighted students includes comparison data from 60 sighted peers as well as using an existing dataset with performance data from over 500 sighted student subjects. The project primarily addresses one (1) of the FRI track goals: To investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan being conducted by an experienced independent external evaluator, Valerie Shute, from Florida State University. Additional formative project input is provided by a team of expert advisors who are experienced in STEM education for blind students, spatial cognition and working memory, and the use of technologies for learning. There is also a dissemination plan which includes sharing information with the RDE community and publishing in peer-reviewed professional journals. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Beal, Carole University of Southern California CA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 300000 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726032 September 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: The Effects of Dyslexia on Scientists' Analysis of Astrophysical Data. The project RDE-FRI: The Effects of Dyslexia on Scientists' Analysis of Astrophysical Data is a 17-month, $299,999 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of this project is to investigate the hypothesis that scientists who have dyslexia, when compared to those scientists without dyslexia, evidence context-dependent advantages and disadvantages when using and processing computer imaging displays. These predicted advantages include discerning image features that are dependent on making visual comparisons across a single figure and identifying or locating objects embedded in a distracting background, when the background is familiar. The predicted disadvantages include identifying or locating objects embedded in an unfamiliar distracting background and making visual comparisons across multiple figures. This project builds on the prior success of the PI's investigations that have been funded by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (HSCA) to study the characteristics of scientists with dyslexia. This team from the Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory (SIAO), which is lead by a researcher with dyslexia and who is an expert from the HSCA's science education department, is conducting a series of behavioral laboratory protocols with scientists to determine the presence or absence of dyslexia and the visual-spatial skills of the subjects. The proposal includes a quasi-experimental design to compare the performance of 22 astrophysicists with dyslexia to a matched comparison cohort of 22 astrophysicists without dyslexia; subjects are being recruited from both the HSCA and the American Astronomical Society. The project addresses a key need in the RDE community: To demonstrate the value added component of a disabling condition, that is, dyslexia, as part of the career success of researchers in science fields. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan which is being conducted by an external evaluator, Illona Holland, from the Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. Additional formative project input is provided by a team of expert advisors who include Kurt Fischer, the Director of the Harvard University's Mind Brain and Education Program; Marc Pomplun, the Director of the University of Massachusetts-Boston's Visual Attention Laboratory; Marisa Carrasco, the Chair of New York University's Psychology Department; and Susanna Martinez-Conde, Director of the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience at the Barrow Neurological Institute. There is also a dissemination plan which includes sharing information with the RDE community at the annual PI meeting, publishing in peer-reviewed professional journals, and presenting information to the Council of Chief State School Officers. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Schneps, Matthew Lincoln Greenhill Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299999 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726252 September 1, 2007 RDE-DEI: Universal Design in College Algebra: Customizing Learning Resources for Two Year Students with Learning Disabilities. The project RDE-DEI: Universal Design in College Algebra: Customizing Learning Resources for Two-Year College Students with Learning Disabilities is a $99,924 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Demonstration, Enrichment and Information Dissemination (DEI) track. The primary goal of this project is to positively impact the number of students with learning disabilities who succeed in STEM courses and careers by making universally designed teaching and learning resources available to college algebra instructors and their students at public community colleges and two-year private colleges. The primary hypothesis being investigated in this study is that students with learning disabilities who use universally designed algebra learning resources combined with teaching techniques and learning strategies will have higher algebra test scores and will report greater confidence in their math ability when compared to students who are not provided these resources, techniques and strategies. This project builds on the successful work being conducted by the PI, funded by the US Education Department (P333A050035), to implement a best practices professional development program for teaching students with learning disabilities in a community college setting. This team from Landmark College, which is lead by a research psychologist, includes an expert in post-secondary mathematics education for students with learning disabilities and a team member with expertise in post-secondary learning strategies for students with disabilities and the use of assistive technologies for accessible college learning. The proposal includes a quasi-experimental design to compare the math performance of students assigned to the intervention and control groups on pre- and post-unit algebra content. 200 subjects are being recruited to participate in this study from four two-year post-secondary institutions: Landmark College, Berkshire Community College, Holyoke Community College and Suffolk Community College. The project directly addresses the DEI track goals by making the learning resources accessible and available, by enriching students with learning disabilities' academic experiences in post-secondary algebra courses, and by demonstrating the effectiveness of mathematics intervention with public community college and private two-year college students with learning disabilities. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan which is conducted by an external evaluator from the University of Massachusetts' Donahue Institute. Additional formative project input is provided by a team of expert advisors who include experts in either mathematics education or in disability services for students at two-year colleges: Kris Kozuch from Springfield Technical Community College; Cathy Jenner and DeEtta Ryan from Renton Technical College; John Reno and Clen Vance from Houston Community College; and Marianne DiMascio, John Devino and Christopher Mason from the Community College of Vermont. There is also a dissemination plan which includes sharing information with the RDE community via existing collaborations with two (2) of the RDE-funded Regional Alliances for Students with Disabilities in STEM Education: the University of Washington's AccessSTEM Alliance and The University of Southern Maine's EAST Alliance. Additional dissemination efforts include publishing in peer-reviewed professional journals and presenting information at annual usability conferences held in the northeast. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Fadden, Steven Landmark College VT Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 99924 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726300 September 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: The Effectiveness of Texas Instruments Navigator Technology on Algebra I Achievement and Attitudes of High School Students with Learning Disabilities or Who are "At Risk". The project RDE-FRI: The Effectiveness of Texas Instruments Navigator Technology on the Algebra I Achievement and Attitudes of High School Students with Learning Disabilities or Who are "At Risk" is a 36-month, $299,924 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of this project is to determine the effectiveness of using Texas Instruments Navigator (TIN) technology with students who have learning disabilities, or who are at risk for academic failure, in high school algebra coursework. The experienced team, which is from the University of Mississippi and which is lead by one expert in math education and another professional with expertise in special education, is conducting a quasi-experimental study of the impact of the TIN technology on student math achievement and attitudes toward the use of technology in high school math. This investigation involves approximately 1,000 high school students taking Algebra I classes at ten (10) public schools in northern Mississippi, including approximately 100 students who have learning disabilities. Forty (40) algebra classes are randomly assigned to an intervention group, where students use calculators and TIN technology, or to a control group where students only use calculators. The TIN technology includes hubs for the calculators and a computer with a projector allowing teachers to monitor students' calculator work and to display student work for the entire class. The team's industry collaboration with Texas Instruments provides students with access to math technology and offers professional development training for high school math teachers to ensure successful instructional use of the TIN technology. The project addresses two (2) of the FRI track goals: To investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM; and to add value to the education of persons with disabilities in STEM by implementing the use of technologies in educational environments. The project includes a formative and summative project evaluation which is being conducted by an experienced external evaluator, Paul Brandon, from the University of Hawaii. There is also a dissemination plan which includes providing video and audio podcasts for professionals, presenting information at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), publishing in peer-reviewed math and special education journals, and sharing results with the professional leadership of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education and NCTM. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Harper, Maxine University of Mississippi MS Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299924 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726403 September 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: Innovations in STEM Education for Blind Undergraduates Using Digital Pen-Based Audio/Tactile Graphics. RDE-FRI: Innovations in STEM Education for Blind Undergraduates Using Digital Pen-Based Audio/Tactile Graphics is a 36-month, $300,000 dollar collaborative award to the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Foundation and Vanderbilt University that is funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of the project is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate a low-cost, portable, easy-to-use digital pen technology that enables blind undergraduate students and educational support personnel (ESP) to create, explore, and understand the diagrams and figures common to the STEM curriculum using touch and sound. The research team is conducting a three (3) phase research project to examine the benefits of deploying a digital Pen Audio/Tactile graphics (dPATg) approach which includes two-handed tactile exploration, ultrafine selection resolution, portability, and the ease of creating ad hoc content by students and ESP using the Sewell raised line drawing kit (SRLDK) and the SpotDotView Braille Embosser. Following an initial phase of observing students using STEM diagrams and figures in the classroom, the second phase includes a series of single-subject designed studies to investigate the dPATg approach. The third phase employs a quasi-experimental design where student performance is measured as a result of one (1) of three (3) treatment conditions: Use of dPATg systems, use of conventional audio/tactile systems, and no advanced technology use. This project builds on the prior success of the PI's current and previous work on the use of technology for the blind and visually impaired that was funded by the US Education Department's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (H133E060001; H133A060056; H133S060103). This highly experienced team, which is lead by a research psychologist who is blind and by an expert in instructional technology, benefits from partnerships with the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) and San Francisco State University (SFSU) where approximately 40 blind undergraduate students are being observed and recruited for study participation. Additional subjects are recruited from community colleges in the San Francisco Bay region and from other California State Universities. The project also benefits from an industry partnership with LiveScribe, Inc., a company with expertise in the development and manufacturing of digital pen technology. This project addresses three (3) of the RDE-FRI track goals: To encourage research and development of specific but utilitarian assistive technologies that will help persons with disabilities pursue careers in STEM; to build tools for students with disabilities that can quickly be developed and effectively deployed in the educational environment; and to investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan being conducted by an external evaluator, Donald Stenhoff, from the University of Kentucky. Additional formative project input is provided by a team of expert internal and external advisors that includes Anita Aaron from the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind; Dmitri Belser from the Center for Accessible Technology; John Brabyn from the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Blindness and Low Vision; Gene Chelberg from SFSU; James Gammon from UCB; and Ted Hasselbring from Vanderbilt University. There is also a dissemination plan which includes a website for distributing project information, publishing findings in peer-reviewed professional journals, presenting project materials and results at educational technology conferences, and facilitating the transfer of digital pen technology to special education and educational technology fields. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Miele, Joshua Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Foundation CA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 156693 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726417 November 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: Independent Laboratory Access for Blind and Low Vision High Shool Students in the Mainstream Science Classroom. The project RDE-FRI: Independent Laboratory Access for Blind and Low Vision High School Students in the Mainstream Science Classroom, is a 36-month, $300,000 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of this project is to incorporate low-cost tools and instructional techniques for blind and low vision (BLV) students, previously created by the RDE-funded Independent Laboratory Access for the Blind (ILAB) team (HRD-0435656), into mainstream high school science classrooms so that BLV students can independently conduct science laboratory experiments. The project team is field testing existing devices, newly created tools and tailored science curricula with approximately ten (10) BLV high school students and their teachers. The research team is lead by a well-experienced NSF-funded chemist and includes a pair of faculty and student chemists who are blind, an NSF-funded expert in chemistry education, and a highly skilled evaluator. This project team, which has worked together on the previous ILAB project, is testing the hypothesis that the use of these already-developed tools in mainstream physical science labs will increase BLV high school students' self-efficacy, confidence and interest in science. Since most students in the project are in their junior and senior years of high school the project team is able to track student transitions into college STEM fields. The team is leveraging resources with other NSF-funded projects and industry partners, including two (2) RDE-funded projects (HRD-0533182.; HRD-0533185), one (1) NSF National Science and Engineering Center (DMR-0425880), Vernier Software and Technology, and GH, LLC. The project addresses three (3) of the RDE-FRI track goals: To build tools for students with disabilities that can be quickly developed and effectively deployed in the educational environment; to add value to the education of persons with disabilities in STEM by implementing the use of technologies in educational environments; and to investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM. The project includes a formative and summative project evaluation plan as well as a dissemination plan that includes presentations at national professional meetings of scientists, chemists and chemical educators; website materials, as well as planned articles in peer-reviewed professional journals. The dissemination plan also includes leveraging resources with the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) Chemistry Pathways project, the National Federation of the Blind, and the RDE-funded MIDWEST Regional Alliance. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Mallouk, Thomas William Carlsen Henry Wohlers Pennsylvania State Univ University Park PA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 300000 1545 SMET 9177 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726424 September 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: Innovations in STEM Education for Blind Undergraduates Using Digital Pen-Based Audio/Tactile Graphics. RDE-FRI: Innovations in STEM Education for Blind Undergraduates Using Digital Pen-Based Audio/Tactile Graphics is a 36-month, $300,000 dollar collaborative award to the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Foundation and Vanderbilt University that is funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of the project is to develop, evaluate, and disseminate a low-cost, portable, easy-to-use digital pen technology that enables blind undergraduate students and educational support personnel (ESP) to create, explore, and understand the diagrams and figures common to the STEM curriculum using touch and sound. The research team is conducting a three (3) phase research project to examine the benefits of deploying a digital Pen Audio/Tactile graphics (dPATg) approach which includes two-handed tactile exploration, ultrafine selection resolution, portability, and the ease of creating ad hoc content by students and ESP using the Sewell raised line drawing kit (SRLDK) and the SpotDotView Braille Embosser. Following an initial phase of observing students using STEM diagrams and figures in the classroom, the second phase includes a series of single-subject designed studies to investigate the dPATg approach. The third phase employs a quasi-experimental design where student performance is measured as a result of one (1) of three (3) treatment conditions: Use of dPATg systems, use of conventional audio/tactile systems, and no advanced technology use. This project builds on the prior success of the PI's current and previous work on the use of technology for the blind and visually impaired that was funded by the US Education Department's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (H133E060001; H133A060056; H133S060103). This highly experienced team, which is lead by a research psychologist who is blind and by an expert in instructional technology, benefits from partnerships with the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) and San Francisco State University (SFSU) where approximately 40 blind undergraduate students are being observed and recruited for study participation. Additional subjects are recruited from community colleges in the San Francisco Bay region and from other California State Universities. The project also benefits from an industry partnership with LiveScribe, Inc., a company with expertise in the development and manufacturing of digital pen technology. This project addresses three (3) of the RDE-FRI track goals: To encourage research and development of specific but utilitarian assistive technologies that will help persons with disabilities pursue careers in STEM; to build tools for students with disabilities that can quickly be developed and effectively deployed in the educational environment; and to investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan being conducted by an external evaluator, Donald Stenhoff, from the University of Kentucky. Additional formative project input is provided by a team of expert internal and external advisors that includes Anita Aaron from the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind; Dmitri Belser from the Center for Accessible Technology; John Brabyn from the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Blindness and Low Vision; Gene Chelberg from SFSU; James Gammon from UCB; and Ted Hasselbring from Vanderbilt University. There is also a dissemination plan which includes a website for distributing project information, publishing findings in peer-reviewed professional journals, presenting project materials and results at educational technology conferences, and facilitating the transfer of digital pen technology to special education and educational technology fields. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Van Schaack, Andrew Vanderbilt University TN Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 143307 1545 SMET 9178 9150 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726449 September 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: Effects of Teaching with Tablet PCs with Asynchronous Student Access in Post-Secondary STEM Courses on Students with Learning Disabilities (TTASA-SWLD). The project RDE-FRI: Effects of Teaching with Tablet PCs with Asynchronous Student Access in Post-Secondary STEM Courses on Students with Learning Disabilities (TTASA-SWLD) is a 36-month, $299,994 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. This project is investigating the academic success, academic persistence and attitude of students with learning disabilities in postsecondary STEM courses when instructors use tablet PCs and provide students with asynchronous access to all course lecture content. This experienced project team is training approximately 20 STEM faculty and recruiting 40 students with learning disabilities enrolled in STEM coursework from Tennessee Technological University (TTU) and from three (3) partnering institutions: Tennessee State University (TSU), an Historically Black University, Nashville State Community College (NSCC) and Roane State Community College (RSCC). STEM faculty who already use tablet PCs are receiving training about how to teach students with learning disabilities and how to use asynchronous instruction, and STEM faculty who are unfamiliar with tablet PCs are participating in the same training as well as additional sessions about how to maximize the use of tablet PCs in STEM education. The effects of STEM faculty using tablet PCs and the accessibility of asynchronous course content are being studied with two (2) experimental groups of students with learning disabilities, two (2) control groups of students with learning disabilities, and two (2) comparison groups of students without learning disabilities. The project addresses two (2) of the FRI track goals: To investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM; and to add value to the education of persons with disabilities in STEM by implementing the use of technologies in educational environments. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan which includes working with an experienced independent external evaluator on a regular basis. There is also a dissemination plan that includes providing study results on the TTU STEM Center website, presenting findings at national professional meetings in the areas of STEM college teaching and university disability services, and publishing in peer-reviewed post-secondary science and engineering education journals. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Graves, Laura Michael Allen Sally Pardue Kenneth Wiant Tennessee Technological University TN Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 349893 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726473 September 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: Improving Access to STEM for Community College Students with Disabilities in Universally Designed Learning Communities. The project RDE-FRI: Improving Access to STEM for Community College Students with Disabilities in Universally Designed Learning Communities is a 36-month, $300,000 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program''s Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of this project is to create and test the effectiveness of a student learning community model for community college students with disabilities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Building on earlier work funded by NSF (HRD-0004326, DRL-0618182) and the U.S. Education Department (P333A020021) this experienced project team is placing students with disabilities in a universally designed STEM learning community (UDLC) at Springfield Technical Community College, Greenfield Community College and Quinsigamond Community College, in order to study the impact of the UDLC on student academic performance, retention and confidence to be successful in STEM. The UDLCs include a group of students who are enrolled in a STEM-specific college success course and a STEM academic course. Over the three (3) years of this project there will be approximately 65 students with disabilities and 510 students without disabilities in two control groups, and a comparison will be made between the control group subjects and approximately 50 students with disabilities and 65 students without disabilities who will receive the UDLC intervention as part of their experimental group status. The project addresses one (1) of the FRI track goals: To investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM. The project includes a formative and summative project evaluation process conducted by a team from the University of Massachusetts''s Donahue Institute, as well as plans to create and publish the ""Best Practices Electronic STEM Study and Learning Guidebook"" and the ""Guide for Developing a UDL STEM College Success Course."" The project team is leveraging resources with other projects, including the NSF-funded National Center for Telecommunications Technologies (DUE-0302548) and the RDE-funded EAST Regional Alliance at the University of Southern Maine (HRD-0333316), to provide web-based resources for applying universal design learning to community college STEM courses so that students with disabilities can fully participate in STEM education. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Tamarkin, Dawn Springfield Technical Community College MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 359586 1545 SMET 9178 9177 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726591 September 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: Supporting Deaf and Hard of Hearing Undergraduate Students in STEM Field Settings with Remote Speech-to-Text Services. The project RDE-FRI: Supporting Deaf and Hard of Hearing Undergraduate Students in STEM Field Settings with Remote Speech-to-Text Services, is a 24-month, $299,995 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. This project is addressing the unmet need for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) students to have wireless access to real-time speech-to-text services (RT-STS) in varied outdoor and indoor settings. The primary goal of this project is to develop assistive technology that allows D/HH undergraduate students to view RT-STS in remote field science settings using a handheld device, such as a cellular phone or personal digital assistant. A secondary project goal is to evaluate the extent that remote speech-to-text services aid students' communication and learning in remote science field settings. This highly qualified and experienced team, which is led by a Deaf researcher, is conducting work that builds on the team's current NSF-funded project (0633928) and two (2) U.S. Education Department projects (H327A050064-06; H327A070085) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The project team is working with 38 D/HH undergraduate students from RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf to conduct development, field-testing and modifications for the RT-STS; 16 of the students also have low vision so that the accessibility of the device for students who have vision and hearing impairments is being evaluated. The largest portion of field-testing is being conducted when D/HH undergraduate students participate in the field visits for their environmental science courses. In addition to collecting data from instructor and student users during and after real-world field visits, the team is conducting focus groups regarding the feasibility and usability of the new RT-STS devices. A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the impact of the RT-STS on student learning focuses on the changes in students' STEM content knowledge as a result of using the new technology. The project addresses (3) of the FRI track goals: To encourage research and development of specific but utilitarian assistive technologies that will help persons with disabilities pursue careers in STEM; to build tools for students with disabilities that can be quickly developed and effectively deployed in the educational environment; and to add value to the education of persons with disabilities in STEM by implementing the use of technologies in educational environments. This project includes a formative and summative project evaluation plan with an experienced third-party evaluator, Dr. Martha Gaustad from Bowling Green State University. The project dissemination plan includes expected presentations at the annual conference of the American Association of Higher Education and Disability, the American Educational Research Association and the Society of College Science Teachers, as well as website materials, planned articles in peer-reviewed professional journals, and sharing results with post-secondary institutions that enroll large numbers of D/HH students currently using STS for STEM: Louisiana State University, Miami-Dade College, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Jacksonville State University and Bergen Community College. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Stinson, Michael Susan Foster Lisa Elliot Rochester Institute of Tech NY Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 299995 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726664 September 1, 2007 RDE-DEI: Developing and Evaluating a Peer Led Team Learning Curriculum in Caluculus and Chemistry for Undergraduate Students with Learning and Attention Disabilities. The project RDE-DEI: Developing and Evaluating a Peer Led Team Learning Curriculum in Calculus and Chemistry for Undergraduate Students with Learning and Attention Disabilities is a $100,000 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Demonstration, Enrichment and Information Dissemination (DEI) track. The primary goal of this project is to improve the academic outcomes for undergraduate students with learning and attention disabilities in gateway calculus and chemistry courses by implementing the use of an adapted peer led team learning (APLTL) program. This program includes a peer mentoring program to help students with course content to improve student understanding and knowledge of specific academic materials and to help students by employing strategies-based instruction to improve executive function skills, particularly in the areas of organization, problem solving, reading comprehension, flexible shifting of actions to meet task demands, and persistence towards a goal. This project builds on the successful work already conducted by the team, at Washington University's (WU) Center for Advanced Learning (CAL); with the cooperation of WU's academic departments the CAL's staff have already created academic bridge and peer led team learning programs for students without disabilities in STEM. The team from WU, which is lead by a psychologist who is also a WU Assistant Vice Chancellor and the Director of the CAL, includes experts in post-secondary disability services, faculty and staff with expertise in college calculus and chemistry education, and an expert in post-secondary learning services for students with learning and attention disabilities. The proposal includes a quasi-experimental design to compare the calculus and chemistry performance of approximately 40 students with learning and attention disabilities who participate in the APLTL program, to the performance of a cohort of similar students enrolled in the same courses who do not participate in the program. The project directly addresses the RDE-DEI track goals by enriching the academic experiences of students with learning and attention disabilities in post-secondary calculus and chemistry courses, and by demonstrating the effectiveness of a highly specialized mentoring program within a private undergraduate institution. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan which is being conducted by a WU internal evaluator, Larry Handlin, who is the CAL's Assistant Director for Evaluation. There is also a dissemination plan which includes web-based materials for university faculty and staff to develop similar STEM APLTL programs at other campuses, publications in peer-reviewed professional journals, and presentations at the annual convention of the Association for Higher Education and Disability, the annual University of Connecticut's Post Secondary Training Institute, and the annual RDE PI meeting. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Koff, Robert Christine Street Washington University MO Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 118360 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0726670 September 1, 2007 RDE-FRI: The Effects of Simulation Enhanced Training for Teachers on the Science Achievement of Third and Fourth Grade. The project RDE-FRI: The Effects of Simulation Enhanced Training for Teachers on the Science Achievement of Third and Fourth Graders is a 36 month, $299,942 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of the project is to train elementary school teachers in effective teaching strategies so that third and fourth grade students with disabilities will experience effective science education and improve their science achievement. Effective teaching strategies are taught to elementary school teachers using a simulated classroom setting, the web-based simSchool system, which includes a diverse group of learners with and without disabilities. The research team is conducting a four (4) phase project which begins with programming the unique learner characteristics of the science classroom Avatars for an environmental science unit on the life in a pond. Phase two of the project includes field testing the simSchool unit with elementary school teachers who are also graduate students. During the third phase of the project the research team collects pre- and post-intervention data from elementary school teachers to compare the effectiveness of the simSchool approach to a face-to-face approach. Phase four of the project includes an investigation of the impact of the simSchool approach on the science achievement of third and fourth graders with and without disabilities as measured by curriculum based assessments and achievement gain scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Wisconsin Environmental Inventory. This project builds on the prior success of the team's NSF-funded work on the teacher professional development (DRL-0322847) and on the use of the simSchool approach to educating girls in science (GSE-0114917), as well as Education Department funding for the use of simSchool for pre-service elementary teacher training (P116B060398). This highly experienced team, which is lead by a researcher with a special education background, benefits from collaborations with the David Gibson, the developer of the simSchool system, as well as partnerships with teacher education faculty from the University of Maine-Farmington, the University of Nevada-Reno, Southeastern Louisiana University, and the University of Florida-Gainesville. Ten (10) teachers who are graduate students at the University of North Texas (UNT) will participate in this project and the impact of their training is being assessed on 80 K-12 student with disabilities and 420 without disabilities. An additional 20 third and fourth grade students with disabilities and 30 third and fourth grade students without disabilities, from the Elm Fork Educational Program sponsored at the UNT, are participating in the validity testing phase of this project. This project addresses the RDE-FRI track goal of investigating effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM by measuring the impact of teacher training on science education for third and fourth graders with disabilities. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan being conducted by Leslie Leach an external evaluator. Additional formative project input is provided by a team of expert advisors that includes John Southworth from the University of Hawaii; Barbara McKenzie from the University of West Georgia; Theresa Overall from the University of Maine, and John Park from North Carolina State. There is also an extensive dissemination plan which includes publishing findings in peer-reviewed professional journals, presenting project materials and results at special education, science, technology and education research conferences, and communicating project methods and outcomes with the RDE community as well as the broad community of simSchool users. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Tyler-Wood, Tandra Gerald Knezek Rhonda Christensen Lemoyne Dunn University of North Texas TX Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 200619 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0728555 October 1, 2007 RDE-DEI: Access By Design: A Faculty Development Model of STEM Education for Undergraduate Students with Disabilities. The project RDE-DEI: Access by Design: A Faculty Development Model of STEM Education for Undergraduate Students with Disabilities is a $100,000 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Demonstration, Enrichment and Information Dissemination (DEI) track. The primary goal of this project is to positively impact the success of undergraduate students with disabilities taking STEM courses by providing faculty the skills, support and training necessary to ensure student learning and academic success. This goal is being addressed with a three (3) pronged faculty professional development (FPD) approach that is being implemented at Sonoma State University (SSU), San Francisco State University (SFSU) and California State Polytechnic University-Pomona (CPP). The first FPD component emphasizes training STEM faculty at the three (3) partner institutions about the principles and practices of universal design learning (UDL), with extensive FPD for 15 STEM faculty and additional training for the 23 representatives of the California State University (CSU) system's faculty development council. The second FPD element focuses on the development of STEM faculty learning communities (FLC) at each of the partner campuses resulting in faculty modifying targeted STEM courses to make them pedagogically accessible with enhanced learning experiences for students with and without disabilities. The third FPD component is implemented following faculty assimilation of UDL in their STEM courses when each partner campus's FLC creates case studies for campus and state level dissemination to faculty via the CSU "Accessibility" website and for national dissemination to faculty via the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching repository (MERLOT). This project builds on the team's already successful work, funded by the US Education Department (P333A050066; P116B060223), to ensure the academic success of students with disabilities at CSU campuses and to enhance FPD. This team from SSU, which is lead by a faculty member in the Department of Educational Leadership and Special Education, includes an expert in instructional technology, a team member with expertise in post-secondary disability services, and faculty who specialize in post-secondary FPD. Faculty will be surveyed to evaluate the FPD activities and regarding the link between FPD and the implementation of UDL to modified STEM courses. The proposal includes measuring approximately 450 students' completion of STEM courses, as well as those students' perceptions and satisfaction with faculty use of UDL. The project directly addresses the DEI track goals by attempting to enrich the academic experiences of undergraduate students with disabilities in STEM courses and to demonstrate the effectiveness of FPD in the area of universal design instruction as an intervention at public state institutions of higher education. The project team is benefiting from formative feedback provided by a team of advisors who include Saeid Rahimi from SSU, Barbara Hacker from SFSU and Tomas Morales from CPP. There is a dissemination plan which includes sharing web-based resources and information throughout the CSU system and with faculty across the country via MERLOT. Additional dissemination activities include presentations at the Educause National Conference and the annual RDE PI meeting. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Ayala, Emiliano Brett Christie Sonoma State University CA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 100000 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0733563 January 1, 2008 GSE/COM: Role Models Make a World of Difference: Promoting Effective Outreach to Girls in Technology, Science, and Engineering. Techbridge was founded in 2000 by Chabot Space & Science Center to build an effective model program for girls in underserved communities and to encourage and promote their interests in technology, science, and engineering. The program''s emphasis on career exploration for girls has enabled staff to gain expertise training professionals and corporate partners for successful interactions between role models and students. Techbridge''s evaluation data and research confirm that visits with role models and field trips to worksites have a significant and lasting impact in influencing girls'' academic choices and career paths. In addition, these outreach efforts benefit organizations, boosting company morale and developing employee leadership. With a successful program in place backed by strong evaluation results, Techbridge developed a training model and resource guide for role models called ""Get Involved. Make a Difference. A Guide for Classroom Visits and Field Trips for K-12 Students."" The training and resource guide feature practical guidance and case studies that highlight activities and successful interactions between role models and youth. In this project, Techbridge will extend the distribution of ""Get Involved. Make a Difference."" to a wider audience and provide partners with research-based, field-tested resources and training to assist them in recruiting and supporting role models. Intellectual Merit--The Role Models Make a World of Difference project: 1) fills an unmet need by providing information and resources that are well organized, practical, useful, and easily accessible to role models and partners; 2) provides resources and training that are based upon a robust model program that has a 7-year track record for successfully engaging role models in outreach through classroom visits and field trips; 3) engages a team that brings extensive expertise to the project, with over two decades of experience developing career resources for girls; and 4) distributes guidelines for role models, developed with input from Techbridge''s research study and longitudinal investigation, to encourage role models to present in ways that are most likely to positively impact girls'' academic and career aspirations. Broader Impacts--The Role Models Make a World of Difference project has broad, long-term impact through outreach, training, and partnerships with educational, corporate, and government agencies that are committed to increasing girls'' participation in technology, science, and engineering. It is expected that over 225,000 role models will be trained and supported during the project that will promote the participation of girls in technology, science, and engineering. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Kekelis, Linda Chabot Space and Science Center CA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199874 1544 SMET 9178 0733747 September 1, 2007 Exploration of the Effects of Race, Ethnicity and Socio-economic Class on Gender Stereotyping of STEM Disciplines. Intellectual merit: Among the promising lines of investigation directed at understanding the factors that account for the under representation of females in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is the congruence between gender roles and gender stereotyping of STEM disciplines. To the extent that influential institutional members--such as parents, educators and the media--reinforce traditional assumptions about the roles, aptitudes, and career options for men and women, subsequent behaviors in life prescribed by different roles that an individual has to perform may be experienced by that individual as incongruent or in conflict with one?s perceived gender role. Consequently, a person accepts a pattern of behaviors (or roles) by resolving or reducing the emotional and cognitive dissonance caused by role conflict. The under representation of women in the IT field is frequently explained using group level analysis suggesting that the gender role expectations account for this under representation. However, a problem with this explanation is that it assumes that all females receive similar messages regarding gender role expectations, interpret role senders' messages in the same manner, and adopt similar patterns of behavior. However, while women can be seen to be a group with respect to their collective subjugation in power relations that structure society, within group variation needs to be considered with respect to how individual women respond to gender role expectations. This study investigates the effect of intersecting group membership--including race, ethnicity and social class--on the types of societal messages about gender role received as well as the perception of and response to these societal messages. By investigating the intersectionality of gender, race and social class a more nuanced explanation of the underrepresentation of women in IT may be uncovered. The research examines the patterns of behavioral differences and the process of conflict resolutions through the lens of Eileen Trauth?s Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT that was developed in prior research (NSF 0204246). This theoretical approach provides explanatory factors that help predict why some women's interest and persistence in the IT field are discouraged while others are not, even though these women may experience similar gender role expectations. This project involves three phases. In Phase I the instrument is developed and administered to a cohort of both male and female university undergraduates. In Phase II the data are analyzed and preliminary results produced. In Phase III the preliminary results are taken back to the populations being studied and focus groups conducted in order to refine the interpretation of the results. Broader impact: The results of this research will add to our understanding of the factors influencing IT career choice among women, thereby informing societal interventions to increase participation of females and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields. Undergraduate students at participating institutions will attend focus groups in which the preliminary results will be presented. This will serve to increase student consciousness about challenges they encounter and strategies for overcoming them. The investigators bring their own identities and experiences of diversity to this research. All are women yet their different ethnicities (Euro-American, Indian-American, and African-American) have resulted in their own, different experiences of gender role stereotyping. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Trauth, Eileen Kshiti Joshi Lynette Kvasny Jan Mahar Pennsylvania State Univ University Park PA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 486851 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0733754 October 1, 2007 The Work of Women Scientists: An Innovative Publishing Project. Intellectual Merit: This project is producing four books aimed at fostering and deepening the interest of young women in science. The books should also attract a broad general audience, for whom science may seem either too difficult or "scary." The Feminist Press at CUNY is teaming with the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, which offers strong connections to academic research and to professional scientists and science societies. Based on information collected through surveys and focus groups representative of the target audience, and through consultations with scientists, librarians, book publishers, teachers, science writers, and parents, this effort to produce literary books about the work of women scientists could very effectively attract young women, and even young men to science fields. Girls identify with and prefer to read about female protagonists, yet there are relatively few accounts of the work and lives of female scientists. Students in focus groups were hard-pressed to name a woman scientist. They are interested in careers that serve society, yet they do not perceive science as a potent path for contribution, because they are unfamiliar with the work of scientists. The book series stemming from this project will offer specific and creative ideas for books in various forms of fiction, nonfiction, and manga (graphic novel). The target content, genres, and style are based on an extensive review of research literature, a survey of the book market, feedback from our target readers, and a conference of experts. The books will contribute to and compliment other informal education venues that promote science and engineering emphasizing engagement and entertainment. Broader Impacts: Engaging stories about the work of women in science designed for the interests of girls will counter typical stereotypes and portrayals of science as a male profession. They will show the realities of women and men working together in science today and thereby make the presence of women in science normative rather than exceptional. They will also improve science literacy by explaining and featuring the work of scientists. In addition to books, teachers' and parents' guides are being produced to help them positively influence girls' educational and career choices. The project will encourage the development of interest in and passion for work in science, thus building future human capital for the United States. The project includes multi-layered plans for outreach and distribution. In partnership with a wide array of networks, the Feminist Press is working with established trade book and academic distributors. The books will also be marketed through national and regional organizations serving young women, including many specializing in science education, and the New York City high school, college, and library system. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Schwartz, Brian Gloria Jacobs CUNY Graduate School University Center NY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 239836 1544 SMET 9178 0733918 September 1, 2007 GSE/RES - Advancing Women in Science: Building Engagement through Academic Transitions. Intellectual Merit: This project examines gender differences in academic and social engagement that are postulated to explain the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. An integrative Academic and Social Engagement (ASE) Model in STEM career pursuits based upon established theory and innovative methods from social, developmental, and health psychology and education is tested. The ASE Model defines engagement by a range of career, academic, social and psychological outcomes (e.g., sense of belonging in STEM, motivation to pursue a STEM career, and decisions to acquire STEM graduate training ) that are essential not only for career achievement but also for sustained investment and life and career satisfaction. According to the ASE Model, there are two routes to engagement: (1) developing and integrating a STEM identity into one's self-concept, which allows one to view a STEM career as both desirable and attainable and (2) utilizing academic, social, and psychological coping resources that provide necessary information, tangible assistance, and social support to help navigate the path to engagement despite impediments. Further, the ASE Model identifies situational and individual factors that impede engagement, such as perceptions of gender bias in STEM environments and low competence beliefs that undermine confidence and focus. A critical component of the ASE Model is its developmental focus, namely the effect of academic and life transitions on the salience and influence of each facilitator and impediment to engagement. Participants in the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program, an established program at Stony Brook University founded with prior NSF funding, serve as a target group for testing the ASE Model. The WISE program supports a select group of female STEM majors by providing them with experiences--primarily in their first year of college--likely to promote a STEM identity and provide coping resources. WISE women are compared to non-WISE, STEM women and STEM men who enter the university in the same year and also to another cohort of WISE women. These groups are studied using traditional longitudinal methods that have been used in prior research as well as newer, state-of-the-art experience sampling methods (namely, daily and weekly diary methodologies) that have not been used in prior research on women's pursuit of STEM careers. These methods include the examination of factors contributing to and impeding engagement between groups (e.g., men versus women), within groups (e.g., individual differences between women), and over time during three important transitions: the start of college, the beginning of intensive research experiences, and the period of decision-making about whether to pursue graduate school in a STEM field. Further, two evidence-based interventions aimed at promoting engagement in STEM fields by enhancing gender and STEM identity integration and providing needed coping resources are tested; their impact on WISE women who receive the intervention will be compared to the other three groups. Broader Impacts: The proposed intervention studies give WISE participants an expanded experience in STEM, provide focused mentoring to foster their intellectual and career development, and increase their motivation to work in and seek careers in STEM fields. The project team includes a diverse group of young scholars (predominantly female graduate and undergraduate students, with particular recruitment from ethnic groups underrepresented in science) who will be mentored in research relevant to psychology, gender studies, and related disciplines. Through the proposed project, new infrastructures are created including an inter-disciplinary Advisory Board, once-a-semester discussion series on women in STEM careers, a yearly presentation to be given at an area high school, and a project website. Findings from the proposed research will be communicated in professional journals and at conferences that reach scholars in education, gender studies, developmental, health, and social psychology as well as college administrators, academic counselors, STEM scholars, and high school teachers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR London, Bonita Sheri Levy Marci Lobel SUNY at Stony Brook NY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 512492 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0733976 September 1, 2007 Perceptions of Women in Academic Science. Intellectual Merit: The findings from this study further knowledge of underlying reasons for the lack of gender diversity in academic science. Building on the nexus of existing research, this study examines women's and men's self-reported reasons for pursuing academic science careers as well as the perceptions both genders have of women's contributions to academic science. The research expands recent scholarly findings related to the role perceptions have in decisions related to pursuing careers in academic science. Expanding research on this topic provides new directions for understanding the origins of and remedies for the under-representation of women in academic science. The primary conceptual model used to understand science careers has been a rigid pipeline of ordered stages in which success is measured by early entry, consistent progress through consecutive educational steps, and subsequent employment in a science career. Under this model, failure is marked by an exit from the pipeline. Neither entry from another career track nor reentry is typically conceptualized as a success. Yet, research has shown that, unlike men, most women who earn bachelors degrees in science and engineering transition from non-science majors. Therefore, while the science pipeline metaphor accurately describes the experiences of many men, it fails to capture the experiences of many women. In contrast, this study develops the research metaphor of a freeway, with entry on-ramps and exits possible at multiple points along the way. Through a survey administered to 2,500 individuals coupled with 150 life history interviews, this research illuminates the recalled experiences of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows as well as assistant, associate, and full professors in two core academic science fields, biology and physics, from the twenty top U.S. graduate programs in these fields. Researchers show that recalled experiences shape current beliefs, actions and interactions. Understanding the recalled experiences of this population is particularly important because those in elite programs train future leaders who shape science policy related to industry, government, and academics. Broader impact: Findings practically illuminate effective approaches to encouraging the presence of women in science, make faculty more aware of their preconceptions about women in science, and have broad media appeal. In particular, understanding experiences and perceptions at the crucial turning point in the science career process--decisions made during undergraduate education--provides the necessary research underpinnings to build university policies and practices that encourage interest in science majors and careers among women. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Howard Ecklund, Elaine Anne Lincoln SUNY at Buffalo NY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 299334 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734000 September 1, 2007 GSE: Working Class Women using Community College Pathways to Four Year STEM Degrees. Female African American and Latino students from working class families are significantly underrepresented in science and technical fields, especially computer science and engineering. Since over fifty percent of first generation, lower-income income Latinos and African American women use two year colleges as an entry point to the four year degree, and so few actually complete that pathway, research is needed to better understand this pathway and the experience of ethnically diverse working class women within the pathway. This study uses a mixed methods short-term longitudinal sequential design. Two cohorts are followed over a 15 month time period: 1) 75 community college students accepted as transfers to 4-year colleges to pursue STEM degrees, and 2) 75 recent high school graduates entering community college for the first time. Data sources include ethnographic interviews at the organization level and with key adult supporters across contexts of home, college and workplace, individual interviews, and quantitative surveys of mentoring, cultural capital, and procedural knowledge. Growth curve models trace cultural capital and mentoring over time, and qualitative data are used to identify key factors that influence the persistence of the participants at an individual and organization level. In-depth case studies increase understanding about the process of acquiring and sustaining mentoring and related capital, and how these three major contexts function in concert with one another in the lives of working class students. Intellectual Merit: At the four year post-secondary level, there is a substantial body of research examining students? decisions to switch away from science and technology fields while pursuing their four-year college degrees. Although this past research has provided a critical foundation for examining retention, this study contributes significant new knowledge about working class women and the variability within their transitions along the community college pathway to the four year STEM degrees. Given the complexity of working class women?s educational pathways, and the field?s lack of research focused on this population and community college STEM pathways, this study offers new knowledge about the factors that contribute to persistence of working class women of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Broader Impacts: Knowledge from this study influences the retention of working class women, with a large proportion of students of color by offering organizations (colleges and universities) strategies to assist these women in their pursuit of STEM education. In addition, the study includes several female undergraduate students, including many students of color and first generation college students, in a research experience. Existing partnerships between community colleges and four year colleges are fostered and strengthened. Dissemination includes the development of a website for use in public schools, reports for public audiences, white papers, and journal articles. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Packard, Becky Mount Holyoke College MA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 426502 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734004 November 1, 2007 GSE/COM: Telling STEM Stories through Content Clips. This project assembles and distributes a digital collection of multimedia clips and online activities to highlight careers, challenge stereotypes, and introduce strong role models. The STEM Stories collection facilitates children's exploration of the lives and work of a diverse group of women through a combination of career-related content and personal stories. The project builds on the outcomes and insights of two prior NSF-funded research projects that resulted in the Telling Our Stories: Women in Science CD-ROM and the Content Clips web system environment, which was developed through the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) program. The primary audience is girls in Grades 4-8 and the educators that interact with them, in both formal and informal settings where computers with Internet access are available. Intellectual Merit--The STEM Stories collection offers in-depth, multidimensional profiles of 12 women with diverse careers, through a combination of online interviews, virtual field trips, personal photos, and interactive investigations that reflect their lives and work interests. This collection also includes text biographies of more than 200 women and their accomplishments in STEM fields, along with web links, photos, and other media. Prior research identifying key factors that influence children's attitudes toward STEM content and careers will inform the design of this project. These factors include the continued importance of positive role models to counteract the persistence of negative cultural stereotypes. To address these influences, this project updates high-value content from a popular but outdated CD-ROM and integrates it with new multimedia materials. It combines these elements within a unique, dynamic online environment, to capitalize on the features and flexibility of current technology and to freely distribute the resulting collection to a wide audience. Broader Impacts--The Content Clips web environment system supports the distribution of additional profiles, research papers, and gender equity materials from other organizations. It also allows users to add personal web links to their own customized resource sets. Evaluation is focusing on rural and urban classrooms and an after-school outreach program for at-risk girls. The compelling content also appeals to a broad audience, including boys in Grades 4 - 8, high school and college students, parents, and other interested adults, such as researchers and curriculum developers in gender equity and STEM education fields. The STEM Stories collection is distributed through the Content Clips web site and promoted to appropriate organizations, outreach programs, museums, science centers, and educator groups, through press releases, articles, web links, conferences, workshops, web seminars, and publications, including outreach activities and events sponsored by the NSDL. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR McLean, Lois Richard Tessman McLean Media CA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 198880 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734028 September 1, 2007 An Investigation of African American Girls' Positionality in Science and Mathematics. Intellectual Merit: This study explores how African American girls position themselves in relation to science and mathematics and learning and the impact of teachers', counselors' and parents' positionality, if any, on the girls' science and mathematics learning. The guiding hypothesis is that African American girls' positionality is impacted by the attitudes and expectations of parents, teachers, and counselors. Since the enactment of Title IX of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1972, many investigations have sought to understand factors that influence girls' involvement in science and mathematics and their choosing of related careers. However, while progress has been made toward gender equity in science and mathematics, underachievement persists among African American girls. This research seeks to expand beyond documentation of disparities to include how to transform the relationship between adult expectations and girls' self-perceptions. In particular, teachers and counselors often serve as gatekeepers to science and mathematics learning opportunities for African American girls and other socially marginalized students. This research captures African American girls as they transition from elementary to middle school and deconstructs the concept of positionality and its relationship to science and mathematics learning. In addition, the research utilizes an integrative perspective that focuses simultaneously on students, parents, teachers, and counselors. The researchers anticipate that new knowledge will be generated about student-teacher interactions, parental involvement, and counselor influences on science and mathematics participation among African American girls in high-poverty schools and other underachieving student populations. Broader Impacts: This project will offer educators and parents the necessary tools for the development of positive positioning that will transform the trajectory for low income African American schoolgirls and other socially marginalized and underachieving student populations. This will translate into more participation of African American girls in science- and mathematics-related careers thus transforming low-income communities and changing the nature of parental involvement in schools. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Pringle, Rose Thomasenia Adams Cirecie West-Olatunji University of Florida FL Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 439597 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734056 October 1, 2007 GSE/EXT - STEM Equity Pipeline. Intellectual Merit: This project will impact the capacity of the formal education community to act as a vehicle for female students to enter careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). An Extension Services Group (ESG) of gender equity in STEM research and practice experts will provide consulting and professional development services to state extension agent teams. State Teams will include: education professionals that provide technical assistance, professional development and pre-service education to high school and community college administrators, faculty and staff; community-based organizations (CBO's) serving women and girls in the state; and leaders of statewide professional organizations committed to involving females in secondary and postsecondary STEM education. It is the conscious intent of the composition of the State Teams to include both formal and informal educational partners in an attempt to bridge and connect the efforts being made in both arenas. Throughout the project's life, thirteen State Teams will be trained to provide extension services to local education (LEA) and CBO staff to implement an institutional change process. The institutional change process includes five steps: 1) Analyze existing data; 2) Identify root causes; 3) Choose best strategies; 4) Implement selected strategies; 5) Evaluate. The ESG's training for State Teams will include (1) an annual seminar where best practices will be shared and State Teams will receive training in the institutional change process and research-based strategy implementation; (2) professional development webcasts on data analysis for program improvement, effective strategies, exemplary programs, "how to" topics, and equitable instructional strategies using Generating Expectations for Student Achievement (Graymill Consulting, undated); (3) a web-based Virtual Learning Community where the National Advisory Board, the ESG, State Teams and local educators can form common-interest-based learning communities and chat rooms, network electronically via a listserve, post relevant documents, archive webcasts, and participate in online courses and tutorials; (4) on going consulting with State Teams by ESG consultants. The ESG will compile existing comprehensive research literature reviews and identify and evaluate exemplary projects, research-based learning tools, pedagogical approaches, and service or support programs into a Best Practices Handbook to be used by State Teams for effective extension services with local educators. Broader Impacts: Training State Teams to provide extension services that support the institutional change process will lead to the implementation of strategic solutions that are supported by research and adapted to each institution's situation. The process is focused on training State Teams to work with local educators to systematically examine and understand what is causing barriers for females to participate in STEM Career Cluster programs and the related academic STEM courses. The process will ensure that State Teams will invest time and effort in providing consulting, professional development and technical assistance that implement improvement strategies that will achieve results. The ESG is committed to disseminating the projects results through its extensive national networks. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Lufkin, Mimi National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundatio PA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 1914079 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0734060 September 1, 2007 (GSE/RES) What kind of Math Software works for Girls? The effectiveness of motivational and cognitive interventions. Intellectual Merit. This project analyzes whether specific software interventions produce motivational and mathematics achievement gains for girls within real K12-level educational settings, at two crucial moments of girls? development of attitudes towards STEM, grades 5-6 and 10-11. Randomized controlled evaluations are used to analyze the impact of strategies that improve girls' and minorities' performance in mathematics and motivation to pursue mathematics coursework. The study uncovers empirically-supported guidelines for the design of math software that benefit girls' and minorities' motivation and achievement in mathematics. This research furthers research into computation techniques (intelligent agents/learning companions, user modeling and tools), educational psychology (rigorous analysis of the impact of interventions on motivation and self-efficacy, student characteristics and on-line instruction) and developmental psychology (gender differences across several ages). Broader Impact. The project provides Internet environments for students in poorly performing school districts and those who might be home-schooled as a result of a disability. It advances the understanding of students who find potential failure in math to be threatening (most often, females and students from traditionally under represented minority groups), promoting interest in mathematics among generally underrepresented students. It improves the quality of on-line courseware and reduces the barrier for entry to STEM. The project will produce instruction that is responsive to individuals, lays the groundwork for more innovative curricula and creates new understandings of the complexities of taught materials. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Arroyo, Ivon James Royer Beverly Woolf University of Massachusetts Amherst MA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 449540 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734062 September 1, 2007 Collaborative Research: GSE/RES The Effect of Climate and Pedagogy on Persistence: A Longitudinal Study of Women in Undergraduate Engineering Programs. Intellectual merit: The researchers are conducting a longitudinal, multi-institutional, and multivariate study determining how climate and pedagogy affect the persistence of women in undergraduate engineering programs. Institutional data from 1987-2004 at nine institutions granting 1/12 of the engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to women will answer the research question, "How does the persistence of women engineering students vary by race, engineering major, cohort year, and institution, and specifically, what pockets of success can be identified?" The 17-year study period makes it possible to define persistence as the six-year graduation rate in engineering, which anchors the results in the context of national persistence data. The research uses climate and pedagogy as lenses through which to view the persistence of undergraduate engineering women, leveraging the success of multiple National Science Foundation projects by studying the relationships among a significant amount of previously collected data and establishing the context of those data. A timeline of critical incidents in institutional policy and leadership, enriched by interviews gathering retrospective data from faculty and administrators, clarify the relationships of climate and pedagogy to persistence. Semi-structured interviews of students in populations in which persistence is high are used to clarify the findings. The MIDFIELD dataset includes course sections, making it possible to study the effects of critical mass among women in engineering. Broader impact: This work builds on the theoretical foundation developed in previous qualitative studies, developing a scaffold of quantitative results that can support the informed decisions of policymakers. Creating a longitudinal perspective of how climate and pedagogy affect persistence will reach multiple stakeholders at engineering institutions--speaking with the authority of large sample sizes as well as with the softer voice of individual students. The result will be a compelling story rather than a report of the result of a single study. The research team spans multiple engineering disciplines, the social sciences, and human resource development, which is ideal for diffusion to a wide audience. The leadership roles of team members in the American Society of Engineering Education, its Educational Research and Methods division, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Education Society, as well as affiliations with departments of Engineering Education at Purdue, Virginia Tech, and Clemson, and the National Academy of Engineering?s Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education, ensures broad dissemination. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Ohland, Matthew Mara Wasburn Purdue University IN Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 289279 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734072 October 1, 2007 GSE/COM: Increasing Assessment Capacity in Engineering Outreach (SWE AWE). This outreach and communication project aims to institutionalize a highly successful assessment project, the AWE (Assessing Women and Men in Engineering) Project (NSF HRD #0120642) within the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). The SWE AWE project aims to 1) further build assessment capacity in the engineering outreach community; 2) enhance and disseminate the comprehensive set of AWE assessment tools to a broader audience; and 3) provide a sustainable and highly visible home for the AWE Project. The SWE AWE Project will reach an outreach audience beyond the scope of the original AWE Project, with an emphasis on increasing usage among organizations offering pre-college recruitment programs. The SWE AWE Project will reach SWE''s membership and other professional organizations and corporations with established relationships to SWE that offer engineering outreach activities. The AWE project web site will move to SWE.org (the official SWE website) with enhanced and updated materials to make them more valuable to audiences beyond academe, and create and offer a series of workshops leveraged through existing SWE activities (e.g. national conferences) and partnerships designed to reach all organizations, corporations and academic institutions that provide engineering outreach activities. Intellectual Merit--This project will facilitate the broad dissemination of a unique set of tools to build assessment capacity among volunteers and professionals who develop and implement engineering outreach activities through institutions, organizations and corporations. It will also benefit researchers by increasing their ability to collect and access metadata on women''s participation in engineering and build capacity to provide a national data set on the effectiveness of outreach activities. This will ultimately allow funding organizations to have access to comparable data for their funded work, thus informing future funding decisions. Broader Impact--The SWE AWE Project addresses real world problems in implementing reliable and valid assessments by providing a sustainable home and a means to disseminate the AWE tools to a broader audience and prevents these tools from becoming unsupportable and unusable. Increased dissemination of these assessment instruments will provide sound data that can be compared across a number of institutions nationwide. The SWE AWE Project will ensure that engineering outreach program activities have access to assessment and capacity building resources. At a national level, the data collected from SWE AWE instruments and use of SWE AWE capacity building tools will provide a sound base for understanding national trends in engineering outreach activities, participant attitudes, and other critical factors to understanding and impacting the participation of girls and women in engineering. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Bogue, Barbara Rose Marra Elizabeth Shanahan Pennsylvania State Univ University Park PA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 240000 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734074 October 1, 2007 Choosing Careers in Science and Math: An Integrated Approach. Intellectual Merit: Career choices are the result of a complex process and are influenced by a myriad of factors: 1) social-contextual influences such as classroom environment and culturally shared gender stereotypes, 2) person-attribute characteristics such as math and science ability and personal gender schemas, and 3) life goals, especially those related to work, marriage, and family. The individual making a career decision must integrate information from all three areas, yet researchers rarely reach beyond constructs in their own research paradigm. This hinders the development of an explanation of why some capable girls choose science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers and others do not. This research integrates the three broad areas of research (social-contextual, person-attribute, and life goals) by systematically assessing the relative importance of these factors in career choices during four key educational transition points: Transition from grade school to middle school, transition from middle school to high school, at the end of high school, and at the start of college. Existing classroom programs are then mapped on to the research findings to identify strategies for promoting interest in STEM careers that are likely to be most effective at different points in education. Broader Impacts: Research focusing on educational and developmental transitions especially benefits STEM education programs by matching these programs with the interests and needs of girls at different time points in schooling, connecting classroom practices to eventual STEM career choices. A main goal of this project is to inform educators about which classroom strategies and extracurricular programs are most effective for enhancing STEM career choices at different time points in education. With the assistance of an advisory panel, the research plan calls for the creation of a compendium that translates the research findings into key issues for supporting interest in STEM careers at different educational time points and identifies resources to address these issues. The end product is presented in the Classroom Connections Guide: Closing the Gender Gap that will be widely disseminated through professional development programs, teacher training, presentations at national professional meetings as well as to STEM college professors, deans, and administrative staff at the University of Alabama and other universities. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Barth, Joan Beth Todd Marion Goldston Rosanna Guadagno Debra McCallum University of Alabama Tuscaloosa AL Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 449993 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0734078 January 1, 2008 GSE/COM Girls Communicating Career Connections (GC3). Education Development Center, Inc., (EDC) in collaboration with partners in education, youth media and business, is creating a youth-produced, web-based media series and companion educator materials on science and engineering careers, targeting girls from underserved groups (minority populations, youth of low SES and those with disabilities). The Girls Communicating Career Connections (GC3) project?s media series--short video segments produced by middle school aged girls--will capture the inquiry-based learning experiences of girls, as they investigate what it means to be a scientist or engineer. The videos will encourage girls to see the science in their everyday lives, its relevance to things most important to them now (e.g., sports, art, music), and leverage that connection to spark interest in, and knowledge of, science and engineering (S/E) careers. GC3 will also develop a robust companion Educator Web site and supporting materials for formal and informal educators. Intellectual Merit--GC3 brings together high capacity collaborators from formal and informal education, research, youth media and business, who are leaders in their fields and who have rich content and expertise to draw upon. GC3 takes a user and learner centered development approach--youth and their educators will be involved in all aspects of the project's development and distribution. The project builds upon extensive research and previous projects on inquiry-based learning and program development. It leverages experience with powerful, multi-phase, participatory research and uses it to inform the process of creating resources that illustrate replicable ways for young women and their educators to make meaningful discoveries about STEM careers and pathways. Broader Impacts--GC3, along with its dissemination partners, engages students and educators in thousands of schools and youth-serving organizations around the country in building the nation?s STEM capacity. Teachers and other educators are provided with contextual resources to help them integrate the media series into their classrooms and programs in substantive ways. By highlighting girls from diverse socioeconomic and geographic locations throughout the United States, impact and appeal of the video segments are broad. The series includes bilingual content, as well as closed-captioning and voiceovers for hearing- and visually-impaired viewers, thereby making the videos accessible to the widest audience possible. Ultimately, project GC3 helps girls across the country develop a new curiosity about their world and begin to see connections to their own futures. It encourages them to consider STEM careers and helps them make more informed decisions as they move through the middle to high school transition. By opening doors of exploration into new career options, the videos allow young women to see STEM as a viable part of everyday life, a source of both play and serious academic pursuit. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Nair-Pillai, Sarita Anthony Streit Education Development Center MA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199891 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734085 September 1, 2007 Collaborative Research: GSE/RES The Effect of Climate and Pedagogy on Persistence: A Longitudinal Study of Women in Undergraduate Engineering Programs. Intellectual merit: The researchers are conducting a longitudinal, multi-institutional, and multivariate study determining how climate and pedagogy affect the persistence of women in undergraduate engineering programs. Institutional data from 1987-2004 at nine institutions granting 1/12 of the engineering bachelor?s degrees awarded to women will answer the research question, ?How does the persistence of women engineering students vary by race, engineering major, cohort year, and institution, and specifically, what pockets of success can be identified?? The 17-year study period makes it possible to define persistence as the six-year graduation rate in engineering, which anchors the results in the context of national persistence data. The research uses climate and pedagogy as lenses through which to view the persistence of undergraduate engineering women, leveraging the success of multiple National Science Foundation projects by studying the relationships among a significant amount of previously collected data and establishing the context of those data. A timeline of critical incidents in institutional policy and leadership, enriched by interviews gathering retrospective data from faculty and administrators, clarify the relationships of climate and pedagogy to persistence. Semi-structured interviews of students in populations in which persistence is high are used to clarify the findings. The MIDFIELD dataset includes course sections, making it possible to study the effects of critical mass among women in engineering. Broader impact: This work builds on the theoretical foundation developed in previous qualitative studies, developing a scaffold of quantitative results that can support the informed decisions of policymakers. Creating a longitudinal perspective of how climate and pedagogy affect persistence will reach multiple stakeholders at engineering institutions--speaking with the authority of large sample sizes as well as with the softer voice of individual students. The result will be a compelling story rather than a report of the result of a single study. The research team spans multiple engineering disciplines, the social sciences, and human resource development, which is ideal for diffusion to a wide audience. The leadership roles of team members in the American Society of Engineering Education, its Educational Research and Methods division, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Education Society, as well as affiliations with departments of Engineering Education at Purdue, Virginia Tech, and Clemson, and the National Academy of Engineering?s Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education, ensures broad dissemination. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Lord, Susan Michelle Camacho University of San Diego CA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 210686 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734091 September 1, 2007 GSE/RES: Examining Engineering Perceptions, Aspirations and Identity among Young Girls. Intellectual Merit: The primary goal of this research project is to examine girls' (grades 1-5) conceptions of self and engineering and how these conceptions are shaped by their engagement and learning in various engineering activities. More specifically, the study seeks to learn how girls approach, experience, and interact with engineering activities and how their learning informs who girls think they are (what community of practice they participate in) and who they want to be (what communities of practice they aspire to). The context of this research study is Purdue University's Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning (INSPIRE), a new initiative focused on creating an engineering literate society through P-12 engineering education research and scholarship. The research questions that guide the study include: 1) What are elementary school children's perceptions of engineering and career aspirations? How do girls' perceptions and aspirations compare to boys' perceptions and aspirations? 2) What do elementary school girls report as who they think they are and who they want to be? How do girls' self-images compare to boys' self-images? 3) What new engineering content knowledge do children construct and are there gender-related differences in the new knowledge children construct? and 4) What is the relationship between girls' perceptions, career aspirations, identity development, and learning in engineering? Using a mixed-methods approach (Engineering Identity Development Scale [EIDS], Pre/Post Engineering Knowledge Tests, semi-structured interviews, and document review), the three year study measures individual differences in relational, school, and occupational identity; engineering perceptions and aspirations; and engineering content knowledge construction through problem solving and modeling. The research team works with elementary school teachers and students from school sites in Detroit, MI and Lafayette, IN. The sampling process gives preference to elementary school teachers who demonstrate: 1) high interest and commitment to participating in INSPIRE in 2008-11; 2) looping practices whereby teachers advance from one grade level to the next with the same class of students; and 3) a demographic profile that includes a composition of ~25% minority and ~50% female students. This research study assumes that there are identifiable indicators (i.e. role of school, academics, engineering knowledge, and self-images) that contribute to girls' engineering identity development at the beginning of their academic careers. Building on existing identity development literature and self-perception instruments, the research team developed an engineering identity scale for the pre-adolescent learner that will yield groups of combined indicators that suggest a high, medium, or low tendency toward engineering identity development. Broader Impacts - An understanding of how identity interacts with learning in engineering has the potential to change the ways in which engineering curriculum, educational programs, and instructional practices are formulated. Furthermore, project findings may instigate further research on the link between women's learning and identity development in engineering post-adolescence. Communication of the findings will be through engineering and science education affiliations, catalyzing deeper understanding among educators and researchers on how girls construct engineering content knowledge and how this knowledge interacts with how girls develop and transform their identities. The long term potential benefit is to gain a better understanding of why children elect to pursue engineering as a field of study. This knowledge may help increase the number of students who pursue engineering as a career, which addresses the national and persistent call for increased production of high-quality professional engineers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Capobianco, Brenda Heidi Diefes-Dux Monica Cox Purdue University IN Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 449953 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734095 September 1, 2007 Peer Alliance for Gender Equity (PAGE). This pilot project will demonstrate the effectiveness of an Extension Services model called The Peer Alliance for Gender Equity (PAGE). PAGE will promote awareness and support implementation of effective, research-based, gender-sensitive pedagogical strategies into the community of education reform leaders conducting K?12 professional development in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) will lead this effort in collaboration with nationally known educators. Aimed toward directors of established professional development programs, this PAGE pilot will implement a modified program of change focused on gender equity in STEM education that integrates theory, research, practice, and action research. The full Extension Service will ultimately contribute to increasing the number of women in the STEM workforce by positively changing the climate in K?12 formal education with respect to gender equity. Extension Service Model: This pilot will be organized around a one year activity to test different delivery methods of the PAGE model. Nine professional development directors will participate in a three part program including: 1) an intensive PAGE Institute at SMM, 2) Peer Cluster meetings, and 3) a culminating symposium to share findings. The PAGE Institute will provide foundational training in multiple approaches that translate research into practice including the Triad Framework for Gender Equitable Science Teaching, Complex Instruction, and Engagement, Capacity, and Continuity Trilogy. The nine project directors participating in each PAGE Institute will be grouped into three Peer Clusters, each with three members. Peer Clusters will engage in action research either through travel to various sites, through virtual meetings, or through a hybrid of travel and virtual site visits. The PAGE Symposium will bring all of the Peer Clusters back together to share findings and products, report successes and challenges, and make recommendations. Products and evaluation outcomes will be shared in various national professional meetings and journals. Intellectual Merit: PAGE will create a new model of extension services tightly focused on gender equity that addresses the needs of a leadership group rarely offered intensive professional development specifically designed for their positions. The use of peer clusters in combination with action research is a cost-effective approach, which will target gender equity leaders, each of whom will then bring this training to a minimum of 100 classroom K?12 STEM educators. Evaluation, will document the efficacy of this approach. Broader Impact: Over this one year pilot project, PAGE will involve the efforts of 9 professional development directors each of whom will provide professional development to at least 100 STEM educators. At the end of the year, the cumulative reach of the directors will be approximately 900 teachers. The pilot will introduce the infusion of gender equity pedagogy into K?12 professional development and subsequent STEM teaching. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Chatman, E. Liesl Science Museum of Minnesota MN Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 166765 1544 SMET 9178 0734100 September 1, 2007 GSE:Extension Services in Engineering: Improving Climate, Instruction and Community to Recruit and Retain Undergraduate Women. The project GSE/EXT: Improving Climate, Instruction and Community to Recruit and Retain Undergraduate Women is a 12-month, $156,878 dollar award funded by the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE) program's Extension Services (EXT) track. The primary goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a unified program of change for increasing the recruitment and retention of female undergraduate engineering students by improving the climate, instruction, and community (CIC) at three (3) institutions of higher education. The project team employs a model for creating institutional change that emphasizes training campus faculty and staff about mechanisms for improving CIC and supporting campus teams in the development of a gender diversity action plan for the engineering college This project builds on several current and prior NSF-funded projects (0227749; 0533520; 0646866; 0604468) as well as the current success of the "Assessing University Climate to Improve Retention for Undergraduate Engineering Students" project, a grant funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and referred to by the engineering community as the "Project to Assess Climate in Engineering" (PACE). This team is lead by the Executive Director of the Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network, Inc. (WEPAN) in collaboration with investigators from the Stevens Institute of Technology's Center for Innovation in Science and Engineering Education (CIESE) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) Center for Advancing Science and Engineering Capacity. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan which is being conducted by an external evaluator, Patricia B. Campbell, from Campbell-Kibler Associates, Inc. There is also a dissemination plan which includes sharing the following deliverables: A gender diversity action plan template, training materials for improving CIC, and participant responses to training and action plan development. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Matt, C. Diane Susan Staffin Metz Wepan Inc CO Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 156878 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734124 September 1, 2007 GSE/RES: Interactive Effects in the Theory of Planned Behavior: Examining Attitudes, Norms, Control, and Stereotype Threat to Predict Girls' Math Performance and Intentions. Intellectual Merit-The objective of the project is to offer a comprehensive model of the psychological, institutional, and societal barriers that undermine girls? and minorities? interest and performance in math. The project uses the theory of planned behavior to examine the interactive effects of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control to predict interests and behavioral intentions of participating in math fields. In addition, the project examines an understudied effect among adolescents, namely the role of stereotype threat in affecting attitudes toward and performance in math. The project proposes that stereotype threat should be examined as a mediating factor impeding girls? and minorities? performance and interest in math. The main hypotheses are that a modified theory of planned behavior will account for gender differences in math performance and behavioral intentions regarding math participation. Specifically, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control will predict behavioral intentions, but will be mediated by experiences with math-based stereotype threat. In addition, the effect of stereotype threat on performance will be moderated by personality traits such as dispositional tendencies toward gender-based threat. Students experiencing stereotype threat will have lower behavioral intentions and performance than students not experiencing stereotype threat. Greater experience of stereotype threat will lead to disengagement and avoidance of math, which will lead to lower behavioral intentions for math related activities. A mixed methods approach is taken to examine multi-level variables influencing behavioral intentions. The targeted population is 600 middle school students (6th, 7th, and 8th grades) in a diverse school district in Los Angeles County, Azusa Unified School District. The project has three phases consisting of questionnaires and in-depth interviews with math teachers, counselors, students, and parents and an experimental induction of stereotype threat in math classes. Broader Impacts-The project integrates teaching, learning, and research by directly involving students in all phases of the project. Educational infrastructure is enhanced by providing research opportunities and training to undergraduate students in psychology and sociology research. The existing networks between the university and local community and education system are further strengthened. The outcomes of the project are more in-depth knowledge of multi-level barriers and how they interact to affect math participation and performance among girls, ethnic minorities, and students with lower socioeconomic status. An executive summary of the findings will be distributed to participating schools? principals, counselors, teachers, and parents. In addition, top level district administrators will be briefed on the findings in a report and presentation. In the reports and summaries, the investigators make recommendations for educational practices and interventions based on the outcomes of the study. The results will be presented at national and regional conferences as well as at campus events for K-12 teacher-training, thus educating future researchers and teachers about the barriers to girls? and minorities? STEM participation. Finally, the results will be published in leading social science journals so that other researchers can adopt the successful aspects of the methodology and theoretical framework of the project. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Casad, Bettina Patricia Hale Faye Wachs Cal Poly Pomona Foundation, Inc. CA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 486502 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0734232 October 1, 2007 Center for Nanobiotechnology Research. Alabama State University (ASU) proposes to establish a Center for Nanobiotechnology Research (CNBR) with the goal of strengthening and enhancing interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborative research in the area of nanotechnology and biotechnology. In addition, the center will play a pivotal role in providing training and research resources to the new Ph.D. program in Environmental Microbiology. The center will facilitate four research themes: 1) Structural studies of RSV at nanoscale and viral inhibition by nanoparticles, 2) Carbon nanotube attached with ssDNA as nanosensor for detection of Salmonella typhimurium, 3) The development of nanobiomaterials for drug delivery, and 4) delivery of nanoparticle encapsuled anti-Chlamydial peptides in an animal model. These projects will be carried out in collaboration with the University of Louisville, University of South Florida, University of Alabama at Birmingham and Tulane National Primate Research Center. These collaborations will also provide an opportunity for minority students to pursue Ph.D. degrees at collaborating institutions. Other aspects of the center will include an international scientist exchange program, travel to scientific meetings, release-time to subproject PIs, summer research at collaborating institutions and an annual science symposium. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Singh, Shree Shreekumar Pillai Karyn Scissum-Gunn Elijah Nyairo Alabama State University AL Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 2975081 9131 SMET 9179 9150 9131 0734635 October 1, 2007 Doctoral Research in Multifunctional Optical Nanomaterials (HBCU-RISE). This HBCU-RISE project at Hampton University involves doctoral research on multifunctional optical nanomaterials to strengthen research and education in the Physics Ph.D. program. The primary objectives are to: 1) develop a world-class research and education program in optical nano-physics; 2) increase the number of doctoral degrees with emphasis in nano-physics for preparing; and 3) build up the pipeline of students in grades 7-16 exposed to research in nanoscience and technology. The proposed research activities will focus on optical nanophysics of multifunctional nanomaterials in the areas of: Multifunctional Nanoscale Metals for Optical Applications: The development, optical spectroscopyl , and multi-functionalization of optical noble nanometals are proposed for the application of laser weapon defense, bio-chemical sensing, and photo-thermal tumor ablation and temperature sensing. The results of the proposed research and educational activities will be disseminated through publications, conference presentations, workshops for grades 7-16 science teachers, outreach activities, and web publications, and will be assessed annually by an internal and external advisory board. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Seo, JaeTae Doyle Temple Uwe Hommerich Bagher Tabibi Hampton University VA Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9179 9131 0734645 October 1, 2007 Development of Collaborative Multidisciplinary Experimental-Computational Approach for Design, Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Compounds with Potential Biological Activitie. This HBCU-RISE project will focus on the synthesis of the anti neoplastic and antibiotic natural products, 11-deoxyfistularin-3 and psammaplysin A, which contain spiroisoxazoline and spiro-isoxazoline moieties, respectively, as the central ring core. The research will incorporate aqueous asymmetric Lewis acid promoted 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions, and oxonium ion mediated cyclizations as the featured synthetic methodologies for the construction of the aforementioned natural products. Jackson State University's synthetic organic and computational chemistry groups will also work together to understand the mechanistic details of the aqueous achiral and asymmetric Lewis acid promoted reactions in order to increase isolated yields and asymmetric induction through designing better Lewis acids and asymmetric ligands. This proposal will broaden the participation of African-American students and increase number of the African-American Ph.D.s in the rapidly developing field of molecular modeling, which links computational chemistry, molecular biology, biophysics, solid state physics, materials science, and molecular graphics. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Leszczynski, Jerzy Ashton Hamme Jackson State University MS Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 1005651 9131 SMET 9179 9150 9131 0734800 November 1, 2007 Expanding interdisciplinary research at the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy. The goal of this CREST proposal is to further strengthen the University of Texas at Brownsville's mission of research and education in gravitational wave (GW) astronomy and, by increasing the participation of underrepresented groups, maintain national competitiveness in this area of fundamental physics. This will be achieved by a multi-disciplinary, synergistic combination of sub-projects in three areas that are critical to the success of GW astronomy: data analysis, detector characterization, and astrophysics. The proposed sub-projects, which focus on ground-based GW astronomy in the 10 to 1000 Hz band, will combine with existing activities in low and ultra-low frequency GW detection to create a unique research group in GW astronomy. The goals of each sub-project are timely and in tune with the ongoing developments in GW astronomy. Under data analysis, optimal ways of combining data from a worldwide network of detectors will be developed in order to enable better sensitivity and new science. Methods will be developed to overcome computational bottlenecks in searches for continuous GW sources and for the analysis of data for specific astrophysical models. Novel GW data analysis tools will be developed by adapting promising results from other disciplines. Detector characterization projects will develop sophisticated data mining and automated knowledge discovery tools that will enable GW experimentalists and data analysts to better understand both the detectors and the data. In the astrophysics sub-project, the project will seek to understand LIGO's observational capability in the study of intermediate-mass black hole formation and explore the potential of pulsars as probes of the massive black hole at the Galactic center. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Diaz, Mario Joseph Romano Fredrick Jenet Matthew Benacquista University of Texas Brownsville TX Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 3190068 9131 SMET 9179 9178 9131 0734825 September 1, 2007 CREST-Cyber-ShARE Center of Excellence: A Center for the Sharing of Cyber-Resource to Advance Science and Education. The Cyber-ShARE Center will bring together experts in computer science, computational mathematics, education, earth science, and environmental science to address the challenge of providing information to scientists and other users of cyber-infrastructure (CI) that allows them to make informed decisions about the resources that they retrieve and to have confidence in using results from CI-based applications. The Cyber-ShARE team will conduct innovative research to facilitate the development of CI-based applications and increase their use by scientists by enhancing CI results with provenance information, trust recommendations, and uncertainty levels (areas that are recognized as essential for the success of CI); by creating scientist-centered tools and artifacts; and by contributing CI resources to appropriate CI portals. In addition, the synergistic and multi-disciplinary subprojects will advance knowledge in i) provenance to capture knowledge about uncertainty and trust using results from discipline experts; ii) the physical properties of the Earth by studying CI-based techniques and approaches for integrating data with varying accuracy and sensitivity; iii) optimization of data streams and sensor arrays in ecological and environmental networks by targeting improved characterization of environmental phenomena and processes. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Gates, Ann Aaron Velasco Craig Tweedie Leticia Velazquez Paulo Pinheiro da Silva University of Texas at El Paso TX Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 3002596 9131 SMET 9179 9131 7204 0734826 September 1, 2007 Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation: Biodiversity Conservation Under the Scenario of Climate Change. The University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus (UPR-RP) is renewing its Center for Applied Tropical Ecology (CATEC) via Phase II CREST support. CATEC serves as a catalyst for systemic change in educational, research development and structural institutional transformation in a Hispanic minority serving institution. CATEC's mission is to promote a) training of human resources at the graduate, undergraduate and post-doctoral levels, b) state-of-the-art research in conservation biology and environmental issues, c) infrastructure improvement, and d) production of relevant results for policy and conservation management. The unifying theme of CATEC is biodiversity conservation under the scenario of climate change. The Molecular Ecology, Evolution and Genetics (MEEG) area will address conservation issues using molecular markers to understand the phylogeny, the spatial distribution of genetic diversity, and species interactions in the Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The Species and Population Management (SPM) area will focus on impact of interactions between exotic and native species, and understanding patterns of regional diversification and distribution of endangered species and species of economic importance. The Ecosystem Processes (EP) area will address the question of how species, both terrestrial and marine, respond to climate variability, by comparing the effect of paleoclimatic change with the impact of temporal and spatial variation in climate as well as historical anthropogenic changes in land use on ecosystem structure and function. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Cuevas, Elvira Jason Rauscher Eugenio Santiago-Valentin Elvia Melendez-Ackerman University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras PR Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 3100000 9131 SMET 9179 9150 9131 0734845 October 1, 2007 HBCU-RISE Advanced Infrastructure Composites (AIC). This HBCU-RISE proposal will develop improvements in the advanced infrastructure composites (AIC) research capacity at Southern University. Project goals include enhancing faculty and student competitiveness through increased collaborations, integration of research and education, and advancing the knowledge base in the area of infrastructure composites. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Woldesenbet, Eyassu Exyie Ryder Samuel Ibekwe Guoqiang Li Southern University LA Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 996612 9131 SMET 9179 9150 9131 0734846 September 1, 2007 Enhancement of Research and Infrastructure in Support of the New Ph.D. Program in Materials Science and Engineering at Norfolk State University. This HBCU-RISE proposal builds upon the establishment of the Ph.D. program in Materials Science and Engineering in Fall 2007, which represents the culmination of fifteen years of research and education efforts by the Center for Materials Research (CMR) at Norfolk State University (NSU). The new program ushers in a new era for the CMR, bringing even greater opportunities, based on its mission of significantly increasing the recruiting, retention and terminal degree attainment of underrepresented minority students in this highly interdisciplinary area. Components of the project include: (1) development and enhancement of capability to fabricate biocompatible rare earth-doped luminescent nanophosphors and magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications, and (2) enhancement of research capability in micro- and opto-electronics that includes acoustic and functionalized-biosensors, photovoltaic and magnetic storage devices. The RISE project will provide the resources to develop the Center's infrastructure by broadening its research capabilities, with the addition of biomaterials and functionalized sensors design and preparation, and increase the Center's human resources capacity by the training of a cadre of young researchers to become independent investigators. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Black, Suely Carl Bonner Aswini Pradhan Frances Williams Messaoud Bahoura Norfolk State University VA Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 999950 9131 SMET 9179 9131 0734850 September 1, 2007 Research on Environmental Sustainability of Semi-Arid Coastal Areas (RESSACA). The College of Engineering at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) will use this Phase II CREST funding for its Research on Environmental Sustainability of Semi-Arid Coastal Areas (RESSACA) project. The project's goal is to become a nationally competitive leader in research on environmental engineering and sustainability, by identifying and advancing technology and knowledge generation goals, expanding partnership successes, and increasing the Hispanic environmental engineering graduate pool. Objectives are to: 1) become a major research resource and partner for environmental sustainability with institutions and industry in the South Texas-Mexico border region; 2) integrate research and education by engaging K-PhD students and the public; 3) increase Hispanic access and success in advanced environmental engineering degrees and their representation as environmental engineering faculty; and 4) transfer research and technology to the public. Research will focus on environmental sustainability in the semi-arid coastal regions of the Texas US-Mexico border, using three integrated subprojects: (1) Environmental Modeling and Informatics (EMI); (2) Environmental Monitoring and Assessments (EMA); and (3) Sustainable Technologies for the Environment (STE). The Univ. of Texas at Brownsville and Texas A&M International Univ., Hispanic-Serving Institutions will provide a student pipeline and regional-level research collaborations; National-level partnerships with Sandia National Laboratories have been formed to study trans-boundary water management and other topics. Bi-national research alliances developed with Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) (Mexico) during RESSACA-1 will be expanded in RESSACA-2 to monitor and model trans-boundary fluxes which will provide a solid foundation for creating pertinent technologies and new knowledge for science-based decision making focused on sustainability issues affecting the Texas-Mexico border region. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T OTHER GLOBAL LEARNING & TRNING HRD EHR Uddameri, Venkatesh Kim Jones Jianhong Ren David Ramirez Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 4200433 9131 7731 SMET 9179 9178 9131 5979 5930 0116000 Human Subjects 0735000 September 1, 2007 GSE/COM: Girls Understand, Imagine and Dream Engineering. Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) is developing three separate culturally-relevant parent/girl engineering career toolkits entitled ""GUIDE - Girls Understand, Imagine and Dream Engineering,"" for dissemination to African American, Native American and Hispanic parents and their daughters ages 13-17. The goal of this informal education resource is to inform and engage parents from the three racial/ethnic groups about engineering in a culturally-relevant manner, so that they may take an active role in encouraging their daughters to consider engineering careers. The GUIDE Toolkit will consist of: (1) the GUIDE Handbook, a customized, culturally-appropriate engineering career resource for use with both parents and girls; and (2) GUIDE Workshops to introduce the GUIDE Handbook to parents and girls from the target racial groups at Girl Scout councils and the larger community. Intellectual Merit - GSUSA will introduce more girls to the field of engineering, with the expectation that more girls will decide to enter the engineering education pipeline, choosing engineering careers in the future. Because GSUSA serves girls from the age of five through 17, the organization has the unique advantage of being able to introduce girls to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) at the critical time in their educational development - before they lose interest. Stimulating early interest in STEM subjects positively correlates with the likelihood of choosing those subjects as career paths. GSUSA efforts will help reduce the existing gender inequity in STEM career fields and increase the U.S. engineering workforce, competitive edge, and contribute to the diversity of engineering workforce and the diversity of thought overall. Broader Impact - As the preeminent organization for girls in the U.S., introducing girls to STEM is a program priority. The Toolkit will enhance GSUSA efforts to accomplish this with three key racial/ethnic groups. Currently, 323,822 of GSUSA members are African American, 271,831 are Hispanic, and 30,613 are Native American. As an organization that has an extensive national network of councils that is now being utilized by 10% of the U.S. girl population, GSUSA is in a unique position to leverage informal education resources to change the way girls perceive STEM subjects. The GUIDE Toolkit will also be distributed through other youth serving organizations such as 4H, the Boys and Girls Club of America, Girls Inc, and National Research Center for College and University Admissions (NRCCUA). RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR swanson, susan jacqueline barley Girl Scouts of the USA NY Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 197513 1544 SMET 9178 0736493 September 1, 2007 Developing Professorial Leadership: A Pilot Partnership. With the goal to address the severe national shortage in the number of domestic members of underrepresented populations (i.e., African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders) pursuing doctoral degrees in the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program was initiated by the NSF in 1998. During the last 7 years, the program has grown from a few alliances in 1998 to 22 AGEP alliances nationwide in 2005. The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) will partner with the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) to especially address the AGEP goal of preparing underrepresented minorities in the fields of social, behavioral, and economic sciences for faculty leadership in academia. CASBS was established in 1954, around the same time as NSF, for the purpose of advancing the fields within the behavioral sciences (broadly construed) and being of service to society. This Center has a long and distinguished history of bringing together in an interdisciplinary setting, the very best scholars in the nation and beyond, and thereby advancing fields, with some examples of serving society. An AGEP-CASBS partnership will more effectively advance fields, improve institutions, and serve society by engaging younger minority faculty scholars with fresh ideas and supporting them to develop into future academic leaders. This pilot partnership will identify and mentor young post-tenure faculty from AGEP as residential Fellows at CASBS for the 2008-2009 academic year. These fellowships will be jointly funded by NSF and CASBS. A Steering Committee of SBE AGEP leadership would work with the CASBS Director and Deputy Director to accomplish the goals. Funds from this grant will also help CASBS design the assessment of first use of an application system for selecting Fellows. CASBS seeks a process that will yield more diversity among Fellows in terms of age, institution, gender, and especially ethnicity. CASBS aims to improve this process over the next four years. The AGEP-CASBS partnership will enhance this assessment and resulting modifications. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Petersen, Anne Claude Steele Center For Adv Study in the Behavioral Science CA Roosevelt Y. Johnson Continuing grant 27750 1515 SMET 9179 0737646 July 1, 2007 The AGEP Pilot Impact Study. This is a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a pilot study of the impact of NSF's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program. Each AGEP Alliance consists of two or more STEM-related doctorate-granting institutions and may also include non-doctorate-granting (often minority-serving) institutions. Since 1998, the program has provided approximately $2.5 million to each of over 20 Alliances involving almost 150 colleges and universities. Each Alliance works both within and across participating colleges and universities and other Alliances. In addition, Alliances are encouraged to align with other existing programs that are designed to foster minority students' completion of degrees in STEM disciplines (e.g., the Louis-Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation), whether or not these programs are NSF-funded. Within a four-month timeframe, the proposed study will develop a national AGEP program evaluation design, specify sampling and comparison group development, design data-collection tools and test the evaluation methodology at two AGEP projects. With supplemental information from a third AGEP reported on last year, information on the efficacy of the design, the data collection instruments and preliminary outcome data will be reported by October 2007. The information obtained, particularly with respect to the availability of data on program graduates, will inform the design of a national evaluation. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Rodriguez, Carlos Rita Kirshstein American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences DC James H. Wyche Standard Grant 198888 1515 SMET 9179 0738221 August 1, 2007 GSE/SGER: Characterizing Broader Impacts: An Exploratory Study of Metrics and Measures for the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Program. This exploratory research study takes a first step toward characterizing measures of the broader impacts for the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Program (GSE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF). A review of the GSE funded studies and products will be conducted to identify metrics and measures that are used in research on gender and as indicators of change. A well articulated logic model for evaluation and a set of benchmarks will result from interviews with principal investigators and the GSE program officer. Recommendations for measures of broader impact that may capture the intended interactions between research, dissemination, and extension service projects will be derived from the emergent program logic. Finally, a report of the broader impact measures and metrics identified for each of the three GSE Program components will be prepared, linking the evaluation logic model components to the strategic goals of NSF and to existing national data that frame the context for research on gender in science and engineering. The intellectual merits of this proposal include the emphasis on metrics and measures that may be used to capture the dynamic interactions among contributors to the GSE learning community. Exploring various indicators and asking how to capture the nature of links between logic model components as well as the short and long term "broader impacts" of the GSE Program are also novel and on the cutting edge of measurement research. Through this study, implicit theories of action, underlying evaluation logic, and relevant metrics and measures will be identified. The proposed principal investigator (PI) and grantee organization bring strengths in drawing together knowledge of large scale data resources to triangulating quantitative and qualitative insights necessary for exploratory research. Some of this experience in measurement and evaluation has come from previous and successfully completed evaluations of NSF-EHR programs. The broader impacts of this study will inform principal investigators by providing a focused review and annotated inventory of measures, protocols, and instruments that may be appropriate for their work. GSE researchers will benefit from the identification of knowledge gaps and testable assumptions that result from articulating the evaluation logic model and corresponding implicit theories of action. Finally, program officers, policy-makers, and the public will benefit by having an array of possible measures to use in evaluating the broader impacts of federally funded programs. PROGRAM EVALUATION RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Freitag, Patricia Cosmos Corporation MD Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 199500 7261 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0745684 March 15, 2008 Broadenting STEM Leadership at Tribal Colleges and Universities. The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network is requesting support to enable it to implement a second Leadership Development Institute (LDI) that will support and encourage broader participation by Native American and Alaska Native faculty and staff in efforts to enhance science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at their home institutions. Based upon the lessons learned and the overall success of the first Leadership Development Institute, the second Institute will be expanded to include Native Hawaiian faculty/staff selected through the application and review process for the second LDI. This overall goal and a set of specific objectives will be achieved through a Program consisting of a three-part Leadership Development Institute and. The proposed three-part Institute will consist of a five-day Institute (Session I) in August 2008; a two-day Institute (Session II) in February 2009; and a five-day Institute (Session III) in August 2009. Participants in the Program must be currently employed at a Tribal College or University (TCU), an Alaska Native-serving institution, or a Native Hawaiian-serving institution and must be an enrolled or affiliated member of a federally recognized tribe/entity or have a demonstrated long-term commitment to and involvement in STEM education at TCUs, Alaska Native-serving Institutions, or Native Hawaiian-serving institutions. Communication and interaction with participants in between sessions will be through videoconferencing, Listserv, and a dedicated web site. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 493718 1744 SMET 9178 0747544 September 15, 2008 A Proposal to Provide Technical Assistance to Grantees and Potential Grantees in the HBCU-Up Program. Quality Education for Minorities Network?s three-year project to provide technical assistance to HBCU-UP grantees and potential grantees aims to prepare participants to submit competitive proposals to the National Science Foundation, and in particular to the HBCU-UP program. The activities planned are: i) a two day professional development and evaluation workshop and a one year follow-up workshop each year; ii) technical assistance visits to new grantees during the first year of implementation; and iii) a special-focused, two-day workshop each year to strengthen institutional capacity in STEM. The two-day proposal development and evaluation workshop will assemble a team of consultants to meet with teams from eligible institutions and provide presentations on grant preparation, specifically geared toward the HBCU-UP project. The institution teams will include the chief academic officer, along with a key person from the project. Consultants will provide feedback to the institutions on their proposal outlines and project activities. Technical assistance to new grantees includes campus visits to observe project activities and make recommendations. This visit will occur in the first year of the project in an attempt to best advise project and campus leadership on activities and practices that affect their HBCU-UP projects. The special-focused capacity-building workshops will help to inform potential grantees about issues that are of importance to the HBCU-UP program and the NSF Directorate for Education and Human Resources. In the three years of this project, QEM plans to have three different workshops: one on education research, in particular ways in which HBCUs can inform the field; a second on design of STEM teacher preparation programs; and a third on the integration of mathematics into introductory level STEM courses and on effective STEM instructional strategies. QEM Network brings leadership and expertise in working with HBCUs to this project and the potential to impact a large percentage of the Nation?s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 888333 1594 SMET 9178 0750230 October 1, 2007 ADVANCE Leadership Award: Cross-Disciplinary Initiative for Minority Women Faculty (PI Transfer). The goal of this Leadership Award is to increase the representation of minority women faculty in science and engineering. It employs an innovative approach to study, understand and address the unique challenges facing women of color in the academy by drawing on the interdisciplinary knowledge base of both the social sciences and the hard sciences and engineering, by bringing women faculty together across disciplines for self empowerment, support and constructive problem solving. A series of national workshop-based conferences provide a framework for professional development, the development of effective strategies and sharing of best practices and for sustenance of a community of practice that participates in networking, mentoring, data collection and dissemination. Under the direction of the PI, the wealth of data and individual narratives collected within the community of practice are developed in a format suitable for publication and broad dissemination. The cross-disciplinary initiative supported by this ADVANCE Leadership Award contributes to the success and advancement of minority women faculty in science and engineering, thereby enhancing their retention and increasing their ranks. The increased presence of these women enhances faculty diversity and provides the role models and self images that contribute to the enhanced recruitment, retention, and ultimate success of minority and women students, all of which is necessary to build a diverse science and engineering workforce required to maintain national prosperity ADVANCE - LEADERSHIP HRD EHR Barabino, Gilda Cheryl Leggon GA Tech Research Corporation - GA Institute of Technology GA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 300001 1739 OTHR 1739 0000 0802540 September 1, 2008 Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Mid-Level Alliance). TLSAMP Phase II ? Project Summary PROJECT SUMMARY In 2002, Tennessee State University, LeMoyne-Owen College, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Memphis, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and Vanderbilt University partnered to form the Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP). The partners share a strong commitment to increasing access and opportunities for underrepresented minority students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The Alliance was formed to substantially increase the number of underrepresented minorities (e.g., African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans) earning STEM degrees, beginning with the bachelors degree and continuing to the masters and the doctorate degrees. Sharing a long-term commitment to work together, TLSAMP will play a significant role in increasing the production of underrepresented STEM professionals to meet the needs of government, industry, and academia. The goal of Phase I was to double the number of underrepresented minorities receiving STEM degrees by the end of the five-year grant period. The Alliance produced 63 additional graduates above the baseline. Our goal to double the number is a challenge, but a recognizably achievable goal requiring continuity and extension of current efforts as well as application of lessons learned regarding the recruitment of Hispanic Americans and Native Americans, the retention of African Americans, and the need to intensify retention as recruitment increases. Applying the lessons learned from Phase I, our Phase II proposal will focus on three key objectives: 1) aggressive continuation of Phase I goal and initiatives with special emphasis on recruiting more African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students; 2) significant improvement in retention with special emphasis on enhancing the development of African Americans to increase their retention in STEM; and 3) preparation for progression to graduate school. In other words, TLSAMP Phase II will apply the lessons learned, continue the best practices, and build upon the results of Phase I. Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of TLSAMP is its efforts to strategically and tactically address the under representation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in STEM disciplines. The TLSAMP basic principles include personal attention, peer and faculty mentoring, hands-on experiences, bridges to the next level, and continuous evaluation. TLSAMP is prepared to implement and further study these principles for African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans from the high school to the undergraduate level through completion of the doctorate. Broader Impacts: The TLSAMP institutions enroll about 3,000 underrepresented minorities annually in STEM and our objective is to increase the production and quality of students entering STEM careers. This will positively impact the pool of underrepresented professionals in STEM and ultimately enhance the STEM workforce of this nation. More minority students will graduate with influential STEM degrees and there will be an increased/improved pool of minority STEM graduates to fill the nation?s workforce needs. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Johnson, Melvin Tennessee State University TN Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1358192 9133 SMET 9178 9150 0802628 July 1, 2008 California State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (CSU-LSAMP) Senior Alliance - Senior Level Alliance. PROJECT SUMMARY: This project, which responds to NSF Program Solicitation 07-566 (Alliances for Broadening Participation in STEM?LSAMP program element 9133), is a five-year continuation of the California State University-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (CSU-LSAMP) as a Senior-level Alliance. Initiated in 1994, CSU-LSAMP is a statewide program dedicated to broadening participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The current Senior-level CSU-LSAMP includes 22 of the 23 campuses of the California State University (CSU). The only CSU campus that is not included is The California Maritime Academy, which is a unique and specialized campus of the CSU. Hence, this project is truly a comprehensive effort of the CSU, the largest system of public higher education in the world, located in the largest and most diverse State in the Nation. Intellectual Merit: As a Senior-level LSAMP project, CSU-LSAMP aims to: (1) continue to enhance student performance, success, and retention in STEM disciplines; as well as maintain or increase baccalaureate degree production, (2) facilitate the transition of community college students in their first year of transfer to a CSU campus through activities that improve the retention rates of transfer students; (3) continue to enhance student interest in research and careers in STEM, as well as enhance the global awareness of CSU-LSAMP students. (4) increase the number of students who are admitted to graduate programs and obtain doctoral degrees in STEM, and (5) document, disseminate, and replicate undergraduate intervention models that increase access to, and success in, STEM baccalaureate degree programs and facilitate undergraduate admissions to STEM graduate programs. The types of activities that are offered to support each objective have consistently been shown to facilitate retention and progression of URM students in STEM, and represent a set of well-established ?best practices?. Notably, the project continues to include the top five LSAMP hallmark activities, which were identified in the Urban Institute?s national study of LSAMP (i.e., research experiences, mentoring, internships, scholarships/ stipends and academic support/tutoring). In addition, in light of the Urban Institute?s finding that LSAMP participants who participated in research were more likely to pursue and complete graduate degrees, this project includes a substantial emphasis on engaging students in research activities. The project also includes a variety of activities designed to opportunities to enhance student qualifications for graduate programs (e.g., GRE preparation, teaching experiences; research presentations, and internships), and collaborates with other student support programs on participating campuses (e.g., McNair and NIH-NIGMS Bridges to the Future programs) and with programs at Ph.D. granting institutions (e.g., AGEP) that share the goal of broadening participation in STEM. Broader Impacts: CSU-LSAMP has contributed substantially to broadening participation of underrepresented minority (URM) groups in STEM disciplines. Over the 14 year history of past CSU-LSAMP projects, the campuses participating in those projects awarded a total of 109,115 STEM baccalaureate degrees. Of these degrees, 18,513 STEM degrees were awarded to students who self declared as members of URM groups, 77,105 STEM degrees were awarded to students who self-declared as not being members of URM groups, and 13,497 STEM degrees were awarded to students who declined to provide race/ethnicity data. Although CSU-LSAMP does not limit participation to URM students or provide URM students preference in admission, the project anticipates that 85-90% of the 1600-2000 STEM students admitted to the project each year will be URM students. CSU-LSAMP also anticipates that, over the course of the project period, URM STEM baccalaureate degree production by the 22 CSU campuses in the Senior-level Alliance will increase from the current year base-line of 1,654 to at least 2,000/year and that the number of URM CSU-LSAMP participants who progress to graduate programs will increase from an estimated base-line of 95/year to 200/year by the end of the project period. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Sheley, Joseph Juanita Barrena Laurel Heffernan Jill Trainer University Enterprises, Incorporated CA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1600000 9133 SMET 9178 0802676 July 1, 2008 Arkansas Alliance for Minority Participation (ARK-LSAMP) in STEM Careers - New Alliance. Arkansas Alliance for Minority Participation (ARLSAMP) in STEM Careers Executive Summary (Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact) The Arkansas Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ARLSAMP) is a collaborative alliance of nine institutions, including two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and two two-year institutions, which has a goal of increasing the pool of baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral degree graduates in STEM disciplines in Arkansas? workforce. Through ARLSAMP, for the first time, there is an assembly and networking of a representative number of public and private institutions mobilized by the embracement of a common need to produce more well-qualified STEM graduates; guided by a shared vision to help make Arkansas, the region, and the nation a more competitive force in the sciences. The activities of the alliance will address recruitment (both from secondary schools and from two-year colleges). A Pre-Freshmen an ARLSAMP Summer Institute will help to prepare first semester freshmen to successfully navigate the transition to college level coursework. A review of bottleneck courses will result in interventions to prevent students from being removed from the STEM pipeline at these critical points. Summer and academic year research in faculty laboratories will provide extracurricular involvement in research at the forefront of STEM. Mentoring programs will provide for peer mentoring (upper-level student to lower-level student) as well as faculty mentoring. A STEM seminar series will provide training in research ethics, as well as information on STEM careers, STEM in society, and preparation for Graduate School. Alliance-wide and inter-institutional conferences and activities will foster greater collaborative research among faculty across institutions. Intellectual Merit: This proposal will build upon and add to the knowledge base of best practices for increasing the number of underrepresented minorities entering, succeeding in, and completing undergraduate degrees in STEM disciplines with the ability and desire to pursue advanced degrees within these disciplines. These will include practices for recruiting students to STEM, retaining students in STEM, and preparing them for pursuing advanced STEM degrees. Broader Impacts: The increase in the number of underrepresented students receiving baccalaureate degrees in STEM will provide an enhanced workforce for the state of Arkansas. Those continuing to obtain graduate degrees will increase the pool of students going into leadership and faculty positions in STEM areas. The research experiences of the students will increase the number of entrepreneurial ventures in STEM areas. Requirements for students and faculty mentors to visit other alliance institutions will bring increases in cross institutional collaborations among faculty and researchers. The use of ARLSAMP student scholars in public outreach and recruiting to K-12 schools will provide a positive feedback loop to increase the number of students who pursue STEM degrees when they get to college. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Benjamin, Mary Charles Colen University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff AR Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1400000 9133 SMET 9178 9150 0803101 September 1, 2008 Fostering Student Success in STEM Disciplines through Engaged Learning - Phase II. Fort Belknap College (FBC) is a tribally controlled community college located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in northcentral Montana. The overall goals of the proposed project are to increase student participation and success in FBC?s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses and degree programs. This Phase II project will build upon the documented successes of FBC?s Phase I project, while addressing persistence challenges identified through the collection and analysis of Phase I evaluation data. In order to achieve the project?s dual goals, project personnel will carry out an integrated implementation strategy designed to accomplish eight student-centered objectives associated with: (1) enrollment in STEM degree programs, (2) participation in STEM summer academies, (3) performance on college placement exams, (4) participation in research and internship programs, (5) performance in STEM gatekeeper courses, (6) retention rates, (7) graduation numbers, and (8) transfer numbers. Primary project strategies for accomplishing these objectives include: (1) extensive outreach and recruiting programs, (2) pre-college summer STEM academies, (3) summer research and internship opportunities, and (4) supplemental instruction and tutoring for STEM courses. In addition to supporting these student-centered project activities, project funds also will be used to support: (1) the establishment of a data- driven annual review process for STEM programs, (2) comprehensive mathematics curriculum reform, and (7) ongoing faculty development opportunities. Evaluation activities will provide project personnel with the information needed to effectively monitor the project?s progress, improve its ongoing effectiveness, assess its success in achieving project goals and objectives, and communicate its outcomes to a variety of stakeholders. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR HisHorseIsThunder, Deborah cheryl morales Fort Belknap College MT Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 400000 9150 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0803119 October 1, 2008 Phase II: Evolutionary STEM Advancement. College of Menominee Nation, a tribal college located in Keshena, WI, has successfully completed the objectives and strategies of its Phase I: STEM Curriculum Enhancement Project. The College proposes to continue the expansion and growth of its STEM programming and curriculum through a Phase II: Evolutionary STEM Advancement Project. NSF funding will allow College of Menominee Nation to continue contributing to both the significant broader impacts of Tribal College STEM achievements as well as to the support and critical promotion of Native Americans in STEM employment fields CMN?s Phase II goal is: To continue to strengthen and build CMN?s capacity to provide competitive STEM programming and services. Anticipated Phase II impacts include 1.) Increasing the number of underrepresented STEM majors; 2.) Increasing STEM student retention; 3.) Increasing the number of underrepresented STEM graduates; 4.) Increasing the number of underrepresented students who enroll in baccalaureate degree granting institutions; and 5.) Increasing the number of underrepresented minorities entering the STEM workforce. Phase II objectives and strategies build upon the sturdy foundation of Phase I successes and follow a natural progression of development. The objectives and strategies are as follows: 1. Objective One: To advance existing STEM programs revised, expanded or developed in Phase I. Strategies include developing and implementing advanced STEM courses in mathematics and science, continue developing the Materials Science Program linked to Menominee expertise in forests, expanding faculty and student STEM resources available at CMN, and further integrating technology into STEM courses. 2. Objective Two: To increase faculty capacity through advanced degree support for two faculty members and general professional development for STEM faculty. Strategies include supporting one faculty member in earning a Master?s degree, supporting another in earning a doctorate, and supporting general professional development of STEM faculty. 3. Objective Three: To develop and implement additional STEM student research, internships, and exposure opportunities. Strategies include developing and implementing student research and internship activities, supporting a student exchange program with Belize, and supporting student travel to major research labs and key STEM association meetings. 4. Objective Four: To continue to provide and expand demonstrated successful STEM student support activities. Strategies include supporting a STEM student advisor, supporting STEM tutors, supporting the STEM scholars program and developing the STEM honors program. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Morris, Diana College of the Menominee Nation WI Lura J. Chase Standard Grant 1000000 1744 SMET 9178 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0803141 August 15, 2008 Mada Maagarishtauo Awa Hee Aadsa Maa Aru Maa Giguckiigash STEM Teachers of Excellence Education Program (STEEP). The Mada Maagarishtauo Awa Hee Aadsa Maa Aru Maa Giguckiigash (The ones that teach our children how everything on this earth works) STEM Teachers of Excellence Education Program (STEEP) will establish an accredited baccalaureate elementary teacher education program that is standards-based and uses constructivist methods that focus on relevant science and math based on identified needs. The development of a new elementary education program of study that is standards-based and uses constructivist methods that focuses on relevant science and math based on identified needs will represent an innovative model being done for the first time in a tribal college setting. The incorporation of Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara cultural values with math and science concepts across the elementary teacher education curriculum will enhance the chance for elementary school age children to become grounded in STEM fields because of their teachers. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Baker-Big Back, Clarice Fort Berthold Community College ND Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 831052 I297 9150 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0803161 September 1, 2008 Gaalee'ya STEM Project. Global climate changes are affecting subarctic and arctic ecosystems and peoples more significantly than anywhere else on the globe. Rural Alaska Natives who subsist in these ecosystems naturally have close ties to the land and are deeply involved in science-based research and land management through tribal organizations, governmental, and research- oriented institutions. To date, rural Alaska Natives have had limited access to quality STEM education addressing their unique cultural and geographic needs and have, therefore, not been engaged in helping to find solutions to these complex ecological issues. We sorely need their input in this day of rapid change. The underlying philosophy behind the Interior-Aleutians (IAC) and Chukchi Campus (CC) Gaalee?ya project is that integrating culture and place into all aspects of their academic STEM experience will support the engagement, capacity, and continuity (Jolly et al. 2004) of rural Alaska Native STEM students. The Gaalee?ya STEM project will build a rigorous and culturally relevant STEM program through the Associate?s level for students in the IAC and CC regions. Gaalee?ya STEM will incorporate cultural values and perspectives and local interests in ecosystem changes with scientific coursework, research, and analysis from a Western academic perspective while allowing students to take courses by distance so that they may remain in their home communities. Mathematics and science courses, which are delivered primarily via audio- conference to rural students, will be enhanced through this project with culturally responsive pedagogies, face-to-face learning intensives, academic tutoring, and increased contact with STEM faculty. Students will also gain research experience through projects designed around the theme of ?ecology of place? to engage, educate, and retain rural Alaska Native students in STEM degrees. Elders and STEM faculty will work together to support the students using an integrative approach. Program objectives are built around gains in student participation, persistence, grade point averages and graduations of rural Alaska Native students with a replicable model for reaching underserved populations as a primary goal of evaluation. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Johnson, Clara Julie Maier University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus AK Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 954211 9150 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0803166 October 1, 2008 TMCC Science Enhancement. This project has four key focus areas which are designed to provide opportunities for student learning, retention and success. The Outreach component targets the K-12 system to foster science exploration and success with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of students choosing STEM science careers. At the college level, the project will increase enrollment of STEM science majors through the development of new courses and programs. For retention of STEM students, the project will foster increased opportunities for student success. To increase completion/transfer/four year graduation rates, TMCC will initiate partnerships with four year schools to upgrade its curricula, initiate joint research and aid students in developing familiarity with four year schools. The project will conduct an in-depth review and revision of the existing TMCC science courses. This effort meets two critical needs: enhancing student learning by providing more hands-on activities and ensuring the curricula is consistent with the standards at four year schools. In the latter area, the project will foster partnerships between the college and four year colleges. These partnerships are expected to bridge the rural isolation experienced by the TMCC faculty and provide four year school familiarity to students prior to transfer. As this project is the demonstration of how involvement in learning impacts student achievement and career choices, it is applicable not only in STEM subjects but across the curriculum. The current literature suggests student learning is heavily impacted by how engaged the student is in the learning process. Using a results driven approach, the project will identify what enhancements positively impact student learning not only at the college level, but across the continuum of education. The results of this project can be replicated not only at the college level but in K-12 Native American programs. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Henry, Larry Wannetta Bennett Turtle Mountain Community College ND Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 999253 9150 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0803171 September 1, 2008 New Mexico Alliances for Broadening Participation in STEM - Senior Level Alliance. The New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation (New Mexico AMP) is a partnership representing the state's public two-year postsecondary institutions and the state-supported four-year universities. New Mexico AMP was established in 1993 under NSF Cooperative Agreement No. HRD- 935215, and funded again in 1998 and in 2003. New Mexico AMP is aligned with other National Science Foundation (NSF) programs in New Mexico who share this common vision including the Regional Alliance for Science, Engineering and Mathematics (RASEM2) for Students with Disabilities and the New Mexico Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP). New Mexico AMP also manages the Hewlett Foundation Recruitment and Retention Program, the NSF Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarship (CSEMS) program, and the NSF STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP). These and other programs have resulted in a statewide network that has become part of the fabric of higher education in the state, allowing for the managing and leveraging of human and monetary resources, and for quick and accurate dissemination of information and opportunities. Collectively, these collaborations and the individual programs managed by New Mexico AMP are concerned with developing an array of student interventions and multiple lines of inquiry into the issues of effective STEM education. Through these efforts, New Mexico AMP?s goal is to increase the quantity and quality of minority students who complete their B.S. degrees and who are currently underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. PROGRAM OUTCOMES AND GOALS Since New Mexico AMP began in 1993, the number of STEM degrees awarded to minorities has more than doubled, from 253 in 1992/93 to an average of 510 per year during the past five years. Just as significant is the increase in the percent of minority students receiving STEM B.S. degrees rising from 23.7% in 1992/93 to 42% during the past five years. Over the life of the program, 5,759 minority STEM degrees have been awarded to date to New Mexico's students from the Alliance partner institutions. The goal for the next five years is to increase the number of STEM degrees awarded to underrepresented minorities by 75-100 degrees. This represents a 15-20% increase over the previous five-year period. The activities and research proposed by the New Mexico AMP advances knowledge and broaden understanding within the STEM disciplines by establishing and disseminating new and adapted models for nurturing student success, including students who are historically underrepresented in the STEM fields (low income, ethnic and racial minorities, and women). Formative assessment activities provides unique perspectives on student and faculty experiences, which will continuously inform project development. These processes and outcomes together with summative evaluation data are shared and disseminated to the NMSU and New Mexico AMP communities as well as to additional regional and national audiences through publications and presentations. The New Mexico AMP contributes to the graduation and professional success of participating STEM students, including those who are historically underrepresented, through improved retention and progression. The program provides mechanisms to further the individual research experiences of students, thereby supporting and enhancing institutional research capability, and institutionalizing effective changes in STEM education. Aligned with the land-grant mission of NMSU, the New Mexico AMP will establish the STEM Success and Professional Development Center, supporting the development and graduation of STEM professionals who have a broad understanding of their professional opportunities and social responsibilities, encouraging them to contribute to economic development and improved living conditions for the citizens of New Mexico. Dissemination at the regional and national level allow for the sharing of best practices and challenges with other members of the broader educational community, thus contributing to their empowerment to impact local and national educational practices and policy. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Jacquez, Ricardo Delia Valles-Rosales New Mexico State University NM Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1899000 9133 SMET 9178 9150 0804570 November 1, 2007 GSE/SGER: Characterizing Broader Impacts: An Exploratory Study of Metrics and Measures for the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Program. This exploratory research study takes a first step toward characterizing measures of the broader impacts for the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Program (GSE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF). A review of the GSE funded studies and products will be conducted to identify metrics and measures that are used in research on gender and as indicators of change. A well articulated logic model for evaluation and a set of benchmarks will result from interviews with principal investigators and the GSE program officer. Recommendations for measures of broader impact that may capture the intended interactions between research, dissemination, and extension service projects will be derived from the emergent program logic. Finally, a report of the broader impact measures and metrics identified for each of the three GSE Program components will be prepared, linking the evaluation logic model components to the strategic goals of NSF and to existing national data that frame the context for research on gender in science and engineering. The intellectual merits of this proposal include the emphasis on metrics and measures that may be used to capture the dynamic interactions among contributors to the GSE learning community. Exploring various indicators and asking how to capture the nature of links between logic model components as well as the short and long term "broader impacts" of the GSE Program are also novel and on the cutting edge of measurement research. Through this study, implicit theories of action, underlying evaluation logic, and relevant metrics and measures will be identified. The proposed principal investigator (PI) and grantee organization bring strengths in drawing together knowledge of large scale data resources to triangulating quantitative and qualitative insights necessary for exploratory research. Some of this experience in measurement and evaluation has come from previous and successfully completed evaluations of NSF-EHR programs. The broader impacts of this study will inform principal investigators by providing a focused review and annotated inventory of measures, protocols, and instruments that may be appropriate for their work. GSE researchers will benefit from the identification of knowledge gaps and testable assumptions that result from articulating the evaluation logic model and corresponding implicit theories of action. Finally, program officers, policy-makers, and the public will benefit by having an array of possible measures to use in evaluating the broader impacts of federally funded programs. PROGRAM EVALUATION RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Freitag, Patricia Academy for Educational Development DC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 161600 7261 1544 SMET 9178 9177 0808851 October 1, 2008 Updating Entomology Program at Fort Valley State University to Reflect Advances in Insects Chemical Ecology and Pathology. ABSTRACT 0808851 Fort Valley State University, a HBCU and an 1890 Land-grant institution has an average student enrollment of 2,100 over the past five years. About 92 percent of enrolled and graduating students are African American minorities. Minorities are under represented in the fields of sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. This under representation of African Americans is more severe in certain sciences, such as Entomology, where out of 5,000 registered members of the Entomological Society of America only 32 are African Americans. Entomology, the study of insects, is very important due to the impact of insects on agriculture and public health. In the U.S. insect activities, and human activities aimed at reducing insect population is estimated at an annual cost of about $50 billion. This project works to strengthen both the teaching and training of students in Entomology by integrating advances in Chemical Ecology of Insects, and Insect Pathology in the Entomology program at FVSU. We are focusing on chemical ecology and insect pathology because these are emerging technologies within entomology that bring with them certain important and basic skills such as in microbiology, biotechnology, biochemistry and chemistry. This is introduced through several objectives: (1) Enrich the academic preparations of Entomology students by developing course reforms that include laboratory experiences (2) Enhance quality research experience for Entomology students at FVSU that help students get accepted into graduate programs (3) Institute integrated pest management activities that arms students with the skills they need to secure employment in agriculture or pest control industry. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR MBATA, GEORGE Dwayne Daniels Melinda Davis Fort Valley State University GA Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 178897 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0809278 August 15, 2008 Planning Grant: Assessing STEM Practices At Wiley College. Wiley College is a Historically Black College, founded in 1873. The institutions will utilize HBCU-UP funding to 1) assess Wiley College student perception of science; 2) assess effectiveness of teaching/learning strategies; 3) assess the strength of the college's student support services. The expected outcome of this project will be a better understanding of the institution's STEM programs, and the development of strategies that will strengthen the undergraduate STEM program at Wiley College. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Plata, Ernest Walter Shumate Wiley College TX Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 37800 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0810322 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: Assessing the Participation of Women Faculty in Science at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. Women faculty at University of Wisconsin - La Crosse (UW-L) are underrepresented in the sciences, particularly in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The Crosse UW-L project will conduct a research-driven assessment of the status of women in science at UW-L, focusing on the STEM disciplines but also including the social and behavioral science (SBS) disciplines. Three overlapping research questions will be investigated: (1) What is the status of women in sciences at UW-L? (2) What are the barriers to the recruitment and advancement of women in the sciences? (3) How successful are existing structures (programs and policies) at addressing these barriers? The intellectual merits of this project include advancing the understanding of the status of women at UW-L by identifying the barriers to full participation in academic sciences as well as investigating how successful existing structures are at addressing these barriers. Baseline data will be collected on patterns of tenure and non-tenure track status; hiring, retention, tenure and promotion; teaching assignment; distribution of resources; service; and mentoring. University policies and work/life issues will also be examined. These will provide a data-driven basis for developing an institutional transformation plan of action that can be implemented at UW-L. This project may also serve as a model for peer institutions in the UW System. This project has potential to provide significant broader impacts at UW-L and at peer institutions in the UW-System. Increasing the participation of women in academic science has been shown to increase student retention overall and encourage female students to pursue careers in sciences. The larger scientific community will be informed of the project through national forums. The UW System community will be informed through presentations to our peer institutions, the Women in Sciences and Wisconsin Alliance for Minority Participation (WiscAMP) programs, and the UW System Letters and Sciences Deans meetings. The results of this project will also be presented at science departmental meetings and the annual UW-L Faculty Research Day, thus raising awareness and advancing change throughout the UW-L community. HRD EHR Berlin, Cynthia Jennifer WILSON Raymond Abhold Karen McLean University of Wisconsin-La Crosse WI Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 199029 5408 OTHR 7690 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0810860 September 15, 2008 Integrating Research into Chemistry Curriculum. Abstract 0811860 Claflin University is acquiring a powder x-ray diffractometer and a UV-Vis spectrophotometer for integrating exploration and research-based instructions into the chemistry curriculum and enhancement of undergraduate research as a means to increase the number and improve the training of undergraduate students in chemistry. The project is enhancing the analytical instrumentation facilities at Claflin University?s chemistry laboratories, providing increased and improved opportunities for students to have an understanding and appreciation of current developments in research and related technologies. The PIs are working to establish and maintain a strong research infrastructure and to incorporate inquiry-based approaches to upper level chemistry laboratories, which include physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, instrumental analysis and organic chemistry. This effort also targets meet the ACS certification sustainability requirements (the program is already ACS certified). The addition of the powder x-ray diffractometer and the UV-Vis spectrophotometer also work to complete our optical spectrophotometers and solid state analysis capabilities, and to assist us in keeping pace with the advances in the field. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Peters, Angela Hossein Nanaie Uruthira Kalapathy Claflin University SC Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 150000 1594 SMET 1594 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0810927 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Excellence in Science and Engineering (EXCELinSE) at WSU. Washington State University is deeply committed to fostering an environment that pro-motes diversity. Despite this commitment, challenges remain in achieving gender equity among the faculty and leadership in sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The premise of the Excellence in Sciences and Engineering (EXCELinSE) at WSU project is that women are lost from the academy at critical transition points: after the PhD; pre- tenure; post-tenure; and at personal milestones (e.g., childbirth). Our project goals are to: (1) increase representation of women in STEM disciplines by providing institutional support at these critical points; (2) develop/disseminate innovative strategies for other research-intensive, rural, land grant universities; and (3) create an infrastructure that provides the highest institutional support, and insures transformation beyond the lifetime of the grant. Our four major initiatives are: (1) Preparing and Recruiting a Diverse Faculty, designed to encourage new women STEM PhD graduates to consider academic careers; (2) Work/Life Initiative, to address institutional and individual barriers to retention and advancement for all university faculty members; (3) Leadership Training Initiative, which addresses climate and leadership barriers to recruitment, retention and advancement; and (4) Institutionalizing Transformation Initiative, which is aimed at organizing, monitoring and assessing institutional progress, and disseminating best practices to the broader academic community. These initiatives will be implemented through the Center for EXCELinSE at WSU. These initiatives include innovations that address our unique situation and have the potential to impact our peer institutions, including: (1) The EXCELinSE Summer Doctoral Fellows program, where women STEM PhD candidates from other research institutions spend the summer on the WSU-Pullman campus, attending workshops on research and academic careers, receiving mentoring from faculty members in STEM disciplines, and working on completing their dissertations; (2) The Dual-Career Partnership with University of Idaho, to provide reciprocal partner accommodation resources at both universities; (3) The Infant Care Placeholder program; and (4) The External Mentoring program, in which STEM faculty women are linked with successful women faculty at other universities for mentoring. Intellectual merit: The research component of this project will provide insights into diffusion of new practices through academic organizations and the impact on departmental cultures and leadership. By identifying the departmental-level factors that enhance or inhibit the institutionalization of initiatives, this research will benefit other institutions seeking transformation. We will both import successful ADVANCE initiatives from other institutions and demonstrate our own innovative initiatives that are unique to our situation (e.g., the Dual Career Partnership with the University of Idaho), that will benefit both WSU and the broader research university community (e.g., the EXCLEinSE Summer Doctoral Fellows Program), that are applicable to research-intensive, rural, land-grant institutions (e.g., Infant Care Placeholder program), or that are applicable to the general academy (e.g., the External Mentoring program). Broader impacts. Addressing the special challenges associated with women faculty in STEM disciplines at small, rural communities has implications for other similar institutions. For example, the Summer Doctoral Fellows program will benefit not only WSU but other research institutions that hire the fellows after they complete the program. This project will advance our understanding of the impact of preparing future faculty for the professoriate, creating a work/life responsive workplace, and leadership initiatives on attracting, recruiting, and advancing women in academic STEM disciplines. Improving the climate for all faculty will result in the retention and advancement of a diverse faculty which provides more role models for students. This will ultimately lead to increases in students pursuing careers in STEM, thus addressing a national need. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Bates, Robert Amy Wharton Candis Claiborn Kshiti Joshi Gretalyn Leibnitz Washington State University WA Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 1472121 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0810967 September 1, 2008 Getting a Clear Picture: An Institutional Ethnography of Women STEM Faculty at UAF. The Office of Faculty Development (OFD) and a sociologist, working with an external advisory board and an ad hoc internal advisory committee, will gather data about the status of women faculty in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). They will conduct an institutional ethnography - a comprehensive research project on women STEM faculty at UAF, focusing on how social institutions shape women's experiences as STEM faculty. The project seeks to get a clear picture of women STEM faculty so leaders among the faculty, staff, and administration can begin to brainstorm institutional changes that will transform UAF into a model of gender equity. UAF is unique; it is America's Arctic University, and is located in an extreme climate and remote locale. A comparatively small university, UAF has several internationally admired STEM programs. The project will begin with a review of two previous studies of UAF, including the University of Alaska Faculty Opinion Survey (2003), and the Study of Faculty Work Life at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (2005). The latter was conducted by the UAF Faculty Senate Committee on the Status of Women and contains questions specific to women faculty. The second phase of the project is a comprehensive review of national data and analyses of women in the STEM disciplines and project reports of selected NSF ADVANCE projects. The third, and most time-intensive and resource-intensive phase of the project will generate new data specific to women STEM faculty at UAF. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to gather data. Qualitative methods include focus groups with women STEM faculty, men STEM faculty, and assigned mentors of STEM faculty. Confidential interviews will be conducted with deans in STEM-based colleges, directors of STEM research units, women at UAF who were formerly STEM faculty members but who are now members of UAF administration, and non-retained women STEM faculty. Quantitative methods of gathering data on UAF women STEM faculty include analysis of institutional data gathered by UA Statewide, data kept by UAF's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, and a climate survey of all STEM faculty at UAF. Institutional merit: The proposed project will allow the researchers to theorize how gender inequalities are structural and institutional in nature. The cutting edge approach of examining gender inequality as institutional will yield essential information for concurrent planning for institutional transformation. Broader impacts: Getting a clear picture of the status of women STEM faculty at UAF will allow planning for institutional transformation to take place. It is also anticipated that women STEM faculty will be more likely to choose UAF, to stay at UAF, and to become excellent teachers and researchers because the climate will be more equitable as a result of the proposed study. The participation of underrepresented groups, particularly women and Alaska Natives, will be broadened. The project is expected to generate much local and regional attention and interest. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES POST DOC/TRAVEL ARCTIC RES & POLICY SUPPORT PR HRD EHR Morrison, Joy Sine Anahita University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus AK Jessie A. Dearo Continuing grant 128450 9150 5247 5202 OTHR 9150 7690 1079 0000 0810976 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: Investigation of the Reasons for Participation & Advancement of Women in Academic Science & Engineering Careers at California Polytechnic State University. The overall objective of this IT Start proposal is to gather information that will enable us to devise a comprehensive plan to support and empower the growing number of female STEM faculty at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Our goal is to develop an effective plan for institutional transformation that is data-driven, institution specific, and broadly sustainable. Cal Poly is a predominantly undergraduate, comprehensive institution with an enrollment of approximately 18,700 students, the vast majority of whom are in technical fields. Nationally, Cal Poly plays a major role in STEM education, graduating the largest cohort of engineering degrees of any non-PhD granting institution in the country last year (974 BS degrees); many Cal Poly STEM department and programs are nationally ranked. Yet despite a reputation for excellence, the university does not successfully retain a diverse student body, especially in engineering: while the national average for undergraduate women in engineering is 17.2%, Cal Poly only enrolls 14% women. As part of its mission to prepare the scientific and technical leaders of the twenty-first century, Cal Poly is committed to increasing the diversity of STEM faculty. A diverse faculty will create a more welcoming climate and transform the experiences of Cal Poly students who study in STEM areas. And, given the prominence of Cal Poly in many technical fields, effectively supporting our female STEM faculty will have broad impact on diversity within the STEM disciplines nationwide, as well. The absence of significant diversity among STEM faculty has been an ongoing challenge for Cal Poly. However, the institution has lacked the resources needed to systemically address those concerns. Several factors make this the ideal time to assess our institution and design a plan for sustainable change. The leadership is dedicated to comprehensive transformation and has committed resources to support this assessment project. Additionally, current university-wide preparations for reaccreditation are strongly focused on campus diversity and will provide opportunities for institutional self-study. Moreover, waves of faculty retirements are in progress and will continue: 46% of the tenured faculty are over 55 years of age. It is urgent that we understand how to support the retention and leadership development of the many new female STEM faculty that recently have been (and will be) hired. This is the right moment to design and implement institutional changes that will transform Cal Poly into a polytechnic university that attracts and retains diverse faculty and students. [Broader Impact] Our current plan has merit because it identifies and utilizes the expertise of key faculty, engages the institution at every level, and is supported by executive administrators, college leaders, and the leaders of faculty-lead initiatives, both in principle and by allocation of resources. We have three central goals: 1) Develop and refine an institutional infrastructure that will administer our assessment efforts and coordinate existing climate-related initiatives. 2) Assess the current status of women STEM faculty at Cal Poly. 3) Establish "institutional mentoring" relationships with existing ADVANCE institutions. [Intellectual Merit] ADVANCE - IT-START HRD EHR Sungar, Nilgun Daniel Walsh Heather Smith Katherine Chen California Polytechnic State University Foundation CA Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 199943 7690 OTHR 7690 0000 0810978 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: RU-FAIR- Rutgers University for Faculty Advancement and Institutional Re-imagination. The Rutgers University for Faculty Advancement and Institutional Re-imagination (RU FAIR) project at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, will promote the participation and advancement of women in science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM) on all three campuses of Rutgers University (Camden, Newark and New Brunswick) through five interrelated initiatives: - Recruitment and retention initiatives: Implement a targeted strategy for increasing the number of women in general, and minority women in particular, on the SEM faculty of Rutgers University, including skills training for search committees (RU-InSTRIDE), leadership training for established faculty, and a coordinated mentorship program. - Communication Initiatives: Enhance communication among faculty within a geographically and structurally complex multi-campus university. We will build on existing initiatives to enhance our web presence and establish RU FAIR professorships within different schools and campuses. We will give SEM faculty from different campuses more opportunities to network. RU-FAIR professors will be selected by competitive application. The RU- FAIR professors will work on the Recruitment and Retention, Networking and Liaisons, and Visibility Initiatives. - Networking and Liaisons with Women?s Programs Initiatives: Encourage interdisciplinary research across schools and campuses and to work closely with the nationally acclaimed Rutgers Institute for Women?s Leadership (IWL) to deliver leadership training, to encourage research, and to develop interdisciplinary courses. - Visibility Initiatives: Achieve greater visibility for our women faculty by creating a bigger web presence, instituting a lecture series, nominating our faculty members and postdoctoral associates for prestigious awards, and working with the Rutgers Media Relations to generate increased press coverage for their research accomplishments. - Family Initiatives: Bolster the resources available for dual career families, families with children, and families caring for elderly members. We will institute a dialogue among administrators, faculty, and staff concerning what changes in current campus structure, tenure regulations, and other policies would best accommodate the needs of families. Broader Impacts. The project outcomes include: increased recruitment of female and minority faculty; reduced attrition of women and minority faculty; increased numbers of women promoted to full professor and professor II; increased numbers of women rising to leadership positions in either academic administration or areas of scholarly leadership; increases faculty satisfaction by encouraging collaborative projects and creating opportunities for science faculty to become involved in such projects, especially in collaboration with faculty in the Institute for Women?s Leadership or Women?s and Gender Studies; and increases visibility of female Rutgers SEM faculty as measured by press coverage and awards received. Intellectual Merit. The project activities are based on activities which have been implemented in other sites and adapted to the Rutgers University campuses. In addition, by collecting data on the proposed programs, evaluating their impact and disseminating project information to the scientific and women?s and gender studies communities, this project will make a significant contribution to understanding techniques and tactics that promote advancement and retention of women scientists at a multi-campus university which has geographically disperse campuses. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Bennett, Joan Patricia Roos Catherine Duckett Nancy Rosoff Rutgers University New Brunswick NJ Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 1357642 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0810989 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: In the footsteps of Katharine Wright: Promoting STEM Women through LEADER. Women are underrepresented in STEM units in Dayton academic institutions, as they are nationwide. Four institutions in the Dayton region with diverse histories, missions and demographics form the LEADER consortium for the purpose of Launching Equity in the Academy across the Dayton Entrepreneurial Region. The institutions include a public doctoral university (Wright State University, host institution), a private Catholic institution (University of Dayton), a minority-serving public institution (Central State University) and a federal graduate institution (Air Force Institute of Technology). All are located in close proximity and collaborate routinely on STEM initiatives. They also share a commitment to regional STEM education, pipeline, and economic development, and recognition that inclusiveness, including directed efforts to recruit and support women in STEM, is a necessary component of that mission. Our ADVANCE collaborative will address these issues through a unique combination of inter-institutional coordination and approaches drawn from social and organizational psychology to improve climate and thereby transform the individual participating institutions. Intellectual Merit: The underrepresentation of women among academic STEM faculties reflects gender disparities in recruitment, support, and promotion. Underlying the persistence of these problems are features of institutional climate that are rooted in the often nonconscious attitudes and behaviors of individuals. Thus, progress toward gender equity in the STEM academy requires transformation of institutional structures and processes, and transformation of climate. The LEADER consortium will implement models of social/organizational psychology based on gender schemas, persuasion theory, and social contracts, to transform institutional climate in support of STEM women. We will facilitate implementation of strategies proven in prior ADVANCE initiatives to enhance recruitment, retention and advancement of tenure-track STEM women. Implementation of these initiatives within a framework of inter-institutional accountability and administrative architecture (the LEADER Consortium) will catalyze transformation of climate within institutions, thus creating a sustainable women-friendly STEM culture within a region built upon a legacy of STEM innovation. The specific aims of LEADER are: (a) to conduct a comparative analysis of climate for STEM women across the institutions and thereby identify best practices related to recruitment, retention, and advancement; (b) to initiate gender schema education and a campaign based on persuasion theory that will promote new norms of expectation and thereby facilitate implementation of those best practices; and (c) to implement social contracts across the consortium that promote transparency and accountability for transformation of climate, leading to recruitment, promotion and success of STEM women. Implementation and Management: Social science research will be undertaken by a social psychologist and a philosopher working in the area of moral psychology and gender theory. Initially climate will be compared across the institutions to inform climate initiatives. At the unit and institutional levels, chairs and faculty equity advisors will implement proposed initiatives with the assistance of a centralized LEADER administrative office. Accountability for achieving benchmarks in recruitment and advancement of women will be centrally monitored using accepted metrics, formative and summative evaluation, and continuous improvement under the direction of the LEADER Council (composed of representatives from each institution) and with external oversight from an Advisory Board. Broader Impacts: The inter-institutional collaboration and accountability should significantly increase retention and advancement of women in the STEM academy. More broadly, our ADVANCE program is designed to promote equity and that model can be applied to diverse target populations. The consortium includes an HBCU (Central State) and an institution committed to accessibility for the disabled (Wright State); as such, this project should promote significant gains in these two demographic groups within the community of STEM women. Our selection of the acronym "LEADER" recognizes this transferability; advancement of STEM women in the Dayton region today will provide leadership, by example, for efforts toward equity within the academy. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Wheatly, Michele Joseph Saliba David Goldstein Kimberly Kendricks Tamera Schneider Wright State University OH Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 1193765 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0811048 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: ADVANCEment Towards Institutional Transformation at Towson University. The Towson University (TU) IT-Start program will collect historical and baseline information needed to develop a strategy to proceed with institutional transformation related to women faculty in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The overall goal will be to identify roadblocks for female faculty members and major issues involved in their recruitment, retention, and advancement. It is anticipated that the problem will show itself to be some combination of small obstacles related to institutional, career, and family issues and that these issues may differ across important individual and family characteristics. Intellectual Merit: Before an institutional transformation program targeting women faculty in STEM disciplines can be initiated, data must be collected and analyzed, the campus climate determined, and a review of current institutional policies and practices must be performed. The data collected will serve to inform policies and practices affecting the recruitment, selection, retention, scholarship, tenure, promotion and advancement to university leadership positions of female and minority faculty at TU. Data collection will include indicators such as salaries, faculty recruitment and retention, faculty applicant pools, tenure and promotion outcomes; identification of policies and resources for recruitment, review of institutional policies regarding promotion, tenure, and work and life issues, and a climate survey to determine the institution?s current environment. The long term goal is to develop a data driven approach to addressing factors that result in the under-representation of women and minorities at all faculty and administrative levels. The PI and Co-PIs combine expertise and experience of faculty from both the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics (FCSM) and the College of Liberal Arts (CLA). The addition of CLA faculty allows us to utilize a social science approach in the development of surveys and interview strategies to establish a baseline of data to create a strategic plan for institutional transformation. Broader Impacts: The broader impacts of the project will inform TU policies and practices involved in the recruitment, retention and advancement of women and minority faculty in FCSM. In addition, graduate students from the CLA M.S. program in Women?s Studies and Psychology will be trained in qualitative interview techniques and will participate in data collection. The analyzed data will be combined with input from site visits to local recipients of ADVANCE IT grants to develop an appropriate institutional transformation plan for TU. Dissemination will include workshop presentations to TU administrators and faculty, networking at annual ADVANCE grants meetings, integration of data into a ?Women, Gender and Science? course (team-taught by PI and Co-PI Galupo). Ultimately, the development of an institutional transformation plan will increase the number of women and minority faculty that are successful in attaining full professor status and increase the pool of potential applicants who may be considered for administrative leadership roles. HRD EHR Gasparich, Gail Jay Zimmerman Alex Storrs Ryan Casey M. Paz Galupo Towson University MD Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 191709 5408 OTHR 7690 0000 0811060 August 15, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: Delaware State University. Delaware State University's ADVANCE IT-Start Project targets the following four goals: (1) Acquire the institution-specific information needed to characterize and understand the status, challenges, and barriers to participation by women and underrepresented minorities in STEM, especially among faculty (2) Identify from other institutions and experts proven best practice strategies for increasing the participation and advancement of women and URM and implementing sustainable institutional change. (3) Lay the groundwork for and cultivate institutional receptivity to institutional transformation that will increase the participation and advancement of women and URM among DSU's faculty and leadership. (4) Develop an institutional transformation plan. Intellectual Merit. The intellectual merit centers on the project's systematic, multi-dimensional approach of characterizing and understanding the institutional situation, best practices from other institutions, and the research base, while in parallel fostering stakeholder buy in to the need and nature of institutional transformation aimed at dramatically improving the participation and advancement of women and URM among the STEM faculty. Evaluation is used in a formative manner to drive project success. Broader Impacts. This project will set the stage for DSU, a minority-serving institution (students ~80% black, ~60% female) currently in transition toward greater research intensity and expanded graduate programs, to design institutional transformation to improve the participation and advancement of women and URM STEM faculty. The project also fosters interactions, mentoring, and networking among women and URM faculty across all STEM disciplines on the DSU campus and across the broader academic community. Furthermore, the approach could establish a model for other minority-serving institutions interested in increasing the presence and advancement of female and URM STEM faculty. ADVANCE - IT-START HRD EHR Rogers, Amy Sabrina McGary Dahlia Jackson Phyllis Edamatsu Delaware State University DE Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 199998 7690 OTHR 9150 7690 0000 0811076 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: Establishing the Foundation for Future Organizational Reform and Transformation (EFFORT@RIT). The ADVANCE IT-Start proposed project, ?Establishing the Foundation for Future Organizational Reform and Transformation @ RIT? (EFFORT@RIT) is a two-year study across RIT?s four Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) colleges. engineering and science at Rochester Institute of Technology. In order to achieve our mission, the goal of our institutional transformation start-up project is to develop an evidence-based approach toaddress factors resulting in the under-representation of women in STEM faculty positions at RIT. Objectives supporting achievement of this goal include: 1) Identify barriers for current women faculty in regards to rank, tenure and leadership role progression, 2) Examine faculty recruitment patterns in terms of gender equity, and 3) Establish how well RIT does in addressing these factors when compared with the competition. Through initiatives currently underway, from the Women in Engineering Program?s tremendous growth to the President?s launching of an Equity Scorecard program, RIT has gathered momentum to position itself for institutional change in regards to gender inclusiveness and equity within faculty ranks. The proposed NSF project will allow RIT to build upon this energy and accelerate the transformation process through careful data driven studies of our current position. Our proposed activities fall into assessment and evaluation general categories using: a) current climate with respect to gender inclusiveness, and b) benchmark data comparing RIT against peer institutions in regards to policies, hiring/retention/promotion patterns. The project team is a blend of dynamic leaders from the four STEM colleges, who share an active interest and agenda related to women in STEM. Together, the group creates a strong, well-integrated core with high levels of synergy who will work with the Advisory Board in overseeing all aspects of the EFFORT@RIT project. EFFORT@RIT assessment and evaluation results will be disseminated broadly. Firmly grounded with clear organization, innovative assessment tools, and seasoned leadership, EFFORT@RIT will inform RIT of necessary institutional transformation activities. ADVANCE - IT-START HRD EHR Bailey, Margaret Jacqueline Mozrall Maureen Valentine Sharon Mason Stefi Baum Rochester Institute of Tech NY Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 199770 7690 OTHR 7690 0000 0811089 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: Toward Fostering Women Faculty in STEM Fields. UMND Abstract Despite the important role the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) plays in educating the workforce in STEM fields, the gender and ethnic profile of its faculty members who provide this training is far narrower than the diversity of its students. The number of women faculty in UMD?s Swenson College of Sciences and Engineering (SCSE) falls well below national averages with women comprising less than 14% of the SCSE tenure-track faculty, and 4% of the full professors. In addition, the attrition of female faculty within SCSE in recent years is considerably higher than for SCSE male faculty members. This two-year planning and assessment project will determine if there are institutional barriers that work against the hiring, tenure, promotion, and advancement of women at UMD in general, and women in the STEM fields in particular. Intellectual Merit: UMD will undertake an evidence-based approach to understanding the current status of women within the STEM fields at UMD. Such an approach requires collection of a broad, deep, and thorough suite of institutional data, as well as a range of non-institutional data. UMD will pursue robust, careful, and comprehensive analysis of these data in order to understand the status of women STEM faculty. In addition, a range of best practices for recruitment, retention, and advancement of STEM women that have been identified, pioneered, and tested by academic institutions across the country will be studied. This proposal will work toward achieving a professional environment within SCSE and UMD that is transparent and equitable, and that facilitates successful academic careers for female STEM faculty, including advancement to the highest ranks of academic leadership. Broader Impact: Together these activities will enable us to design a comprehensive, integrative, and successful plan for institutional change, with the goal of increasing diversity in STEM faculty in order to advance UMD's historically strong role in education within these field; increases in faculty diversity contribute in turn to enhanced diversity in the future workforce in science, engineering, and technological fields. It is anticipated that an institutional transformation plan will be beneficial for all UMD faculty, students and staff and could be a model for other similar institutions. HRD EHR Hansen, Vicki Timothy Holst Bilin Tsai Deborah Petersen-Perlman University of Minnesota Duluth MN Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 199965 5408 OTHR 7690 0000 0811123 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Comprehensive Equity at Ohio State (CEOS). The Ohio State University has highly progressive policies that allow for time off the tenure clock, part-time appointments on the tenure track, dual career placement and on-campus child care. We also have an infrastructure of support offices that promote gender equity (notably the President's Council on Women and the Women's Place) and extensive training in leadership (through Human Resources and the Women's Place). Yet the institution is highly decentralized, with individual colleges being responsible for implementing policies locally. Departmental culture is the single most important factor affecting recruitment and retention for women at Ohio State, and our decentralized system therefore requires active participation of deans and department chairs to effect institutional change. The Comprehensive Equity at Ohio State (CEOS) project involves four colleges that span the breadth of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM): Biological Sciences, Engineering, Mathematical & Physical Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine. Based upon a framework of transformational leadership, our interventions include structured workshops for administrative leaders in those four colleges that will culminate in formation of action project learning teams. Another program will focus on structured peer mentoring for women leaders in the four colleges. We will provide a two-year workshop on entrepreneurship for women interested in commercializing their intellectual property. Both formative and summative evaluation research will occur throughout the project, including analysis of quantitative metrics and qualitative data from structured interviews and portfolio development. An Internal Advisory Team and an External Advisory Committee will provide additional guidance as the project unfolds. Intellectual Merit: The CEOS project addresses entrenched, cultural barriers to equity for women and minorities. Research indicates that organizational culture, and especially deeply embedded cultural assumptions and taken-for-granted practices, support inequalities in the workplace. Higher education organizational research has shown that department chairs and college deans can play a crucial role facilitating culture change. The CEOS project at Ohio State, based on a transformational leadership model, will involve deans, chairs and women and men faculty in workshops, women leaders' circles, and action learning project teams. Analysis of data from these interventions will contribute to an understanding of how transformational leadership affects organizational change to remove cultural barriers for women and members of historically underrepresented groups in STEM. Research from this project will be presented at numerous conferences and will be submitted to scholarly journals. Broader Impacts: Successfully transforming the culture in four colleges at Ohio State will nucleate further change in other STEM (and non-STEM) colleges. We will share our successes and challenges with the broader university community through regular communication with the President's Council on Women, the Provost's office, and in campus forums. We will share our research results on interventions and the utility of the transformational leadership model via an active website, presentations at conferences, publications in peer-refereed journals, and other academic outlets. We also will offer a 3-day workshop on entrepreneurship to a national audience as an outgrowth of our internal workshop. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Herbers, Joan Carolyn Merry Anne Carey Jill Bystydzienski Anne Massaro Ohio State University Research Foundation OH Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 1324082 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0811144 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez. This project will collect and analyze data and other information in order to understand the current status of female faculty in sciences, mathematics and engineering at University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus (UPR-M). UPR-M is a Hispanic-Serving Institution known for its rigorous undergraduate and graduate programs in science and engineering, and a high percentage of female students in each of these fields. Regardless of UPR-M?s leading role awarding engineering degrees to women, women faculty recruitment and advancement is consider low when compared to available potential candidates for faculty positions. This could be influenced by demographic, socioeconomic, cultural, institutional variables, among others. In order to understand these factors, this project proposes a set of initiatives aimed at identifying barriers that impede females from pursuing an academic career or advancing to higher positions within academia. Intellectual merit: This two-year project will provide an institutional profile of science, mathematics, and engineering female faculty at the UPR-M including an analysis of its recruitment, retention, and advancement policies. Surveys will be conducted in order to determine work climate and attitudes towards women in academia. The project will be conducted in a predominantly Hispanic institution with a significant number of rigorous undergraduate and graduate programs in science and engineering. To our knowledge, there are no previous studies in Puerto Rico exploring gender inequality and institutional climate in a campus with characteristics similar to UPR-M. Even though Puertoricans are categorized as Hispanics, there are cultural differences that justify conducting contextualized research. Broader impact: The data gathered in this proposal could be a model for other Hispanic academic institutions that face similar issues regarding women in academic science, mathematics, and engineering careers. The large number of females that graduate from our engineering and science programs represent an excellent pool of prospective female faculty. This project will help understand some of the reasons that prevent or discourage them from entering careers in academia. This knowledge will lead to designing intervention programs to address the situation, which should lead to a better representation of female faculty in science, mathematics, and engineering in the future. HRD EHR Chaparro, Mildred Marisol Vera-Colon Sonia Bartolomei-Suarez Luisa Guillemard Astrid Cruz-Pol University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez PR Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 198475 5408 OTHR 9150 7690 0000 0811147 October 1, 2008 STEM Institute at Shelton State Community College. The C.A. Fredd Campus of Shelton State Community College, founded in 1963, is a small Historically Black College with a strong presence in West Alabama. This HBCU-UP program is designed as a result of a thorough needs assessment that was supported through the use of an HBCU-UP planning grant. The proposed HBCU-UP project will establish a STEM institute on the C.A. Fredd campus of Shelton State Community College, which has an overall aim of strengthening current STEM programs. Six components comprise the Institute: i) high school component; ii) undergraduate student activities; iii) infusion of technology; iv) curricular enhancement; v) faculty development activities and vi) transition to four year college, and subsequently to graduate school. The implementation project is a continuum that begins with the high school component, strengthens the 2-year STEM curriculum at the college, and then encourage and facilitate entrance into 4-year STEM programs. Activities that will be a part of the STEM Institute include: a six week, intensive High School Summer Institute for rising seniors, and incoming college freshmen; professional development for high school STEM teachers; well defined faculty-student mentoring supported by professional development activities for faculty; implementation of undergraduate student research and summer internships; technology enhancement in STEM courses; and course restructuring aimed at gatekeeper courses. The transition to four year institutions will be encouraged and enhanced by student participation in research with faculty from four year colleges and Ph.D. granting institutions. This is further facilitated by a statewide transfer articulation agreement within Alabama. This comprehensive project is aimed at increasing the number of C.A. Fredd campus students successfully completing introductory and advanced DTEM courses, increase academic performance in these courses; increase the number of students participating in research and internship activities, and increase the number of students gaining admission to 4-year STEM degree programs. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Cochrane, Camille Ronald Range Channing Howington Karen Rose Shelton State Community College AL Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 1507810 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811157 August 15, 2008 Broadening Participation in Science and Mathematics: The Next Level. Talladega College, a small, private HBCU in Alabama, will implement activities funded by the HBCU-UP aimed at the following goals: 1. To enhance teaching skills of the faculty and improve and broaden undergraduate research activities across STEM disciplines, including biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, physics and psychology; 2. To establish a computerized mathematics laboratory to help improve teaching and learning in lower level mathematics courses; 3. To develop a test-taking skills course to aid students in preparing to achieve competitive scores on graduate school entrance exams; and 4. To provide STEM activities for middle school students and initiate a high school-to-college bridge program. The project aims to institutionalize practices aimed at increasing the number of students involved in research. Students in all STEM disciplines will be encouraged to participate in research activities, including presentation of scientific articles, and participation in faculty mentored research projects. Faculty will be supported in research activities across STEM fields. Student success in mathematics will be addressed in two ways. Successful strategies for the teaching of mathematics will be adapted from University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Universidad Interamericana, and Virginia Tech in order to increase success in mathematics courses. This will involve incorporation of the use of technology, and the use of other teaching strategies. In addition to teaching strategies in the classroom, a computerized mathematics laboratory will be established to improve teaching and learning in lower level mathematics courses. In order to increase the number of student matriculating into graduate and professional schools, all students will be required to take a course that strengthens test taking abilities. This course should increase student knowledge of the GRE examination, thus indirectly encouraging students to apply to graduate schools. The project aims to increase retention through outreach activities including school-to-college bridge programs for students, and collaboration with middle school teachers to develop inquiry based science activities. Faculty and students from Talladega will also work with middle school teachers and students in designing science fair projects, and for in class demonstrations. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Bacon, Arthur Leonard Cole Talladega College AL Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 1503443 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7204 1594 0811170 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Advancing Women within Interdisciplinary and International Networks. The Northeastern University ADVANCE Institutional Transformation project will systematically integrate concerns about interdisciplinary and international research into the project model for change. The Advancing Women within Interdisciplinary and International Networks (AWIIN) model for change will transform recruitment practices; strengthen professional networks for women; and develop a forum for comprehensive engagement of leadership to increase accountability and to instill long-lasting changes in institutional policies and practices. Specific interventions target the isolation of women due to their solo status and the challenge to succeed in interdisciplinary and international research environments at Northeastern and beyond. Efforts to improve retention include Interdisciplinary Recruitment Workshops integrated with campus research center conferences and a new Dual Career Network Committee through the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC). Women?s mixed gender networks are strengthened with External Career Mentoring Teams, the improved existing faculty mentoring program, grants to stimulate interdisciplinary and international collaborations, campus-wide networks, and Greater Boston Area Faculty Seminars. The new Leadership Academy is a forum to engage institutional leaders, influential faculty, and rising women leaders in changing institutional policy and organizational practices. The Academy will also be a forum to enhance intercultural gender competence. A comprehensive research and evaluation program will accompany the interventions to guide design, possible modifications, and to disseminate findings and best practices. The interdisciplinary AWIIN team includes social scientists, faculty, and administrators from science and engineering. All activities are aligned in the current changing environment guided by the new 2007 Academic Plan. Intellectual Merit: The two original research projects will provide new insights about the skills of individuals, the tools and organizational practices and policies that allow women and men faculty to succeed in and contribute to an increasing interdisciplinary, global enterprise of science and technology. The project on gender and globalization of the academy will identify gender-specific barriers and strategies to international networks and collaboration. The project on gender and social networks will provide insights into gender differences in the involvement of faculty in professional, interdisciplinary, and international networks. These findings will be of interest to individual faculty, researchers, and institutions that are interested in promoting women scientists and engineers in interdisciplinary and international universities. AWINN?s broader impacts include the entire institution as interventions will be rolled out to all colleges in the long-term affecting the climate for all students and faculty at Northeastern University. The Leadership Academy will result in a general improvement of management practices and skills across the institution. Regional workshops will be held to disseminate best practices into colleges and universities in New England. A national conference on gender and internationalization of science in academia will raise national awareness. In addition, Northeastern University will create a Dual Career Network committee as part of the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) that facilitates dual career needs in the broader Boston academic community. The AWIIN website will provide guides and tools for individuals and other institutions. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Wadia-Fascetti, Sara Graham Jones Luis Falcon Jacqueline Isaacs Kathrin Zippel Northeastern University MA Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 1390676 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0811192 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: Research, Reflect, Plan - IT Start at New York City College of Technology. City Tech will research, reflect upon, and plan a transformational initiative for women STEM faculty that will improve the professional climate and enable women to realize their full professional potential unimpeded by either structural barriers posed by the institution or more subtle forms of self-limitation that arise from gender stereotyping and societal expectations. Intellectual Merit. In the first year City Tech will conduct research and perform quantitative and qualitative analyses that enable the college to consider the professional standing of women in STEM fields, both within the college and comparatively across institutions, using perspectives of history, psychology, and sociology as lenses through which to view data and testimony. In the second year City Tech will disseminate research findings, reflect upon their meaning, build consensus for a plan of action, learn as much as we can about how other ADVANCE-funded institutions have put programs into action that redress gender inequities, and come up with a plan based upon our unique institutional needs and context. This project brings together expertise from a wide variety of sources: in addition to the in-house expertise of a research active STEM faculty and a well-qualified project staff, the proposed STEM self-study will engage nationally recognized researchers and equity consultants such as the Collaborative for Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) and the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology. Our Advisory Board will draw on the expertise of nationally known leaders in the field. Broader Impact. This IT START project has the potential for extremely broad impact. While the target population is first and foremost the female faculty in STEM departments, the ultimate beneficiaries will be the entire faculty of over 1000 members who will benefit from a more transparent and more enabling climate for success. In addition, the college administration will be aware of the structural and subjective factors that mitigate against women?s professional advancement in order to engage in redressing them. While the achievement of gender equity in the professional lives of female STEM faculty is of absolute value in and of itself, it also has profound implications for future generations of students. Underrepresented minority students, the college's primary student demographic, are critical to the future of STEM in America. They deserve models of successful women scientists, engineers, and mathematicians of many races and ethnicities, in whom they can see their own nascent dreams embodied. ADVANCE - IT-START HRD EHR August, Bonne Pamela Brown Victoria Gitman Delaram Kahrobaei CUNY New York City College of Technology NY Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 195704 7690 OTHR 7690 0000 0811194 October 1, 2008 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Purdue Center for Faculty Success. The Purdue Center for Faculty Success (PCFS) will provide targeted research, programs and University-level coordination to increase the number of minority women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty positions; improve the success of all women STEM faculty; and engage all faculty in transforming the institution. The PCFS will combine NSF and institutional support to undertake research on the applicability of specific theoretical models in the Purdue environment, develop programs informed by these theoretical models and that focus on gaps in our current portfolio of initiatives, and provide formative assessment and comprehensive evaluation of programmatic impacts. University leaders and policymakers, including Purdue President and ADVANCE PI France Córdova, will use PCFS results as compelling evidence to sustain and advance institutional transformation and implement policy that will impact the Purdue STEM community and beyond. Our vision is to accelerate institutional transformation through a highly visible infrastructure that offers innovative campus-wide coordination and collaboration for initiatives such as: an innovative and prestigious Presidential ADVANCE Advocate position focused on increasing the diversity of the pool of STEM faculty candidates; enhancing the role of Purdue's ethnic cultural centers in faculty support; adapting ADVANCE best practice STRIDE and WISELI "train the trainer" workshops; mentoring cohorts of junior faculty for research and career development; providing leadership mentoring for associate and full professors; transforming the entire faculty, including majority faculty; developing Diversity Forum toolkits; and initiating Diversity Catalyst and Leader Workshops. Intellectual Merits. Institutional ethnography is a critical method with which to approach understanding the experience of marginalized participants, and provides a new approach to enrich ADVANCE research on STEM women faculty, in particular underrepresented minority women. PCFS efforts will not only advance understanding of the applicability of pipeline and chilly climate models that ground so many "women in science" initiatives but will explore through institutional ethnography the applicability of proposed new models that integrate "boundary" metaphor approaches for exploring women's underrepresentation. Thus PCFS research will generate new knowledge and advance theoretical frameworks that will be of interest to theorists and ADVANCE programs across the nation. The Purdue ADVANCE Advocate and cultural center efforts aimed at enhancing minority women STEM faculty recruiting will be assessed for new insights into enhancing minority faculty recruitment. Broader Impacts. Improved understanding of the career pathways of women STEM faculty at Purdue, in combination with the assessments of the effectiveness of novel programs, will result in a rigorously tested, explicitly articulated suite of programs that other institutions can adapt to their own campuses. Innovative PCFS efforts to recruit minority women STEM faculty will help address a particularly persistent national STEM challenge, and other PCFS initiatives will increase participation of women in the STEM faculty ranks and in leadership positions. This will have an immediate positive impact on STEM undergraduate and graduate women at Purdue who may contemplate a potential career in academia and potentially on all individuals who are interested in science and engineering careers. PCFS includes Research Team students at the graduate and post-doctoral level and junior faculty in all programmatic initiatives and thus will support and encourage early-career advancement. Through novel partnerships with our ethnic cultural centers, PCFS will broaden participation across campus in the recruitment and support of faculty from underrepresented groups. The transformation of the entire faculty, including majority faculty, by PCFS will provide new approaches to sustain institutional support for faculty success. In addition to publications in leading journals and presentations at national and international research conferences, Purdue will disseminate a PCFS-developed toolkit for Diversity Forums and will host a national conference focused on ADVANCE theoretical frameworks as drivers for institutional change. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Cordova, France Alice Pawley Valentine Moghadam Dorothy Reed Purdue University IN Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 1616304 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0811205 September 15, 2008 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: Advancing Diversity Through Alignment of Policies and Practices (ADAPP). The goals of the institutional transformation initiative at Michigan State University (MSU), Advancing Diversity through Alignment of Policies and Procedures (ADAPP), are to increase the number of women recruited in the Colleges of Natural Science, Social Science and Engineering, improve their retention and advancement, and improve the climate for women in these three Colleges. These goals address issues that have been identified as barriers for women in STEM disciplines both nationally and by women at MSU. We will accomplish these goals by implementing specific structures and practices that are components of a strategic human resource management (SHRM) methodology. The initiatives will focus on aligning strategic goals of units and colleges with the university-wide value of diversity and on implementing objective evaluation criteria for recruitment, advancement and retention in order to reduce bias related to informal and subjective processes. Practically, this involves integrating goals, policies and practices so that critical behaviors, attitudes, and outcomes that promote diversity are consistently reinforced and rewarded. Research supports the effectiveness of the SHRM approach, and it is widely viewed as a "best practice" for promoting desired behavior and attitudes, increasing accountability, and reducing bias in faculty employment decisions. Yet, no previous NSF Institutional Transformation ADVANCE grant has adopted a SHRM model as the operational framework to advance project goals. Thus, MSU will adopt this approach for implementing initiatives designed to advance women in STEM disciplines. The overall goals will be achieved by integrating the following policies and practices: - developing and clearly communicating strategic goals at the department- and college-levels in recruiting and supporting a diverse faculty; - defining and clearly communicating objective criteria to be used during recruitment, annual reviews, promotion and tenure processes and retention negotiations that reflect these strategic goals; - providing workshops to assist faculty and department chairs in developing and implementing goals and objective criteria; - monitoring and evaluating the application of these criteria to the processes of faculty recruitment and advancement, in part by implementing an electronic human resource information system and by appointing trained diversity officers to monitor progress; - providing assistance to units in designing mentoring programs that reflect such criteria; - determining the overall impact of these processes on the stated goals by measuring the level of recruitment, retention and advancement of women faculty and by surveying faculty in STEM disciplines to determine the perceived impact of these processes on faculty recruitment and advancement and on faculty climate; and finally - recognizing and acknowledging successful units in tangible ways, such as supporting nominations for the annual MSU Excellence in Diversity award. Intellectual Merit: Our project will implement and test a unique conceptual model addressing how increased structure of employment practices and their alignment with the diversity value, will effect change in the recruitment, retention and advancement of women and create a sustainable positive for women. The project outcomes will indicate if specific increases in structure will bring about changes in the work environment and perceived climate by improving communication, increasing transparency, providing consistency and adding measures of accountability in the employment processes. The methods are novel, and such an ADVANCE project has not been carried out at a large research university. The Broader Impact can occur when these improved structures and policies are applied to all steps in the STEM academic career ladder, to other academic positions and to other disciplinary areas. This model is proposed to result in an improved climate for women at all levels and, if successful, will be disseminated for adoption by other institutions. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Wilcox, Kim Clare Luz Theodore Curry Mark Roehling Tamara Bush Michigan State University MI Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 1568558 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0811219 September 1, 2008 Implementation Grant: Addressing the Need of STEM Retention at HSSU. Harris-Stowe State University, a small HBCU in the St. Louis metropolitan area, serves approximately 2,000 students, ninety percent African American. Harris-Stow also has a legacy of preparing candidates for careers in elementary and secondary science and mathematics education. The HBCU-UP project at Harris-Stowe has two main goals: to increase the academic achievement level for first year students in mathematics and science courses; and to increase the overall enrollment and graduation rates of students pursuing teacher degrees in mathematics and science. The strategies proposed make up the Retention Enhancement Program (REP) and the Teacher Education Reform Program (TERP), and emerged as a result of a planning process supported by an NSF HBCU-UP planning grant. Many of the strategies parallel each other for the Retention Enhancement Program and the Teacher Education Reform Program. These strategies include student support services (e.g. peer tutoring and peer mentoring); curriculum reform in mathematics and science; enhancement and expansion of research opportunities for students, including pre-service teachers, and a residential summer academy for incoming students. The program will be supported by a Director of Retention for Mathematics and Science who will coordinate the retention and recruiting efforts. Through the HBCU-UP project, Harris-Stowe State University expects an increase in the number of teacher education candidates in mathematics and science, and an increase in the retention of first year students in mathematics and science. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Smith, Dwyane Lateef Adelani Harris Stowe State College MO Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 1363592 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811239 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: NDSU ADVANCE FORWARD - Transforming a Gendered Institution. North Dakota State University is a land-grant institution that, since 1999 and under the leadership of President Joseph Chapman, has undergone tremendous growth in student enrollment (over 12,500 total students, a 2-fold increase in graduate students, and a 3-fold increase in international students), doctoral programs (41), and research expenditures (over $100 million/year). Despite these significant successes, our progress in diversity has been modest and has not yet reached the level needed to meet President Chapman's goal of becoming "globally recognized as a contemporary metropolitan land-grant university." This ADVANCE FORWARD proposal marshals energies and resources to meet this important challenge. NDSU will set in place a formally recognized structure, the Commission on the Status of Women Faculty, headed by the Provost and linked to key administrative authority, with strategies that reach across the university to achieve institutional climate change and advance women, particularly in the STEM disciplines. The FORWARD team will implement these transformational efforts with a three-prong focus: 1. Campus Climate: Our goal is to create a respectful and supportive environment that fosters women's success. We will create new policies and practices through our Commission on the Status of Women and will add an assistant in the Office for Equity and Diversity to strengthen recruitment. We will provide incentives in the form of grants to encourage research on gender and will hire consultants to help departments address gender issues. Additionally, the program will set up workshops and training for groups of administrators and faculty, including deans, chairs/heads, faculty, and male allies. 2. Advancement and Leadership: Our aim is to ensure that women faculty, through mentoring and professional development, receive the knowledge, skills, support, and resources needed for successful teaching, research, and leadership. The program establishes and supports mid-career and cohort mentoring groups, and offers grants for course release, grant-writing support, leadership training, and individual travel. 3. Research: Our goal is to discover if, how, and why our programs work to transform the University. Throughout the project, we will examine our processes and evaluate the reasons for their relative effectiveness. We will disseminate our results broadly through workshops at other universities, professional conferences, and refereed publications. Intellectual Merit: This project will contribute knowledge and understanding of how to stimulate, implement, and sustain institutional change that leads to a more diverse institution, evidenced by 1) increased women faculty; 2) increased women competitive researchers; 3) increased women in leadership positions; and 4) an overall environment that permits women to flourish. Our research to uncover the processes that link women's performance to organizational factors will contribute to an understanding of how gendered institutional cultures and structures may be changed to facilitate the achievement of women faculty's full potential. Broader Impact: ADVANCE FORWARD programs for institutional transformation will be merged with broader NDSU diversity efforts to create a more inclusive campus community, including people of color and people with disabilities. We will develop programs, conduct research, and widely disseminate information so that similar campuses can emulate our successes. Our results will provide templates for peer institutions with similar issues on recruitment, retention, and advancement of women faculty. We fully expect that the methods proposed and the outcomes described in the evaluation program will aid other institutions to tap into the full faculty potential by developing positive environments in which women researchers can excel. Most importantly, as a result of this grant, women faculty at NDSU will contribute to the scientific and technical knowledge base of the nation. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Schnell, R Craig Gary Smith Rhonda Magel Canan Bilen-Green Ann Burnett North Dakota State University Fargo ND Jessie A. Dearo Cooperative Agreement 1469965 1738 OTHR 9150 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0811250 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award: An institution-wide collaboration to hiring, retaining, and promoting women STEM faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In response to the pressing need to engage the full talent of the nation?s workforce, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) has designed a systematic program to increase the gender diversity of its faculty. ADVANCE-Nebraska. ADVANCE-NE evolved from a thorough assessment of the current status of all women STEM faculty on campus and from extensive discussion and evaluation of barriers to their advancement. Our goals and related objectives are to: 1. Increase the number of STEM women on the UNL faculty by matching the composition of STEM departments? applicant pools to that of the national pool beginning Year 2 of the program and by matching hiring composition to the national pool by Year 3. 2. Increase the retention of women STEM faculty and support their promotion into positions of professional leadership by developing and systematizing institution-wide family-friendly and dual career policies, ensuring that this information is widely disseminated and administratively promoted, and by increasing informal networking and professional development opportunities. 3. Conduct innovative research on what network structures best support the success of women STEM faculty, and what factors develop supportive networks. To achieve these goals, we will create an Office for ADVANCE-Nebraska to coordinate recruitment and retention-enhancing programs, disseminate information to the academic community, and serve as liaison for the many groups engaged in diversity-focused activities on campus. The Project Director will (a) centralize implementation of college-wide Family-Friendly Policies and Flexible Work Arrangements to make UNL more welcoming, and serve as point person for a Dual Career Partner program that networks department chairs, faculty, and administrators; (b) form a university-wide committee of faculty, RECRUIT-NE, to increase recruitment of women for faculty positions, empower search committees and Recruitment Ambassadors with strategies needed to recruit diverse talent, and increase "Exposure Visits" to introduce potential recruits to the great working and living environment of Lincoln, Neb.; (c) form a university-wide committee, PROMOTE-NE, to increase retention and promotion of all STEM women on campus by familiarizing faculty, chairs, and Tenure & Promotion Committee members with the impact of implicit biases on decision-making processes and strategies to minimize these impacts; and (d) build on opportunities for informal networking on campus through professional development workshops, luncheons with guest speakers, and week-long writing retreats. Informing the ADVANCE-NE office in all of its activities will be ongoing evaluative research on the nature of faculty networks within and across STEM departments at UNL and the impact of network structures on faculty productivity/promotion and satisfaction/retention. Intellectual Merit. Network analysis is used in corporate and other work settings to identify productive workplace structures, but has not been applied to academia. We will determine the number and strengths of faculty connections with each other and identify the structure of STEM research and teaching networks that best support women?s retention and success. Because institutional transformation must be supported and approved by the senior administration, the PI is UNL?s Chief Academic Officer, who reports directly to the Chancellor and pledges to extend the program for five years beyond the life of the award to ensure its success. The PI and Co-PIs, evaluation team, and internal and external advisory boards position UNL to successfully transform the university through ADVANCE-NE activities and to share resulting new knowledge with other institutions nationwide. Broader Impacts. Broadening participation of persons underrepresented in STEM is inherent in all ADVANCE-NE research and activities and is the reason UNL began systematically assessing needs for ADVANCE six years ago. We are now well-poised to broaden participation across the campus by forging effective networks through the proposed recruitment and promotion committees and increased informal networking programs. The institutional, college, and department administrations have committed to implementing policies and practices to promote all women in STEM. Dissemination is a high priority because we believe in the vision of ADVANCE. We have accepted a nationwide call to action by uniting faculty, department chairs, and administrators at UNL to offer all people the best means possible to reach their full potential in STEM endeavors in academia. We will disseminate our results in appropriate journals and at national, discipline-specific conferences. In addition, we will share all results and information with other ADVANCE institutions, persons interested in ADVANCE goals, and the public through a website and promotional materials (brochures, reports, pamphlets, press releases). ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Couture, Barbara Namas Chandra David Manderscheid Mary Anne Holmes Julia McQuillan University of Nebraska-Lincoln NE Kelly M. Mack Cooperative Agreement 1456275 1738 OTHR 1738 0000 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0811257 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: Women of Western Washington University. The College of Sciences and Technology at Western Washington University will undertake a comprehensive assessment of systemic institutional factors affecting recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in STEM disciplines. The project will conduct: a campus climate assessment; an analysis of hiring trends for women and minorities; a detailed retention study; an analysis of tenure and promotion outcomes; an examination of offers, including start-up packages; and a review of workload. After reviewing ?best practices? (including those at ADVANCE institutions) and policies, it will identify those that would lead to the most effective outcomes for this institution. Partnerships will be developed with institutions graduating large numbers of women and minority students who could be potential Western applicants, and pilot programs will be conducted including dissemination of information collected by the project. This work will inform Western?s subsequent development of an institutional transformation plan. Intellectual Merit: Much of the current data and knowledge on effective institutional ?best practices? to enhance retention, recruitment and advancement of women in STEM disciplines has emanated from Research 1 institutions. However, comprehensive institutions also employ a large number of faculty in these disciplines and play a critical role in this endeavor. Western, positioned well for such a project, has undertaken significant initiatives in promoting equity and advancement for women. With its Start award, Western will focus on precisely understanding institutional needs at and best practices appropriate for comprehensive universities. This will ?add value? to the body of knowledge that has already been produced by ADVANCE projects. Broader Impacts: This undertaking will have a positive impact on the greater university. Results from the two-year project may serve as a model for other comprehensives or even community colleges that share some of the same characteristics. Most importantly, institutional transformation that will eventually result from this project will enhance women?s representation and advancement in STEM disciplines at comprehensives. ADVANCE - IT-START HRD EHR Kitto, Kathleen Arlan Norman Sue Guenter-Schlesinger Western Washington University WA Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 199194 7690 OTHR 7690 0000 0811258 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE IT Start Award: South Dakota WISE Faculty: A Future of Excellence. South Dakota WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) Faculty: A Future of Excellence is an IT-START project designed to acquire and analyze baseline data that will form the foundation of a transformative plan to advance the quality of the work environment for women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT), other South Dakota institutions and institutions that share attributes with SDSMT. The attributes that differentiate SDSMT from other ADVANCE institutions include (but are not limited to) size, specialty and geographic isolation. To accomplish this work, the investigative team will collect and analyze data from SDSMT, other public, private, and tribal colleges and universities in South Dakota, the state of South Dakota, institutions outside of the state of South Dakota with similar attributes, and current best practices. The investigative team will link with SDSMT?s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program to leverage the goals of the work and the WISE program. In particular, the objectives of the ?South Dakota WISE Faculty: A Future of Excellence? project are to: 1. Gather data to determine the social, environmental, and attitudinal factors affecting the representation (recruitment and retention) of women, including Native American women, in faculty and administrative positions at SDSMT and other institutions of higher education in South Dakota. 2. Determine the extent to which this data is extendible to other institutions that share characteristics of SDSMT and the other colleges and universities in South Dakota, including (but not limited to): a) PUIs that are specialty engineering and science institutions, and b) Geographically isolated institutions. 3. Develop a plan for an ADVANCE IT (Institutional Transformation) proposal that includes programming that is scalable and extendible and that addresses the primary factors limiting representation at all levels (recruitment, retention and advancement). The ADVANCE Institutional Transformation proposal would aim to provide opportunities for all of the colleges and universities in the State of South Dakota and to be extendible to institutions with similar attributes as SDSMT. The work in this planning grant will allow the investigative team to gather and analyze baseline data on (1) the state of women STEM faculty in South Dakota and similar institutions and (2) the needs of these faculty as perceived by both the faculty and the administration of the colleges and universities where they work. The intellectual merit of this project will be the identification of those factors that are common to STEM faculty in South Dakota and Tribal Institutions, PUIs that are science and engineering specialty institutions and, geographically isolated institutions that affect the recruitment, retention and advancement of a diverse faculty. The evaluation of this data provides an evidence-based approach to development of programming and cultural changes at institutions for which methods proven to be effective at urban or suburban comprehensive institutions and DGIs do not meet the particular demographic or social needs of institutions with the attributes listed above. The broader impacts of the South Dakota WISE Faculty: A Future of Excellence proposal include: (1)The expected transferability of the lessons learned to other institutions who share some or all of the demographic features of SDSMT and other colleges and universities in South Dakota; (2) increase in linkages between South Dakota institutions for collaborative efforts to better all of the institutions?? campus climates and recruitment and retention efforts for women STEM faculty. Collaborative efforts significantly increase the ability of the colleges and universities to leverage their resources and create critical mass; and (3)strengthening and increasing the pipeline of women, including Native American women, in STEM fields by strengthening the ability of colleges and universities in South Dakota to attract, recruit, and retain women faculty in STEM fields. HRD EHR Surovek, Andrea Jennifer Karlin Sidney Goss South Dakota School of Mines and Technology SD Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 194407 5408 OTHR 9150 7690 0000 0811276 October 1, 2008 Comprehensive Enhancement of STEM programs at SUSLA. Southern University at Shreveport (SUSLA) requested support for an HBCU-UP implementation award aimed at supporting the institutional mission of SUSLA: to provide a quality education for its students, while being committed to the total community?. Southern University at Shreveport, Louisiana, is a two year institution with a student body enrollment of approximately 2,400, predominantly African American (90%) and predominantly female (76%). The HBCU-UP project is designed to strengthen STEM teaching and research to improve retention of undergraduates and strengthen their academic preparation. Strategies include: i) Course and curriculum reform and enhancement through the incorporation of advances in science and engineering knowledge and research based teaching and learning; ii) faculty professional development; iii) supervised research and active learning experiences for STEM undergraduates in research laboratories and other institutions during the summer; iv) infusion of technology into research and teaching; and v) critical transition activities for student recruitment and retention in STEM disciplines. Course and curricular reform will focus on gate-keeper courses. The revisions will enhance entry-level lab/research exercises, supported by updated equipment and teaching activities. In addition, through the HBCU-UP project, SUSLA will obtain technology resources to be used to update and enhance the teaching methodology. The courses impacted will include biology, chemistry, computer science, electronics technology and mathematics. Faculty support will include release time for mentoring of students, support for research and support for participation in scientific meetings. This project will benefit from strong partnerships aimed at enriching the research experiences for the undergraduate students. SUSLA has partnerships with other academic institutions and private companies, through which students will receive research training, a new activity at this two-year institution. Partnerships with secondary schools will strengthen recruitment efforts through a summer research program for high school students. Underlying the strategies presented is the focus on high school to undergraduate transition, and associate-baccalaureate-graduate school transitions. The activities aimed at these transition points will be implemented through partnerships with other funded programs, including the LS AMP (Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) and the LSAMP Bridges programs, also funded by the National Science Foundation. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Belton, Ray Barry Hester Orella Brazile Southern University at Shreveport LA Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 1510309 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0811293 September 15, 2008 Science, Mathematics and Research Training. Jarvis Christian College, a small, four year, liberal arts, Historically Black College in Hawkins, Texas, is funded for a five year project that is expected to significantly improve the quality of mathematics, biology and chemistry education at the institution. The project, Science, Mathematics and Research Training (SMaRT), will impact all students majoring in STEM areas at Jarvis through a series of curriculum development, student development and faculty development activities. The proposed program will: 1. develop and incorporate a structured 2-year, undergraduate research component into the degree requirements for all STEM students; 2. improve STEM classrooms and laboratories, including developing an outdoor classroom which includes a nature trail; 3. revise and enrich courses and degree requirements for all STEM majors and minors The structured undergraduate research component will include undergraduate research credits that will be applied toward the students' requirement for the major, and will occur in the final four semesters. In semester 1, students will receive training in pre-research topics, including library and other resources, preparation of research protocols, and research topic selection. In the second through fourth semester, students will conduct the research, and prepare oral and written reports on the topic. In addition to the research integration for all students, those students that are directly supported by the program will each have an undergraduate teaching experience, working with faculty supervision. STEM classroom and laboratory improvements will include curriculum development in mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics. As an integral part of the curriculum development, faculty will incorporate a Nature Trail and an Outdoor Classroom that are concurrently being developed on the Jarvis property. The trail will support undergraduate research and curriculum and laboratory in Environmental and Analytical Chemistry, Microbiology, General Biology and Ecology. Other classes and laboratories will incorporate computational applications. As a result of the five year project, Jarvis Christian College expects to increase the number of STEM majors enrolled and graduating from the institution, and better prepare their STEM graduates for post-baccalaureate careers in graduate school or the STEM work force. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Singleton, Daphene James Goodwin Jarvis Christian College TX Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 1230878 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811338 September 15, 2008 Targeted Infusion to Attract Minorities to STEM by using an Accredited Forensic Biology Major: an Interdisciplinary Approach. ABSTRACT 0811338 Delaware State University has developed a BS degree in Forensic Biology, which accepted its first students in the fall of 2006. Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in student interest in pursuing careers in or related to science, especially forensic biology, with over forty television shows directly or indirectly incorporating forensic science. The use of DNA technology in identifying human remains after mass disasters and the recent exoneration of individuals convicted of crimes they had not committed has further fueled student interest in careers in forensic science. This Targeted Infusion project is focused on strengthening our new forensic biology degree by revamping the current curriculum to meet the accreditation standards set forth by the American Academy of Forensic Science/Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission (AAFS/FEPAC). We are developing new courses and strengthening existing courses with new instrumentation and equipment needed for optimal training of students. The newly-developed and strengthened courses provide educational and technological training in current forensic DNA methodologies and will prepare students to enter the growing forensic workforce and/or graduate programs. Delaware State University is a minority serving institution that attracts students from within the state of Delaware and surrounding states. Our aggressive pursuit for accreditation for this program makes DSU one of the few institutions (and the only HBCU) within our region to offer an accredited program in forensic biology, thus increasing the number of minority or underrepresented students receiving degrees in STEM related fields. The appeal of our program is evident by the 25% increase in the number of students choosing majors in biology since the advertisement and implementation of our forensic program in 2006. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Davis, Leonard Clytrice Watson Delaware State University DE Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149957 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811379 September 15, 2008 Curriculum Enhancements in Environmental Engineering. ABSTRACT HRD 0811379 Central State University (CSU), through a prior HBCU-UP grant, has introduced an Environmental Engineering (ENE) Program at the baccalaureate level in response to the need for environmental engineers globally beginning in Fall of 2007. The department, under the ENE Program has identified industrial water/wastewater treatment as an emerging area with an increasing global focus. This is also a signature area where ultra pure filtration of emerging pollutants identified by the US EPA using nanotechnology offers immense research possibilities. Education and research experience in this area would allow our students to compete for opportunities both in the domestic and international water sectors. The International Center for Water Resources Management (ICWRM) at Central State University (CSU ICWRM) is unique amongst the HBCU institutions in the Nation in having an interdisciplinary program in WRM at the undergraduate level. CSU ICWRM is enhancing the quality of its current program through infusion of industrial wastewater treatment into its curriculum. This is being accomplished by revamping existing course content and instructional delivery in the areas of water and wastewater treatment and by expanding current capabilities of the Water quality laboratory through acquiring additional analytical instrumentation. The enriched curriculum allows students to gain an understanding of the fate and transport of heavy metals and other inorganic ions in the environment, particularly in the industrial effluents. Other areas benefiting include the Environmental Science minor offered jointly by ICWRM and Biology area of the Natural Sciences Department and the Biotechnology initiative of the Biology area. It supplements the analytical support required for the Forensic science program being conceived within Chemistry and Biology departments. In anticipation of future work force needs in industrial water treatment, ICWRM also proposes to conduct undergraduate educational research on feasibility of using nanofibers in ultra pure filtration of trace metals from drinking water and industrial effluents. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Sritharan, Subramania Suzanne Seleem Marvin Thrash krishnakumar nedunuri Central State University OH Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149938 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811453 September 1, 2008 Education Research Grant: A Multi-Metric Approach to Assess the Impact of STEM Instructional Multimedia on Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Outcomes. Experts predict that 50% of personnel training in the coming decade will be delivered via multimedia-based instructional systems. Multimedia case studies have been hypothesized to help develop critical skills that employers expect graduates to have in order to become good applied problem solvers, effective decision makers, proficient technical analysts and collaborative team players in real-world situations. The LITEE group, an NSF-sponsored project, has pioneered efforts in designing quality multimedia case studies for use in engineering classes. Success with these efforts was further enhanced through an NSF grant the PI received in Summer 2003 to adapt and implement LITEE multimedia case studies in information technology (IT) classrooms. In the past seven years, this collaborative effort has concentrated on adopting multimedia technology for use in IT classrooms and diffusing the technology among partnering universities and across various disciplines, a trend that is evidenced by the growing use of multimedia case studies in the classrooms. Notwithstanding this growth, assessment research on the impact of multimedia case studies is rare and knowledge on best practices for implementing the technology and students? learning outcomes are still lacking. The proposed three-year research and education plan aims to identify and validate a battery of measures to analyze how the teaching and learning of real-world technical issues through the use of multimedia case studies can enhance learning outcomes. The planned research will be an integral part of a doctoral dissertation that will be co-chaired by the PIs. Intellectual Merit: Combining the multidisciplinary team of two PIs who are extensively published in STEM multimedia technologies, as well as a Senior Investigator who is a cognitive and behavioral scientist/expert, a key intellectual merit of this project is to standardize a battery of assessment instruments to evaluate the impact of instructors? teaching and students? higher order cognitive skills with use of multimedia case studies. More specifically, these assessment tools will examine whether students acquire an adequate portfolio of skills that include an improved ability to identify, integrate, evaluate, and inter-relate concepts within the multimedia case study and execute the appropriate decision(s) in a given problem-solving context. The assessment matrices will also be used to measure the benefits to instructors and designers using it as a form of training in academic institutions, industries, and government organizations. Broader Impacts: In addition to the lead institution, Southern University (SUBR), three other partnering universities will serve as the primary test-beds on this project. A total of 2300 undergraduate engineering and IT students will be impacted by the project. The PIs plan to implement faculty development programs to train over 100 multidisciplinary faculty members from the partnering university and conference workshops. In collaboration with the LITEE group, the matrices will be further disseminated at engineering classrooms in 20 different institutions where LITEE materials will be implemented. Furthermore, the PIs? strong affiliation with Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching, (MERLOT) an NSF funded project, will provide a platform for even more dissemination opportunities across multiple discipline communities of the organization. Also, the MERLOT online repository hosts a multitude of high quality peer-reviewed cases studies in the Science Mathematics Engineering and Technology (SMET) disciplines, it is expected that the results from this research will promote the integration of these resources in support of SMET education. Finally, the project?s findings and best practices will be disseminated through a Ph.D. dissertation in the department of science/mathematics education at SUBR and a master thesis in the SUBR College of Education. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Mbarika, Victor Moustapha Diack Southern University LA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 355517 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811507 August 1, 2008 Improving the Quality of STEM Education and Research at Oakwood College (STEMER). Oakwood College, founded in 1896, is a Historically Black, four year private liberal arts institution in Huntsville Alabama. Through the HBCU-UP program, Oakwood aims to implement activities to increase the enrollment and graduation rates of students, as well as strengthen the preparation and awareness of incoming students. An overall goal is to increase the number of students prepared by Oakwood for successful completion of STEM graduate programs or successful entry into the STEM workforce. The activities designed to achieve these goals include enhanced recruitment; a summer bridge enrichment program; academic enrichment, mentoring and advising; graduate school planning and preparation; and a weekend academy tutorial program. Enhanced recruitment will involve web and other electronic outreach, as well as more traditional flyers and attendance at college and graduation functions. In order to achieve this, there will be a person dedicated to recruitment for STEM majors. The summer bridge enrichment program will be aimed at high school seniors and will focus on preparation for success in mathematics, as well as an introduction to research activities. Outreach to middle and high school students will also take the form of a Weekend Academy Tutorial Program, especially aimed at students at three local schools with high drop out rates. Undergraduate Oakwood students majoring in STEM will have enhanced advising and mentoring, peer tutoring, undergraduate research experience, and other extra-curricular activities aimed at strengthening the quality of the undergraduate education experience. Enhanced advisement will utilize a tool that offer guidance for exploring how students think, learn and communicate. The series of activities planned should positively impact the number of students entering Oakwood College prepared to major in STEM, and the number of students completing STEM majors prepared for graduate study or the STEM workforce. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Anderson, John Kenneth LaiHing Alexandre Volkov Elaine Vanterpool Alexandrine Randriamahefa Oakwood College AL Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 606536 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0811561 September 15, 2008 The Advanced Robotics Center (ARC). [HRD 0811561] Lawson State Community College?s HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project supports the addition of advanced robotics technology to the College?s programs in electrical/electronics engineering and industrial electronics/systems. The Advanced Robotics Center (ARC) creates a new concentration for these programs of study. It also provides real-time learning for a broad spectrum of underrepresented students interested in technology and engineering careers. Alabama manufacturers are seeking a diverse workforce with the skills required to configure, upgrade, utilize, and maintain the hundreds of robotic arms on their production lines. These jobs require technicians and engineers who have hands-on experience with industry standard robots. Lawson State Community College is uniquely qualified to recruit and educate a diverse workforce due to its historical mission and because it is located in the Birmingham metropolitan area. Students in the program can easily move to the workforce with an associate degree, or continue at a four-year institution to earn a baccalaureate degree. The College is purchasing two robots with training systems, and five specialized robotic simulation software cells to initiate establishing the Advanced Robotics Center. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES ADVANCED TECH EDUCATION PROG HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Murray, Charles Nancy Wilson Lawson State Community College AL Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149400 9150 7412 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0811628 September 15, 2008 Targeted Infusion Grant: Strengthening the STEM Education for the American Chemical Society (ACS) Accreditation at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania through Instrument-Integrated. Abstract 0811628 Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is implementing Inquiry-Discovery based instruction throughout the chemistry and biology curricula. Most importantly, the incorporation of research equipment ?- an Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS), a High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC), a Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) and a microwave-assisted synthesis device (the Discover Lab Mate) -- completes our inventory of equipment needed to fulfill the requirements by the American Chemical Society (ACS) for an approved and accredited chemistry program. A strong Inquiry-Discovery based curricula in chemistry and biology, coupled with an ACS approved chemistry program, provides a good recruitment tool for the Science and Allied Health department, while helping to train current students in the use of modern instrumentation needed for a competitive edge in the workforce and in graduate school. Further, faculty research capabilities are enhanced, leading to more valuable contributions by the faculty with its collaborative partners, both local and regional industries, as well as other academic departments located throughout Pennsylvania. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Gooden, Warren Adedoyin Adeyiga Cheyney University of Pennsylvania PA Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149512 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811638 October 1, 2008 Enabling Tomorrow's Research Scientists--The Next Level. Tougaloo College, a small HBCU in Mississippi, through the HBCU-UP progam, will implement activities aimed at the following objectives: 1) to improve retention in gate-keeping courses in biology, chemistry and mathematics; 2) to strengthen STEM curricula through incorporation of new pedagogic approaches aimed at promoting a greater depth of knowledge of STEM; 3) to promote more faculty and student research in the sciences with the aim at increasing student enrollment in graduate and professional schools in STEM; and Supplemental Instruction (SI), based on the classic SI model, will be implemented in gatekeeper courses as a retention strategy. This activity builds on work done during the Tougaloo?s first five year HBCU-UP project. Other retention activities will include attention to co-curricular STEM activities, including support of STEM clubs on campus, and the development of a new one-credit freshman course for STEM majors. New pedagogy based on NSF funded Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) will be implemented in various courses, beginning with chemistry. In addition to the focus on gatekeeper courses, the curriculum development will include the use of web-based laboratories and development of new upper level courses to prepare students use of current scientific tools. Some courses proposed will incorporate informatics (including data mining tools), nano chemistry and biology, and in-silico biology and drug discovery. Activities aimed at recruitment, as well as ensuring better preparation of incoming students, are the summer pre-matriculation program that will impact 40 high school students per year, and coordinating with surrounding secondary schools to offer Physics. Tougaloo College is among US top 20 producers of female, undergraduate physics majors. The proposal points to an acute shortage of persons qualified to teach physics in the surrounding schools. In order to address this, the Tougaloo physics department will direct the offering of physics for high school students, which will be taught on weekends and evenings. Faculty and student research will be supported both on campus through the availability of faculty research grants, and off campus through collaborations with other institutions and laboratories. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Turay, Abdul Richard McGinnis Tougaloo College MS Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 1476295 1594 SMET 9178 9177 9150 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811728 September 15, 2008 Examining the Impact of Online Distance Education on Student Learning and Student Engagement in STEM Disciplines at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Intellectual Merit Utilizing a mixed methods research design, the purpose of this educational research project is to increase the general knowledge base regarding the impact of online distance education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines on student learning experiences and outcomes at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Thus, a quantitative study will be designed to collect data on students? learning styles, academic outcomes, and learning experiences in online and traditional STEM courses. To accomplish this goal, a survey will be distributed to a representative sample of undergraduate students enrolled in online distance education courses in the STEM disciplines and to those undergraduate students enrolled in traditional STEM courses at HBCUs. Quantitative data will then be analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques and multivariate analyses. To obtain more in-depth data, a qualitative research design will be utilized to examine similarities and differences in learning styles, academic outcomes, and learning experiences of undergraduate students enrolled in online distance education courses in the STEM disciplines and those students enrolled in traditional STEM courses at HBCUs. To achieve this aim, individual and group interviews will be conducted with undergraduate students enrolled in online STEM courses and those enrolled in traditional STEM courses. Further, all interviews (both individual and group) will be audio taped and transcribed, and this qualitative data will be analyzed utilizing the grounded theory approach. Including both a quantitative and qualitative component, this research project will provide valuable information regarding the extent to which online courses in the STEM disciplines enhance student learning and academic engagement. Moreover, this educational research project is designed to identify student-centered pedagogical strategies that enhance students? online learning experiences, complement students' learning styles, and provide students with a foundational knowledge of STEM course content. Broader Impacts The broader impacts of this education research project include the enhancement of online distance education courses and traditional courses in the STEM disciplines at HBCUs and other colleges and universities across the nation, particularly with underrepresented student populations (e.g., African Americans, Hispanic Americans, etc.). Given the fact that limited research exists exploring the effectiveness of online distance education in the STEM fields at HBCUs, the goals of this research project are noteworthy due to recent data that demonstrates an increase in online distance education courses in the STEM fields at colleges and universities. This novel research study will provide critical data that will lead to curriculum enhancements in online and traditional STEM courses at HBCUs. Moreover, the mixed methods research design that will be employed in this study will serve as a future research model that can be replicated to investigate complex factors that impact the effectiveness of online and traditional courses in STEM disciplines at HBCUs and other academic institutions around the country. Thus, STEM professors from the nation?s colleges and universities can use the study?s design and findings as a benchmark to conduct similar studies and validate data from their research exploring the impact of online distance education in the STEM disciplines. Furthermore, the dissemination strategy that will be employed is designed to inform STEM faculty and educational researchers of the study?s results and their implications for practice and future research regarding online instruction in STEM disciplines at HBCUs. Notably, the data collected from this mixed methods research study will yield scholarly publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at national meetings and conferences that will further expand the knowledge base, enhance pedagogical practices, and improve the design, delivery, evaluation, and quality of online distance education in the STEM disciplines at HBCUs and other colleges and universities in the nation. Further, a website will be created to serve as an online repository for HBCUs, regarding distance education. Such an approach will serve as a resource for other HBCUs, and it will ensure that such universities and colleges have access to cutting-edge research and ?best practices? on distance education in STEM fields. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Flowers, Lawrence James Moore III Lamont Flowers Fayetteville State University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 499981 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0811744 September 15, 2008 Targeted Infusion Grant: Computational Sciences and Robotics Education at North Carolina Central University. ABSTRACT HRD 0811744 This project, based at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), is developing a Robotics concentration within an interdisciplinary program in Computational Sciences. Four courses are being developed in this concentration, one of which will serve as an introductory course designed to motivate students about computer science and engineering. Students enrolled in the Early College High School at NCCU are able to enroll in this course. In addition we are conducting summer workshops in Robotics for area high schools. In conjunction with faculty from the STEM disciplines, students have opportunities undertake research projects in areas of Computational Science. The program at NCCU will accomplish three objectives: (i) it will establish a computational science program grounded in research to influence undergraduates, minorities in particular, to consider graduate education in mathematics, computer science and engineering; (ii) it will establish a pipeline of students into graduate education at outstanding research universities, located in the area and beyond; (iii) it will enable the training of students who appreciate the problems inherent in these disciplines and who can contribute to the future of these areas. The program is creating long-term interdisciplinary training in the Computational Sciences, as well as collaborative projects and curriculum development. The STEM departments at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) are committed to increasing the opportunities for underrepresented minorities in the sciences. We seek to broaden participation in new degree programs and concentrations through revision of curricula and development of new courses. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Tokuta, Alade R Uma Guodong Guo North Carolina Central University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 148930 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811750 September 15, 2008 Targeted Infusion Grant: Infusing Computer Engineering Tools (CAx) into Engineering Design Sequence Curricula. [HRD 0811750] Prairie View A&M University is infusing modern computational engineering tools (CAx) across and throughout their design curricula in the Mechanical Engineering Dept. The goal is being achieved through the development of self-learning tutorials and modules, and through introducing closed-form and open-ended projects to reinforce the teaching of engineering fundamentals. The CAx tools are systematically integrated in the engineering design courses through freshman to senior. CAx tools, including Unigraphics NX5, MSC. ADAMS, ANSYS, and Altair.Hyperworks, are being adopted in order to train students in engineering design and to analyze engineering problems. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Zhou, Jianren Shield Lin Xiaobo Peng Prairie View A & M University TX Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 150001 1594 SMET 9178 1594 0811773 January 1, 2009 Targeted Infusion Grant: Development of an Experimental Psychology Teaching & Research Laboratory at Tennessee State University. [HRD 0811773] The Tennessee State University (TSU) is working to enhance the experimental psychology curriculum and increases mentored research opportunities for undergraduate students. This HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project supports further development of the TSU state-of-the-art Experimental Psychology Teaching and Research Laboratory. Unpublished institutional data from recent TSU alumni (1999-2005) reveal no graduates applied to graduate programs in experimental psychology. Standardized tests administered by the University show that mastery of experimental subfields of psychology (e.g., cognitive, sensation and physiology, developmental) is weaker than clinical subfields. This pattern contributes to the under-representation of minorities in experimental psychology and in Psychology Departments in academia. This under-representation leads to a paucity of human subjects? research using African American participants or examining issues particularly relevant to African Americans (e.g., stereotype threat). Development of the Experimental Psychology Teaching and Research Laboratory modernizes and elevates the Psychology Department?s curriculum by providing students enrolled in new and reinstated experimental courses with experiential learning opportunities. Through coursework and research experiences in the Lab, students gain experience using professional grade instruments and methodologies including a neuro-imaging tool (EEG), instruments that objectively measure sleep quality, standardized tests of brain functioning, observation equipment for conducting social psychology research, and various software programs (e.g., E-prime) for conducting original psychological research. Consequently, students show greater mastery of experimental psychology subfields as measured by a standardized test, increased interest in pursuing careers in experimental psychology as measured by a survey, and greater enrollment in rigorous experimental courses. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES PERCEPTION, ACTION & COGNITION HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Guthrie, Linda Kiesa Kelly Tennessee State University TN Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 148555 9150 7252 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811807 September 15, 2008 TIG: Establishment of New Electrical Engineering Program at Jackson State University. Abstract HRD 0811807 The overall goal of this project, which is based at Jackson State University (JSU), is to increase enrollment of minority students in engineering to contribute to the NSF HBCU-UP target of increasing the number of minority students in STEM education. The focus of this project is, therefore, to establish a new undergraduate Electrical Engineering program at JSU, in an effort to attract more minority students in STEM education. An initial curriculum for the new Electrical Engineering program has already been developed by the JSU Department of Computer Engineering. The project has four very specific objectives to implement the curriculum in order to attain its goal. The objectives of the project are: development of new courses and have them approved by University committees, design of experiments for new laboratories, acquisition of laboratory equipment, and teaching the five new courses in Spring 2009. Jackson State University has an active NSF-HBCU-UP supported implementation project to establish several new programs including an Electrical Engineering program. Our new project complements the overall goals of the ongoing implementation project at JSU. The Department of Computer Engineering is part of the newly established School of Engineering at Jackson State University (JSU). The University is committed to engineering education and is constructing, at a cost of over $22 million, Phase I (90,000 square feet) of a new building for the School of Engineering, with a completion date of July 2008. Starting with modest beginning in the year 2000, the Department has shown remarkable growth in the last few years and now has 11 faculty members. The Department offers two undergraduate programs: Computer Engineering and Telecommunications Engineering. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Manzoul, Mahmoud William Blair Kamal Ali Khalid Abed Jackson State University MS Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 140611 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0811826 September 1, 2008 Langston's Integrated Network College Featuring The STEM Digital Village (LINC, Phase II). Langston's Integrated Network College (LINC) is a five year, HBCU-UP implementation project aimed at creating a 21st century Digital Village. The overall goals of the project are to 1) increase the number of underserved students who enter college, receive undergraduate and advanced degrees in STEM disciplines, and choose STEM careers and 2) expand the diversity of participants in the Langston University STEM program. The LINC project aims to realize the goals through the implementation of the following activities: 1. Institution of a STEM Digital Village that will support recruitment and retention through the dissemination of information, tracking of Langston's STEM students, and supporting collaboration through dialog; 2. Use of Competency Performance Recordings for Learning (CPR-L) which involves learning by teaching methods where students create recording of themselves doing problems utilizing tablet PCs, forcing students toward solitude and focus, and producing a Competence Performance recording of the students grasp of the subject matter; 3. Implementation of a summer bridge program, aimed at incoming freshmen, with an emphasis on Chemistry, Biology and Calculus; 4. Implementation of developmental internships and master tutors, lab assistants and research internships aimed at undergraduate STEM majors; 5. Implementation of online tutorial program. A cornerstone of the project, the STEM Digital Village, is an online community designed to support retention by creating a vehicle that encourages on-demand dialog between cohorts, or between cohorts and STEM graduates, among other things. The Village will assist in tracking students post graduation through the use of their expertise as mentors for current Langston students. The Digital Village will also be a conduit for the dissemination of information and findings related to the program. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Coleman, John Langston University OK Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 1021000 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 7204 1594 0116000 Human Subjects 0819407 September 15, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: On Ramps into Academia. Strategic interventions are needed to achieve gender parity in the faculty ranks of science and engineering disciplines. Wooing women faculty in STEM from one university to another is, nationally, a zero-sum game. Instead of recruiting women away from other universities, there is a mostly-untapped pool of Ph.D.-level women scientists and engineers in industry and research laboratories. Many are very accomplished at their research, which is the primary figure of merit for success at Research-Extensive universities. With the proper mix of information, networking, and support, they could become very successful professors. The goal of this project is to increase the pool of women faculty available to all universities by providing professional development to Ph.D.-level women in industry or research laboratories. In particular, we will host a two-day workshop each year over a three-year period to provide practical tools and support to women who are interested in making the transition to academia. We will specifically target women who are a minimum of three-four years past their Ph.D. and/or postdoctoral position. The attendees and speakers will form a community who can support each other during the job application period, the interview process, the startup negotiations, and the first years in academia. In summary, the project will develop "On Ramps into Academia." Intellectual Merit: It is of great interest to determine the challenges, skills, and resources needed for people to successfully make the transition from industry or national laboratories to academia. The assessment plan, which is strongly directed at outcomes evaluation, will help identify concrete best practices to encourage women into faculty pathways. By providing the necessary skills and advice to help women make successful transitions from industry to academia, UW ADVANCE will help develop a third pathway into academia, in addition to the current practices of hiring new Ph.D.s and postdoctoral fellows and hiring women away from other universities. This third pathway into academia is an original approach to recruitment and a creative way to expand the pool of women faculty in STEM. Broader Impacts: This project will expand the national pool of women faculty in STEM disciplines. Even a small increase of STEM women faculty can improve the image of the disciplines and encourage more women to pursue them. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Riskin, Eve Suzanne Brainard Matthew O'Donnell Joyce Yen Ana Mari Cauce University of Washington WA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 569002 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0819993 August 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Resources for Recruitment & Retention (RRR) of Women Faculty in STEM Fields at U. Delaware. The goal of this ADVANCE PAID project is to transform the culture for women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at the University of Delaware by educating STEM faculty and administrators in best practices for the recruitment and retention of women faculty. Building on successful ADVANCE programs at the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin, this goal will be achieved by (1) developing a cohort of faculty to prepare and lead workshops for STEM faculty and administrators on recruitment best practices and "mentoring the mentors"; implementing an ongoing mentoring and educational process for tenured faculty by creating a faculty working group, thereby increasing ensuring that the workshops and training are relevant, accepted, continuing, institutionalized, and transferrable; and (3) establishing a cohort of faculty leaders and administrators with awareness and understanding of how gender schemas and bias, unconscious marginalization, and the accumulation of disadvantage negatively affect women's careers. The workshops will be planned by a gender-balanced group of prominent faculty members, and plans are in place to enable the program to be institutionalized and continued beyond the grant period. UD has documented strong institutional support through the commitment of human and financial resources. The PIs on the program include the deans of both colleges involved in the STEM recruitment and mentoring efforts. In addition, strong support has been expressed by the Provost, the Vice Provost, and STEM chairs. The Evaluation and Assessment Center for Mathematics and Science Education in Ohio will serve as the external evaluator for the project. Broader Impacts The work under this project will spread best practices from the College of Engineering at UD to the College of Arts and Sciences natural sciences and ultimately throughout the University. Additionally, as an ADVANCE PAID project, one aspect of this work is to broaden the impact of work carried out at other ADVANCE institutions through its adaptation to and dissemination throughout another institution. The University of Delaware is a smaller institution than the universities of Michigan and Wisconsin, so our use and modification of their ADVANCE materials may highlight different issues that impact female faculty at a research institution with a strong history of promoting undergraduate research while maintaining externally funded research programs. Intellectual Merit This project will educate a STEM-based faculty and administration on concrete research results regarding unconscious biases held by both men and women; on the effect of these gender schemas on our institutional polices, recruitment, and retention processes; and on the ways that these policies can be changed (especially recruitment methods and evaluative methods) to reduce the effect of these biases. It is critical that these biases, and their cumulative effects on women (and on other underrepresented groups), be recognized and formally addressed. The successful implementation of this program will result in excellence in hiring and in diverse perspectives brought to STEM research areas. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Chajes, Michael L. Pamela Cook-Ioannidis Kathryn Scantlebury Tom Apple University of Delaware DE Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 307936 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0819994 October 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaption,Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: From Postdoc to Faculty: Transition Issues for Women Scientists. The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) will adapt, implement and disseminate successful models and best practices employed by ADVANCE grant recipients and others to assist women scientists to advance in academia. This project will focus adaptation in two areas: 1) translating efforts targeted at current women faculty to women training to become faculty, i.e., postdocs; and 2) translating professional development efforts targeted at the general postdoctoral population to address the unique needs of women during the postdoctoral training period. The primary purpose of these translational efforts will be to assist women in making a successful transition from the postdoctoral training period to the ranks of tenure track faculty. Major project components include: - Conducting a review of all institutional efforts made by ADVANCE recipients to address these issues, using a survey and targeted follow-up; - Convening a focus group of ADVANCE postdoctoral fellows to determine whether the fellowship helped them to obtain a faculty position; - Organizing a National Summit on Gender and the Postdoctorate; - Providing on-going technical assistance to summit participants and others who wish to implement programs for postdocs at their institutions; - Preparing and disseminating a compendium report of models and recommended practices for helping women make a successful transition from postdoc to faculty; - Evaluation of the project?s short-term effectiveness in: raising awareness, serving as a catalyst for action, and helping summit participants increase the number of women faculty hired from the ranks of the postdoctorate. Intellectual Merit Statement: The project activities will enhance the knowledge and understanding of the science and engineering communities regarding factors that contribute to a successful transition from postdoctoral scholar to tenure-track faculty member among women. The research will create a new base of information regarding effective strategies and promising practices for promoting a successful transition that enables women to advance from postdoc to faculty appointments and ultimately gain tenure or equivalent status. Broader Impact Statement: The project activities will broadly impact women with PhDs in science and engineering fields who seek to make a successful transition from postdoctoral training to a faculty appointment during the three-year duration of the project. It will also broadly impact academic administrators involved with postdoctoral training and the advancement of women in science and engineering faculty posts. More broadly, the activities will impact future generations of those considering a faculty career in science and engineering, by facilitating the creation and maintenance of training and transition mechanisms that help women to advance from postdoctoral appointments into faculty positions. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Johnson-Phillips, Cathee National Postdoctoral Association DC Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 520745 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820013 August 15, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Developing Diverse Departments (3-D) at NC State. "Developing Diverse Departments (3-D) at NC State" is designed to adopt/adapt a companion set of ADVANCE initiatives in order to address implicit biases and rarely articulated cultural stereotypes held within the university. Project goals are: (1) to increase the number of women and faculty of color in the professoriate, (2) to create a climate that promotes the success of all faculty, and (3) to eliminate factors that elevate women's and ethnic minorities' risk of leaving NCSU faculty positions. The project is organized into two arms. The first arm will increase the number of deans, center directors, and department heads who are actively and effectively creating conditions within their units that are favorable for advancing women and faculty of color. The second arm will increase the number of female and faculty of color who are emerging as academic leaders. Each arm will be linked to a core faculty group, called Advance Scholars, who have committed to becoming knowledgeable and effective change agents within college and university culture. Small and large workshops will bring together the project participants to share insights via informal and formal discussions and presentations. In overview, the project involves ever-widening circles of influence strategically designed to transfer knowledge about bias and stereotypes, through change agents, into communities of current and emerging academic leaders. 3-D at NC State thus condenses insights about the persuasiveness of respected colleagues in peer education regarding biases and stereotypes (from the University of Michigan's STRIDE program), the need to encourage change agents among faculty (from the organizing principles of the University of Washington's ADVANCE Program in the Center for Institutional Change), the importance of departmental climates in faculty satisfaction (from the University of Wisconsin-Madison WISELI's Climate Workshops for Department Chairs initiative), the value of identifying highly visible advocates for equity (from Georgia Tech's ADVANCE Professors Network initiative), and the critical importance of leadership training about diversity (from a wide selection of ADVANCE efforts across the nation). The project was developed in response to a Provost-appointed taskforce that undertook a year-long and institution-wide data collection and analysis initiative. With a projected hiring surge on the horizon, NC State is uniquely positioned to become a model for building a diverse and dynamic professoriate that is knowledgeable about, and willing to confront, biases and stereotypes in hiring, promotion, tenure, and leadership decision-making. The intellectual merit of the project rests on the ability and expertise of the principal investigators to test the theory that a "diffusion" of information about social biases and stereotypes into the professoriate will improve five key indicators: (1) the rate of hiring of women faculty and faculty of color, (2) the percentage of faculty of color and women among the professoriate and academic leadership, (3) the disproportionate risk of junior faculty women leaving before a tenure decision, (4) the level of employment satisfaction among faculty of color, and (5) the relationship between the number of women hired and perceived quality of newly hired faculty. We have baseline data on each of these indicators. The broader impacts of the project rest on our distillation of a model subset of initiatives from the riches of the ADVANCE effort, for application in university settings where institutional support for diversity initiatives outpaces attitudes in the faculty ranks. Changes in institutional policies and procedures are necessary but may not be sufficient to provoke a fully realized cultural shift in university culture, where faculty members play an active role in on-the-ground hiring and promotion decisions. 3-D at NC State is uniquely located, in time, place, and expertise, to examine how the lifeblood of the university, i.e. education, can spark a shift in attitudes among educators themselves, toward an inclusive and diverse academic community. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Nielsen, Larry Daniel Solomon Margaret Daub Mary Wyer Marcia Gumpertz North Carolina State University NC Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 495983 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820032 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Collaborative Research - SUN: Supporting Women Faculty in STEM at Liberal Arts Colleges. This project is a collaboration of Skidmore College and Union College, two small, selective liberal arts colleges located in close proximity in upstate New York, to enhance the recruitment and retention of women in the STEM disciplines and to promote their advancement through rank. The multifaceted program uses and adapts exemplary tools from NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation programs at large research institutions to the climate and conditions at Skidmore and Union Colleges and more broadly contributes to the adaptation, translation, development and expansion of these resources to predominately undergraduate liberal arts colleges in general. Intellectual merit. The adaptation of exemplary tools from large research institutions to Skidmore College and Union College, where the relative importance of teaching, scholarship, and service is quite different from research universities, will provide valuable models and resources for the NSF ADVANCE "Best Practices" portfolio. It should be noted that Skidmore and Union differ from one another in significant ways: Skidmore, co-educational since 1971, was originally a women's college that traditionally emphasized arts and humanities. Over the course of the past decade, it has been successful in increasing the role of the STEM disciplines in its curriculum. Union is a formerly all-male college, also coeducational since 1970, that historically has had a strong academic science and engineering orientation -- approximately 40% of its students major in the lab sciences and engineering. Thus, the two institutions bring different experiences and strengths to the project, and tools developed for this project are expected to have broad applicability to a wide variety of liberal arts institutions. The project targets women faculty in the STEM disciplines at two specific career stages: tenure-track women and tenured associate professors who have been at that rank for seven or more years. A central goal is to provide these women with the resources and support to move up in rank from assistant to tenured associate professor or from associate to full professor. In addition, we seek to understand local climate issues that affect hiring, faculty development, and promotion of women and create environments that will result in a more balanced gender ratio in STEM disciplines at our institutions. The project comprises two types of activities: (1) activities aimed at recognizing and combating gender bias in the STEM disciplines, including climate surveys, training workshops for hiring and promotion, public events to raise awareness across campus and educational activities to reduce undergraduate bias; and (2) activities providing STEM faculty with mentoring and development opportunities to help them advance their careers, including: the creation of a cross-institutional mentoring network of women in the STEM disciplines and support for research, advanced education and teaching load modification. The activities in this project will be adapted from exemplary practices currently in use at other ADVANCE institutions, such as Virginia Tech, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Michigan. They will be overseen by a Skidmore-Union Network (SUN) Committee of STEM faculty that is modeled after a successful ADVANCE program at the University of Michigan. A website will be developed to help participating women learn about all the programs that are offered, and also to facilitate finding potential collaborators and mentors. Broader impacts. This project is designed to build a sustainable partnership between two highly regarded liberal arts colleges for the enhancement, recruitment, retention and advancement of women in the STEM disciplines and to broadly disseminate the models and resources developed under this grant to other liberal arts schools. It contains activities and tools to strengthen the teaching and scholarship of women faculty in the STEM disciplines, through the development of web-based resources that are accessible to a wide range of schools and their faculty, and by the dissemination of its practices and findings to other liberal arts colleges seeking to advance the careers of their women faculty. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Johnson, Brenda Barbara Danowski Kristin Fox Suthathip Yaisawarng Cay Anderson-Hanley Union College NY Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 216108 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820057 August 15, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Data Tools for Institutional Transformation: Collaboration, Synthesis, and Dissemination. The Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) will partner with the American Institute of Physics (AIP) to: 1) Produce four white papers reporting research findings from existing national data sources about career paths of women, especially women of color with doctoral degrees to be disseminated widely; and 2) Convene a national conference revisiting the important report titled "The Double Bind: The Price of Being a Minority Woman in Science" (Malcom, Hall and Brown 1975). Intellectual Merit Nationally-available datasets like the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, the Survey of Earned Doctorates, the Survey of Doctorate Recipients and the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Analysis System (SESTAT) have not been sufficiently mined, yet these can provide larger-level comparator information. Intellectually, the proposed project will involve careful work with existing data that conforms to the highest standards of social science research with the proposed white papers subjected to scrutiny by a panel of experts (publications review board). Broader Impacts The relatively small numbers of women of color combined with their dispersion across fields and institutions have posed challenges to ADVANCE efforts to date. By engaging in careful research on information from STEM disciplinary societies and large, nationally-representative datasets, the project will go far in describing the academic lives of women of color in comparison to men of color, non-minority women, and non-minority men. These datasets are available at multiple times therefore the project will document trends for these groups to determine the extent and direction of change over the past thirty years. Extensive dissemination is planned via multiple contexts which will ensure that the information is distributed to key audiences. Meetings, workshops, national conferences, and a targeted conference in the project's final year along with the well-established CPST and AIP websites and the ADVANCE portal will be used to access varied audiences with the results of the work. ADVANCE-PAID INTERNATIONAL PLAN & WORKSHOPS HRD EHR Frehill, Lisa Rachel Ivie Commission on Professionals in Science & Technology DC Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 377679 7568 7299 OTHR 7568 5978 5921 0000 0820080 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Collaborative Research - SUN: Supporting Women Faculty in STEM at Liberal Arts Colleges. This project is a collaboration of Skidmore College and Union College, two small, selective liberal arts colleges located in close proximity in upstate New York, to enhance the recruitment and retention of women in the STEM disciplines and to promote their advancement through rank. The multifaceted program uses and adapts exemplary tools from NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation programs at large research institutions to the climate and conditions at Skidmore and Union Colleges and more broadly contributes to the adaptation, translation, development and expansion of these resources to predominately undergraduate liberal arts colleges in general. Intellectual merit. The adaptation of exemplary tools from large research institutions to Skidmore College and Union College, where the relative importance of teaching, scholarship, and service is quite different from research universities, will provide valuable models and resources for the NSF ADVANCE "Best Practices" portfolio. It should be noted that Skidmore and Union differ from one another in significant ways: Skidmore, co-educational since 1971, was originally a women's college that traditionally emphasized arts and humanities. Over the course of the past decade, it has been successful in increasing the role of the STEM disciplines in its curriculum. Union is a formerly all-male college, also coeducational since 1970, that historically has had a strong academic science and engineering orientation -- approximately 40% of its students major in the lab sciences and engineering. Thus, the two institutions bring different experiences and strengths to the project, and tools developed for this project are expected to have broad applicability to a wide variety of liberal arts institutions. The project targets women faculty in the STEM disciplines at two specific career stages: tenure-track women and tenured associate professors who have been at that rank for seven or more years. A central goal is to provide these women with the resources and support to move up in rank from assistant to tenured associate professor or from associate to full professor. In addition, we seek to understand local climate issues that affect hiring, faculty development, and promotion of women and create environments that will result in a more balanced gender ratio in STEM disciplines at our institutions. The project comprises two types of activities: (1) activities aimed at recognizing and combating gender bias in the STEM disciplines, including climate surveys, training workshops for hiring and promotion, public events to raise awareness across campus and educational activities to reduce undergraduate bias; and (2) activities providing STEM faculty with mentoring and development opportunities to help them advance their careers, including: the creation of a cross-institutional mentoring network of women in the STEM disciplines and support for research, advanced education and teaching load modification. The activities in this project will be adapted from exemplary practices currently in use at other ADVANCE institutions, such as Virginia Tech, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Michigan. They will be overseen by a Skidmore-Union Network (SUN) Committee of STEM faculty that is modeled after a successful ADVANCE program at the University of Michigan. A website will be developed to help participating women learn about all the programs that are offered, and also to facilitate finding potential collaborators and mentors. Broader impacts. This project is designed to build a sustainable partnership between two highly regarded liberal arts colleges for the enhancement, recruitment, retention and advancement of women in the STEM disciplines and to broadly disseminate the models and resources developed under this grant to other liberal arts schools. It contains activities and tools to strengthen the teaching and scholarship of women faculty in the STEM disciplines, through the development of web-based resources that are accessible to a wide range of schools and their faculty, and by the dissemination of its practices and findings to other liberal arts colleges seeking to advance the careers of their women faculty. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Dean, Alice Muriel Poston Holley Hodgins Caroline D'Abate Monica Raveret Richter Skidmore College NY Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 283889 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820083 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Changing the Face of Michigan Tech. The single most important process that shapes the future of a university is the selection of new tenure track faculty. When an institution aspires to the principles of excellence, innovation and diversity, these must be actively used to guide the hiring and subsequent tenure decisions. Traditional patterns of reliance on "expert opinion" in the evaluation of candidates tend to perpetuate the existing faculty composition, and when that is occurring at a STEM-intensive institution, such as Michigan Tech, there is a risk of stasis. Several federal employment regulations explicitly encourage the consideration of women and minorities in job searches. In some States, however, search committees cannot favor particular groups. The key to improving diversity is, we believe, to increase the qualified applicant pool, and ensure all eligible candidates are given proper and timely consideration. It is also important, given the rising cost of supporting new faculty, to provide strong and effective mentoring not only to the point of tenure, but through the process of advancement through the ranks to senior faculty positions and institutional administration. We believe that application of these principles and support structures for all candidates will be to the great benefit of the institution, and especially to women faculty. Intellectual Merit: Inclusion of a doctoral student will ensure that the results of the project's initiatives will be reported in the literature, with the opportunity to share best practices with other universities, particularly those with strong STEM emphasis. The project participants will collaborate with the graduate student on professional publications and presentations. Proper data-based analyses of the results of new and past initiatives provide an important opportunity to identify strategies and tactics that bring more women into the STEM faculty ranks. Aspects of the student's study will include: comparisons between male and female faculty in terms of climate perception and climate experience, levels of startup and salary, rate of progress through the ranks, productivity, and research income. It will also allow evaluation of the benefits of mentoring through comparisons "before and after" the introduction of widespread mentoring. The cluster hiring outcomes will be compared with those from traditional departmentally-based processes, and the composition of the applicant pool, short list and final candidate will be compared with historic patterns that resulted from previous departmental hiring processes. Broader Impacts: The project will have a magnified effect and opportunity to increase the number of women in STEM, because of the fact that most of the new hires we will be making over the next decade will be in the STEM disciplines. There is therefore an opportunity to make a considerable impact as these will represent a 62% turnover in the faculty complement. The project investigators include several senior women in STEM disciplines who have considerable background in disciplinary research and university administration. All are personally and professionally committed to promoting an increase in the presence and impact of women on campus. This ADVANCE grant will structure the education of our 300-plus colleagues about the value of open processes and accountability in the evaluation of candidates. It will also provide a framework of institutional accountability for search committees and their chairs, departments and their chairs, Deans, and the Provost that will provide transferable best practices that can be adopted elsewhere. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Michalek, Donna William Predebon Margaret Gale Chris Anderson Michigan Technological University MI Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 499496 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820128 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: SEEDS at the University of Miami. The University of Miami's SEEDS (Scientists and Engineers Expanding Diversity and Success) initiative has two main objectives: 1) to implement innovative and proven programs for faculty recruitment and retention and 2) to use these to leverage a larger institutional commitment that will assure continuity and permanence of institutional change. UM is establishing a University-level SEEDS office as a focus for diversity programs across all three UM campuses, establishing a Best Practices Committee to assess equity in policies, funding an Interactive Theatre initiative to help educate academic populations in diversity issues, and sponsoring a comprehensive climate survey to identify gender and ethnicity issues at UM. The SEEDS office will orchestrate initiatives, develop a comprehensive website and work with the Best Practices Committee to educate departments, department chairs and search committees on diversity issues, efforts funded by UM. NSF funding will support seven programs, including five based on proven programs: SEEDS Networking, Senior Scholar Lectureships, Career Workshops, "You Choose" Leadership Opportunities and Mentoring Across Differences, and two novel programs: "Early Career Research Conferences" and "Working From Within For Departmental Transformation". These strategies draw from an extensive literature on gender and race equity in science and engineering to effectively recruit women and underrepresented minorities actively. Taken together, these programs and activities capitalize on a critical period of faculty replacement and expansion at UM, when catalyzing recruitment and retention initiatives can significantly increase faculty diversity. The opportunity is substantial: UM now has 302 SEM faculty and anticipates more than 100 tenure-track SEM faculty searches in the next five years. UM is located in Miami, the gateway to the Americas, where the Hispanic success story is palpable at every turn, and where our undergraduates are 27% Hispanic and 10% African-American. However, our Science, Engineering and Mathematics faculty has only 5% underrepresented minorities. We thus have a substantial eagerness for recruiting and retaining women of color. Because Miami is particularly attractive for Hispanic peoples and since several of our research fields have a strong pipeline representation of Hispanic women, we expect a good measure of success in our efforts to learn about, celebrate, promote, recruit and retain Hispanic women. Intellectual merit: SEEDS innovatively combines a focus on underrepresented minorities with proven and novel programs to both broadly engage an entire university community, and focally transform target departments. Novel "Early Career Research Conferences" showcase young women and underrepresented minority scientists in cutting edge research conferences, thereby directly promoting their careers and highlighting them for local and national searches. A novel "Working from Within" program combines an initiative to educate department chairs with an administrative advocacy and financial support of selected women faculty leaders who are armed with a "Transformational Toolkit" to remedy specific concerns within their own departments. Broader impact: SEEDS will alleviate isolation, foster career development, educate the academic community and infuse changes in hiring and promotion institution-wide with a high probability of improved climate as well as increased hiring and retention of women and underrepresented scientists during a critical period of faculty expansion. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Tosney, Kathryn Otis Brown Jacqueline Dixon James Tien Pascal Goldschmidt-Clermont University of Miami FL Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 543441 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820175 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: WIN: Women in Networks, Building Community and Gaining Voice. This project is designed to increase the work satisfaction, retention, and advancement of women faculty in science and engineering at Boston University through enhancing women's networks, and to analyze the ways in which network-building can contribute to women's satisfaction and success in academic science and engineering. Programs adapted from ADVANCE schools and some developed at BU will be implemented to build strong and functional networks for women faculty. Programs will include pre-tenure mentoring, lunches with leaders, inter-university and industry interactions, re-start-up grants to reinvigorate the networks of female faculty in STEM disciplines, and catalyst grants to support new collaborative research ventures. To evaluate the effectiveness of these programs in fostering strong networks for women, male and female faculty will be surveyed at the beginning of the grant period and at its end about the individuals in their networks who provide them with important resources such as professional advice. Respondents also will be asked how they met individuals in their networks. Comparing responses from the first and the final survey we will learn about the ways in which academic networks grow and change over time. Finally, we will examine whether participation in ADVANCE programs is associated with changes in women's networks over time and whether characteristics of networks are associated with work satisfaction and productivity and with benchmarks such as promotion. Intellectual merit: The innovative aspect of this work is its systematic approach to building and analyzing social networks to improve the career success and satisfaction of women faculty. Many of the networking and mentoring programs developed through ADVANCE projects are explicitly designed to enhance women's networks, and thus their access to critical information, influence, recognition, and collaborative opportunities, but few programs track changes in women's networks over time to assess the role of such programs in enhancing women's networks or monitor the association between changes in characteristics of women's networks and the career success and satisfaction of women faculty. The data from our prospective, longitudinal study will identify links between our ADVANCE programs and changes over time in women's networks, satisfaction, and career success. Broader impacts: Greater understanding about ways to overcome network limitations and enhance networks should help to increase the retention of women faculty in STEM disciplines and may well generalize to other groups such as women graduate students. Research findings about the implications of network characteristics may also generalize to non-academic work places and to other academic disciplines. The network analysis tools developed as part of the WIN project will be made available for use by other institutions. This work will also fund 20+ new collaborative research projects in a broad range of STEM fields, launching new research in science and engineering spearheaded by women. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Belle, Deborah Sheryl Grace Trustees of Boston University MA Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 742702 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820202 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: NYU. This new program will develop into an integral component of NYU's campus-wide diversity initiative, and will also play a central role in the university's transformation into a leading institution promoting the advancement of women and minorities in all areas of academic endeavor. The initial focus will be on the promotion and enhancement of the careers of women science faculty, but the program is designed also to serve as a springboard for acceleration and solidification of NYU's progress towards an excellent and diverse faculty. The NYU ADVANCE-PAID program is guided by two goals: 1) transformation of the institutional climate at NYU through programs that facilitate the recruitment and advancement of women in science, and 2) promotion of diversity studies at NYU and other institutions. Programs to achieve these goals include institutionalizing mentoring, development training, and assessment; providing greater access to and opportunities for networking and visibility; creating a family support initiative to aid in fieldwork and travel; providing recruitment training and incentives; and creating research challenge grants. Design of the programs is informed both by the literature and by NYU's specific needs. Intellectual merit. By bringing together national scholarship on diversity with NYU's internal studies and data collection, the programs are designed to replace impediments to women's progress in academic science with a climate that provides greater support and that facilitates advancement at all levels. The project supports diversity research in targeted areas, particularly those that study effectiveness of newer programs. Conferences and symposia on a variety of topics will disseminate new knowledge gained through these and related studies. Broader impacts. As a prominent university, NYU's progress towards a more equitable and diverse institution will have significant effects on the advancement of women within universities and in their respective academic disciplines. Greater numbers of women faculty with increased job satisfaction can have a multiplier effect, leading to increased numbers of women entering the sciences. Within the larger area, the PI and the ADVANCE-PAID Steering Committee will partner with neighboring institutions, beginning with Columbia University and Hunter College of the City of New York, to strengthen one another's programs through collaboration, coordination, and joint programs. For example, they will work together to organize and sponsor conferences to present a wide audience with new results and advances in diversity studies; will share best practices and lessons learned from their existing programs; and will consider exchanges of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to aid in recruitment and placement of women and underrepresented minorities. The program will be continuously evaluated and refined through internal data collection and assessment as well as periodic external review. It will provide a significant impetus to NYU, enabling it to achieve greater faculty excellence and become a stronger institution, in which both women and men thrive in a mutually supportive environment. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Stein, Daniel New York University NY Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 491160 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820212 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Revealing the Cumulative Effects of Subtle Gender Bias via Brief Workshop Activity. The purpose of this project is to adapt, implement, and disseminate a brief workshop activity for educating individuals about the sources and cumulative effects of subtle gender bias. The activity is designed to meet three core learning objectives, namely for participants to (1) recognize the negative impact of the accumulation of apparently minor biases and unfair practices on women's ability to advance in their field, (2) develop awareness that different gender-relevant factors may be more significant at one stage in work life than in others, and (3) recognize that patterns, not single incidents, are the most visible indicators of gender inequity. The activity is self-contained, takes about one hour to complete, and does not require special skills of the facilitator. Our primary target audience includes faculty peer decision makers (e.g., promotion and tenure committees), administrators, and other human resources staff with responsibilities relevant to recruitment, advancement, and retention of a diverse STEM faculty. The Penn State distributed campus structure offers a unique opportunity to adapt the workshop activity to and evaluate it in multiple settings: in a large Research 1 environment, in smaller rural and urban environments, and on campuses that offer a range of baccalaureate and graduate degrees, professional degrees, or technology degrees. The project entails adapting, implementing, and disseminating an interactive workshop activity for educating individuals about the power and patterns of subtle gender inequities in the workplace, especially those that can lead to decreased representation of women in academic STEM fields. There are three components. First, we will adapt a workshop activity that has been successfully used in graduate and undergraduate teaching to the STEM academic context. Second, we will implement it and evaluate its effectiveness in faculty leadership training in four distinct academic settings throughout Penn State: Major research campus (UP), predominantly graduate studies campus (Penn State-Harrisburg), four-year liberal arts college context (Penn State Erie-The Behrend College), and small enrollment regional campuses (UC system). Third, we will evaluate the workshop activity as a supplement to self-guided Web-based informational activities and as a stand-alone activity. Last, we will create and test a prototype web-based version. At each step we will also obtain evaluation data to guide further refinement of the workshop activity. Given expected results, we will proceed with dissemination of the product throughout the 24 Penn State campuses and through existing partnerships with other universities, and commence development of the web-based version. The intellectual merit of the adaptation, implementation, and dissemination of the workshop activity lies in its effectiveness as an innovative experiential method for teaching and learning about subtle gender bias in the STEM academic context. Workshop activity materials are based on solid empirical research and demographic data. The project builds on existing ADVANCE-IT products and creates an innovative intervention product that can be used in a variety of academic STEM contexts, especially those with limited resources. The project will have broader impact through its contribution to science education and potential benefit to society. Undergraduate and graduate research assistants will be involved in all phases of the project, assisting in preparation of materials, evaluation, and project dissemination. Through these activities and meetings of the project group, the work fosters training and learning as it advances discovery. In addition, recruitment of participants for evaluation studies will aim to attain a representative sample of from all ethnic and racial subgroups within the sites and STEM fields studied. Finally, results will be disseminated to the public. The project will also benefit society through its potential to be adapted for use in other settings such as human resources in which people need or want to learn about how substantial inequities can develop over time. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Shields, Stephanie Pennsylvania State Univ University Park PA Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 258518 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820214 January 1, 2009 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Collaborative Research - Atmospheric Science Collaborations and Enriching NeTworks (ASCENT). This project will create a discipline-specific, well-designed program focusing on women in atmospheric science/meteorology to create leaders for advancement. The emphasis during the proposed three-day Atmospheric Science Collaborations and Enriching Networks (ASCENT) summer workshop program and follow-up reunion events will be to initiate positive professional relationships, among female faculty of different ranks and postdoctoral researchers. These individuals will work in teams (each senior scientist will be paired with two junior scientists) and foster connections. Furthermore, while networking with like-minded women scientists, participants will have the opportunity to explore specific promising practices toward eliminating the "leaky pipeline," defined by the attrition of women at different stages in their academic careers. By fostering relationships among women faculty and researchers, ASCENT will demonstrate a commitment to developing research bases and improve the quality of collaborative atmospheric research conducted at multiple universities and colleges. ASCENT has been designed to achieve the following specific goals: 1) Ensure that junior women scientists know about and have access to resources and people who can help guide them through their career and life path. 2) Encourage positive mentorship and create mentoring opportunities. 3) Learn and teach others about primary obstacles for women in atmospheric sciences and meteorological fields, and develop or share communication tools to assist in navigating these obstacles. 4) Meet potential scientific collaborators at other institutions. In order to ensure success and longevity of the proposed workshop and collaborative experience, an extensive evaluation program will be implemented. The process will begin at the initial stage of workshop development; continue throughout duration of the workshop and past termination to determine long-term outcomes. Evaluation findings will be disseminated in professional forums, such as conferences or refereed journals. Throughout these workshops, the organizers will assemble knowledge on techniques and methodology to strength the participation of women within the fields of atmospheric science and meteorology. This information will be disseminated to this academic community via Eos and Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS). ASCENT will also produce a bi-annual electronic newsletter to provide summaries of "lessons learned" and current literature regarding the advancement of women in geoscience. This newsletter will be sent to all participants in the workshops, the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN) list serve, and other interested parties. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Thiry, Heather University of Colorado at Boulder CO Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 58571 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820240 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Gender Equity in STEM at Oklahoma State University. Oklahoma State University (OSU) proposes to adapt the MIZZOU ADVANCE mentoring plan in order to increase the retention and advancement of women in science and engineering. The long term goal of this is project is aimed at identifying and developing changes to university policies and practices to better serve and represent its changing academic workers in terms of gender and ethnicity. The goals of the program are to bring awareness of barriers to women?s and underrepresented groups? advancement across STEM fields. The data gathered in this effort will help to institutionalize positive changes at the university level and identify department-specific barriers in order to increase overall participation and advancement of women and minority faculty to senior and leadership ranks. Activities targeting the culture, practices and structures that impede advancement of women faculty can only be successful through the intervention of the faculty within STEM departments, who are best positioned to collaborate with university leadership to improve persistent organizational problems. Through its partnerships with regional institutions in Oklahoma, OSU plans to expand the network of institutions and individuals from other STEM underrepresented groups, such as African Americans and Native Americans, to equip them with knowledge in order to empower them to begin addressing the under representation of women in academic science and engineering. Project activities will include (1) Mentoring and networking programs that span STEM departments, including a two-tier mentoring program to enhance career development for women and for faculty of color; (2) University-wide programs and workshops aimed at increasing career flexibility and culturally sensitive interventions; (3) Workshops for STEM faculty from OSU and regional institutions; and, (4) OSU ADVANCE website that includes best practices, research, electronic newsletter. Given OSU's partnership with a regional HBCU and three tribal colleges, this initiative will also contribute to the development of adapting these interventions to include underrepresented groups in removing barriers for women in STEM The broader impacts of the OSU Advance Partnership are significant and wide ranging. In addition to addressing the under representation of women in senior faculty and leadership positions in STEM areas at OSU, we expect to enhance recruitment and retention of women in junior faculty positions as well. This program of actions and interventions will provide an important and tested model for wider applications in supporting and promoting the success and advancement of women in STEM fields. The scientific work force of the United States will be vitally enhanced by ensuring that women and people of color, two rapidly growing segments of the labor force, are positioned to assume positions of leadership in STEM fields at OSU and nationally. Students at OSU, both undergraduate and graduate, will be an important part of data collection and analysis. This will, in turn, both advance their academic experience and training, as well as providing them the opportunity to participate in transformational research and interventions. We are committed to ensuring the highest level of diversity in recruiting student researchers from traditionally under-represented groups. We would note that OSU has one of the largest Native American student populations in the United States in addition to other traditionally underrepresented student populations. The PI and co-PIs have worked closely with the Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program (OK-LSAMP), NABS (Native Americans in Biological Sciences), SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, and similar student and professional programs. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Van Delinder, Jean John Veenstra Robert Miller James Wicksted Marlene Strathe Oklahoma State University OK Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 498690 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820267 January 1, 2009 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: Collaborative Research - Atmospheric Science Collaborations and Enriching Networks (ASCENT). This project will create a discipline-specific, well-designed program focusing on women in atmospheric science/meteorology to create leaders for advancement. The emphasis during the proposed three-day Atmospheric Science Collaborations and Enriching Networks (ASCENT) summer workshop program and follow-up reunion events will be to initiate positive professional relationships, among female faculty of different ranks and postdoctoral researchers. These individuals will work in teams (each senior scientist will be paired with two junior scientists) and foster connections. Furthermore, while networking with like-minded women scientists, participants will have the opportunity to explore specific promising practices toward eliminating the "leaky pipeline," defined by the attrition of women at different stages in their academic careers. By fostering relationships among women faculty and researchers, ASCENT will demonstrate a commitment to developing research bases and improve the quality of collaborative atmospheric research conducted at multiple universities and colleges. ASCENT has been designed to achieve the following specific goals: 1) Ensure that junior women scientists know about and have access to resources and people who can help guide them through their career and life path. 2) Encourage positive mentorship and create mentoring opportunities. 3) Learn and teach others about primary obstacles for women in atmospheric sciences and meteorological fields, and develop or share communication tools to assist in navigating these obstacles. 4) Meet potential scientific collaborators at other institutions. In order to ensure success and longevity of the proposed workshop and collaborative experience, an extensive evaluation program will be implemented. The process will begin at the initial stage of workshop development; continue throughout duration of the workshop and past termination to determine long-term outcomes. Evaluation findings will be disseminated in professional forums, such as conferences or refereed journals. Throughout these workshops, the organizers will assemble knowledge on techniques and methodology to strength the participation of women within the fields of atmospheric science and meteorology. This information will be disseminated to this academic community via Eos and Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS). ASCENT will also produce a bi-annual electronic newsletter to provide summaries of "lessons learned" and current literature regarding the advancement of women in geoscience. This newsletter will be sent to all participants in the workshops, the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN) list serve, and other interested parties. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Hallar, Anna Gannet Laura Edwards University of Nevada Desert Research Institute NV Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 278851 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0820273 September 1, 2008 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Award: PROMOTE - Improving the promotion to full processes at western public universities. Studies of science, engineering and technology point out the paucity of women at the full professor level (18%) in four year colleges and universities (2003 NSF Science and Engineering Indicators). This scarcity means there are few women candidates for leadership positions since department chairs, deans, provosts, and leaders of research teams are typically full professors. Because full professors carry prestige and influence, and because the number of women in those positions is lacking, we must understand and address the difficulties women face in becoming promoted to full professor to break through the glass ceiling that limits women's accessibility to administrative positions. The PROMOTE project will both increase our understanding of the transition from associate to full professor and address the difficulties through an implementation phase. In part one, we will study associate and full professors at seven western public research universities to better understand the factors associated with promotion - the first cross-institutional study on this career stage. In part two, we will draw on the findings of this study to adapt, implement, and disseminate a set of four key activities identified as instrumental in increasing promotion rates. In this phase, Utah State University will partner with six western public research universities Kansas State, New Mexico State, University of Kansas, North Dakota State University, University of Idaho and Oregon State University. The activities we will implement are 1) promotion workshops held by the Provost's Offices on the various campuses, 2) development and dissemination of clear guidelines on the processes and expectations for promotion by deans and department heads (chairs), 3) development of review mechanisms for the promotion to full process and 4) coaching for interested faculty. The partnering institutions bring a variety of experiences to this project. Three of the universities, Utah State, Kansas State and New Mexico State, have had ADVANCE-IT awards and have been working on increasing the recruitment, retention and advancement of women STEM faculty. Kansas State has developed innovative career planning and mentoring programs. New Mexico State has developed a successful mentoring program, which they are currently working to disseminate. Four of the universities have not received ADVANCE awards but are committed to increasing the representation of women among their STEM faculty. These universities are located in small cities in the western United States and face challenges in recruiting senior women. As evidenced by recruitment and promotion numbers, none of these institutions can solve the shortage of senior women faculty through recruitment, they must "grow their own" senior women. The intellectual merits of PROMOTE reside in the increased understanding of the transition from associate to full professor. In order to propose effective interventions, we must understand the barriers to promotion and how best to ameliorate them. Although the recruitment of faculty and the tenure process have been the subject of numerous studies, there have been few studies of the next stage in an academic scientist's career path. The broader impacts of PROMOTE are several. PROMOTE will develop, test, adapt, evaluate and disseminate a set of relatively simple and inexpensive activities focusing on promotion to full that could then be adopted by universities across the country. In this way, many institutions can see the growth in senior women on campus that Utah State has experienced. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Sullivan, Kimberly Beth Montelone Tracy Sterling Dana Britton Ann Austin Utah State University UT Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 441994 7568 5408 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0823766 October 1, 2008 National AGEP Evaluation. ABSTRACT DRL-0823766 Study Overview. AIR will conduct a two-year, two phased evaluation of the National Science Foundation?s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) grant program. Phase One consists of a rigorous quantitative evaluation, using extant data conscience, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Ph.D. enrollment and completion trends across the nation. The data sources will be the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS), and the National Student Clearinghouse?s StudentTracker Database. During Phase One, national trends discovered in analyzing these data will be compared to trends AGEP institutions. During Phase Two AIR will explain trends at AGEP-supported institutions identified in Phase One and will detail the role that AGEP has played in creating a diverse community of graduate students in pursuit of the Ph.D. in STEM disciplines. Phase Two will draw data from site visits and from surveys that will be administered to various stakeholder groups, i.e. faculty supervising AGEP supported STEM dissertations, and current and former AGEP supported students. The study will determine the value-added by AGEP and the role the program plays in creating a diverse graduate population and, subsequently, a racially and ethnically diverse STEM professoriate. The study will draw on the substantial intellectual and technological resources of AIR, one of the world?s pre-eminent educational research firms. Intellectual Merit. The proposed study is the first national evaluation of NSF?s AGEP. AGEP is one of the most innovative national approaches to recruiting and retaining minority students in STEM doctoral programs and ensuring the completion of their degrees. As such, this study will advance knowledge and understanding about how this program affects the diversity of STEM graduate students and the diversification of the STEM professoriate. It will broaden the field?s understanding of important recruitment, teaching and student support strategies for getting underrepresented minority students into faculty positions within STEM disciplines. The study will provide new data on the efficacy of these strategies at AGEP universities and determine how the outcomes of these strategies compare with outcomes at other institutions. Ultimately, this knowledge can change the training of future generations of scholars. The diverse AIR team of researchers taking on this task is recognized for its dedication, commitment and quality of work on the issues impacting educational achievement of minority students. The proposed mixed method design is appropriate for understanding AGEP, for unmasking the discreet nuances that differentiate the AGEP models on different campuses, and for identifying the common components that lead to the Alliances? success. The conceptual organization of the study adheres to high standards of rigor and research and can be accomplished with the resources proposed and the research infrastructure of the American Institutes for Research. Broader Impacts. As the global economy depends increasingly on the kinds of innovations and ideas made possible by a highly educated workforce, the United States will need to increase the number of American citizens who pursue advanced degrees in STEM disciplines. Shifts in our demographic makeup, in turn, make on-going concerns about educational equity for all sectors of the community increasingly important, and getting underrepresented minorities to pursue advanced degrees in STEM disciplines becomes an ever more important concern. AGEP is explicitly designed to increase minority representation in STEM doctoral production and in the STEM professoriate, but the field needs to know more about how program components work. Lessons learned about program efficacy through this evaluation will be disseminated to the AGEP alliances and to the broader higher education community. In the dissemination and replication, the study will help broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM education and the professoriate. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T PROGRAM EVALUATION HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Rodriguez, Carlos American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences DC Victor A. Santiago Continuing grant 1333015 9131 7261 1594 1544 SMET 9179 9178 9177 0000099 Other Applications NEC 0116000 Human Subjects 0827087 August 1, 2008 Enhancing Diversity in Science. This grant provides support for a retreat of professional associations and scientific societies focused on Enhancing Diversity in Science. Participants include professional association and scientific societies representing a range of scientific disciplines as well as representatives from federal agencies and private foundations. The goal of the retreat is to spawn collaboration among organizations where currently it has been lacking, but is essential to enhancing the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities in science. The retreat will forge new opportunities for these organizations to work together, learn from each other and integrate approaches. In turn, it is envisioned that this collaboration across organizations will enable key areas of progress, such as the development and utilization of outcome measures to assess program effectiveness. The retreat is modeled after other successful action-oriented meetings (e.g., Wingspread/Johnson Foundation conferences) which include catalyst panels of experts in addition to both small breakout and general group discussions. The retreat agenda centers on identifying (1) obstacles to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities in science, and (2) successful models and future initiatives. The ultimate aim of the meeting is to arrive at new recommendations for action on the part of associations and societies as well as identify possible collaborative, policy and funding opportunities to support broadening participation in the sciences. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR McCabe, MaryAnn Society for Research in Child Development MI Lenell Allen Standard Grant 12360 1515 SMET 9179 0827155 September 1, 2008 Exploring Factors in the Social Ecology of the Home that Affect First-Grade Girls' Spatial Skills and Early Math Strategies. Intellectual Merit: In the present study, researchers from the Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology program at Boston College plan to investigate the role of the home environment in the formation of girls' spatial reasoning skills, and their ability to apply effective strategies for solving math problems. This primary context for early development provides the initial building blocks for the acquisition of spatial skills important to later math and science. Yet, despite a long history of empirical and theoretical work on the home as a major context of learning and development, there have been few studies exploring the importance of this environment for girls' early spatial and math development. There is an extensive body of research showing that males have an advantage over females on spatial reasoning skills relating to the ability to use mental imagery and manipulation of images as a way of solving problems. This gender difference has been documented as early as ages 4-6, and thus, is present prior to formal schooling. Furthermore, for girls in particular, these types of spatial reasoning skills are linked to math performance. Yet, little is known about elements of the home environment that might support the growth of girls' spatial reasoning skills. This present study is designed to contribute to the understanding of how variations in early home environments link to young girls' spatial and math performance in school. This research has the potential to shift the perspective regarding later challenges that girls experience in math and science; intervening early to develop girls' spatial reasoning skills has potential to impact both their later math skills and their math self-confidence. School spatial and math assessments, parent interviews, and home observations will be conducted with first-grade girls in the Boston area. The central goal of the study is to identify the developmental consequences of both general learning supports and math- and spatial-specific experiences available to young girls in their homes. As an important component of this, girls living in families representing a range of income levels, from poor to affluent, will be studied. Both the range and developmental impact of girls' experiences in their homes will likely vary as a function of economic constraints on families. The questions addressed in the study include: (1) What elements of young girls' home environments predict their spatial skills, as well as the strategies they use for math problem solving? (2) Do girls' spatial skills mediate links between home environments and math strategies? (3) Do these direct and indirect (i.e., mediated) relationships differ for girls as a function of family economic status? Broader Impact : The major emphasis in gender and mathematics has been on attitudinal factors and on ways of increasing girls' and women's participation in math and science, with relatively less focus on girls' cognitive and academic skills. Yet, if girls on average start out in school with an early disadvantage in developing specific cognitive skills and strategies, this may contribute to later difficulties in mathematics and science, as well as engendering a lack of self-confidence and interest in approaching STEM content. This research has the potential to reveal critical early experiences that enable some young girls to form effective spatial reasoning skills and apply these skills to mathematics problem solving. Understanding these influences will help target future efforts to promote school readiness in mathematics, so that girls may take full advantage of spatial thinking as a tool for solving math problems. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Casey, Beth Eric Dearing Boston College MA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 499681 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0827461 October 1, 2008 Career Outcomes of Engineering Bachelor's Degree Recipients. Intellectual Merit: Women are less likely than men in similar bachelor's degree cohorts to be retained in engineering (Frehill 2007a). This study will analyze existing, nationally-representative data to answer several questions about this gender difference in post-bachelor's retention in engineering. Are women less likely to stay in engineering because of work/family issues? Gendered reactions to the increasing uncertainty of engineering workplaces? Gender-based discrimination? Or do women have better success than men in moving from technical to managerial work in engineering? Researchers will analyze data from the NSF?s Science and Engineering Statistical Analysis System (SESTAT) for 1993, 1997, 1999, 2003, and 2006, a compilation of three constituent surveys that provide the most comprehensive data about the U.S. STEM workforce. A second dataset includes the National Center for Education Statistics' Bachelors and Beyond panel study for the 1992/93 and 1999/2000 degree cohorts (base year plus three follow-ups for the 1992/93 degree cohort covering the 1993-2003 period), which will provide a closer examination of how individual engineering careers progress throughout the 1990s and early part of the 21st century. Finally, these nationally-representative data will be supplemented by information from two studies of U.S. engineers sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers. These latter two studies, one completed in 1993 and the other in 2005, provide data focused explicitly on career issues for engineers. This study is interested in understanding retention within the engineering workforce, which has been the subject of little systematic research. Broader Impacts: The proposed research will examine the extent to which women and under-represented minorities--especially the often-overlooked intersection of these groups (women of color)--are retained in engineering after earning bachelor's degrees. The research will enable engineering educators, employers, and policy makers to develop strategies for enabling retention in engineering after graduation. Retention is important because the best ambassadors of jobs are often incumbents (Hira 2007): such role models are essential to conveying to young people that they can have long-term, meaningful careers within a particular discipline. The outreach strategy for the findings includes presentations at conferences and papers in traditional academic journals. In addition, the researchers will reach a wider audience through articles in relevant engineering disciplinary magazines, read by millions of engineers and other practitioners that will benefit from an understanding of how to make the engineering workplace a more welcoming place for diverse people. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Frehill, Lisa Commission on Professionals in Science & Technology DC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 249981 1544 SMET 9178 0827470 September 1, 2008 GSE/RES: A Longitudinal, Mixed-Method Test of a Social Cognitive Model of Women's Adjustment to STEM Majors: Building an Empirical Foundation for Theory-Based Interventions. This project involves a set of "mixed method" studies testing a new model extension of social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). SCCT has proven to be a heuristic framework for understanding women's and men's interest in, choice of, and performance and persistence in various academic and career fields. This model offers promise as an integrative framework, bringing together a number of factors (e.g., personality, cognitive, social, and behavioral) that have been shown individually to predict or promote positive adaptation. In particular, this project will test, using a longitudinal design, the new SCCT model of academic satisfaction and adjustment, focusing on the dynamic relations among the social cognitive variables during a formative period in women's and men's transition to the STEM environment: their first two years in college. This part of the project will involve development or adaptation of psychological instrumentation, a large sample of students at two predominantly White and two historically Black universities in the mid-Atlantic region, and structural equation modeling procedures. In a companion study, participants will be queried using semi-qualitative methods to explore in more depth how they experience the academic environment and what strategies they use to cope with their transition as STEM majors. The University of Maryland, Morgan State University, Virginia Tech, and Howard University have agreed to participate in this study. Intellectual Merit: The proposed project is intended to advance scientific understanding of how women and men adjust to the STEM environment by (a) testing the new SCCT model of satisfaction and adjustment, (b) assessing invariance of model-data fit across gender and institutional context, (c) examining differences in particular model paths for women versus men, and (d) exploring women's perception of environmental resources and barriers and personal/social coping strategies. The project will address gaps in prior research applying SCCT to women's adjustment to STEM fields. Broader Impacts: The findings can inform the design of educational interventions to promote women's positive adaptation to, and retention within, STEM majors by focusing on variables and processes that are amenable to modification. The project team will (a) communicate the findings to scientific and educational audiences via presentations at professional meetings and journal publications; (b) make instrumentation developed as part of the project available to other researchers; (c) build a local, multi-disciplinary network of social scientists, physical scientists, and engineers who can pursue additional research on how to increase representation of women and other underrepresented groups in STEM fields; and (d) provide research training opportunities for female and ethnic minority graduate students. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Lent, Robert Paige Smith Matthew Miller University of Maryland College Park MD Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 472085 1544 OTHR 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0827484 September 1, 2008 GSE/RES: Women in Science from High School to College: Evidence from New York City Public School Students. Intellectual Merit: This is a study of the sequence of educational choices and outcomes leading women and men to a college major in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subject: high school STEM courses taken, learning and performance measured by grades and state examinations, and eventual college major. Research questions center on factors that, based on sociology of gender theory, are expected to affect students' decisions to major in a STEM area in college, and to affect women and men differently, including high school structure and culture, the gender composition of teachers and peers, curriculum, school-college connections, and size. The objectives are to identify factors that increase women's propensity to major in STEM fields, how these factors vary by race, language ability, immigrant status, and poverty, and how the transition from high school to college may serve to ameliorate gender inequities. The student- and school-level data on several cohorts of the large and diverse New York City (NYC) public high school student population and the subset that goes to the City University of New York (CUNY) is unique by its size, diversity, the wealth of variables available, and its longitudinal nature that allows for a hierarchical linear model (HLM) analysis using students and high schools as separate levels. Large sample sizes and access to gender, race, immigration, and poverty measures at the student level, provide ample power for substantive subgroup analyses. The methodology moves beyond single outcome analysis, including test scores on several subject examinations, high school course taking in several subjects and college majors. The HLM framework links these together and the various individual- and school-level influences on these variables are analyzed. The interaction of educational institutions and student-level heterogeneity are a focus. Rather than assume that high schools affect participation in STEM in the same way for all students, the diversity of NYC high schools and students is used to estimate interaction effects of high school environments on various student subgroups. This method produces a more nuanced set of results than was previously possible using methodologies that assumed a single effect for women and men of all subgroups. Broader Impacts: The broader impacts center on the contribution to understanding how high school reforms can foster greater female participation in STEM. Disadvantaged women (who tend to be overrepresented in large urban school systems) in STEM, especially those who make it into public colleges, are understudied and would greatly benefit from policy reform. Despite the geographic focus on NYC, women pursuing STEM in large, diverse school systems, and working and middle class students in public colleges are exactly the populations which policy reforms are expected to benefit the most, and they are understudied because of lack of data. CUNY, with senior and community colleges, of varying levels and requirements, and programs for students from the struggling to the gifted, is representative of many college situations that students encounter elsewhere. This research will also enlighten the nationwide debate on improving college access and success though community colleges. Through a partnership with the NYC Department of Education and wide outreach and communication, the study?s findings will advance the ongoing discussion about how districts might impact the gender gap in STEM. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Schwartz, Amy Ellen Matthew Wiswall New York University NY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 354726 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0827490 October 1, 2008 Pathways to Self-Efficacy and Retention of Women in Undergraduate Engineering. Intellectual Merit: Northeastern University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, and the University of Wyoming will partner in a research study designed to investigate the hypothesis that women's participation in formal undergraduate engineering programs that provide work experiences while enrolled (e.g., cooperative education or internships), leads to enhanced self-efficacy and an increased likelihood of retention through graduation. Although all four schools offer cooperative education or internship programs, Northeastern University and Rochester Institute of Technology require them. Using a variety of survey research tools, this project seeks to isolate those factors and experiences that contribute most to the development of positive self-efficacy beliefs and, ultimately, to the retention of women in undergraduate engineering programs. The role of self-efficacy will be examined and compared to other factors in order to develop a model that demonstrates how demographic variables, work experiences, contextual supports, and three dimensions of self-efficacy (work, academic, and career) interact to predict retention. Self-efficacy theory has been used to explain the career development of women, especially in male-dominated careers such as engineering. Self-efficacy beliefs are considered the primary cognitive determinants of behavior, including whether a behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long behavior will be sustained in the face of obstacles. This research will expand the existing knowledge base about the role of work experiences and self-efficacy for women in undergraduate engineering programs by addressing the following hypotheses: - Self-efficacy is the principal predictor of retention of women in undergraduate engineering programs. - Cooperative education and internships, as formal work experience features of undergraduate programs, constitute a critical predictor of women?s retention directly and indirectly through their impact on self-efficacy. - Contextual support variables affect work, career, and academic self-efficacy as well as retention both directly and indirectly through self-efficacy. - Demographic variables have an independent effect on retention but also interact with contextual variables and with self-efficacy to indirectly affect retention. Data will be collected using a survey instrument featuring a work self-efficacy inventory. Each school will gather accurate retention figures by tracking individual student files instead of institutional methods that tend to use a "black box" approach of comparing the number of students entering in with the number of students graduating. The data will be analyzed using regression and path analyses to determine how the variables interact to predict retention. Broader Impacts: This study will have wide-ranging implications for undergraduate engineering programs. The resulting model will enable university administrators to discriminate among a variety of program supports, such as work experience and advising programs, and their relationship to retention. Many engineering colleges already offer cooperative education and internship programs but have little data about the impact of these programs or how to leverage them. This research provides a unique way to connect gender and self-efficacy theory to undergraduate engineering programs while addressing the critical student outcomes of efficacy (especially work self-efficacy) and degree attainment. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Reisberg, Rachelle David Whitman Carol Burger Margaret Bailey Joseph Raelin Northeastern University MA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 499990 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0827526 September 1, 2008 Looking inside high school science classrooms: An exploration of males' and females' subjective experience. This project will provide a descriptive account of what a variety of high school science contexts feel like from the perspective of female and male students. This three-year project, to be conducted through Northern Illinois University, is focused on immediate outcomes; namely, individuals' momentary levels of cognitive and affective engagement while involved in everyday science activity. The project will systematically record students' classroom experiences as they happen, linking various aspects of subjective experience to specific courses, content units, and classroom activities. Using a combination of surveys, interviews, classroom observations, and experience sampling techniques, this mixed-methods research will make a unique contribution to the understanding of the daily processes that contribute to the engagement of both females and males in science. The intellectual merit of this project is that it will provide crucial foundational knowledge about students? actual experiences in science classes. This information will fill a gap in the literature in science education in that it will explore affective processes involved in learning. The broader impact of this project is that it could have substantial effects on instructional practices, course design and curriculum in high school science education. The project is positioned to produce a strong knowledge base about the affective and motivational components of science learning, linking particular subjective states to specific courses, content units, and instructional practices. Beyond this, if the expected gender differences are found in students? subjective experience, the findings could suggest specific ways to alter science curricula in an effort to fully engage males and females in science classrooms. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Schmidt, Jennifer M Cecil Smith Northern Illinois University IL Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 476131 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0827553 September 1, 2008 GSE/RES: Women's Persistence in Engineering Careers: Barriers and Supports. Intellectual Merit: This study is designed to understand the factors that lead some women to persist in engineering careers and others to leave it. Most of the research on effective interventions has focused on increasing women's choice of engineering major. However, though women are now 20% of engineering graduates only 11% of professional engineers are women. Clearly, women are disproportionately choosing not to enter or persist in engineering careers, but research has not systematically investigated what factors may contribute to their decisions. This may be due to their own concerns about managing the organizational climate, performing engineering tasks, or balancing work and family roles or could be due to environmental barriers, such as a chilly organizational climate. The Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) model may help to explain the factors related to retention for women in engineering career. SCCT predicts that self-efficacy and outcome expectations act indirectly on persistence through their influence on interests, which in turn influences choice behavior (e.g., choice to stay in the career or leave). This study will extend this SCCT research to women in engineering careers (or who have left those careers) by examining three domains of self-efficacy and outcome expectations (engineering tasks, work/family balance, and organizational climate), interests and barriers and supports for women in different stages of their career (5, 10, 15, 20 years post graduation). One premise of the work is that career commitment and job satisfaction predict withdrawal cognitions and the intent to quit, which in turn, predict either persistence or turnover. The study will follow cohorts of women longitudinally, providing both cross-sectional and a longitudinal perspective on factors influencing their decisions to stay, or leave, an engineering career. Broader Impact: Beyond the publication in relevant professional journals, the findings will also be used to provide practical guidance to organizations that may help them in designing and implementing effective policies that lead to the retention of women engineers. The findings may also be used to help develop interventions that may help to increase the retention of women in engineering careers. Finally, the broader impact will include preparing graduate students as future professionals with an expertise in social cognitive career theory and in examining careers of women engineers. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Fouad, Nadya Romila Singh University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee WI Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 497577 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0827606 January 1, 2009 GSE/RES: The missing piece of the STEM puzzle: The role of communion in women's STEM career decisions. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The proposed research will examine the hypothesis that women?s choices to pursue STEM careers are inhibited by the perception that STEM careers do not fulfill communal goals. If STEM careers are perceived as blocking the pursuit of communal goals, then the gender gap in STEM careers will remain, despite changes in self-efficacy or increased experience in math and science. The proposed research program seeks to advance knowledge about motivational processes in two ways. First, these studies apply a role congruity theoretical perspective to examine how diffuse roles (i.e., gender roles) influence goal pursuit, as well as how individuals select specific roles (i.e., occupations) to facilitate their goal pursuit. Second, these studies seek to examine social role selection (i.e., career pursuit) as affected by both conscious and non-conscious processes and unfolding over time. Three levels of studies are proposed; the first two experimental and the last longitudinal. Part 1 focuses on whether endorsement of communal goals predicts attitudes and behaviors related to STEM career choices: Four studies experimentally activate or fulfill communal goals to examine the causal impact of communal goals on STEM career attitudes and behavior. Part 2 examines how beliefs about STEM careers' attributes influence attitudes and behavior toward STEM careers. Three studies experimentally manipulate the attributes of STEM careers and measure career attitudes and behavior, and another study examines change to explicit beliefs as well as implicit associations. Finally, a longitudinal study examines the intersection of beliefs and goals by investigating how explicit beliefs, implicit associations, and goal fulfillment opportunities intersect to influence STEM career decisions throughout the college years. This research focuses on students during their undergraduate years (13-16), which involve two critical choice points. In the first year of college, students decide what majors to pursue, and in the final year of college, students decide what post-graduate options they will pursue; at each point they eliminate many potential career tracks. Moreover, the focus on the undergraduate years is critical to the hypothesis that career choice has a great deal to do with current goals or with anticipated future goals, rather than solely with previous preparation. BROADER IMPACT: These studies offer the potential to add a critically important but understudied perspective on how and why women choose or do not choose to pursue STEM careers. Moreover, both intra-individual psychology and beliefs about the social structure are conceptualized as critical points for change. The accumulation of descriptive and experimental evidence about the relationship between STEM careers and communal goals can help to illuminate this persistent social problem. Especially important is that the focus on communal goal processes highlights a new opportunity for change. Quite simply, if early math and science experience are not the whole story with regard to women's STEM career choices, then the college years offer potential to improve gender equality in these careers. The PI will meet with college advisors to communicate the findings, and a website will communicate findings to researchers as well as the broader public. The PI as well as undergraduate and graduate lab members will present findings at scientific conferences and submit results to peer-reviewed journals (including social, gender, occupational psychology). Moreover, the very process of conducting the research will provide opportunities for underrepresented group members to engage in collaborative science by participation in the PI's research group. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Diekman, Amanda Miami University OH Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 338510 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0829399 January 1, 2008 Developing Professorial Leadership: A Pilot Partnership. With the goal to address the severe national shortage in the number of domestic members of underrepresented populations (i.e., African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders) pursuing doctoral degrees in the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program was initiated by the NSF in 1998. During the last 7 years, the program has grown from a few alliances in 1998 to 22 AGEP alliances nationwide in 2005. The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) will partner with the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) to especially address the AGEP goal of preparing underrepresented minorities in the fields of social, behavioral, and economic sciences for faculty leadership in academia. CASBS was established in 1954, around the same time as NSF, for the purpose of advancing the fields within the behavioral sciences (broadly construed) and being of service to society. This Center has a long and distinguished history of bringing together in an interdisciplinary setting, the very best scholars in the nation and beyond, and thereby advancing fields, with some examples of serving society. An AGEP-CASBS partnership will more effectively advance fields, improve institutions, and serve society by engaging younger minority faculty scholars with fresh ideas and supporting them to develop into future academic leaders. This pilot partnership will identify and mentor young post-tenure faculty from AGEP as residential Fellows at CASBS for the 2008-2009 academic year. These fellowships will be jointly funded by NSF and CASBS. A Steering Committee of SBE AGEP leadership would work with the CASBS Director and Deputy Director to accomplish the goals. Funds from this grant will also help CASBS design the assessment of first use of an application system for selecting Fellows. CASBS seeks a process that will yield more diversity among Fellows in terms of age, institution, gender, and especially ethnicity. CASBS aims to improve this process over the next four years. The AGEP-CASBS partnership will enhance this assessment and resulting modifications. MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Petersen, Anne Stanford University CA Lenell Allen Continuing grant 199973 1515 SMET 9179 0830408 September 15, 2008 Increasing the Participation of Minority-serving Institutions in the Research in Disabilities Education Program. The "Increasing the Participation of Minority-serving Institutions in the Research in Disabilities Education Program" project will provide technical assistance to enhance disability support services at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) with STEM programs and to increase the participation of MSIs in the NSF's Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program. The technical assistance will be provided in the form of a workshop to assist institutional teams in expanding and enhancing STEM focused disability support services and in further developing ideas for proposals they plan to submit to the FY 2009 RDE competition. Specifically, QEM is seeking support to conduct a two-day workshop in the fall of 2008, for three-person teams from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). The two-day workshop will be designed to accommodate 20 three-person institutional teams. Each team must include: (1) a STEM faculty member from an eligible institution; (2) the coordinator or other officer for the institution's student support services whose responsibilities include providing support to students with disabilities; and (3) a member of the institution's Education/Special Education faculty. The goals of the workshop are as follows: a) To discuss the specific services and resources available to students with disabilities on each of the participating campuses and the use of these services and resources by students; b) To identify effective strategies used on the respective campuses to ensure that students with disabilities have access to all campus facilities as well as to instructional materials, tutorial assistance, and other resources, including assistive technologies to support their academic study; c) To identify barriers to providing needed services and support on the respective campuses and to discuss ways those barriers might be reduced/eliminated; and d) To review the latest program solicitation for NSF's Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) Program; review selected abstracts of currently active RDE-funded projects; hear presentations by RDE-funded project directors on effective strategies; and discuss the participating teams' preliminary ideas for potential RDE proposals. This project includes consultants who are knowledgeable about students with disabilities in post-secondary STEM education and who are experts in the area of services provided by post-secondary institutions for students with disabilities. An independent evaluator will assess the outcomes and impacts of this project, and project dissemination will include diffusion of information via an accessible web-site that can be easily used by people with disabilities. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 152929 1545 SMET 9178 0830898 August 1, 2008 Alabama LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate. University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ALSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and Alabama Higher Education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at Auburn University prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Alabama Alliances for Graduate Education in the Professoriate(Alabama AGEP)as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at Auburn University during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Dale, Louis Mary Braswell University of Alabama at Birmingham AL Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 9150 0832260 September 15, 2008 Professional Development for STEM Faculty, Staff, and Students at Tribal Colleges and Universities. The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network is requesting three years of support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further the professional development of STEM faculty, staff, and students at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) that have received grants from the NSF Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). The project is designed to strengthen the financial management, assessment, and evaluation of TCUP-funded projects; improve the capabilities of STEM faculty to better integrate culture into the curriculum as well as improve their mentoring/advising skills; and provide professional development opportunities in Washington, DC, for STEM faculty and students at TCUP grantees. To facilitate achieving these goals, QEM will conduct two workshops for STEM faculty, two workshops for TCUP Project staff, offer an annual nine-month fellowship for a STEM faculty who would be based at NSF, and provide ten-week summer internships for five students each year. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 873313 1744 SMET 9178 0832598 August 1, 2008 2008 SUNY LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate: Cohort 3 at Stony Brook. The State University of New York Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (SUNY LSAMP) will sponsor its third cohort of Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) during academic years 2008-2010. The alliance provides resources that greatly assist current efforts to increase the number of underrepresented minority (UREP) science, technology, engineering and mathematic (STEM) doctoral students and continue to bring about improvements in graduate education that will help not only UREP students but all graduate STEM students. Results will serve to increase the number of underrepresented minorities prepared to participate in the STEM professoriate at U. S. colleges and universities. The goals and objectives of the program are to recruit 12 LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate students for matriculation in academic years 2008-2010 by: (1) Continuing to build recruitment pathways that target the state and national LSAMP pool in collaboration with AGEP and other NSF and New York State programs; (2)Using existing resources and information to identify students able to successfully complete doctoral degrees and to design and implement a program that helps students successfully complete two years of STEM graduate study and enter and complete doctoral study by integrating BD students into the existing network of activities and program to help them successfully complete a STEM graduate degree. The project will add to current efforts by SUNY LSAMP to build research capacity in STEM education in the area of graduate education. The lessons learned from the study of the Bridge to the Doctorate Program will be put into the context of broader issues of systemic change and disseminated to a broader audience. Lessons learned will be strategically refined to help increase the number of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields who successfully complete doctoral degrees and eventually increase the number of well-prepared STEM professionals in the United States. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Ferguson, David SUNY at Stony Brook NY Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0832856 August 15, 2008 2008 LS-LAMP Bridge to the Doctorate at Louisiana State University. The Louisiana Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-LAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and Louisiana higher education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at Louisiana State University (LSU) prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Graduate Alliance for Education in Louisiana (Louisiana AGEP), and the Louisiana Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at LSU during the 2008-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Bagayoko, Diola Su-Seng Pang Isiah Warner Steven Watkins Kerry Davidson Louisiana Board of Regents LA Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 9150 0832871 August 1, 2008 2008 OKLAHOMA Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to Doctorate - Cohort 3. The Oklahoma State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (OKAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and Oklahoma higher education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities, particularly students from Native American communities, matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at Oklahoma State University (OSU)prepares students to meet the challenges of completing STEM doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Oklahoma Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (OK-EPSCoR), the NIH Native Americans in Biological Sciences (NABS) program, as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at Oklahoma State University during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of Native Americans, Hispanics, African-Americans and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline for the U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Emslie, A. Gordon Oklahoma State University OK Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 9150 0832913 October 1, 2008 GSE/EXT: Appalachian Information Technology Extension Services. Intellectual Merit: The Appalachian Information Technology Extension Services (AITES) is a comprehensive, research-based Extension program of training and consulting services. Its goal is to promote underserved young women's interest in jobs requiring information technology (IT) skills in selected Appalachian counties of Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The overarching goal is to develop community capacity through a sustainable program of change grounded in the Learning Partnership Model (LPM) and based on business practices. This goal will give Community Cohort Teams (CCTs) of school counselors, IT teachers, Family and Consumer Science and 4H Extension agents, and community development professionals the tools they need to increase interest among middle and high school girls in jobs requiring IT skills. Using a Unified Program of Change, AITES will build community capacity to enhance middle and high school girls' knowledge and interest in jobs requiring IT skills by: 1. Developing communities of practice that expand and strengthen partnership networks among CCTs, parents, community economic development professionals, IT industry partners, selected professional associations, and state and regional consortia. 2. Using content specialists in gender equity, parent education, counselor education, the LPM, and IT curriculum to train and support the CCTs in a Unified Program of Change addressing barriers faced by underserved Appalachian middle and high school girls. 3. Providing consulting services to the CCTs as they implement research-based Extension programs at the local level. 4. Evaluating the effectiveness of project initiatives and disseminating information to project constituents to create a continuous feedback loop that leads to refinement of project initiatives. 5. Creating an interactive Internet portal that builds community capacity by supporting social networking components and communication among project personnel and constituents across five states and provides access to information about resources, evaluation data, and participant interaction. AITES extends and implements the research-based recommendations reported in "Reconfiguring the Firewall: Recruiting Women to Information Technology across Cultures and Continents" about effective strategies for recruiting women to IT fields. AITES contributes to the literature about science, engineering, and technology (SET) by shifting the focus from a lens that emphasizes women's deficiencies to a response lens that frames their occupational interests and success as embedded in community capacity. It will demonstrate ways that the LPM and strategies of community capacity can create communities of practice that promote positive environments to support IT-enabled girls. Broader Impacts: The project has a commitment to sustain its efforts. It will facilitate the formation of networks at the community, state, and national levels through the creation of an infrastructure that includes partnerships especially important in Appalachian culture. The Partner Advisory Boards provide entree to a national network that spans corporate sectors, educational communities, nonprofit organizations dedicated to recruiting women to SET fields, government agencies, local businesses and IT corporate giants like Microsoft, Apple, and CISCO. By partnering this national presence dedicated to IT workforce development with state and local communities of practice and building the local workforce through a supportive environment for girls and IT jobs, AITES will create a model for Appalachian IT workforce development. Outreach and communication activities throughout the five years of the project will generate networks among members of effective CCTs and potential partners from other counties and states to sustain their initiative. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Meszaros, Peggy Elizabeth Creamer Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 893125 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0832923 August 1, 2008 2008 Washington-Baltimore-Hampton Roads Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation - Bridge to the Doctorate (Cohort VI). The Washington-Baltimore-Hampton Roads Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (WBHR LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and higher education institutions in Washington, DC and Virginia to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at Howard University prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Howard University/University of Texas-El Paso collaborative Alliance for Graduate Education in the Professoriate(HUTEP AGEP)as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at Howard University during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Thornton, Alvin Clarence Lee Howard University DC Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0832932 August 1, 2008 2008Bridge to the Doctorate at Colorado State University (Cohort 3). Colorado State University Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participating (CO-AMP) will build on the successes of the existing Bridge to the Doctorate (BD)program to support effective academic, mentoring and social networks among underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The Graduate Center for Diversity and Access at Colorado State University will offer opportunities through the entire professional development journey, from matriculation to STEM doctoral completion and successful job placement and re-affiliation with the ystem as alumni. The comprehensive program will recruit and matriculate LSAMP students into PhD STEM programs with an emphasis on recruitment from national LSAMP programs; ensure BD student retention and interest in the professoriate by creating a BD network that builds social and academic support systems; provide student-centered activities and mentoring programs. The programs will be infused with content regarding the importance of URM presence in faculties that will include mentoring workshops to faculty advisors as well as support for successful placement of BD students in the workforce with an emphasis on appointments within the professoriate. The program include a rigorous evaluation to collect formative and summative data for program improvements and comprehensive analyses. Findings will be disseminated at regional, state and national diversity conferences and in related journals. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Miranda, Rick Peter Dorhout Ernest Chavez Colorado State University CO Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0832947 September 1, 2008 2008 New Mexico AMP Bridge to the Doctorate VI. New Mexico State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (NM-LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and New Mexico higher education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The 2008-2010 program, the first at the University of New Mexico, prepares students to meet the challenges of completing master's and doctoral programs of study preferably for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the University of New Mexico Integrated Graduate Education in Research and Training (IGERT) as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at the University of New Mexico during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of Hispanics and Native Americans in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in successful recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Cruzado-Salas, Waded Ricardo Jacquez New Mexico State University NM Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 9150 0832951 August 1, 2008 2008 University of Texas-El Paso Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Proposal: Cohort V. University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and University of Texas System higher education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at UTEP prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Howard University/UTEP Alliances for Graduate Education in the Professoriate (HUTEP) as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at UTEP during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Flores, Benjamin Helmut Knaust University of Texas at El Paso TX Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0116000 Human Subjects 0832955 August 1, 2008 2008 FGLSAMP-BD Proposal. The University of Florida's Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation, the Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, the University's Graduate School and its four colleges with STEM disciplines, the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Agricultural and Life Sciences, and Medicine. Integrating research and education, students will engage in cutting edge research experiences through the Particle Engineering Research Center, The McKnight Brain Institute, the Center for Chemical Research at the Bio/Nano Interface and over 100 other interdisciplinary centers at the University of Florida and alliance institutions. The term of the program is 24 months. Program activities provide student graduate opportunities and linkages to the Southeast Alliance for Graduate Education in the Professoriate (SEAGEP) and other graduate associations as well as the commitment of support for graduate education through the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) doctoral degree. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at the University of Florida during the 2008-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Turner, Ralph Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9178 0832957 August 1, 2008 2008 Mississippi Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LS-MAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate: Cohort 6. Mississippi Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-MAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and Mississippi higher education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at Jackson State University prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Alliances for Graduate Education in Mississippi(Mississippi AGEP)as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at Jackson State University during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Mohamed, Abdul Jackson State University MS Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 9150 0832961 August 1, 2008 2008 PR-LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Initiative: Diversifying the STEM Workforce by Providing Fellowships to the LSAMP Graduates to Continue and Complete a PhD Degree. The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PR-LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation, higher education and other partners to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields, particularly nanoscience and nanotechnology fields. The program at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Puerto Rico Alliances for Graduate Education in the Professoriate(Alabama AGEP), the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research through the Institute for Functional Nanomaterials (IFN) as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at UPR during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Gomez, Manuel Ana Pinero University of Puerto Rico PR Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 9150 0832969 August 1, 2008 Greater Philadelphia Region LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (Cohort VI) Project. The Greater Philadelphia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program, under the leadership of Drexel University, is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and institutions of higher education in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The goal of the alliance is to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at Delaware State University prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Delaware Experimental Program To Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), Dual Degree Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Minority Access to Research Careers (NIH) as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at Delaware State University during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Greenberg, Mark Stephen Cox Drexel University PA Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0832975 September 1, 2008 2008 Bridge To The Doctorate (BD). The New York City Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), under the leadership of the City University of New York, 2008 Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) program will recruit and retain recent LSAMP STEM Graduates into a research/academic career that leads to the completion of a Ph.D. degree. Recent Tier 1 LSAMP graduates from the National LSAMP pool of graduates, and LSAMP graduates who have completed no more than one full-time semester equivalent of graduate study shall constitute the group that will be invited to apply for the Bridge to the Doctorate program in 2008. LSAMP senior undergraduates are allowed to participate in Bridge activities. Bridge students will be beneficiaries of a proactive retention and professional enrichment program that will include academic and research mentoring, GRE workshops, roundtable discussions with advanced doctoral students, faculty and administrators, and attendance and participation at local and national professional conferences. The at-large faculty pool associated with the CUNY Graduate Center, and CUNY Institute/Center Directors will serve as Bridge faculty/research advisors. The Alliance will continue to partner with Brookhaven National Labs to provide cutting-edge research training during the academic year and summer terms. International research experiences will also be integrated into the training of all selected BD scholars. Progress and results of the Bridge to the Doctorate program will be disseminated at the NYC LSAMP Urban University Conference Series, and through its Virtual Community (http://nyc-amp.cuny.edu), and Newsletter. The Urban University Conference Series, held annually since 1998, attracts over 5,000 participants, and among other networking opportunities, provides the opportunity to recruit enrolled undergraduate scholars to CUNY for graduate study, or to other doctoral granting institutions. The BD scholars represent a resource of STEM trainees that are poised to be involved in Informal Science and Math Education. The NYC LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate program will add 89 students to the Ph.D. pipeline from Cohorts 1-6 (2003 through 2010). ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Parker, Neville CUNY City College NY Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0832977 August 1, 2008 2008 LSAMP Biodesigned and Sustainable Bridges to the Doctorate Cohort VI. The Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities (WAESO) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program, under the leadership of Arizona State University, incorporates a sequence of supervised program activities in which selected fellows will participate under the unifying themes of Biodesigned and Sustainable Bridges to the Doctorate. The activities involve, in addition to traditional departments, the interdisciplinary Biodesign Institute, the Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute (MTBI) and the urbanization research effort within the Global Institute of Sustainability (GIS). Program activities are designed to assist students in progressing forward in their research and in obtaining an early realization of the many benefits that materialize after obtaining the doctorate. There will also be a program emphasis in mentoring these students to apply for Sloan, Ford, NASA and NSF Graduate Fellowships for support as they continue in their studies. The goal of the program is to bridge the number of underrepresented minority students pursuing doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines. This two-year fellowship-research program involves a cohort of 12 selected students from all STEM disciplines. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Garcia, Antonio Albert McHenry Gary Keller Arizona State University AZ Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0832978 August 1, 2008 2008 CSU-LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate at California State University, Los Angeles (Cohort 6). California State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (CSU-LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and the California State University system higher education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at California State University-Los Angeles (CSU-LA) prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the in the Professoriate(UC System AGEP)as well as other NSF and NIH-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at CSU-LA during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Barrena, Juanita Margaret Jefferson Carlos Robles Carlos Gutierrez University Enterprises, Incorporated CA Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0832982 January 1, 2009 GSE/DIF Girls in Science: Key Research Findings on Gender Equity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Intellectual Merit: The American Association of University Women (AAUW) proposes to produce and widely distribute a report highlighting key findings from research on gender in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). AAUW will work closely with researchers to translate key findings into simple, compelling prose that will spark the attention of the public and media outlets. The resulting publication will feature key findings in an accessible format that seeks to reach a general audience broader than is typically reached by academic and national policy reports. Focusing on top findings, rather than comprehensive overview, the AAUW report will highlight themes across disciplines and across educational levels. Each chapter of the report will focus on topics such as gender differences in spatial skills, stereotype threat, girls' interest in science and engineering, or college recruitment and retention. Case studies and personal stories will be used to illustrate common themes across STEM disciplines and across stages of education and work-life progression. Throughout, reasons behind the persistent gender inequity in STEM will be explored. Broader Impacts. Building on its extensive membership network and its reputation with national and state media outlets, AAUW will distribute the report in a variety of formats, including electronic and traditional paper reports as well as additional web-based formats. In addition, through a partnership with the National Girls Collaborative Project, the report will be made widely available to practitioners in girl-serving organizations across the country. The report will raise scientific literacy by communicating recent new knowledge on gender and STEM education. The work of researchers and educators will be more widely promoted, further enhancing the societal benefits of their academic work and research investments. Since the field of study is characteristically interdisciplinary and cross-cutting, the report will also help the community of researchers and educators understand the breadth and depth of the field. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hill, Catherine Christianne Corbett American Association of University Women DC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 249136 1544 SMET 9178 0832987 November 1, 2008 GSE/DIF Crafting Successful Living-Learning Programs for Women in STEM: Building Blocks for the Future. Intellectual Merit: The primary goal of this project is to promote the success of undergraduate women in STEM by making available ready-to-implement findings and recommendations from The National Study of Living Learning Programs (NSLLP) (HRD-GSE 0521762) to directors of living-learning (L/L) programs catering to women in STEM fields. Specifically, the findings and recommendations to be publicized focus on the L/L environments and practices that facilitate the success of undergraduate women in STEM in relation to their transition to college; academic, professional, and overall self-confidence; perceived intellectual growth; sense of belonging; retention in STEM majors; and educational and career plans after college graduation. This diffusion effort has two components: a) the development of an interactive practice-oriented manual detailing successful L/L programming for women in STEM, distributed to directors of L/L programs that cater directly to women in STEM majors either through a women-only format (e.g., WIMSE programs) or through a co-educational STEM-based format, and b) a workshop for 50 L/L program directors taking place in conjunction with the 2009 Living-Learning Programs Conference. Through the practice-oriented manual and accompanying workshop, the project aims to provide L/L faculty and staff with recommendations based on findings from the NSLLP for creating, implementing, and continuously improving L/L practice. By introducing the workshop participants to one another, this diffusion effort will also leave a legacy of quality improvement by creating a network of women in STEM allies in L/L. Broader Impacts: The proposed manual and workshop publicizing the findings of the NSLLP have the power to transform the undergraduate educational experience of women in STEM. This diffusion project thus represents the optimal marriage of the communication of rigorous research results with a high-impact, cost-efficient intervention and outreach for increasing gender equity for women in STEM. Importantly, the twin projects of the practice-oriented manual and workshop have the potential to reach a broad audience--perhaps the entire population of WISE L/L directors--and create a network of professionals whose legacy will be the improvement of the undergraduate experience for women in STEM. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Inkelas, Karen Katalin Szelenyi University of Maryland College Park MD Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 249803 1544 SMET 9178 0832993 August 1, 2008 2008 Texas A&M University System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate V Program: Continuring the Pathways. Texas A&M University System?s (TAMUS) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation the TAMU College of Science and the College of Engineering. The program prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education and develops leadership skills necessary to succeed as young students from underrepresented populations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the NSF-funded Integrative Graduate Education in Research Training (IGERT) in the area of Next Generation Computations and Analytical Tools for Material Science and student mentoring opportunities under several undergraduate research and education projects. Leadership training, proposal writing and training in ethics are modules within the two-year fellowship program. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at Texas A&M University during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Watson, Karan Karen Butler-Purry Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0116000 Human Subjects 0832999 August 1, 2008 2008 NCLSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship Program at North Carolina State University. The North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (NCLSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program at North Carolina State University is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and the alliance research and educational institutions to facilitate increased cross-disciplinary exchange for 12 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)post-baccalaurate students from underrepresented minority populations. Integrating research and education, students will engage in cutting edge research experiences over a two-year period. The program provides financial and cost of education support for two years of study leading to the STEM doctoral degree. Program activities provide student graduate opportunities and linkages to the North Carolina OPT-ED Alliance for Graduate Education in the Professoriate and other graduate associations as well as the commitment of support for graduate education through the STEM doctoral degree. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at North Carolina State University during the 2008-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment, retention and graduation rates of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Thompson, Alton North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University NC Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0833005 August 1, 2008 2008 Illinois LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Program at University of Illinois at Chicago. Chicago State University, lead institution for the Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (I-LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and Illinois Higher Education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Graduate Education in the Medical Sciences (GEMS) program at UIC and the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program as well as other NSF and NIH-funded research and education projects. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at UIC during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Daniel, Elnora Marian Wilson-Comer Chicago State University IL Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0833018 August 1, 2008 2008 - University of Maryland System Bridge to the Doctorate - Cohort III. University of Maryland System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and University of Maryland institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at the University of Maryland-College Park prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Maryland Alliances for Graduate Education in the Professoriate (PROMISE)as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at Auburn University during the 2009-2010 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Hrabowski, Freeman Rosemary Parker Cynthia HILL Tamara Hamilton University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0833022 October 1, 2008 GSE/DIF:Science: It's a Girl Thing. Intellectual Merit: This project will develop and host Science: It's a Girl Thing: A Web-Based Diffusion Initiative for Parents and Parent Influencers. This initiative will foster awareness of the serious underrepresentation of girls in STEM degrees and careers; enable parents and parent influencers to understand the need for scientific thought and study for their daughters and other girls; and provide strategies to do science at home, utilize science-rich resources in the community; and advocate for gender equitable inquiry-based science in school. Objectives will include synthesizing and adapting existing information on girls and science for widespread distribution through the web and national parent organizations; bringing content about girls and science to parents, who have the greatest impact on girls; and advocating for gender equitable science in school. The vehicle for bringing the Science: It's a Girl Thing message to the widest possible audience is based on Playtime is Science, EEC's research-based, award-winning program for students in grades K-3. The Science: It's a Girl Thing campaign is grounded in research that parents play an important role in how girls think about themselves in terms of science and science careers. Research indicates that parent involvement is key to encouraging girls to try science. Research also indicates that parents may unwittingly convey negative information to their daughters about science, fostering stereotypes that only boys like science. Science: It's a Girl Thing is grounded in the idea that science IS a girl thing, and that positive, parent involvement is vital to encouraging girls to pursue science studies and careers. The campaign will be built around a series of web-based and interactive strategies targeted to parents and parent influencers. Playtime is Science materials will be synthesized for the Science: It's a Girl Thing campaign; bringing this content directly to websites used by the target population; and creating a Science: It's a Girl Thing social networking site. EEC/AED will be supported in this initiative by Z2 Consulting, a marketing firm specializing in development, implementation, and evaluation of web-based strategies. Broader Impacts: The thrust of Science: It's a Girl Thing is to reach parents and parent influencers where they are and push content about girls and STEM out to them. The proposed campaign will identify the most high-trafficked online locations of our targeted audiences and suffuse them with content about parents' strategic role in fostering STEM education for their daughters. The project will use wide-reaching, cutting edge technology for diffusion: online parenting sites, such as iVillage, Mommytalk, and parents.com; social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube and NING; parent influencer sites such as Edutopia, and Education Week and Teacher Magazine; and national organizations such as the National Coalition for Parent Involvement. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Froschl, Merle Barbara Sprung Academy for Educational Development DC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 249975 1544 SMET 9178 0833073 September 1, 2008 GSE/DIF:SciGirls en Espanol. Intellectual Merit: SciGirls is a national outreach program of DragonflyTV supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Program. SciGirls empowers PBS outreach professionals and science museum educators, in partnership with local youth organizations, educators and parents, to deliver hands-on science encouragement and career guidance to girls in their communities. To meet the dramatic changes in U.S. demographics and the need for more women scientists and engineers, this project will expand SciGirls programming into Latino communities across the nation. SciGirls en Español will provide Spanish-language print and video resources, leader training, and grants to existing Latina-serving organizations to help encourage a greater engagement in STEM. The project is a collaboration among Twin Cities Public Television, The Self Reliance Foundation of Washington, D.C., and KLCS TV/DT, a PBS member station licensed to the Los Angeles Unified School District. SciGirls stresses the most current research into what strategies most effectively engage girls in STEM activities: extended communication and collaboration; finding real-life contexts for science; promoting open-ended investigations; and placing value on diverse ways of knowing, viewing and describing the world. With a focus on inquiry, SciGirls resources can easily be used by after-school educators, regardless of their science backgrounds, to create successful STEM experiences for girls. Broader Impacts: SciGirls en Español materials will be delivered to after-school programs across the country as well as to the Los Angeles United School District's "Beyond the Bell" initiative, via the district's station, KLCS TV/DT. Project PIs will also distribute copies of the materials to other organizations (NSTA, ASTC, and PBS stations) and make the entire set of resources (streaming videos and Activity Guides) available on DragonflyTV's Web site at www.pbskids.org/dragonflytv. The results of the evaluation will be shared with the informal science education research community and reported at the National AfterSchool Association annual conference and the NSF Joint Annual Meeting. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hudson, Richard Alicia Santiago Twin Cities Public Television MN Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 349988 1544 SMET 9178 0833076 April 15, 2009 ESE: IM Extension Services in Engineering: Improving Instruction and Mentoring to Retain Undergraduate Women. The Stevens Institute of Technology along with WEPAN and other partners will deliver an Extension Service project that will include training, materials, technical assistance, and mini-grants to improve instruction in engineering and faculty mentoring skills, using research-based strategies to enhance retention of undergraduate women of all races and ethnicities. The project will serve 30 engineering colleges over a five year period. Intellectual Merit. Using a train-the-trainer model, the project brings together a team of nationally recognized, expert trainers who developed and tested the research-based strategies being used in this project, including: ? Using relevant and engaging applications in engineering and STEM gateway courses ? Using activities to improve student spatial visualization skills ? Building faculty knowledge and skill to mentor students. Experts will train three-five person, university-based teams to serve as Extension Agents. Agents will train and work with Practitioners?faculty who teach 1st and 2nd year engineering and STEM Gateway Courses?to use new knowledge and practices. The overarching goal is to increase the capacity of engineering colleges to retain undergraduate women in engineering. Selected strategies and activities will be implemented in support of the overall goal. Desired project outcomes are: ? All 30 participating universities will conduct training in the three research-based strategies. ? All 30 participating universities will integrate relevant applications in their courses. ? At least 95% of the participating universities will integrate spatial visualization skills into their curriculum. ? More than 50% of the faculty in 1st and 2nd year engineering courses and STEM Gateway courses will participate in mentor training. ? More than 50% of the faculty in 1st and 2nd year engineering courses and STEM Gateway courses will integrate relevant applications in their courses. Broader Impact. The project will directly impact up to 150 Agents at 30 US engineering schools. These Agents will then impact the behavior of engineering faculty at their institutions, improving students' instructional experience. The resources of the project including an on-line manual, archived webinars and tools developed under the Virtual Learning Community will be widely available on the project website and through links from engineering education and women in science websites. With these resources, interested faculty can change their own classes. Information about the project, its resources, strategies and effectiveness will be widely communicated using traditional methods but also using methods most likely to reach those interested young faculty including establishing groups on Facebook and posting on science and engineering education blogs. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Metz, Susan Staffin Patricia Campbell C. Diane Matt Stevens Institute of Technology NJ Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 430608 1544 SMET 9178 0833093 September 1, 2008 CREST: Center for Innovative Information Systems Engineering. Florida International University?s (FIU?s) proposed second-phase NSF CREST Center for Innovative Information Systems Engineering brings together a multidisciplinary group of researchers, large-scale collaborative relationships, and a broad ecosystem of partners to perform research that will lead to information technologies that help to solve critical societal problems of national priority. Intellectual Merit: Each of the Center?s mutually-supportive subprojects builds on the strong research foundation established by FIU?s first-phase CREST award and each sets ambitious research goals that will result in the increased competitiveness of FIU?s CISE researchers. By intertwining these multidisciplinary research goals with CREST?s comprehensive education environment and by leveraging the synergistic academic and industry partnerships introduced above, the Subprojects provide one another with strong impetus for cohesiveness and potential for new research findings and educational breakthroughs: Subproject 1: Effective Access to Complex Multimodal Data with Applications in Disaster Mitigation will focus on developing effective techniques for managing and providing access to data that varies in type, source, location, time, and certainty by addressing storage optimization, data management, indexing and search, query techniques, and data presentation. Among its applications, it seeks to develop techniques to get the right information to the right people at the right time, thereby helping to mitigate disasters and to recover from them quickly. Subproject 2: Integrated Approach to Information Processing in Neuroscience focuses on an integrated imaging/signal processing approach that will result in comprehensive views of the human brain in greater depth and detail through faster, affordable, more effective, and less invasive methods. Subproject 3: Human Computer Interaction for Universal Access has a long-term goal of enabling any prospective computer user to interact with computer-based systems, regardless of their disability status and regardless of the interaction challenges derived from the context in which the interaction is taking place. Subproject 4: Complex System Modeling, Analysis, and Realization will focus on essential methodologies for modeling complex systems, a unified underlying semantic model, fundamental methods for compositional model analysis, and model-driven engineering technologies. Broader Impacts: The Center will build upon the solid research foundation and flourishing educational pipeline developed over the course of FIU's first-phase CREST funding. Its research program will develop effective techniques for managing information, for modeling information, natural, and man-made systems, and for providing access to information while its educational program strives to become the nation?s leader in training underrepresented Ph.D. students in Computer Science and Computer Engineering. The proposed research areas cross the boundaries of computer science and engineering, information processing, situational awareness, assistive technology, and neuroscience; this integrative approach of research will significantly advance the body of knowledge in these important fields and will make strides to solving some of society?s critical problems. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Rishe, Naphtali Xudong He Malek Adjouadi Armando Barreto Florida International University FL Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 2000000 9131 SMET 9179 0116000 Human Subjects 0833112 September 1, 2008 CREST: Nanotechnology Center for Biomedical and Energy-Driven Systems and Applications. The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez (UPRM) seeks to integrate education and research by establishing a Nanotechnology Center for Biomedical and Energy-Driven Systems and Applications (NCBEDSA). The overall Center strategy will secure national competitiveness of UPRM in the area of materials engineering research and nanotechnology. The Center?s mission is to integrate ongoing research and education efforts in engineered nanostructured materials focused on two strategic areas for the institution and the island: biomedical and energy-driven systems. Within this framework, the NCBEDSA faculty will broaden and strengthen graduate and undergraduate education throughout the institution by supporting existing and upcoming pertinent graduate programs and developing new ones. This will form a cadre of lifelong-learning materials professionals with a robust interdisciplinary training. To achieve the aforementioned goals the Center will be organized into four interdisciplinary research groups (IGRs) and one interdisciplinary educational group (IEG). The Center?s transformative research focuses on fundamental and applied aspects of nanomaterials encompassing: IGR1) multifunctional nanoparticles for magnetically actuated siRNA delivery; IGR2) quantum dot systems for cancer therapy; IGR3) nanoporous materials for separations and catalysis; and IGR4) nanoengineered composite materials for energy efficient devices and applications. The Center?s research will impact society by developing novel nanomaterials to be used in improved therapies and diagnostics, cleaner and more efficient energy alternatives. In addition, the Center?s proposed activities will foster the in-corporation of Hispanics in the workforce pipeline leading to advanced degrees in engineering areas related to Nanotechnology. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Suarez, Oscar Jeannette Santos Carlos Rinaldi Oscar Perales-Perez Arturo Hernandez-Maldonado University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez PR Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 1600000 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0833127 September 1, 2008 CREST Nanoscale Analytical Sciences Research and Education Center. Howard University is requesting CREST resources for proposed CREST Phase 2, operation as the CREST Nanoscale Analytical Sciences Research and Education Center. In Phase 2 the CREST Center focuses on four basic Subproject areas including: (1) the characterization and measurement of the molecular composition and structural factors dictating the unique physicochemical properties of nanomaterials, (2) surface enhanced separation, identification and metrology of nanomolecular species in complex systems, (3) the fabrication and characterization of nanostructured materials and films for nanoscale separation, high resolution microscopy and infrared detection, and (4) development and transfer of education technology utilizing nanomaterials and nanodevice technology as tools. This research has the intellectual merit of providing the basic knowledge for elucidating chemistry at the nanoscale, and creates the analytical chemistry knowledge-base underpinning advances in nanotechnology. The rationale for the above focus of activities is that for the foreseeable future, nanoscience and engineering will continue to create frontiers for interdisciplinary research in nanomaterials, bionanotechnology, environmental science, and nanoelectronics. Executing leading-edge research in these areas will require analytical chemistry research as a pivotal discipline for advancement. Research outputs will be integrated with education to develop a modernized nanoscale analytical sciences doctoral program to provide the broader impact of educating future generations of minority characterization scientists for careers in the US nanotechnology enterprise. The CREST Center?s strategic plan for sustainment beyond Phase 2 is the continued validation of its pivotal role in the accomplishment of Howard University?s major education and research goals. This achievement is providing momentum for underpinning the launching of a Howard University NanoTechnology Initiative, which targets the provision of funding beyond NSF Phase 2. The strategy also includes expanding multi-year research funded partnerships with corporations; obtaining intellectual property in subproject areas; and initiating CREST faculty participation in SBIR programs. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Mitchell, James Clayton Bates Gary Harris Charles Hosten Howard University DC Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 1999785 9131 SMET 9179 0833148 February 1, 2009 An Inter-institutional Neuroscience PhD Program to Expand Graduate Education Opportunities for Minority Students. This HBCU-RISE proposal seeks support to implement a new Neuroscience PhD program and to build and develop our state-wide neuroscience network at Delaware State University. The project will support student stipends and research supplies, start up and release time for new faculty with neuroscience-related research and support for a weekly neuroscience seminar that will rotate among consortium institutions and be live streamed to all of them. The RISE project will provide resources for new educational opportunities for minority students and increase their opportunities to be involved in cutting edge research in an area with growing career opportunities and scientific importance. This project integrates research and education by supporting graduate students, supporting new faculty members to establish independent research programs at an HBCU and fostering scientific collaborations among faculty at DSU and partner institutions. The strengthened research and research-training infrastructure at DSU will increase the number of minority students successfully pursuing PhD degrees in the Life Sciences and increase faculty productivity. The neuroscience network will serve as a national model for successful partnership between HBCUs, majority institutions, research institutes, and industry. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Davis, Leonard Melissa Harrington Delaware State University DE Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 999886 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0833158 October 1, 2008 HBCU-RISE: Strengthening the Ph.D. Program in Materials Science and Engineering Program at Tuskegee University. Tuskegee University's Center for Advanced Materials (T-CAM), is requesting HBCU-RISE support to further strengthened the Ph.D. Program by providing additional depth and breadth to the curriculum; incorporating new areas of research; supporting start-up funds for junior faculty; and providing professional development activities for doctoral students that includes skills development in several areas as well as internships in external laboratories. Intellectual merit of this proposal lies in the fact that the involvement of students in the cutting-edge research in advanced materials, particularly, nano-bio materials, and the offering of a vide range of new courses, will lead to the production of graduates who can successfully handle materials development challenges posed by the future technological advancements. T-CAM contributes significantly to the basic and applied research in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). The T-CAM faculty members, who support research and education of a large number of minority undergraduate and graduate students, have developed state-of-the-art facilities to conduct research in many aspects of advanced materials and acquired expertise in chemical synthesis and analysis, processing/manufacturing, performance evaluation, and modeling of advanced materials and structures. Therefore the broader impacts of this project include production of a large number of African American graduates at the Ph.D. level, in emerging areas of materials science and engineering with excellent communication and interpersonal skills developed through industrial experience and international exposure which will result in a profound impact on the economic development of the state and the region. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Jeelani, Shaik Mahesh Hosur Vijaya Rangari Tamara Floyd-Smith Yuanxin Zhou Tuskegee University AL Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0833178 October 1, 2008 Interdisciplinary Nanotoxicity Center. The enhancement of research and educational programs at Jackson State University (JSU) by supporting the multi-disciplinary Nanotoxicity CREST Center is proposed. The Center will consist of faculty members from the JSU Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Civil and Environmental Engineering. The interdisciplinary group of researchers will perform comprehensive investigations of nanomaterials that will strengthen the research infrastructure of Jackson State University. The proposed projects include different aspects of the development and production of nanomaterials and investigations of their toxicity. There are five proposed research subprojects: ?Silver Clusters: A Theoretical Study of Structure, Spectra, Paramagnetism, and Chemisorption?; ?Environment-Specific Issues in Nanoparticle Physics: Optical, Energy Transfer and Relaxation Processes?; ?Nanomaterial Based Sensing of Environmental Toxin Using hyper ? Rayleigh Scattering Spectroscopy?, ?Nanomaterials: a Study of Toxicity Mechanism, Bioaccumulation Potential, and Application for Prediction Modeling?, and ?Modeling and prediction of Physical Properties and Toxicity of Nanomaterials?. There are strong links among all subprojects of the proposed Center. One of the unique features is the two-way interaction between computational and experimental groups. The theoretical group will model nano-species studied by experimentalists. Based on the data from computational calculations, experimentalists will be able to test new materials that are predicted by theory to possess an enhanced property of interest. New courses and laboratories will be developed and executed by members of the Center in order to establish a graduate program in Materials Science. The Center's activities will be focused on training minority underrepresented graduate and undergraduate students and on lectures, workshops, seminar series, and research summer programs for undergraduate students from colleges surrounding Jackson and from HBCU/MI institutions. The collaborative activities of the members of the Center will also include the organization of two series of annual international conferences: ?Current Trends in Computational Chemistry? and ?Southern Schools on Computational Chemistry and Materials Science?. In addition to expanding the nation?s base for science and technology, the Center will also increase the number of Ph.D. degrees in computational chemistry awarded to African-Americans and will provide well qualified and diverse faculty members for US universities and colleges. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Leszczynski, Jerzy Tigran Shahbazyan Huey-Min Hwang Ming-Ju Huang Paresh Ray Jackson State University MS Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 999999 9150 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0833180 October 1, 2008 CREST: Center for Exploitation of Nanostructures in Sensors and Energy Systems. CENSES seeks resources from CREST to enhance as well as develop research expertise in areas associated with sensors and energy transduction systems in order to serve as a national resource center in these critical areas, and to be available for collaboration in research and development efforts with a variety of potential partners. Three research subprojects are proposed. Subproject-1 focuses on nanomaterials and nanostructures for sensor applications, with 3 constituent projects dealing with mid-IR sensors based on wide bandgap II-VI semiconductor devices; chemical and biological sensors from single-walled carbon nanotubes; and liposome-based arrays with nanoparticle markers for toxin detection. Subproject-2 exploits nanomaterials and nanostructures in energy systems, and has 4 constituent projects concerned with battery electrode nanomaterials; single-walled carbon nanotubes onto which electrocatalysts are attached for fuel cell applications; hybrid II-VI and III-V multiple quantum well/quantum dot high-performance solar cells; and hydrate-based gas storage materials. Subproject-3 focuses on emerging technologies and novel characterization techniques, and has 4 constituent projects dealing with biologically inspired self-assembled nanostructures; cobalt-oxide-based thermoelectric materials and devices; surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) applied to the study organicinorganic hybrid nanomaterials; and femtosecond time-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy. The results of the above aforementioned research efforts will be invaluable in addressing the major challenges facing our nation and the world today in the development of sustainable energy technologies that focus on renewable resources, and the monitoring of health, the environment and national security threats. The impact of this CREST center project not only includes a diversity recruitment & retention plan to continue engaging graduate students from underrepresented groups and a research experience for undergraduate students-style enrichment program geared towards the largely minority population of transfer students, but it also contains a professional development plan to increase the number of underrepresented individuals with in-depth research knowledge and skills in the nanotechnology fields who can join the faculty and postdoctoral ranks of City College and elsewhere. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Akins, Daniel Maria Tamargo Swapan Gayen Alexander Couzis CUNY City College NY Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 2020400 9131 SMET 9179 7204 0833184 October 15, 2008 CREST: Computational Center for Fundamental and Applied Science and Education at North Carolina Central University (CCFASE). North Carolina Central University (NCCU) proposes to establish a CREST Computational Center for Fundamental and Applied Science and Education (CCFASE) to provide the framework required for the conception and execution of interdisciplinary research and education in the College of Science and Technology (CST). The center will combine state-of-the-art research and development with an infrastructure essential to address some of the most important questions in modern physics and materials science through five projects: 1) Computer modeling, design, and formation of novel nanostructured materials and nanodevices; (2) Low-energy few-nucleon interactions: computer simulations for experimental development, data analysis, and rigorous calculations for three nucleon models; (3) Study of hyperon-hyperon and hyperon-nucleon interactions; (4) Intelligent systems and robotics; and (5) Integrative Geophysical Investigation of the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The proposed Center will enhance the participation of minority students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas, where they are critically underrepresented. In addition to fundamental advances in science, the CREST will train a qualified technology work force of highly-skilled people from minority and socially underrepresented groups. The Center involves 17 senior investigators from five NCCU STEM departments and scientists from Duke University, Cornell University, and the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis, and Jefferson National Laboratory. The investigators propose to create an HBCU computational science network will that will increase the opportunities for student participation in advanced research and will facilitate the collaboration among HBCU faculty and students with research institutions and industry. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Vlahovic, Branislav Jasper Harris Alade Tokuta Benjamin Crowe Marvin Wu North Carolina Central University NC Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 2000000 9131 SMET 9179 0833211 January 1, 2009 CREST Center in Tropical Ecology and Evolution in Marine and Terrestrial Environments. The Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES) Program proposes to establish a CREST Center in Tropical Ecology and Evolution in Marine and Terrestrial Environments at the University of Hawaii, Hilo. The goal of the TCBES Program is to become a highly collaborative research center in tropical conservation biology and environmental sciences in Hawaii. The center will facilitate three research themes: 1) The Evolutionary Genomics and Ecology of Local Adaptation and Speciation (EGES), 2) Coral Reef Ecosystem (CRE) 3) Terrestrial Ecology and Climate Change (TECC). The TCBES Program is an integral component in the transformation of the sciences at the University of Hawaii at Hilo (UH Hilo) and Hawaii Community College (HCC). The TCBES Program mission is to promote: 1) a research center of excellence of national importance in conservation biology and environmental sciences in the marine and terrestrial environments, 2) the training of graduate, undergraduate, and post-doctoral students in these fields, and 3) the further development of collaborations with federal and state agencies in Hawaii and with faculty at Ph.D.-granting institutions. The NSF CREST Program will build on the current strengths of the TCBES Program. These include a) Hawaii?s outstanding natural laboratory featuring a tremendous diversity of habitats, endemic species, and endangered species, b) an integrated research and education program that is building the STEM pipeline for students in Hawaii from K-12 through to undergraduate and graduate programs, and c) strong partnerships with federal and state agencies in Hawaii. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Price, Donald Elizabeth Stacy Misaki Takabayashi Patrick Hart University of Hawaii at Hilo HI Victor A. Santiago Cooperative Agreement 999889 9150 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0833247 January 1, 2009 RDE-DEI: ACCESS TO ADVANCEMENT: An Audio Exploration of the National Effort to Increase the Role of Women with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The RDE-DEI: ACCESS TO ADVANCEMENT: An Audio Exploration of the National Effort to Increase the Role of Women with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is an Information Dissemination project builds upon several of WAMC Northeast Public Radio's previous NSF-funded projects focusing on dissemination about women in STEM (HRD-0114472, HRD-0225030, HRD-0332765, HRD-0436130, and HRD-0631603). WAMC's long-term goal for this project is for its nationally-distributed radio programs to play an important information dissemination role in the national effort to broaden the participation and achievement of women with disabilities in all fields of STEM education and associated professional careers. In the shorter-term--over the two year period of the project--WAMC's goals are: 1) to extend to significant national radio audiences, and to target audiences of teachers, professors, researchers, guidance counselors, institutional and organizational leaders, parents and young women, awareness and information about products, pedagogical approaches, teaching and learning practices, and research for broadening the participation of women with disabilities in STEM education and careers; and, 2) to introduce national radio and target audiences to fascinating and dedicated women and girls with disabilities who have been involved with these products, approaches and practices; relating their individual stories and personal achievements. WAMC anticipates the following broad impacts associated with this project: 1. Reaching millions of radio listeners in the general public, who will hear the radio stories and thus obtain in-depth information about projects and programs working to increase the participation of women and girls with disabilities in STEM; and about the educational goals, career paths or achievements of individual women with disabilities in STEM; 2. Reaching and educating a targeted audience of young women with an emphasis on reaching and educating young women with disabilities through the radio stories, who will have the opportunity to learn that STEM education and careers are possible and within reach. The stories will also provide them with in-depth information about programs that may be available to them, and introduce them to women with disabilities who are successfully pursuing STEM educational paths or working in STEM careers; 3. Reaching and educating a targeted audience of researchers, professors, teachers, guidance counselors, institutional and organizational leaders and parents, providing them with in-depth information about projects and programs working to increase the participation of women and girls with disabilities in STEM, which they may use to inform or change their own programs or practices; or pursue additional research. They will also learn about the educational goals, career paths or achievements of individual women with disabilities in STEM that they can share with students, fellow educators and researchers; and 4. Providing a fully accessible, web-based "go-to" source (the WAMC Women in STEM website) for the general public, all targeted audiences and members of the broadcast and print media to access anytime for radio stories about the national effort to increase the role of women and girls in STEM. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Busby, Glenn Susan Barnett WAMC Northeast Public Radio NY Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 283900 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0833338 April 1, 2009 Transforming Engineering Through PEERS: Building a Better Experience for Underrepresented Students. The project proposes to integrate NSF-funded efforts at the University of Washington (UW) in an innovative way to improve the experiences of underrepresented undergraduate minorities, women and students with disabilities in the College of Engineering. A primary catalyst for this synergy is the use of the UW's PEERs project (Promoting Equity in Engineering Relationships), which seeks to positively impact the climate of engineering through a cadre of change agents who create and encourage improved and more equitable relationships. The four institutional partners for the proposed collaboration are the institution's: 1. ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change; 2. Center for Workforce Development; 3. Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELT); and 4. Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT). These institutional partners will use the PEERs model to enhance the goals of three NSF-funded projects and to leverage lessons learned from the existing awards to work toward improving the climate for and the participation of underrepresented minority, female and disabled engineering students; and provide a foundation for campus-wide replication. The three NSF awards upon which the I3 project will build include: 1. Collaborative Research - Northwest Engineering Talent Expansion Partnership: A Coordinated Regional Recruitment and Retention Effort (DUE-0431659); 2. CCLI: Developing Engineering Lifelong Learners Through Freshman Seminars and Faculty Development Workshops (DUE-0737535); and 3. Northwest Alliance for Access to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (HRD-0227995). Four primary objectives will be achieved by this project 1. Raise awareness of unconscious and implicit biases toward underrepresented minority, women and disabled students; 2. Promote actions both majority and underrepresented minority, women and disabled students and faculty can take to counteract these biases to cultivate a more welcoming and success-promoting climate; 3. Cultivate change agents among both student and faculty bodies; and 4. Build a foundation, and collaboration mechanisms, for future efforts to make STEM and other programs campus-wide welcoming and accessible to underrepresented minority, women and disabled students. STEM TALENT EXPANSN PGM (STEP) HRD EHR Wise, Phyllis Eve Riskin Sheryl Burgstahler Joyce Yen Sapna Cheryan University of Washington WA Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 613405 1796 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0833392 November 1, 2008 MIND Alliance for Minority Students with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The MIND Alliance for Minority Students with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is designed to bring together the expertise and resources of two minority-serving institutions of higher education, Hunter College, City University of New York in New York City, NY and Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA, to increase the quantity and quality of students with disabilities receiving associate and baccalaureate degrees in STEM disciplines and entering the STEM workforce or graduate education. The greater New York City partners include Hunter College, City College, the Borough of Manhattan Community College and the Newark, NJ school district. The Baton Rouge collaborators include Southern University, Delgado Community College, Baton Rouge Community College, and the school districts of East Baton Rouge Parish and Terrebonne Parish. The primary goal of the project is to increase the quality and quantity of students with disabilities receiving associate and baccalaureate degrees in STEM disciplines and entering the STEM workforce or graduate school, with the following sub-goals: (1) To successfully transition secondary school students with disabilities from Newark Public Schools (Newark, New Jersey), Terrebonne Parish Schools (Louisiana), and East Baton Rouge Parish (Louisiana) for entry into associate and baccalaureate STEM degree programs. (2) To successfully retain students with disabilities in, and graduate them from, STEM associate degree programs at community colleges: Borough of Manhattan College (New York City), Delgado Community College (Louisiana), and Baton Rouge Community College (Louisiana). (3) To transition students with disabilities from STEM associate degree programs to STEM baccalaureate degree programs or the workforce. (4) To successfully retain students with disabilities at, and graduate them from, STEM baccalaureate degree programs at Hunter College(New York City), City College (New York City), and Southern University Baton Rouge (Louisiana). (5) To transition students with disabilities from STEM baccalaureate degrees to STEM graduate degrees or the workforce. Student interventions, which emphasize culturally sensitive student experiences and a career assessment and counseling approach, are combined with traditional promising practices: Summer Institute Programs; Tutoring, Mentoring and Role Modeling; High School Counselor and Teacher Workshops; Research Opportunities and Internship Programs; Student Scholarships and an Annual Science Conference. The project will be evaluated by a Dr. Fong Chan, a national expert in the field of Rehabilitation Psychology. Dissemination will focus on the use of web-based diffusion with an emphasis on sharing the partnering model and culturally sensitive career planning approach with a national post-secondary audience. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Cardoso, Elizabeth CUNY Hunter College NY Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 691948 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0833439 January 1, 2009 Catalyzing institutional change in STEM education at the University of Florida. The project proposes to create a vision for transforming graduate education and undergraduate research-based education at the University of Florida (UF) to develop an integrative and interdisciplinary program that links all NSF funded student-oriented programs to achieve synergies and avoid unnecessary duplication of activities. The goals of the project are: 1. To integrate best practices of training grants (NSF and other) at the UF to improve the professional preparation of graduate students in the STEM disciplines; 2. To develop integration and synergies where possible in research training and educational programs; 3. To include undergraduate students where possible in these activities and to enhance their preparation for graduate studies; 4. To ensure that students from underrepresented populations are fully involved in activities associated with the newly developed Program Integration Institute; and 5. To improve interactions among existing programs by establishing the Program Integration Institute. The four NSF awards upon which the I3 project will build include: 1. IGERT Program in Adaptive Management: Wise Use of Water, Wetlands, and Watersheds (DGE-0504422); 2. Science Partners in Inquiry-based Collaborative Education II (SPICE II) (DGE-0538407); 3. The South East Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (HRD-0450279); and 4. Graduate Research Fellowship Program (DGE-0802270) The project's objective is to launch a small suite of professional development, educational, and training activities with students in UF?s NSF-funded and other STEM training programs. Based on the success of the components of the Program Integration Institute, the project will expand offerings and also increase the base of students to whom services are offered. It is the intent of the proposal to permanently establish the Program Integration Institute at the UF and have the institute fully funded by the university. STEM TALENT EXPANSN PGM (STEP) HRD EHR machen, james Douglas Levey Henry Frierson Sandra Russo University of Florida FL Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 598872 1796 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0833461 January 1, 2009 Integration of Education and Mentoring Programs at Louisiana State Univeristy. The ?Integration of Education and Mentoring Programs at Louisiana State University? is an institutional effort designed to integrate a large number of on-going programs at LSU, especially those led by the newly established Louisiana State University (LSU) Office of Strategic Initiatives and LSU?s Gordon A. Cain Center for Scientific, Technological, Engineering and Mathematical Literacy. The PI/Co-PIs have altogether 50 on-going education/mentoring/research grants; the majority of those are funded by NSF. These projects are currently supporting over 50 Ph.D. students, 300 undergraduate students, hundreds of high school teachers, and thousands of K-12 students. Therefore, an integration of those programs under the umbrella of NSF/Innovation through Institutional Integration (I3) is appropriate. While all other projects on campus will be invited to participate, we will ensure that, under the overall leadership of OSI, the integration and coordination of a critical pool of core projects will be made through their PI/Co-PIs. Integration of the various projects will be a challenging bureaucratic, cultural and programmatic enterprise. It will be necessary to cross department and college boundaries, address different academic cultures and norms, and ensure the integrity of the programs, especially with regard to adding to and not diluting their impact. To accomplish this, the integration efforts will be coordinated by OSI and led by the PIs/Co-PIs of the various projects. The I3 project will focus on the following: (1) Consolidation of Summer Workshops and Camps for Students, Teachers and Faculty Members; (2) Leadership Training in Academics through a Student-Governing Organization; (3) High School Math Tutoring Program by College Students; (4) Mentoring High School Louisiana Science and Engineering Fair Projects by College Students; and (5) Integration of Research into Education in Materials Engineering and Science. STEM TALENT EXPANSN PGM (STEP) HRD EHR Merget, Astrid Su-Seng Pang Isiah Warner Frank Neubrander Guoqiang Li Brenda Nixon Louisiana State University & Agricultural and Mechanical College LA Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 600000 1796 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0833482 January 1, 2009 FIRE UP (Faculty Integration, Research, and Engagement in Urban Polynesia). Kapiolani Community College, University of Hawaii, recognizing that our continued success is contingent upon building a formal and institutionalized ?STEM enterprise? and developing more engaged STEM faculty who can offer compelling courses as well as mentor students in undergraduate research, the College proposes to create the organizational, administrative and programmatic excellence and infrastructure needed to support such an enterprise. Our long-term goals, therefore, are to: 1) institutionalize, improve and sustain a formal STEM enterprise; and 2) increase the number of STEM faculty engaged in producing more Native Hawaiian and other STEM degree completers. This I3 project will integrate faculty innovation within a formal, sustained, always improving STEM Program tied closely to the strategic and long range directions of the College. NATIONAL SMETE DIGITAL LIBRARY HRD EHR Richards, Leon Robert Franco John Rand Judith Kirkpatrick University of Hawaii HI Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 650000 7444 SMET 9179 9150 0833504 November 1, 2008 AccessSTEM: The Northwest Alliance for Students with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics-Phase II (AccessSTEM2). The "AccessSTEM: The Northwest Alliance for Students with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics - Phase II (AccessSTEM2)" project will increase the associate, baccalaureate, and graduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degree attainment of individuals with disabilities in the Seattle, WA region. The primary institution, the University of Washington (UW), is partnering with Bellevue Community College (BCC), Seattle Central Community College (SCCC), and all high schools within the Seattle Public Schools system to accomplish this goal. The AccessSTEM-Phase 2 Alliance will increase the associate, baccalaureate and graduate STEM degree attainment of students with disabilities by attending to the following four objectives: 1. Implement changes within awardee and partner postsecondary institutions (UW, BCC, SCCC) to make STEM programs more welcoming and accessible to students with disabilities (e.g., more accessible websites and science labs, STEM publications that encourage the participation of students with disabilities); 2. Create and expand engagement of stakeholders (precollege STEM educators, disability services, veteran associations, projects that broaden participation in STEM, and industry and career services) in fostering STEM education and careers that are welcoming and accessible to people with disabilities; 3. Implement evidence-based practices (e.g., mentoring, peer support, internships) to increase numbers of individuals with disabilities moving through critical junctures to STEM associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degrees and careers; and 4. Support and expand an online resource center that shares research and promising practices worldwide. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Burgstahler, Sheryl Mari Ostendorf Matthew O'Donnell Sheila Lange University of Washington WA Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 661870 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0833561 December 1, 2008 RDE-RAD: Collaborative Research: Increasing Achievement and Transition outcome in STEM Professions of Post-Secondary Students with Disabilities. "RDE-RAD: Collaborative Research: Ohio's STEM Ability Alliance (OSAA): STEM Degrees and Careers for Ohioans with Disabilities" will increase the quantity and quality of students with disabilities receiving associate, baccalaureate and graduate degrees in STEM disciplines and their entry into the STEM workforce. This collaborative project includes the following partners: Wright State University, the Ohio State University, Sinclair Community College, Columbus State Community College and numerous high schools in the Dayton and Columbus regions of Ohio. The primary goal of the project is to increase the quality and quantity of students with disabilities receiving associate, baccalaureate and graduate degrees in STEM and entering the STEM workforce, with the following specific three numerical goals: 1. Increase recruitment of high school students with disabilities (from a pool of 2000) and transition to STEM majors in OSAA community college and university partner institutions by 20% through student learning communities and mentoring opportunities. 2. Increase retention and graduation rates (associates, baccalaureate and graduate degrees) for existing STEM students with disabilities in OSAA's community college and university partner institutions from 10% to ~20% through student learning communities, mentoring (electronic and internships), and individualized STEM advisement. 3. Increase successful entry rates of OSAA STEM graduates (associates, baccalaureate and graduate) with disabilities into STEM graduate programs or STEM employment by 5% per year (from 2007 baseline measures) through focusing on employment issues in student learning communities, industry internships and parallel employer education. The evaluation team for this collaborative project includes two independent evaluators, Dr. Dianna Newman, the Director of the Evaluation Consortium and Professor of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the State University of New York, Albany, and Dr. Jeffrey White, an Assistant Professor of Education at Ashland University. Dr. James Altschuld, Emeritus faculty at the Ohio State University will serve as an on-site evaluation team member. Dissemination of project deliverables and reports will focus on institutions in Ohio region as well as sharing the model with a national post-secondary audience via a web-based diffusion portal, presentations at national conferences and publications in professional journals. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Izzo, Margaretha Steven Rissing Ohio State University Research Foundation OH Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 602274 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0833567 October 1, 2008 RDE-RAD: EAST Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM- Phase 2. The EAST Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM ? Phase 2 project ??seeks to build upon prior accomplishments [EAST award, HRD-0333316] and, through a focused approach with regional partners, create a comprehensive ?Pipeline of supports,? which will serve as a model for institutes of higher education nationally? that are advancing high school, undergraduate, and graduate students with disabilities in STEM. The primary institution is the University of Southern Maine, partnering with three associate degree granting institutions (Southern Maine Community College, Central Maine Community College, Landmark College), and four high schools (Portland?s Deering, Casco Bay and Portland high schools, and Bonny Eagle high school which serves the communities of Buxton, Hollis, Standish and Limington). The two primary goals of the project are : Increasing the number of students with disabilities that enroll in STEM majors, specifically natural, biological, chemical, and physical sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics, at the primary and partner institutions of post-secondary education, and Increasing the number of undergraduate and graduate students who successfully complete associate degrees, baccalaureate degrees and graduate degrees in STEM disciplines and enter the STEM workforce. The refined ?steps for success? include two primary foci: Targeted STEM learning experiences for high school students with disabilities, and providing STEM academic support and research experiences for undergraduate students with disabilities. High school interventions will include field-based science research institutes for high school juniors and seniors, college credit coursework in math for high school seniors, and professional educational development for high school math, science and special education teachers. College level interventions will include a learning community for freshman and transfer students, a freshman course in academic self-management, a research course for sophomores and juniors, undergraduate research fellowships in labs, the use of a ?student support team? integrating student support from project and university staff, and a series of faculty educational trainings on how to implement ?universal design for education? principles to facilitate student success. The project will be evaluated by a team from the Education Development Center, led by Dr. Babette Moeller, using a mixed method approach to conduct both formative and summative evaluations. Dissemination will focus on institutions in the Southern Maine region as well as sharing the model with a national post-secondary audience. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Langley-Turnbaugh, Samantha Jean Whitney University of Southern Maine ME Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 1278433 9150 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0833608 October 1, 2008 Disseminating Effective Practices for Describing STEM Content for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired. Disseminating Effective Practices for Describing STEM Content for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired is an Information Dissemination proposal that builds upon the two prior awards for creating accessible non-text science images for students and professionals who are blind or visually impaired (HRD-0435663 and HRD-0622857). The primary institution, WGBH Educational Foundation's National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) proposes a two-year project to disseminate and institutionalize research-based practices for effective descriptions, for blind and visually impaired students, of non-text science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content within electronic text. Proposed activities will build capacity among publishers and content developers to create concise and meaningful descriptions within digital content for science-focused images, charts, graphs, diagrams, illustrations, equations, and other graphics. The following four partner organizations will work closely with the WGBH-NCAM team to disseminate the research-based practices: The National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC) at the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), The Center for Applied Special Technologies (CAST) which operates the NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) Technical Assistance Center, The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), and Benetech, a leading nonprofit social enterprise that maintains Bookshare - a service slated to be the nation's largest provider of accessible textbooks. The research on which this dissemination project is based is an NSF-funded seminal effort to develop recommended practices for audio descriptions of science images within digital talking books (DTBs). The work was jointly undertaken by leading organizations that pioneered description for visually impaired users and are currently shaping national policy and practices for the provision of accessible materials in electronic formats. Research results indicate strong preferences among visually impaired post-secondary students and science-focused adults that require significant changes to current practices and support the value of concise approaches in providing ready and meaningful access to information embedded in illustrations, graphs, and other visual resources. Dissemination activities will help turn research into practice at a pivotal time in the development of digital talking books and electronic text, given recent federal and state mandates for provision of accessible digital textbooks and educational materials. The following dissemination deliverables are expected from this project: 1. Exemplars of textbooks and professional journal articles that illustrate the preferred approach for describing science-focused images, charts, graphs, diagrams, illustrations, equations, and other graphics, to serve as models for publishers or others creating DTBs or NIMAS files. 2. Specialized workshops (in-person and online) on descriptive practices, customized for individual organizations and target audiences. 3. A comprehensive Web site on STEM description, for use by the above organizations and beyond, which provides targeted training materials for different users, exemplars and other showcase description samples, archived workshop sessions, consolidated FAQs representing diverse attendee questions, and a summary that captures next-step needs identified by workshop participants. 4. Update to an existing and widely disseminated online NCAM publication, "Accessible Digital Media," that will integrate description research results. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Rothberg, Madeleine WGBH Educational Foundation MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 197739 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0833644 December 1, 2008 RDE-RAD: Collaborative Research: Ohio's STEM Ability Alliance (OSAA): STEM Degrees and Careers for Ohioans with Disabilities. "RDE-RAD: Collaborative Research: Ohio's STEM Ability Alliance (OSAA): STEM Degrees and Careers for Ohioans with Disabilities" will increase the quantity and quality of students with disabilities receiving associate, baccalaureate and graduate degrees in STEM disciplines and their entry into the STEM workforce. This collaborative project includes the following partners: Wright State University, the Ohio State University, Sinclair Community College, Columbus State Community College and numerous high schools in the Dayton and Columbus regions of Ohio. The primary goal of the project is to increase the quality and quantity of students with disabilities receiving associate, baccalaureate and graduate degrees in STEM and entering the STEM workforce, with the following specific three numerical goals: 1. Increase recruitment of high school students with disabilities (from a pool of 2000) and transition to STEM majors in OSAA community college and university partner institutions by 20% through student learning communities and mentoring opportunities. 2. Increase retention and graduation rates (associates, baccalaureate and graduate degrees) for existing STEM students with disabilities in OSAA's community college and university partner institutions from 10% to ~20% through student learning communities, mentoring (electronic and internships), and individualized STEM advisement. 3. Increase successful entry rates of OSAA STEM graduates (associates, baccalaureate and graduate) with disabilities into STEM graduate programs or STEM employment by 5% per year (from 2007 baseline measures) through focusing on employment issues in student learning communities, industry internships and parallel employer education. The evaluation team for this collaborative project includes two independent evaluators, Dr. Dianna Newman, the Director of the Evaluation Consortium and Professor of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the State University of New York, Albany, and Dr. Jeffrey White, an Assistant Professor of Education at Ashland University. Dr. James Altschuld, Emeritus faculty at the Ohio State University will serve as an on-site evaluation team member. Dissemination of project deliverables and reports will focus on institutions in Ohio region as well as sharing the model with a national post-secondary audience via a web-based diffusion portal, presentations at national conferences and publications in professional journals. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Wheatly, Michele John Flach John Gallagher Wright State University OH Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 588425 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0833969 September 15, 2008 The Signing Math Dictionary for Kids Project. The Signing Math Dictionary for Kids Project builds upon two prior awards (HRD-0095392 and HRD-0533057) to create the Signing Math Dictionary. The primary institution, TERC Inc, is partnering with Vcom3D Inc to use the SigningAvatar accessibility software to: 1) Research and develop an illustrated interactive 3D dictionary of mathematics terms and definitions for elementary and middle-grade students who are deaf and hard of hearing and whose first language is sign. 2) Evaluate the extent to which use of the dictionary furthers understanding of standards-based mathematics content, command of the language of mathematics, and the ability to study mathematics independently. 3) Create a more robust sign/facial expression/body-space lexicon of signed mathematics terms that other developers can use when generating signed mathematics materials. The Signing Math Dictionary will be developed, evaluated and promoted to serve elementary and middle school students who are deaf or hard of hearing and who first language is sign. The following schools and programs have already agreed to participate in the project: - Bruce Street School for the Deaf, Newark, NJ - Countrywide Program for Students Who Are Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Town & Country, MO - Eisenhower Elementary School, Davenport, IA - Hinsdale South High School (grades 6-8), Darien, IL - Kinzie School, Chicago, IL - Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, Augusta, ME - St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, Brooklyn, NY - Texas School for the Deaf, Austin, Texas - The Learning Center for Deaf Children, Framingham, MA - Washington School for the Deaf, Vancouver, WA The proposed dictionary will offer students an indispensable learning tool and teachers a library of recognized signs for studying mathematics ideas with their students. It will include at least 1,000 key mathematics terms and will be the first tool of its kind to bring mathematics learning to life using avatar characters that sign. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Vesel, Judy Jason Hurdich TERC Inc MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 448005 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0834177 January 1, 2009 RDE-FRI Collaborative Research: Students with Learning Disabilities: STEM Pathways in the Social Context. The "RDE-FRI Collaborative Research: Students with Learning Disabilities: STEM Pathways in the Social Context" is designed to explore the effects of high school context, social and academic processes, as well as variations by demographic subgroup (racial, ethnic and linguistic minority, gender, class) among the population of students with learning disabilities, on college preparatory STEM achievement outcomes. Data analyses will be conducted using information from the 2002-2006 National Center for Education Statistics's Education Longitudinal Study, a dataset that follows a nationally representative sample of students as they transition from high school into adulthood and post-secondary settings. This research will address the following four primary question sets: I. Students with Learning Disabilities and Their Schools: The first line of investigation is to systematically describe the students identified with learning disabilities and the schools they attend. Are identification of a learning disability and the type of school associated with a student's socio-demographic characteristics - specifically, gender, race/ethnicity, social class, and/or language minority status and Limited English Proficiency (LEP)? II. Academic Experiences: The second line of inquiry concentrates on systematically describing students' academic experiences through the courses that they take. We concentrate on the degree of mainstreaming, the specific coursework, and the pedagogy in their math classes. What types of organizational models of course-taking do students with learning disabilities experience? To what extent do they take courses that prepare them for postsecondary study and for advanced STEM coursework in high school and college? What pedagogical approaches do their teachers use? And, finally, do these patterns differ on the basis of students' socio-demographic characteristics? III. Social Processes: Social Integration, Behavior, and Psychosocial Attitudes and Well-being: The third line of study will explore the social world of adolescents in their schools and then consider the social processes in relation to their academic experiences. To what extent are students with learning disabilities integrated into the social fabric of the school through relationships with peers, teachers, and adult mentors? In what academic and social behaviors do they engage in comparison with their peers without learning disabilities? How do students with learning disabilities perceive themselves, and do they have academic self-confidence, and STEM specific interest and confidence? To what extent are their social worlds a function of their academic experiences? And, finally, do these informal social processes and their relationships to academic experiences differ depending on the student's background (gender, race/ethnicity, social class, and/or language minority status and LEP)? IV. STEM Pipeline and Academic Outcomes: The final line of inquiry will consider how schools, academic experiences, and informal social processes influence academic outcomes (graduation, college preparation, college enrollment, and STEM achievement) for high school students with learning disabilities. The impact of each set of factors will be examined separately and in combination. What types of schools and academic experiences facilitate students? college preparatory and, in particular, STEM success, and do these effects differ depending on students' socio-demographic characteristics? RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Muller, Chandra University of Texas at Austin TX Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 248198 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0834178 January 1, 2009 RDE-FRI Collaborative Research: Students with Learning Disabilities: STEM Pathways in the Social Context. The "RDE-FRI Collaborative Research: Students with Learning Disabilities: STEM Pathways in the Social Context" is designed to explore the effects of high school context, social and academic processes, as well as variations by demographic subgroup (racial, ethnic and linguistic minority, gender, class) among the population of students with learning disabilities, on college preparatory STEM achievement outcomes. Data analyses will be conducted using information from the 2002-2006 National Center for Education Statistics's Education Longitudinal Study, a dataset that follows a nationally representative sample of students as they transition from high school into adulthood and post-secondary settings. This research will address the following four primary question sets: I. Students with Learning Disabilities and Their Schools: The first line of investigation is to systematically describe the students identified with learning disabilities and the schools they attend. Are identification of a learning disability and the type of school associated with a student's socio-demographic characteristics - specifically, gender, race/ethnicity, social class, and/or language minority status and Limited English Proficiency (LEP)? II. Academic Experiences: The second line of inquiry concentrates on systematically describing students' academic experiences through the courses that they take. We concentrate on the degree of mainstreaming, the specific coursework, and the pedagogy in their math classes. What types of organizational models of course-taking do students with learning disabilities experience? To what extent do they take courses that prepare them for postsecondary study and for advanced STEM coursework in high school and college? What pedagogical approaches do their teachers use? And, finally, do these patterns differ on the basis of students' socio-demographic characteristics? III. Social Processes: Social Integration, Behavior, and Psychosocial Attitudes and Well-being: The third line of study will explore the social world of adolescents in their schools and then consider the social processes in relation to their academic experiences. To what extent are students with learning disabilities integrated into the social fabric of the school through relationships with peers, teachers, and adult mentors? In what academic and social behaviors do they engage in comparison with their peers without learning disabilities? How do students with learning disabilities perceive themselves, and do they have academic self-confidence, and STEM specific interest and confidence? To what extent are their social worlds a function of their academic experiences? And, finally, do these informal social processes and their relationships to academic experiences differ depending on the student's background (gender, race/ethnicity, social class, and/or language minority status and LEP)? IV. STEM Pipeline and Academic Outcomes: The final line of inquiry will consider how schools, academic experiences, and informal social processes influence academic outcomes (graduation, college preparation, college enrollment, and STEM achievement) for high school students with learning disabilities. The impact of each set of factors will be examined separately and in combination. What types of schools and academic experiences facilitate students? college preparatory and, in particular, STEM success, and do these effects differ depending on students' socio-demographic characteristics? RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Callahan, Rebecca University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc GA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 107595 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0834195 October 1, 2008 A Randomized Study of the Impact of STEM Mentors with Disabilities on High School Students with Disabilities. A Randomized Study of the Impact of STEM Mentors with Disabilities on High School Students with Disabilities is an investigation of the impact of mentoring by adults with disabilities on youth with disabilities in STEM. The first aim of the Project is to conduct an exploratory randomized clinical trial investigating the extent to which systematic interaction with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) mentors with disabilities promotes the STEM-related career planning knowledge, self-efficacy, engagement and performance of high school students with disabilities. The proposed study will build upon an established conceptual framework explaining the role of mentors in facilitating students' self-efficacy and achievement, and previous research documenting the benefits of mentoring and, most specifically the benefits of mentoring of youth with disabilities by successful adults with disabilities (e.g., Burgstahler & Cronheim, 2001; Cory & Burgstahler, 2007;Hibbard, Cantor, Charatz, Rosenthal, Ashman, Gundersen, Ireland-Knight, Gordon, Avner, & Gartner, 2002; Powers, Sowers, & Stevens, 1995). The study will feature a three-independent group, randomized block, repeated measures design utilizing multiple-agents, multiple methods, and established protocols and measurement methods. The study includes a three-group comparison: 1) high school students with disabilities exposed to STEM mentors with disabilities; 2) high school students with disabilities exposed to STEM mentors without disabilities; and 3) and high school students with disabilities who are not exposed to mentors. The second aim of the Project is to specify efficacious STEM mentor program methods and evaluation strategies, based on the study's summative and formative findings, which will be used to advance adoption of efficacious STEM mentoring approaches through a larger replication study of strategic impacts. An independent evaluation of the project will be conducted by Kasey McKraken from David Heil and Associates, an organization specializing in the design of science-based education programs, products, and services including project evaluation design and implementation. The following dissemination strategies will be utilized: 1. In line with the second aim of the project, a replication manual detailing STEM mentor program methods and evaluation approaches, based on the summative and formative findings, will be prepared and comprehensively disseminated. 2. At least 2 manuscripts will be published in professional journals in STEM education, such as Journal of Research in Science Teaching and Journal of Research on Technology in Education, and Science and Technology Policy. 3. The methodology and findings will be presented at a minimum of 4 regional and national conferences, such as the National Science Foundation Annual PI Meeting, American Educational Research Association (AERA) and American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 4. Findings will be posted on the Internet through Portland State University?s-Regional Research Institute's web site (http://pdx.edu/rri) RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Powers, Laurie JoAnn Sowers Portland State University OR Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 690000 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0844049 October 1, 2008 A Planning Meeting on Capacity Building for International Social Science Research. Institution: Social Science Research Council Principal Investigator: Adrian DeWind Title: Capacity Building for International Social Science Research With NSF support, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) will broaden participation and enhance the capacity of social scientists to contribute to international research, particularly in countries with emerging and transitional economies. SSRC will organize a meeting to build on earlier international consultations of the SSRC, the International Social Science Council and its Committee on Developing and Transition Economies that have linked social scientists and national funding agencies in advancing the social sciences internationally. The meeting will advance previous efforts by producing a report that will: o Identify topics for international research o Clarify approaches to capacity building; o Map successful programs; o Design programs and mobilize resources. Intellectual Merit Capacity building for international social science is an important topic that addresses a critical issue in social science research. Issues related to comparative and integrated modes of international social science research are addressed. Broader Impacts The proposed activity involves collaborations with emerging and transitional economies to develop international research in social science. Efforts to build capacity globally with regard to international research are especially needed in today's complex society. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR DeWind, Adrian Seteney Shami Social Science Research Council NY Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 67163 9131 SMET 9179 0844766 September 15, 2008 Outreach Activities for the National Science Foundation?s Innovation Through Institutional Integration (Icubed) Program. Abstract Institution: Quality Education for Minorities Network Title: Outreach Activities for NSF?s Innovation through Institutional Integration Initiative Ref: Shirley McBay HRD 0844766 With National Science Foundation support, the Quality Education for Minorities Network (QEM) will provide outreach and technical assistance to minority-serving institutions to increase their knowledge and understanding of the National Science Foundation?s Innovation through Institutional Integration (I-cubed) initiative. The Innovation through Institutional Integration initiative challenges institutions to think strategically about the creative integration of NSF-funded awards and is itself an integrative, cross-cutting effort within the Directorate for Education and Human Resources. QEM will conduct six two-day information and technical assistance workshops for two-person teams form minority-serving institutions. The workshops will be held in geographically dispersed areas of the country and are designed to accommodate 144 participants during Fall 2008 and Spring 2009. Intellectual Merit The technical assistance offered will enable minority-serving institutions to develop an inventory of current NSF ? and other Federal entity funded STEM projects on their campuses and learn about the mission and key concepts of the I-cubed program. The technical assistance will enable participants to critically examine intra- and inter-institutional opportunities for partnerships, international initiatives, and efforts at critical junctures that have synergistic and integrative potential for advancing STEM research and education. Broader Impacts Outcomes of the proposed project include increased participation of the minority-serving institution community in the Innovation through Institutional Integration initiative, as well as enhanced minority-serving institution infrastructure for STEM research and education through innovative and institutional integration. As opportunities provided by the I-cubed program are better understood and minority-serving institutions develop competitive I-cubed proposals, the pool of principal investigators engaged in integrative STEM education and research programs will represent a more diverse source for ideas and talent to improve STEM initiatives. STEM TALENT EXPANSN PGM (STEP) HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 349665 1796 SMET 9179 0848089 September 15, 2008 Towards an LSAMP Discovery and Innovation Center for International Undergraduate Research Experiences. The pilot program has a goal to develop international research experiences for Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) students. As such a Discovery and Innovation Center for International Undergraduate Research Experiences (LSAMP-INT) will be initiated. In this pilot, 16 participants will be recruited from LSAMP programs nationwide. These participants will be given deep immersion experiences in a variety of renowed research laboratories around the world. In particular, the students will be embedded in international (REU) Sites (iREU). About half of the participants will be sent to a set of primary iREU Sites involving France, Brazil, Argentina, and Ghana that are coordinated by the PIs through the University of Florida. The other half of the participants will be embedded in about 18 other iREU Sites that span much of the world and represent most directorates of NSF depending on the experience and interest of the LSAMP student participants. The cohort of students will share common predeparture and post-program experiences designed to maximize the broader impact of their international research experience. In particular, scientists at the Smithsonian and Florida Museum of Natural History will participate in the pilot program to enhance students' ability to communicate research to the public impacting public understanding of science. The pilot year will be the pre-cursor to a multi-year program to aid in the development of a diverse workforce with global science competencies critical to continued U. S. competitiveness. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Duran, Randolph Thomas Emmel Michael Scott Troy Sadler James Brown University of Florida FL Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 272000 9133 SMET 9178 7752 0850461 October 1, 2008 Interdisciplinary Scientific Conference in South Africa to Support the South African PhD Project. Institution: American Association for the Advancement of Science Title: Interdisciplinary Scientific Conference in South Africa to support the South African Ph.D. Project Ref.: Vaughan C. Turekian HRD 0850461 With National Science Foundation support, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will support the National Research Foundation?s (NRF) South African Ph.D. Project by serving as a key collaborator in planning an interdisciplinary science and engineering capacity building conference in South Africa for the NRF?s Ph.D. students worldwide. The conference will provide opportunities to forge relationships between South African scientists and students, their counterparts at NSF CREST institutions in the U.S. and other members of the larger science communities in the U.S. and beyond. This NSF award will enable AAAS to support the intellectual development of the conference and travel by U.S.-based scientists and students to the meeting in South Africa. AAAS will serve a key collaborator in planning the scientific conference, developing the framework for the meeting, and through an advisory role, helping to build long term capacity to organize and conduct such meeting ? conveying best practices in the organization and execution of an interdisciplinary scientific conference and providing adaptable templates for conference materials. Intellectual Merit The proposed conference will provide significant educational and professional development experiences for the participating students from South Africa and the United States while providing in-person contact between U.S. and South African scientists that could facilitate future scientific collaborations among and between the participating scientists. Broader Impacts The proposed conference should significantly enhance the educational and professional development of the participating U.S. and South African students as well as facilitate the development of both institutional and faculty research collaborations between the participating U.S. and South African institutions and scientists. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Turekian, Vaughan Shirley Malcom American Association For Advancement Science DC Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 240004 9131 SMET 9179 9178 0901996 August 1, 2009 Pacific Northwest Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. Colleges and universities in the three-state region of Washington, Oregon and Idaho are proposing to form the Pacific Northwest Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PNW LSAMP). This Alliance will enable educators and advocates from science centers, pre-college programs, community colleges and four-year institutions to leverage their resources and existing relationships to increase minority participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors. The projected demographic shifts in these three states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington present an extraordinary opportunity for colleges and universities to greatly increase the diversity of students earning STEM degrees. Each state has committed substantial resources to efforts to increase degrees granted in STEM as part of economic development initiatives. Intellectual Merit To take advantage of this opportunity and reach its goal of doubling the number of STEM bachelor degrees granted to underrepresented students, the Pacific Northwest Alliance will develop and/or strengthen programs and services related to the following priorities: 1. Increase pathways to college for URM students while strengthening their interest in pursuing STEM careers; 2. Create a culture and community of success for URM STEM majors on four-year college campuses to improve retention and graduation rates; and 3. Expand opportunities for URM STEM majors to participate in campus-based and national undergraduate research experiences. PNW LSAMP partners will implement best practices in STEM diversity initiatives that have been disseminated by existing LSAMP programs around the country including early outreach and recruitment, community college transfer assistance, supplemental instruction, mentoring, summer bridge programs, and undergraduate research experiences. In addition to participation in a joint annual research conference, each of the community college and 4-year institutions has committed to establishing PNW LSAMP centers on their campus that will serve as visible and accessible support systems for underrepresented students with an interest in STEM Broader Impacts The Alliance will address the national and regional imperative to increase the number of degrees granted in STEM by connecting institutions of higher education with precollege and science advocacy programs. The Alliance partnership will provide seamless transitions for students as they proceed on the pathway from high school to college and from community colleges to 4-year colleges. The diversity of institution type in the Alliance will supplement student access to summer bridge and orientation programs, tutoring and mentoring relationships, and undergraduate research experiences. The Alliance will further leverage its efforts through the inclusion of science centers that serve as important portals to the public and already have a number of established stellar programs targeted to raise student interest in STEM. The Alliance will also encourage collaboration between the many broadening participation programs funded by the National Science Foundation that exist on member campuses, including Noyce Fellowships, SSTEM/CSEMS, STEP, and ADVANCE. The synergy created by bringing all of these diversity-related programs together will augment institutional transformation on each campus. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Wise, Phyllis Sabah Randhawa Roy Koch Sona Andrews Warwick Bayly University of Washington WA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 552778 9133 SMET 9178 0902027 September 1, 2009 Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. As lead institution of the Oklahoma State Alliance, Oklahoma State University (OSU) requests a five-year continuation of its Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (OK-LSAMP) program for a fourth and final period (FY09 ? 13). Alliance members are OSU, the University of Oklahoma (OU), the University of Tulsa (TU); Langston University (LU), an Historically Black College or University (HBCU); and seven regional universities: East Central University (ECU), Northeastern State University (NSU), University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU), Southeastern Oklahoma State University (SOSU), Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU), Cameron University (CU). Most programs are coordinated through multicultural/diversity offices on each campus. This proposal accords with NSF?s goal to increase the number of students completing degree programs in STEM fields from historically underrepresented groups. In Oklahoma, this population consists primarily of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. OSU has the largest Native American enrollment in the United States. The Principal Investigator has more than 30 years experience leading multicultural/diversity programs. OK-LSAMP has developed a variety of innovative academic strategies over 14 years, resulting in a dramatic increase in minority STEM undergraduate enrollment and success, and transition to graduate study. Both OSU and OU have Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) programs in place. The Alliance has a committed mentoring cadre of counselors, faculty, staff and alumni. The OK- LSAMP?s main goal for this phase is to recruit and graduate at least 25% more underrepresented minority undergraduates and graduate students compared to 2007-08 numbers. Program activities will be to recruit increasing numbers of students into STEM fields using enhanced recruitment strategies; support students academically and professionally, relying on strong mentoring networks and links to research opportunities such as EPSCoR and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs); prepare students for global success, including Study Abroad, domestic international activities, and Fulbright Exchanges; and to strengthen an infrastructure that supports student success and professional development. An Advisory Board of minority STEM faculty and staff provides culturally sensitive advice to program leaders. The proposed activities will result in increased numbers of a wide range of minority groups in the STEM workforce of the United States. The Alliance provides an important national model for promoting the success of Native Americans ? one of the least represented groups in STEM careers. Results of this research will be disseminated widely to inform understanding of how to encourage and support minority STEM education. Building on well-established relationships with local, state, and Indian Nation authorities, OK-LSAMP can expand its impact into diverse communities. By drawing on Oklahoma?s half century of international outreach experience, students will have tremendous opportunities for global engagement ? an essential asset for career and research success. This program will exert a transformative impact by diversifying and internationalizing the scientific work force of the United States, particularly with respect to Native Americans and other underrepresented groups, and by ensuring that all aspects of America?s cultural and ethnic heritage contribute to future leadership in STEM nationwide ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Thomas, Cornell Pakize Pulat J. Diaz Carl Rutledge Oklahoma State University OK Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 500001 9133 SMET 9178 9150 0902067 August 1, 2009 Wisconsin Alliance for Minority Participation. The Wisconsin Alliance for Minority Participation (WiscAMP) represents 17-bachelor degree?]granting and 17 two?]year campuses located throughout the State of Wisconsin. The overall goal for WiscAMP is to double the number of underrepresented minority students (URM) who graduate with bachelor degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The overall goals for this alliance are as follows 1) To establish comprehensive programs that support and sustain URM students in STEM disciplines at each of the institutions in the alliance. 2) To develop partnerships between two and four year institutions that allows students to move seamlessly from one institution to another. 3) Increase the faculty and staff understanding of the barriers keeping URM students from staying in or moving through STEM majors. 4) To increase the overall rate of retention of URM students in STEM disciplines, especially between the freshman and sophomore years. 5) Decrease the amount of time to graduation for URM students in STEM. This alliance will pursue the following four objectives: 1. Extend, expand, and maintain activities that support students throughout their STEM education. This alliance intends to develop comprehensive programs that support students upon entry into the institution and throughout their STEM education. 2. Extend, expand, and maintain partnerships between two and four?]year campuses that foster connections for URM students in STEM disciplines. Based on prior results the WiscAMP will build upon and expand collaborations that assist in the transfer of students from one institution to another. 3. Strengthen alliance?]wide activities that create and sustain relationships within and between institutions. The partner institutions are proposing to build stronger relationships by reinforcing and expanding alliance?]wide activities. 4. Continue to collect data that informs and guides programmatic efforts. Collecting, analyzing, and presenting data about our alliance is in itself transformative therefore this alliance will continue to collect aggregate data for the improvement of the evaluation process. Intellectual Merit. WiscAMP spent the first 4 years forging partnerships and establishing processes for communication and collaboration across geographically dispersed and mission?]driven organizations. Based on prior results the Mid-level WiscAMP is proposes to support, strengthen and expand evidence?]based practices known to reduce the rate of attrition and time to graduation. A major priority for this Mid-level phase is reducing the rate of attrition between freshman and sophomore year and increasing the number of URM graduates progressing toward the professoriate. Broader Impacts. WiscAMP will support both education of individual URM students and innovative programs at alliance schools to meet its goals. The short-term outcome will be an increase in the racial/ethnic diversity of students graduating with degrees in STEM majors from WiscAMP partner schools. The long-term outcome will be greater ethnic and racial diversity among academic and government leaders in STEM. WiscAMP could serve as model for other states in increasing the number of URM STEM graduates. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Farrell, Patrick Douglass Henderson Manuela Romero Mary Carnes University of Wisconsin-Madison WI Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 500074 9133 SMET 9178 0902105 August 1, 2009 Increasing research opportunities for undergraduates: A program for Native American and Pacific Islander students. The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), in collaboration with Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP)supports a research program in tropical biology designed to address the specific cultural and social background of Native American and Pacific Islander undergraduate students, two groups that are severely underrepresented in the environmental and biological sciences. This program is a continuation and extension of a successful program funded by LSAMP. The goal of the 2010-2012 Native American and Pacific Islander program is to provide an intensive field research experience for Native American and Pacific Islander undergraduate students. The program is structured around an eight week timeframe during which the participants will conduct research at OTS? Las Cruces Biological Station, among other sites, and visit local indigenous communities. The focus of the program is the development of the students? interest in biology and their capacity to conduct field research. The strength of the program lies in engaging Native American and Pacific Islander students in pure and applied biological research, while introducing them to the biodiversity, cultural diversity and community-based conservation issues of the tropics. Under the guidance of the program staff and faculty research mentors, the students will complete high quality research projects designed to sharpen their technical skills and enrich their professional development. In addition, by providing a broad range of scientific perspectives and research experiences, the students will gain a sense of career awareness to clarify and direct their future academic life. The NAPIRE program is designed to impact the academic and professional development of Native American and Pacific Islander students by providing a broad range of scientific and research skills to improve their academic competitiveness at the undergraduate and graduate levels and to encourage them to pursue careers in the environmental and biological sciences. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Losos, Elizabeth Duke University NC Dr. A. James Hicks Continuing grant 363161 9133 SMET 9178 0902132 July 1, 2009 LSAMP. The Garden State-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (GS-LSAMP) will bring together all of the major colleges and universities from the highly urbanized northeastern part of New Jersey to double the number of graduates from underrepresented minority groups in STEM disciplines in 5 years. The Alliance members will use the ?best practices? of other LSAMP?s as well as innovative techniques to best address the academic and social needs of the students and to change the attitude of these students towards STEM careers. Three well-documented causes of attrition in STEM fields at the university level will be targeted: academic support, financial need and social support. The GS-LSAMP will include Rutgers University-Newark (#1 nationally in diversity) in consortium with Rutgers-New Brunswick, Montclair State University, Kean University, William Paterson University, New Jersey City University (HSI), Fairleigh Dickinson University, Bloomfield College, and Essex County College using an innovative ?hub and spoke? model with northern, central, and southern clusters. Each cluster will develop independent and versatile sub-communities with critical masses of students and faculty within the larger LSAMP community. The GS-LSAMP will create a robust Collaborative Learning Community with outreach beyond the Alliance to impact local community colleges and urban school districts through the sharing of ?best practices? in teaching and learning in STEM fields. The GS-LSAMP will also impact local high school and community college communities through one-on-one interactions among GS-LSAMP Scholars and the students in those institutions. A ?cybercommunity? will be created using innovative and locally tested software and techniques. With the dense population and abundance of opportunities to interact with the public, service learning will be an important option for GS-LSAMP Scholars, as will internships/externships among the many industries with STEM needs in the area. There will also be both real and virtual international components. Intellectual Merit: The ability of the project to create, through social and academic networking, a collegial inter- and intra-Alliance environment for the GS-LSAMP Scholars, professors and graduate students. Incoming students will acculturate to college life in a Summer Bridge experience that includes intensive academic workshops augmented by one-to-one tutoring, Academic Skills Seminars, Career Development workshops, and personal development advising. Academic support, including tutoring, advising and mentoring will continue throughout the academic year. The GS-LSAMP Scholars will receive support and encouragement to conduct research with STEM faculty and graduate students. They will share their research with their GS-LSAMP peers in periodic meetings and seminars, which will also provide face-to-face opportunities to build friendships and support networks, that supplement the cyber social networking community. Broader Impact: The GARDEN-LSAMP has the potential to form a network of academic and social support for young scholars interested in pursuing STEM degrees and ultimately careers in STEM fields. The social networking software developed will be made available to all LSAMP alliances. This network will enhance the awareness of the opportunities for students who major in STEM disciplines and will lead to an overall increase in the numbers of underrepresented New Jersey students aspiring to STEM-related fields. The schools that are members of the GS-LSAMP alliance will gain a more diverse group of students with high graduation rates and successful post-graduate careers. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Diner, Steven Robert Prezant Alexander Gates Philip Furmanski Rutgers University Newark NJ Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 1000000 9133 SMET 9178 0903612 September 1, 2009 CMN STEEP Project. College of Menominee Nation Abstract The College of Menominee (CMN) is a current NSF TCUP recipient that recently completed year five of its Curriculum Enhancement Project. That project has allowed CMN to aggressively advance its STEM curriculum and program offerings as well as increase the capacity of the college to act as a positive catalyst for STEM educational changes within the communities it serves. One current strategic initiative resulting from the STEM intensive planning and development of the College of Menominee Nation is the development of a STEM-intensive, standards-based Elementary Education baccalaureate degree program that will strengthen STEM learning by bringing STEM education full circle from the start of a child?s education. CMN will build its capacity in the implementation phase by achieving the following objectives: ? Objective one Build CMN?s capacity and infrastructure to sustain a math, science and technology infused Elementary Education Baccalaureate degree program. ? Objective two: Implement an Elementary Education program. ? Objective three: Infuse the use of technology into all facets of the Elementary Education Baccalaureate degree program. ? Objective four: Establish critical student support services to ensure student success in the elementary education program. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Morris, Diana College of the Menominee Nation WI Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 694628 1744 SMET 9178 0903657 August 15, 2009 Doka Hóg Wahoo (Where do we come from): STEM Research and Instructional Improvement at FBCC. The Fort Berthold Community College proposes the Doka Hóg Wahoo (Where do we come from): STEM Research and Instructional Improvement at FBCC. The four goals of the Project are: 1. To provide a baccalaureate STEM degree by developing and offering a B.S. degree in Environmental Science that incorporates culturally relevant environmental concepts and utilizes constructivist methods; 2. To enhance recruitment and retention of students in STEM disciplines including Environmental Science by using proven cohort strategies and teaching methods based in constructivism, provide dual credit opportunities in environmental science for high school students, and provide teacher professional development to promote STEM interest among elementary and high school students; 3. To expand research opportunities for students in STEM degree programs to include environmental internships designed to stimulate students to enter the STEM workforce or enter STEM graduate programs in Environmental Science; 4. To engage STEM students in examining environmental issues impacting the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and actively participate in community-wide symposiums examining these issues. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Baker-Big Back, Clarice Fort Berthold Community College ND Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1500000 9150 1744 SMET 9178 0903686 October 1, 2009 Creating Synergy in Science and Education/Yuowanca. Creating Synergy in Science and Education (CSSE) will build on previous phases of TCUP Magakata Woslolye Oaye (Cultivating Science into the Future), which built an infrastructure of intellectual merit, faculty resources, facilities, scientific equipment and connections to the tribes and communities. Our vision continues to be to develop a model to strengthen science leadership at Tribal Colleges. The Cultivating Synergy in Science and Education program would expand on prior TCUP initiatives by cultivating scientific curiosity through collaborative undergraduate research and educational initiatives between mainstream Universities, Tribal Agencies and the K12 classroom. The project goals are as follows: Goal 1: Improve the quality of undergraduate STEM education through developing OLC faculty and educational resources with the purpose of delivering hands-on, place-based STEM instruction for undergraduate students Goal 2: Strengthen partnerships in within OLC, Tribal resource programs, and outside academic institutions Goal 3: Broaden the pipeline of future STEM undergraduates at OLC EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Tinant, Charles Oglala Lakota College SD Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1500000 9150 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0903704 October 1, 2009 SWC - Increases Capacity in Science Instruction. The primary focus of this project is to strengthen the Science Department and implement an associate level degree that would provide an educational foundation for students wishing to pursue careers in environmentally sustainable industries. This is not enough as many students entering the college struggle in STEM courses. Therefore we must target the local school systems through a variety of outreach programs to address weakness in these areas. Math literacy is perhaps the greatest problem and will receive special consideration at all levels. Student preparedness is not only depended on be taught high quality classes, but also requires students to take advance courses in math and science. As these courses are typically electives this project addresses this situation, in addition to increasing the overall interest in STEM. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Akipa, Kathryn Scott Morgan Sisseton Wahpeton Community College SD Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1500000 9150 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0903716 September 1, 2009 Developing American Indian Secondary Teachers. Salish Kootenai College Abstract Salish Kootenai College (SKC) is the third tribal college to take up the challenge of filling the secondary STEM teacher void. The Developing American Indian Secondary Educators Project (DAISE) will initiate a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Science education degree program. The five objectives of the DAISE Project are: 1. Develop and implement a high quality, culturally competent, sustainable 2. Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education degree program at SKC 3. Increase the number of American Indian secondary science and math teachers. 4. Improve coordination of student services between high schools and SKC. 5. Increase the number of American Indian high school students completing higher level STEM coursework. 6. Enhance the SKC faculty, curriculum and infrastructure to enable better support for American Indian students. TRIBAL COLLEGE & UNIVERS PROGR HRD EHR Chumrau, Alice Douglas Stevens William Swaney Regina Sievert Salish Kootenai College MT Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 499817 I297 1744 SMET 9178 9150 0903924 July 1, 2009 Greater Philadelphia Region Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation - Philadelphia AMP Initiative (Senior Level Alliance). Drexel University, as a representative of the Greater Philadelphia Region Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Philadelphia AMP), seeks continued funding for its AMP initiative as a senior level Alliance, to intensify its on-going efforts to substantially increase the quantity and quality of African American, Hispanic and Native American students receiving baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and subsequently, entering graduate school to attain doctoral degrees. Philadelphia AMP represents a diverse alliance of public and private, 2- and 4-year, research and non-research, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and majority institutions. A salient feature of this proposal is the fundamental manner in which the proposed AMP initiative rests on a solid foundation of partnerships, resources, effective practice and experience derived from fourteen years of collaboration, cooperation and concerted efforts focused on minority student achievement under the current Philadelphia AMP project. During the past fourteen years of the Philadelphia AMP?s existence, the Alliance has contributed $l2.3 million in matching funds to the project through the use of college/university, foundation, state government and corporate funds. Through the Philadelphia Alliance a mechanism has been developed to catalyze changes in institutional departmental and organizational culture and the practices that will result in significant increases in recruitment, retention, STEM degree production, and graduate school entry for all students. Currently, the Alliance has established a firm foundation for the objectives of the proposed senior level Alliance initiative with specific attention to the expansion of a coordinated movement of community college students to 4- year institutions, and subsequently, successfully transitioned through to graduate study. The increased movement of students to graduate study has increased the participation of faculty at the undergraduate and graduate level with expanded domestic, as well as international research opportunities. In support of this AMP initiative, over 200+ tenured STEM faculty, academic department heads, and senior administrative personnel from the nine member institutions will actively participate in recruiting, advising and mentoring AMP students. In this proposal ?minority? refers to African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. Through synergistic collaboration, the Alliance utilizes its operational infrastructure to expand available options to enrich programs at partner institutions and beyond. Philadelphia AMP recognizes that sustained increases in the quality and quantity of minority students in undergraduate and graduate STEM degree programs have required not only a re-engineering of the educational system at all levels, but also a sustained mechanism which revisits the curricular adjustments to accommodate the demands of industry and the academy. These adjustments will result in permanent changes in the learning environment in the Alliance institutions, as well as in their policies and practices in terms of allocations of finances, personnel, recruitment, and admissions. The proposed AMP initiative will utilize the experiences and practices gained through its development to senior level Alliance status to continue to foster the institutionalization of its current activities, and the preparation and transition of students from community colleges to 4-year institutions and from 4-yr institutions to graduate education. Broader impacts include increasing the number and quality of students from underrepresented groups in Alliance institutions completing STEM B.S degrees and transitioning to graduate study; enhancing partnerships, research collaborations, and articulation strategies between community colleges, HBCU and Ph.D. granting universities, within the Philadelphia AMP and beyond; and enhancing the integration of research and education. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Greenberg, Mark Stephen Cox Drexel University PA Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 473501 9133 SMET 9178 0903948 September 1, 2009 Houston-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation: Senior Alliance. Houston-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation-Senior Alliance Project Summary The Houston-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (H-LSAMP) is comprised of the University of Houston, University of Houston-Downtown, Texas Southern University,Texas State University, Houston Community College, San Jacinto College, Rice University, and the Houston Independent School District. During this proposal, the senior alliance will work to institutionalize the Collaborative Learning Community system while enhancing the alliance through 1) recruiting and retaining well-qualified minority Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics majors in an effort to graduate nearly 1,300 underrepresented minority STEM majors annually, 2) developing a mechanism to increase community college transfer to 75% of level one students, 3) increasing student research and internship participation to over 90% of level one students, 4) sending 10 or more students overseas on meaningful international experiences. Student Scholars will receive stipends to support their efforts in the collaborative learning community including facilitating workshops, conducting research, providing tutor support, and assisting in enrichment workshops. Scholars will be mentored by a combination of faculty, staff, and peers; have access to student support services such as career centers, writing centers, tutor labs, and academic excellence workshops. Intellectual Merit: The H-LSAMP proposal is based on strong student support systems developed from current research and best practices, a proven record of success, and a demonstrated record of institutionalization. The H-LSAMP program recruits and supports a large at-risk and financially disadvantaged minority student population in the Southeast Texas region. This alliance works because of a balanced and thorough management plan, with input from all levels of the universities and school systems it serves. A comprehensive collaborative learning community is being institutionalized on all campuses. The alliance expects to contribute to the broader knowledge base by disseminating important new knowledge about the factors that contribute to retention and recruitment of underrepresented minorities, primarily Hispanic and African-Americans pursuing STEM degrees. Broader Impacts: Texas has a growing economy; while the US lost over 279,000 jobs from August 2007-August 2008, Texas gained 252,000. This growth further outlines the need for a diversified STEM workforce, making programs such as LSAMP even more important, as economically disadvantaged students have a harder time making inroads into technology driven economies. The H-LSAMP affects over 550 level one students and an estimated 5,500-6,000 level two students annually in a comprehensive STEM program. Along with career guidance, and effective career path counseling programs, the alliance sends nearly 40% of its graduates into graduate or professional education post graduation, while placing students in the workforce nationally. With the increasing trend toward globalization in the STEM fields, the alliance is seeking to significantly increase the international exposure and cultural literacy of its scholars in order to better position them to take up leadership roles in a globalized workforce. Each round of funding has provided the resources required to institutionalize parts of the program, now averaging around $1 million annually. This proposal includes a strong and balanced diversity program, with numerous points of dissemination, and a multifaceted evaluation plan. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Khator, Renu John Bear Craig Cassidy University of Houston TX Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 700000 9133 SMET 9178 0904024 August 1, 2009 Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. The Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ILSAMP) focuses on broadening Participation by increasing the number of underrepresented students who: choose and persist in STEM academic disciplines; attend graduate school in STEM; and are prepared to obtain a professional career in STEM disciplines. ILSAMP activities enhance the growth of the STEM community and promote linkages and partnerships in undergraduate STEM education throughout Illinois to cultivate an excellent, broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce, and expand general scientific literacy. In order to accomplish these objectives, the Alliance utilize sustained and comprehensive strategies that include: 1) pre-college and community college bridge programs to ease the transition and better prepare freshman and transfer students; 2) faculty and peer mentoring to help retain students in STEM disciplines; 3) supplemental instruction to strengthen students ability to succeed in STEM courses; 4) academic year and summer undergraduate research to prepare, motivate and develop students for graduate school; 5) curriculum revision; and 6) internships. As a senior?level Alliance, particular attention is given to student persistence toward the B.S. degree and transition to graduate study; institutionalizing successful policies and procedures for attainment of the B.S. degree; reaffirming community college associations; and developing relevant international activities. ILSAMP is comprised of universities and community colleges throughout the state of Illinois and one federal laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory. The strategic location of the partner institutions throughout the state of Illinois enables the Alliance to reach a large and diverse student population and provides access to graduate and research opportunities for undergraduate students. The ILSAMP has a strong assessment component, with external evaluation and internal feedback. External suggestions and assistance will be furnished by a Technical Advisory Committee, the composition of which provides a connection with the Illinois business community, the public high schools, graduate schools, state and national policy makers, and national research institutions. ] The intellectual merits of the program: The ILSAMP program is well-conceived and organized to advance students? intellectual pursuits. The activities proposed are designed to accomplish the central goal of increasing the number of historically underrepresented students who select STEM disciplines, and persist and graduate from baccalaureate producing institutions; prepared to successfully matriculate in graduate schools or obtain professional positions in STEM. This alliance provides students with the academic and professional skills to function at the highest levels of competency. Staff and faculty monitoring, research lab experiences, research projects and professional interactions along with intensive evaluation protocols help to ensure that participating students will complete their degree. The addition of international activities increases students? knowledge, educational richness, and awareness of cultural diversity while increasing their scientific education. Broader impacts of the proposed activity: ILSAMP activities broaden the participation of historically underrepresented groups including women, ethnic and racial minorities in the STEM enterprise by providing access to research and science programs and by working diligently with the public schools, community colleges, and public institutions. We advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching and learning by integrating research activities into training K-12 teachers, participating in assisting high school students with science fair projects and providing special mentoring for undergraduates. The ILSAMP program not only helps to close the gap created by the paucity of underserved individuals who are STEM professionals functioning creatively; it encourages others who have been reticent to attempt science B.S. level work. The advisory board will also help to broaden the impact of the program. The inclusion of an international emphasis broadens the outlook and increases the range of experiences for our both students and international populations they encounter. The program will be widely disseminated. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Westbrooks, Sandra LeRoy Jones II Chicago State University IL Dr. A. James Hicks Cooperative Agreement 500000 9133 SMET 9178 0914839 April 1, 2009 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination (PAID): Advancing Gender Equity - Lessons from a National Program of Change in Higher Education. This proposal will support the research and writing of a monograph about the NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (IT) program. The book will focus on how ADVANCE IT institutions have systematically engendered transformation of their structures, processes, policies, and practices and their effectiveness in enhancing gender equity in science and engineering (S&E). We propose to intensively examine the first and second round ADVANCE IT award recipients, analyzing equity outcomes across diverse academic institutions and in specific disciplines. Dr. Diana Bilimoria (PI for this proposal) and colleagues (Bilimoria, Joy and Liang, 2008) analyzed the 19 first and second round ADVANCE institutions and found that equity-related university transformation entails a dual (individual and organizational) focus: empowerment of faculty and administrators through enhanced mentoring, coaching, networking, training and development as well as systematic improvement of structures, processes, policies and practices related to evaluation, workload distribution, resource and opportunity allocation, and compensation at each career stage in the academic pipeline. Since this earlier research was conducted in 2006, the IT projects at most of the 19 institutions were still in process and their transformation outcomes had not yet been fully documented. Expanding this earlier research into a monograph will enable us to delve more deeply into the specific outcomes of the now completed projects, as well as enable access to a more general audience. The specific aims of the proposed book are to: (1) provide a comprehensive, stand-alone source of data on the specific organizational change initiatives undertaken at ADVANCE universities, (2) investigate the equity related outcomes (for women faculty and for underrepresented minority faculty where possible) generated by the ADVANCE universities? transformations, taking into account contingencies such as the type and size of the university, (3) where feasible, undertake discipline-specific analyses regarding the outcomes of ADVANCE initiatives, and (4) propose an empirically-derived model of organizational change to serve as a template to academic and other organizations seeking transformation related to gender equity. To accomplish this research project we will rely primarily on published or available data including the many websites, annual reports, quarterly reports, and research reports and publications of the first 19 ADVANCE IT awardees. For each ADVANCE IT award recipient, we will review the initiatives undertaken and examine various measures of transformation outcomes (e.g., changes over a 5-year period in the representation of women faculty in S&E overall and in all academic ranks, tenure and promotion outcomes, women in leadership and power positions, resource distribution, etc.) to derive ADVANCE program-wide conclusions. Given the similarity of data reported across these institutions (e.g., annual ADVANCE indicators, climate studies) we propose to conduct multiple cross-institution analyses as well as comparisons within disciplines as feasible. Intellectual Merit: The proposed book will present findings and offer a framework for institutional transformation in higher education. It will serve as a comprehensive, stand-alone description of successful approaches to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering. It will document the effectiveness of the NSF ADVANCE IT funding. It will provide specific insights for university administrators and faculty members engaged in promoting change. Broader Impact: The proposed book will disseminate knowledge about systemic change to achieve equity for women and underrepresented minorities in S&E disciplines. It will broaden the impact of the work carried out by two cohorts of ADVANCE institutions, allowing dissemination of ideas and practices from various NSF ADVANCE IT awardees. It will have impact on both ADVANCE and non-ADVANCE universities, as well as inform organizations outside of higher education, as it will provide a general model of gender equity related institutional transformation. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Bilimoria, Diana Case Western Reserve University OH Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 73300 7568 SMET 9179 7568 0116000 Human Subjects 0915993 March 15, 2009 ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination (PAID): Broadening Participation - The 2009 ADVANCE PI Meeting. The Association for Women in Science seeks funding to organize and host the 2009 meeting of the ADVANCE Principal Investigators (PI). Our goal is to organize a 2.5day meeting from September 30 to October 2, 2009 for PIs of ADVANCE IT, ADVANCE PAID, and ADVANCE IT-Catalyst grants and include a broader audience of the leadership of professional discipline related societies as well other diversity stakeholders in the STEM disciplines. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: A Program Committee will be appointed as soon as funding is secured. We have structured the Program Committee to include PIs of current ADVANCE awards, an NSF ADVANCE program officer, representatives of professional societies, members of the AWIS Board, and one at large member and have received confirmations from most of the individuals identified for membership. The Program Committee will be charged with developing a meeting within the broad outlines defined below&#894; identify symposium topics and organizers as well as keynote speakers&#894; develop an invitation list and dissemination plan to ensure broad participation from professional societies&#894; and work with the grant PI on issues which affect the quality of the program (e.g. budget). In addition to a subcontract for the conference management, we seek funds to support AWIS staff involvement in the project&#894; travel for members of the management team to DC for one preconference meeting&#894; and office expenses. We anticipate that our outreach to new constituencies may require targeted travel support. Many of the largest and most influential professional societies are based in the Washington DC area&#894; however, the society officers are STEM academics located throughout the nation. We have therefore budgeted for travel grants to support involvement of up to 40 individuals who will be either representatives of minority serving institutions or society officers. BROADER IMPACTS This project is novel in that it is designed to carry the innovations funded by the ADVANCE program and the insight gleaned from research into an expanded realm, to new audiences that influence the national conversation on how to meet the coming challenge of providing a technical workforce for US industry, higher education, government, and other work sectors. AWIS will leverage its already established liaison network with the discipline-related professional societies to extend the dissemination and adoption of strategies to improve recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented minorities. Professional societies are the logical first audience for this initiative, both because they play a central role in the advancement of women in STEM and because AWIS has recently assumed a lead role in convening disciplinary societies around diversity issues. ADVANCE - INSTITUTIONAL TRANSF HRD EHR Bandows Koster, Janet Association for Women in Science, Inc. DC Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 385079 1738 OTHR 7568 0000 0917335 July 1, 2009 A Proposal to Conduct the HBCU0UP Leadership Institute. ABSTRACT HRD 0917335 The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network is conducting an HBCU-UP Leadership Development Institute (LDI) for a cohort of 30 assistant professors in STEM disciplines at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with HBCU-UP Implementation Awards. The goals of the project are to: (1) enhance the leadership and research capabilities of STEM junior faculty from underrepresented minority groups at these institutions; and (2) build a community of emerging leaders in STEM at HBCUs. The HBCU-UP LDI consists of four sessions held over a one-year period. LDI is a faculty professional development initiative designed to foster and promote enhanced academic leadership among the participants. The sessions include: a five-day summer session in 2009; a two-day winter session in 2010; a ten-week summer research appointment at an NSF-supported research center; and a concluding five-day summer session in 2010. INTELLECTUAL MERIT LDI Sessions focus on self-assessment; the characteristics of effective leadership; time management strategies; negotiating skills; scholarly productivity; proposal preparation and evaluation; and effective oral and written communication skills. Other topics emphasized include team building, the integration of research and education, mentoring, and the professional development of STEM students. Each HBCU-UP LDI member receives guidance on the preparation of an Individual Leadership Development Plan (ILDP) to assess and guide his/her leadership activities during and following the Institute. Each member also develops a STEM or STEM education research proposal and identifies potential funding sources for a project to be implemented on his/her campus for which he/she would serve as principal investigator/project director. The IDLP includes short and long-term goals and involves participants in an off-campus summer research activity at an NSF-supported research center. Between sessions, ongoing communication is facilitated through the project?s web-based electronic community. The project builds on QEM?s experience in conducting three-part Leadership Development Institutes for STEM faculty at grantees in the Foundation?s Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) and adds the summer research appointment as a fourth major component, based upon insight gained by QEM in the placement of STEM faculty in summer research positions at NSF-funded Science and Technology Centers (STCs). The project adds new knowledge about the effectiveness in enhancing STEM education and research at HBCUs of this approach to faculty professional development. BROADER IMPACTS The HBCU-UP LDI enhances the skills of a cadre of underrepresented STEM faculty who are part of a community of emerging leaders at HBCUs. The HBCU-UP LDI participants share the knowledge and experience gained through the Institute with other STEM faculty at their institutions and with colleagues beyond their campuses through presentations at professional meetings, use of a dedicated website and a listserv, and the promotion of campus efforts that combine STEM education and research. Participants are in a better position to assist their institutions in securing external support for research, including campus-based undergraduate research opportunities for students. Beyond the duration of the LDI, the efforts of participants will provide a foundation for sustaining and strengthening the STEM research and education infrastructure at the HBCUS they represent. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 281782 1594 SMET 9178 0917663 May 15, 2009 A "DAY AT THE NSF" For Presidents/CAOs of Minority-serving Institution Grantees. Quality Education for Minorities Network's one-year project has the goal to provide an opportunity for leadership of minority serving institutions (MSIs) to learn about current priorities and initiatives at NSF and to reinforce their role as catalysts for STEM initiatives on their campuses. The activities planned are: i) a Day at NSF in Arlington, VA for Presidents/CAOs of fifty MSIs; ii) dissemination of materials and follow-up evaluation on the effectiveness of the activity. NSF Day will expose participating Presidents/CAOs to new knowledge about and understanding of the critical need for transformative research and education at our Nation's higher education institutions. Through reflection with peers, NSF staff, and program officers during NSF Day, participants will explore their pivotal role in catalyzing innovative, integrated, and transformative STEM initiatives on their campuses. NSF Day will foster ongoing relationships between MSI leaders and NSF staff. through roundtable discussions. NSF staff and program officers will become better informed about MSIs and their contributions to advancing the STEM enterprise. The expected outcomes of the project are that participants will benefit from insights critical to the development of STEM education and research and become aware of strategies that can be used to improve and transform STEM education and research at their institutions. QEM Network brings leadership and expertise in working with MSIs to this project. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 103903 1594 SMET 9178 0920837 June 30, 2008 Perceptions of Women in Academic Science. Intellectual Merit: The findings from this study further knowledge of underlying reasons for the lack of gender diversity in academic science. Building on the nexus of existing research, this study examines women's and men's self-reported reasons for pursuing academic science careers as well as the perceptions both genders have of women's contributions to academic science. The research expands recent scholarly findings related to the role perceptions have in decisions related to pursuing careers in academic science. Expanding research on this topic provides new directions for understanding the origins of and remedies for the under-representation of women in academic science. The primary conceptual model used to understand science careers has been a rigid pipeline of ordered stages in which success is measured by early entry, consistent progress through consecutive educational steps, and subsequent employment in a science career. Under this model, failure is marked by an exit from the pipeline. Neither entry from another career track nor reentry is typically conceptualized as a success. Yet, research has shown that, unlike men, most women who earn bachelors degrees in science and engineering transition from non-science majors. Therefore, while the science pipeline metaphor accurately describes the experiences of many men, it fails to capture the experiences of many women. In contrast, this study develops the research metaphor of a freeway, with entry on-ramps and exits possible at multiple points along the way. Through a survey administered to 2,500 individuals coupled with 150 life history interviews, this research illuminates the recalled experiences of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows as well as assistant, associate, and full professors in two core academic science fields, biology and physics, from the twenty top U.S. graduate programs in these fields. Researchers show that recalled experiences shape current beliefs, actions and interactions. Understanding the recalled experiences of this population is particularly important because those in elite programs train future leaders who shape science policy related to industry, government, and academics. Broader impact: Findings practically illuminate effective approaches to encouraging the presence of women in science, make faculty more aware of their preconceptions about women in science, and have broad media appeal. In particular, understanding experiences and perceptions at the crucial turning point in the science career process--decisions made during undergraduate education--provides the necessary research underpinnings to build university policies and practices that encourage interest in science majors and careers among women. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Howard Ecklund, Elaine Anne Lincoln William Marsh Rice University TX Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 300460 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0925056 October 1, 2009 Alabama Bridge to the Doctorate II. University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ALSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and Alabama Higher Education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohorted community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Alabama Alliances for Graduate Education in the Professoriate(Alabama AGEP)as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at University Alabama at Birmingham during the 2009-2011 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Dale, Louis Mary Braswell University of Alabama at Birmingham AL Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9178 9150 0927586 September 1, 2009 Enrichment : Testing the Concept of a Virtual Alliance for Deaf and Hard of Hearing STEM Students at the Postsecondary Level. The Testing the Concept of a Virtual Alliance for Deaf and Hard of Hearing STEM Students at the Postsecondary Level is an enrichment project that will advance the knowledge of how students who are Deaf and hard-of-hearing access a cyber-enabled social and support network in STEM education. This enrichment project will establish a comprehensive baseline profile of current and recently graduated mainstreamed Deaf and hard-of-hearing STEM students and then formulate specific plans for enriching the academic performance of these students through a virtual Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM. There is a specific project goal to establish a baseline profile of deaf and hard-of-hearing students in STEM education from four or five postsecondary programs selected to participate in the expected Alliance. A baseline profile will be created to provide sufficient information to accurately describe the education, background, STEM interest area, and support requirements of the expected first group of students to participate in the eventual Alliance. The structure of the baseline data will permit the eventual establishment of a student tracking system in the projected alliance. The profile will be sufficiently detailed to provide reporting on the demographics of the students served, their preferences regarding provision of support services and anticipated benefits of participating in the alliance. Profile data will be consistent with proposed Research in Disabilities Education Project Data Management System. The project will specifically address the following: 1. Examine national databases and reports for information regarding deaf and hard-of-hearing students in STEM programs across the USA. 2. Analyze programs listed in the College and University Programs for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students (2007) to determine STEM programs that self-reported as having deaf or hard-of-hearing students enrolled. 3. Conduct four on-line focus groups with key members and leadership of the four Postsecondary Education Programs Network (PEPNet) regions regarding key attributes related to academic success of current and recently graduated deaf and hard-of-hearing STEM students. The PEPNet network has been funded by the US Department of Education for the last 12 years and is partnering on this proposed project. 4. Identify four or five postsecondary institutions to partner for a future Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM. 5. Identify elements of successful support services for STEM students, utilizing as a baseline the results of the national Summit on Cyberinfrastructure held at NTID/RIT in June 2008. 6. Identify the features of successful Alliances that can be implemented virtually for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. 7. Develop and pilot a rudimentary, prototype, cyberinfrastructure system that can support the features of a virtual Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM. Dr. Barbara McKee, a recognized regional expert in project evaluation, will serve as the external evaluator for this project. The project information and findings will be disseminated to the public via PEPNet, professional journal publications, and to other RDE-funded projects. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Clymer, Edward Peter Lalley James DeCaro Gary Behm Rochester Institute of Tech NY Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 199585 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0927644 September 1, 2009 HBCU-RISE: Research Infrastructure for Advanced Materials and Nanophotonics. The HBCU-RISE proposal by Alabama A&M University aims to develop research infrastructure in the areas of advanced materials and nanophotonics. AAMU has a doctoral program in physics with emphasis in areas of optics and materials sciences. The proposed HBCU-RISEproject intends to strengthen the materials science and optics infrastructure in the department. Some of the research projects which will be supported include: nanostructured binary materials and their application to chemical sensing, growth of novel triboluminescent crystals and their application to structural health monitoring, preparation of rare-earth ion doped oxyfluoride nanostructured glasses and their application to luminescent devices, development of high-yield organic solar cells sensitized with metal nanoparticles, two-photon biophotonic nanomaterials for cancer diagnostics/ treatment and nanopatterned polymer substrates for plasmonic chemical sensors. Recent developments in nanoscience/nanotechnology are a common underlying thread that connects many of these projects. This project will provide new opportunities for graduate studies and will create a pool for new graduate students who would be interested in for PhD degree in materials science. In addition, participation of undergraduates in research internships, workshops and seminars will add to the pool of applicants for graduate studies. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Sharma, Anup Manmohan Aggarwal Matthew Edwards Michael Curley Vernessa Edwards Alabama A&M University AL Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 999999 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0927876 September 1, 2009 HBCU-Targeted Infusion Project: Training undergraduate students in bio-fuels: From the research laboratory to the market place. ABSTRACT HRD 0927876 Fisk University is enhancing the education of undergraduate students in traditional and alternative energy sources through a combination of course work and undergraduate research. Unlike other undergraduate research programs, this project is actively training students to take their ideas and research results to the market place, resulting in new minority owned businesses related to alternative energy. The program has three major components. First, we are developing a new course in "Energy and Fuels". This course is for science majors who have a good basic science background but do not have specialized knowledge from advanced courses. The second component is undergraduate research experience in alternative fuels. This element serves the dual function of providing an advanced laboratory in which students learn the techniques, and a way for students to perform and publish original research in alternative fuels. Finally, participating students are taking an existing class in "Entrepreneurial Development", where they are learning to put their ideas on alternative energy into a formal business plan. Mentoring is also being provided for students who wish to start energy related businesses on graduation EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Gunasekaran, Muthukumaran Lawrence Pratt Fisk University TN Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 149832 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 6861 0927905 September 1, 2009 Implementation Grant: Raising Achievement in Mathematics and Science (RAMS). ABSTRACT HRD 0927905 Winston Salem State University is implementing, Raising Achievement in Mathematics and Science (RAMS) Program, to engage students in research on and off campus throughout their undergraduate career at the university, and to increase the number of STEM majors graduating from WSSU, strengthen undergraduate research education and capacity at WSSU, and increase the number of STEM graduates who matriculate into graduate programs. This effort builds on the successes achieved under previous HBCU-UP funding. The activities are based on a strong needs assessment by the HBCU-UP advisory committee with input from all stakeholders on campus, institutional data, and the university community involved in supporting students at WSSU. The goals and objectives of the project are based on clear and specific interventions, and the strategies are adapted from best practices described in the literature and previous institutional experiences. The strategies involve engaging STEM UG students early through ?active learning pedagogy? and ?learning through conducting research? in order to increase retention and graduation rates. Student engagement in research on and off campus is a cornerstone of this project. With the availability of financial support and through extensive collaboration, the project will impact high school students, community college students, and students on the WSSU campus. Program activities such as university research day, curricula changes and GRE preparation workshops have a large impact campus wide. Improved graduation and retention rates serve as a marketing tool for recruiting well-prepared high school students into STEM programs at WSSU. Collectively, this leads to a larger pool of STEM students graduating from WSSU and matriculating into graduate programs at research intensive universities. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Allen, Brenda Abdul Mohammed Winston-Salem State University NC Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 699688 1594 SMET 9178 6859 0928074 September 15, 2009 Tactile Mapping Dissemination Project. The Tactile Mapping Dissemination Project objective is to disseminate products about tactile mapping for students who are blind or visually impaired learning STEM. This project is based on a previously NSF-funded project, Tactile Mapping Software for Blind and Low Vision Science Education (HRD-0533251). Two primary products were developed from that funded project: 1) TaME-a Tactile Map Editor, and 2) The United States national, and state, scale tactile socioeconomic maps. The dissemination process for the current project will include development and subsequent evaluation of materials to aid in effective and efficient dissemination of information about the TaME and the US and state tactile socioeconomic maps. These dissemination materials include: software tutorials, Best Practices in Tactile Map Production, and National Geography Standards-based lesson plans and activities designed to integrate the tactile socioeconomic maps into K-16 geography curricula. All activities are designed to meet the three project goals: Project Goal #1: Author software tutorials and Best Practices in Tactile Map Production, including guidelines for tactile map design and production; Project Goal #2: Develop and deliver hosted and self-guided workshops to K-12 state schools for students who are blind and visually impaired, to universities, to organizations providing significant educational outreach, and to RDE-funded Alliances for Students with Disabilities in STEM; Project Goal #3: Produce National Geography Standard-driven lesson plans, activities, and guidelines for integrating the tactile socioeconomic maps into geography curricula. The external formative and summative evaluation for this project will be conducted by Donald A. Ouimet, the Director of the Oregon School for the Blind, and by Sherry Hahn, the Digital Learning Coordinator at the Washington State School for the Blind. Project materials will be disseminated at Dr. Lobben's Spatial and Map Cognition Laboratory website at the University of Oregon Eugene. Workshops and trainings are planned for the Oregon School for the Blind, the Washington State School for the Blind, multiple universities and educational organizations with outreach missions, and NSF-funded Alliances for Students with Disabilities in STEM. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Lobben, Amy Stephen Fickas University of Oregon Eugene OR Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 223754 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0928213 September 1, 2009 Targeted Infusion Grant on Implementation of Superpave Technology into Transportation Courses in Undergraduate Civil Engineering Curriculum. ABSTRACT HRD 0928213 North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (NCA&T) is incorporating Superpave Technology into the undergraduate civil engineering curriculum. Currently, the Superpave Binder system has been adopted by all of the 52 State Highway Agencies including those of Alaska and Hawaii. Since 2001, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has required all asphalt mixes be designed using the Superpave method. However, due to a lack of equipment, NC A&T State University has been teaching an outdated method (Marshall Design) instead of the Superpave method. This project is acquiring Superpave asphalt binder test equipment, including a Dynamic Shear Rheometer, a Bending Beam Rheometer and a Direct Tension Test Device. The addition of this equipment is improving the quality of undergraduate education, including development of learning skills through laboratory experience. The use of this instrumentation is enhancing students? understanding about Superpave technology and pavement design and increasing students? competitiveness to pursue graduate study in the field of transportation. These improvements are supporting North Carolina A&T State University in its effort to meet the highest educational standards. The improved curriculum places students in a more competitive position for employment and careers in the field of transportation and allows NCA&T to produce knowledgeable and effective engineers for the local, state, and national job markets. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Hamoush, Sameer Miguel Picornell-Darder Taher Abu-Lebdeh Elham Fini North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 147990 1594 SMET 9178 6861 0928274 September 1, 2009 Education Research Grant: Does FORCE (Financially Oriented Research Calculus Experience) increase achievement in calculus?. Hampton University (HU) is implementing an educational research investigation to answer the question: Does a proposed new model of curricular instruction focused on the integration of financial applications significantly increase achievement in calculus for STEM majors? The Financially Oriented Research Calculus Experience (FORCE) project outlines an education research effort to enhance student learning outcomes in mathematics and financial literacy. This effort is associated with the HU 2008 Reaffirmation of Accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Hampton?s Quality Enhancement Plan. Information about the effectiveness of financial literacy programs at the college level has not been adequately examined. A survey of college students revealed they wanted their universities to offer financial literacy information outside of the normal focus of financial aid (Cude et al., 2006). Though there was no general consensus regarding the mechanism by which financial literacy should be delivered, the most common request was to begin financial literacy during the freshman year. In addition, students suggested the development of a financial literacy center, student workshops, seminars and even the inclusion of financial education in required college courses. Most STEM majors at Hampton are required to take either the MAT 151 Calculus I or MAT 130 Calculus gatekeeper course for the major. This study investigates the impact of curricular instruction focused on financial applications on student learning outcomes in calculus and retention of STEM majors. The findings contribute to the body of evidence that increased academic achievement in calculus is a significant factor in retention of STEM majors. A carefully designed education research study is being implemented and evaluated. Mixed methods research paradigms is being employed. Institutional, instructional and individual factors is being employed. Baseline survey data on student performance is being captured. Student and faculty interviews and survey instruments will be conducted. The research involves the sequential and simultaneous use of quantitative and qualitative data collection and multivariate analysis techniques. Data analysis techniques includes graphical displays, descriptive summaries, contingency table analysis, one- and two-way analysis of variance and paired data comparisons. Hampton University, founded in 1868, is an HBCU, privately endowed, co-educational, nonsectarian institution of higher education. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Morgan, Carolyn Anne Pierce Hampton University VA Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 565441 1594 SMET 9178 6860 0116000 Human Subjects 0928340 September 15, 2009 Spectrum Support Program (SSP): A transition and support program for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders pursuing degrees and careers in STEM fields. The Spectrum Support Program seeks to demonstrate success for undergraduate students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) entering, succeeding and completing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degree programs at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and transitioning to the STEM workforce. Having one of the largest private STEM program portfolios in the country as well as a robust disabilities service program, RIT is uniquely suited to pilot an innovative program designed to support students with ASD. With approximately 42 students who have ASD and are currently enrolled at RIT in STEM programs, this initiative is poised to support an increase in the success rate of such students in persisting through and graduation from college as well as achieving successful placement in STEM professions. This proposal seeks to advance education related to ASD on multiple levels including the impact on undergraduate program participants and that of peer coaches, who are graduate Psychology students preparing to enter the secondary school environment. Additionally, this proposal supports training and education for campus faculty and staff as well as potential employers, community partners, and colleagues at other college campuses. Developing and sharing a successful model of supporting ASD students in STEM programs while providing parallel training for future employers and service providers, will establish a network of support for the long term success of this emerging population in the world of higher education. The proposed project goals follow: 1. To support undergraduate students during the transition into college STEM programs by using case management and peer coaching models. 2. To support undergraduate students in maintaining academic success and persisting toward the achievement of their STEM degree. 3. To support undergraduate students and assist potential employers in allowing for successful transition into the workforce for STEM related employment. 4. To explore potential partnerships with local, regional and national institutions and organizations to support students pursuing STEM careers. These collaborations are expected to result in the development of a proposal for an Alliance for Students with ASD in STEM to the NSF's Research in Disabilities Education program. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Boulais, Nicole Rochester Institute of Tech NY Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 193237 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0928354 September 1, 2009 The Utica Campus Community College Transformation HBCU-UP Initiative. ABSTRACT HRD 0928354 The Natural Science Division of Hinds Community College District is planning to develop and implement an initiative to increase the number of students who complete B.S. degrees. The anticipated strategy is to strengthen bridges that support students? articulation from high school to community college and from community college to degree-granting institutions in pursuit of a B.S. degree in STEM. This effort builds on an early unfunded needs assessment including a SACS self-study. HCC is working to identify specific components that need improvement in order to provide a high quality undergraduate STEM education to support students? articulation from HCC to degree-granting institutions in pursuit of a B.S. degree in STEM. Planned activities include: data collection and analysis, consultation with area schools and businesses, and site visits to model programs. Hinds Community College (HCC), Utica Campus, is a small Historically Black Community College located in Hinds County, Mississippi. The HCC district has more than 10,700 credit students and is more than 50 percent minority. A strong STEM program and curriculum/professional development model can affect underrepresented minority students district-wide and serve as a model for the rest of the state. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Barnes, George Mae Jackson William McHenry Hinds Community College-Utica MS Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 72249 1594 SMET 9178 9150 6859 0928356 October 1, 2009 The At Ease Project. The At Ease Project at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) is designed to recruit, retain, and support returning combat veterans with disabilities in selected Engineering Technologies Certificate of Completion (COC) programs, including Laser Electro-Optics Technologies, Clean Water Technologies, Energy Systems Technologies, Electronic Systems Technologies, and Computer Systems Technologies. The overarching goal of The At Ease Project is to create and test a replicable model of a STEM college success program for returning combat veterans with disabilities. The following questions will guide the exploration of the overall impact of intervention strategies on combat veterans' success: 1) How does the creation of alliances between veteran's organizations and community college disability, admission, and instructional services impact the recruitment and retention of veterans with disabilities? 2) What is the impact of participation in a designated learning community on veterans with disabilities? 3) What types of intervention best serve veterans with disabilities? 4) Does participation in college success services for veterans with disabilities influence enrollment and retention in STEM career areas? The At Ease Project creates a model that utilizes "wrap-around" interventions, surrounding veteran students with a welcoming environment; supportive faculty; intensive pre-enrollment preparation; ongoing academic support through tutoring, mentoring, and advising; and networking opportunities with other veterans. By testing various approaches, STCC will be able to design and disseminate a model for community colleges that drastically increases the rates of veterans with disabilities enrolling in and graduating from STEM certificate programs. Potential participants will be referred from local veteran outreach centers, the VA Medical Center, and One-Stop Career Centers. After enrolling in the project, participants will then complete an eight-week session of Math Boot Camp and College Success Skills. These two noncredit courses will prepare veterans for the required math entrance exam and to familiarize them with what to expect on campus. Concurrently, participants will be paired with peer mentors and will be invited to join the STCC Veterans Support Group. Participants will then attend informational sessions about careers in Engineering Technologies and the COC programs available at STCC. COC programs are usually completed within one year, enabling veterans with disabilities to move into the work force as quickly as possible. Further support for At Ease participants will be provided by faculty members in the selected COC programs who have received Universal Design Learning training prior to the veterans with disabilities entering their classrooms, and ongoing support from the project team and the Office of Disability Services. During the second year of the project, STCC will work with other local community colleges to form a plan for submitting a proposal to the NSF to create an Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM and to continue the work started in this enrichment project. The project's external evaluation will be led by Dr. Mary Moriarty, an Assessment Researcher at Smith College, who has evaluated numerous projects and directed multiple NSF-funded and Education Department-funded projects focusing on the successful academic advancement of post-secondary students with disabilities. The At Ease Project will disseminate a "best practices document," will present at the AHEAD national conference and the Veterans SUMMIT, and will submit journal articles for publication in the Disability Compliance for Higher Education and Journal of Post Secondary Education and Disability. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Kozuch, Kris Adrienne Smith Springfield Technical Community College MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 201050 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0928404 September 1, 2009 DSU-SMILE: A Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enrichment. The HBCU-UP program at Delaware State University will focus on engaging incoming freshman STEM students in programs that will enhance their academic success and identification with the University and their major discipline. We expect to significantly improve the retention and graduation rates of minority STEM students. STEM freshmen will be divided into learning communities of 5 - 6 students who will enroll together in three linked courses: a mathematics class, an English class and Freshman Seminar. Each learning community will be assigned a peer mentor who will communicate with their mentees daily and ensure that they attend their classes, go to tutoring and office hours, and meet with their study groups. Faculty mentors responsible for 4 - 5 of the freshman learning community groups will meet weekly with the peer mentors and will lead co-curricular activities involving both students and mentors. The project brings together STEM and English faculty and student services administrators to focus on revising the freshman experience of STEM students to involve them in a community of peers, peer mentors and faculty. To support student engagement with research we will continue the successful undergraduate research program begun in the first HBCU-UP project. The proposed program will support faculty development and research. Faculty will submit research proposals for research grants to work with undergraduate students. These proposals will be reviewed by a committee. This process will help faculty develop better student research projects and give them experience in writing research grants. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HRD EHR Williams, Harry Mazen Shahin Andrew Lloyd Melissa Harrington Patrick Gleeson Delaware State University DE Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 488546 9150 SMET 9178 9150 6859 0116000 Human Subjects 0928444 September 1, 2009 Implementation Grant: STEM Center for Research and Development. ABSTRACT HRD 0928444 The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) STEM Center for Research and Development is continuing to build upon the successes of previous HBCU-UP funding and is introducing additional novel and effective programs to enhance the likelihood that more STEM students will complete their undergraduate education and enroll in graduate programs. After an extensive recruiting effort, the Center is fostering innovative activities that will retain and improve academic competencies of the STEM undergraduate students and provide the required confidence and basic research skills that will serve as the foundation to support the development of future STEM researchers. There will be an introduction of new and an enhancement of existing multidisciplinary course offerings (bioethics, computational biology, statistics, genomics). New enrichment activities will add to the success of the existing ones, such as a partnership with the new UDC Office of International Development specifically designed to facilitate experiences for its undergraduates interested in international summer research. For the first time, the Center has a major focus on increasing the pedagogical skills of STEM faculty. There is also support for the plan to increase accommodating Students with Disabilities through partnership with the UDC Office of Disabilities that will support the Center students. The STEM Center objectives are: (1) to provide support activities that will promote a seamless transition from high school or community college, to undergraduate school, to graduate school in STEM disciplines; (2) to provide opportunities for faculty to improve their research and teaching skills; and (3) to improve the STEM curriculum to include new and enhanced courses. This project gives the University additional support to advance curricular reform, increase student training, and enhance faculty development. The UDC goal of institutional quality is consistent with the tangible goal and objectives of the STEM Center, specifically retaining high quality faculty actively conducting student-assisted research, improving teaching capabilities, and producing well qualified graduates. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Baxter, Graeme Freddie Dixon University of the District of Columbia DC Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 999814 1594 SMET 9178 6859 0116000 Human Subjects 0928454 September 1, 2009 Minority Access for Graduate Education and careers (MAGEC) in STEM Program Plus: Strengthening/Sustaining the Culture of Excellence for STEM Education at Savannah State University. During the last five years, Savannah State University embarked on its most comprehensive program to date to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at the University through the implementation of the Minority Access for Graduate Education and Careers (MAGEC-STEM) program. The program focused on increased enrollment and enhanced teaching and student support services. The new MAGEC-STEM Plus Program will further strengthen the culture of STEM excellence at the University by expanding and deepening our outreach, teaching, and mentoring activities through the following three objectives: 1) Curricular Development, Revision and Enhancement Reform, 2) Expanding Pathways for Undergraduate Recruitment, Enrichment, Retention and Research Experience, and 3) Strengthening the Faculty Development Activities. The program results will be disseminated widely to the community through SSU and program websites and presentations at regional and national/scientific meetings and publications in scientific journals. This program will advance the mission of the University through its provision of high quality degree programs in STEM disciplines that increase the participation of African Americans in higher education. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Wyatt, Mary chellu chetty Jonathan Lambright Johnny johnson Savannah State University GA Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 905471 1594 SMET 9178 6859 0116000 Human Subjects 0928615 September 1, 2009 Enhancing Research Infrastructure for Solid-state Chemistry. The Department of Chemistry at Claflin University is proposing to acquire an Energy Dispersive Micro X-ray (EDX) Fluorescence Spectrometer for enhancing research and educational infrastructure for solid state chemistry, materials science and biology. As one of the oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Claflin has been working on building competent science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs and providing an excellent teaching and research environment for minority students. The Department of Chemistry is ACS-certified and strives to build and maintain a vigorous undergraduate program by acquiring and incorporating modern infrastructure into its research and educational curriculum. The addition of the EDX spectrometer allows the department to target the instrumentation requirements for continued ACS-certification. The requested instrument will be incorporated into existing experiments in general, inorganic, physical and analytical chemistry laboratories. Undergraduate students at all levels will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience on state-of-the-art techniques. The Department of Chemistry is committed to establishing a strong research program in solid state chemistry, a field that is at the leading edge of current technological advances. The requested EDX is an essential addition to the physical characterization toolbox available for faculty and student research involving materials, chemical and biological sciences. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Peters, Angela Ratnasabapathy Iyer Nan Ding Claflin University SC Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 150000 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 6861 0928797 September 1, 2009 Implementation Grant of Enhancement, Enrichment, and Excellence in Mathematics and Science (E3MaS). ABSTRACT HRD 0929092 Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO) is strengthening undergraduate recruitment and retention activities in the STEM disciplines. Their goals are being achieved through several interrelated activities such as: (1) improving the quality of incoming high school students through Summer Enrichment Program (SEP), Early Career Awareness, Science Fair and Algebra tutorials, (2) developing high school mathematics and science teachers through content enhancement workshops, Summer Enrichment Program and software and technology training, (3) improving the quality of undergraduates through scholarships, learning center support, research mentoring, placement in summer internships, and GRE preparation, (4) implementing an aggressive faculty development through peer mentoring, seed grant award for research development, and sponsorship to HBCU research consortium workshops, and (5) enhancing curriculum through infusion of algebra to science learning, instituting Computer Aided Learning (CAI) software in mathematics and science courses, and developing an environmental awareness elective for all majors. The expected project outcomes include: (1) increased STEM graduation; (2) increased faculty participation in research, publications, and grants writing; (3) enhanced quality of undergraduate research experiences; (4) strengthened partnerships with academic institutions and research labs; (5) increased use of technology in teaching and research in all STEM disciplines; and (6) increased numbers of STEM students completing the path from high school through college to graduate school. This proposal builds on the successes of the previous HBCU-UP grant, which resulted in significantly increasing student research and summer internships, enrollment in graduate schools, and graduation rate in STEM disciplines. The project team anticipates that this project will enable SUNO to regain some of the ground lost in STEM disciplines due to the impact of hurricane Katrina. Project leadership includes Dr. Joe Omojola, Professor of Mathematics and Physics, who was honored with the distinguished 2006 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), given in an award ceremony at the White House. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HRD EHR Omojola, Joe Carl Johnson Murty Kambhampati Southern University New Orleans LA Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 482699 9150 SMET 9178 9150 6859 0928811 September 1, 2009 Implementation Grant: Paine college STEM Education Pipeline Project. Paine College, founded in 1882, is a historically black college (HBCU) located in Augusta, GA, with an enrollment of about 900 students. The overarching goals of the Paine College STEM Education Pipeline Project are to increase the number of qualified, baccalaureate-seeking minority students in the STEM disciplines; and to provide a seamless pipeline from high school to college to graduate and professional schools or the STEM workforce for qualified minority students interested in STEM disciplines. Proposed objectives and activities to achieve these goals are curriculum revision, faculty development, and student recruitment and retention. The curriculum revision component is to enhance and update the content, activities, laboratory exercises and pedagogical methods in gate-way courses in order to create a learning environment that is stimulating, interactive, hands-on, as well as meaningful and useful for students entering STEM disciplines at Paine College. The faculty development component will provide STEM faculty with opportunities and incentives to become more effective in the areas of teaching, student-learning, research, use of technology, STEM curricular design, and the intersections of these areas. Student retention activities are centered around tutoring, undergraduate research activities, graduate and professional school preparation workshops, internships and other activities to enhance STEM students' competitiveness for graduate and professional programs in the STEM disciplines. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Martin, Curtis Paine College GA Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 398460 1594 SMET 9178 6861 0116000 Human Subjects 0928821 September 1, 2009 Targeted Infusion: Acquisition of a 90-MHz FT-NMR Spectrometer to Enhance Current Curriculum and Research in Order to Achieve ACS Accreditation in the Chemistry Program at AAMU. Alabama A&M University seeks to acquire a 90-MHz Fourier Transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FT-NMR) Spectrometer for the program in Chemistry to develop and enhance undergraduate student research, as well as develop and disseminate NMR modules to enhance chemistry program curricula. The Chemistry program seeks to gain approval from the American Chemical Society - Committee on Professional Training. To gain ACS-CPT approval, university chemistry programs must have a functioning NMR spectrometer that undergraduates use in instruction and research. With this instrumentation, STEM students at Alabama A&M will have hands-on experience with a powerful research instrument and will be better equipped to matriculate to graduate school or to enter the scientific and technological workforce. This project seeks to increase the number of minority Chemistry graduates and thus will be an asset to the surrounding scientific and research communities in Huntsville and northern Alabama. The proposed activity will improve the undergraduate research program, and offer course enhancements and laboratory experiments that previously were not available. These efforts will result in contributions to biodiesel analysis, and the structure and reactivity of ozonized unsaturated fatty acids. Additionally, new teaching paradigms will be developed that can be applied to all academic STEM programs. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Okafor, Florence Razi Hassan Malinda Gilmore Alabama A&M University AL Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149420 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 6861 0928852 August 1, 2009 CSU-LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate at California State University, Northridge (Cohort 7). California State University (CSU) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (CSU-LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and California State University institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at California State University, Northridge prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohort community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages with Graduate Education in the Professoriate (AGEP) institutions and other graduate education programs to advance students in Ph.D. programs. Twelve students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at California State University, Northridge during the 2009-2011 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline globally. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. The project anticipates that at least 95% of the new participants will complete Master?s degrees, and that at least 90% of these students will earn STEM doctorate degrees. This project not only targets a student population that might not otherwise pursue doctoral level training, but also makes a special effort to target STEM disciplines that have relatively low overall doctorate degree production and the lowest shares of URM students. In these disciplines (specifically, geological sciences, physics and astronomy, mathematics, engineering, and computer science), small increases in the number of doctorates awarded to URM students will have a significant impact on discipline demographics. BD project activities include a variety of valued ?best practices? for supporting and advancing LSAMP students. Specifically, the project provides the following: ? rigorous Master?s-level course-work ? a two-year research experience with the guidance of a faculty mentor; ? professional development workshops and activities, including participation in scientific conferences; ? monthly meetings to monitor student progress, ? networking with other BD Fellows in doctoral programs, and ? provide assistance with graduate school and fellowship applications. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Barrena, Juanita Kathleen Marsaglia Ana Cadavid Carol Shubin Karla Pelletier University Enterprises, Incorporated CA Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0928903 September 1, 2009 Targeted Infusion Project: Building a Biology Genomics Concentration at Tuskegee University. The Tuskegee University (TU) HBCU-UP Targeted Infusion Project (TIP) will infuse genomics into the undergraduate curriculum of the Biology Department. This TIP will provide highly interactive, inquiry-based approaches to acquaint students with the emerging field of genomics. To accomplish this goal, one introductory course and two advanced level genomics courses will be developed and newly designed genomics modules will be incorporated into existing courses including: Advanced Genetics, Advanced Biotechnology, Molecular and Cell Biology, Botany, Microbiology, and Research Methodology. In parallel, a series of complementary project laboratories will be developed to provide students hands-on, minds-on experience with genomics research and facilitate current research activities of faculty and students at TU. Students enrolled in these courses will be better prepared to enter the 21st century scientific workforce, particularly in the emerging fields of genomics. The teaching materials (including hypertexted laboratory manuals) developed at TU will be disseminated via open access courses, presentations, publications, and workshops for faculty members. The TU-TIP project will provide educational innovations for universities and colleges nationwide. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Gray-Singh, Danielle Tuskegee University AL Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 161510 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 6861 0928904 September 1, 2009 Strategic Plan to Enhance STEM Education and Research at AAMU. The "Strategic Plan to Enhance STEM Education and Research at AAMU" is an innovative, comprehensive, and focused approach to strengthening STEM education at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AAMU). We will implement the STEM Education and Research program by enhancing the quality of education, mentoring students to improve graduation rates of STEM undergraduates, improving the Fundamental Engineering Exam passing rates for engineering graduates, increasing the recruitment and retention of STEM students, expanding research opportunities for faculty and students, enhancing existing STEM curricula for undergraduate STEM students, and providing professional development for STEM faculty. To achieve our goals, we propose to develop a tutoring program for engineering students to strengthen students' basic skills in STEM areas and prepare them for the Professional Engineering License exam, develop a STEM-SI Peer Tutoring (Supplemental Instruction) program, develop a Summer Bridge Program to prepare incoming STEM students, develop a Summer Sophomore Mathematics Program for STEM Gatekeeper courses, enhance STEM curricula by creating a series of advanced interdisciplinary courses, expand undergraduate research in all STEM related disciplines, organize a set of faculty development workshops on the integration of cyberinfrastucture resources such as video podcasts and facebook groups, and provide STEM related seminars with prominent scholars from institutions of higher education and industry. We are aiming for a reduction of attrition in lower level undergraduate gate-keeping courses, an increase in the number of under-represented minority students matriculating in and graduating from STEM fields, an increase in student participation in interactive discovery based undergraduate research, and an increase in the passing rate of the Professional Engineering License exam. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Stewart, Juarine Mostafa Dokhanian Nesar Ahmed Marius Schamschula Mohammed Karim Alabama A&M University AL Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 425164 1594 SMET 9178 9150 6859 0928921 September 1, 2009 Targeted Infusion Grant: Development of Virtual and Remote Laboratory for Engineering Technology Undergraduate Students. Abstract The Texas Southern University project is developing an effective pedagogy for incorporating interactive virtual and remote laboratories into engineering and technology education at the undergraduate level. The full development of such a framework will ultimately have an impact across all STEM disciplines; a principal outcome being the enhancement of integration of research and education. A target goal of the project is its potential to effect increase in the recruitment, enrollment, retention and graduation of under-represented populations from engineering, information technology, computer science, and computing-related programs. The effort is expected to have a long-term impact through the establishment of a sustainable inter-institutional infrastructure to implement effective utilization of the developed remotely accessible laboratory frame. The successful development of a virtual and remotely accessible laboratory will set up a model for other departments, such as the Industrial Engineering Technology and Transportation Studies departments, as well as for other institutions. Hands-on education in these virtual lab facilities will enhance the training students need to be prepared for the engineering and technology workforce and for graduate school. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Olowokere, David Shahryar Darayan Xuemin Chen Lawrence Kehinde Texas Southern University TX Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 149941 1594 SMET 9178 6861 0928978 September 1, 2009 Universal Design and Technology for Students with Disabilities in STEM Fields. The Universal Design and Technology for Students with Disabilities in STEM Fields is an enrichment project that will advance the field?s knowledge of how Hispanic students with disabilities transition from high school to post-secondary education, which student interventions and faculty training strategies improve the success of Hispanic undergraduate students completing Algebra and Pre-Calculus gateway courses, and how Hispanic-serving institutions collaborate with regional minority-serving secondary and post-secondary institutions to collect baseline data and pilot student interventions for a future Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM. The goals of this project are to: (1) Create a system to collect and analyze data on students with disabilities in local high schools and community colleges who identify an interest in the STEM fields; (2) Use technology to create an online learning center for faculty and students with disabilities in the gateway post-secondary math classes; and (3) Train faculty to use universal design in post-secondary gateway math courses to assist students with disabilities majoring in a STEM field through the critical juncture of transition from high school to a university setting. This proposed project provides the foundation for a future proposed Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM with local high schools, community colleges and the University of Texas at San Antonio; the Alliance will be a national model for STEM programs for students with disabilities at Hispanic serving institutions. Dr. Abelardo Villarreal, who is the Director of Field Services for the Intercultural Development Research Association, is the external evaluator for the project. The project information and findings will be disseminated to the public via professional conference presentations, journal publications, and a project website. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Kaylor, Maria Kimberly Bilica BETTY TRAVIS University of Texas at San Antonio TX Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 200000 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0928997 September 1, 2009 Enhancing the Quality of STEM Education and Retention @MVSU through Mentoring and Student Professional Development. The "Enhancing the Quality of STEM Education and Retention @MVSU through Mentoring Strategies and Student Professional Development" project seeks to implement mentoring strategies and student professional development activities to affect the growing exodus of students from STEM majors between the freshmen and sophomore years at Mississippi Valley State University. The project seeks to assist underrepresented students who often have numerous difficulties which deter them from attending college and being totally dedicated to academics. The project will further improve the infrastructure and quality of the STEM programs by strengthening the academic skills and support structures. Specific components of the project are: 1) a STEM mentoring model to enhance the quality of education to affect the number of students leaving STEM majors between the freshmen and sophomore year; 2) faculty/student research teams to increase opportunities for faculty and students to engage in collaborative research; 3) a teacher education clinic to enhance the science and mathematics skills of K-12 students by strengthening the content knowledge and the pedagogical skills of middle and high school teachers; and 4)infusion of computer security concepts into the curriculum to create and build an infrastructure which supports it as a viable research option for undergraduates. This project is important because a disproportionate number of students arrive at the University with poor preparation for the STEM disciplines. This phenomenon is partially attributable to the preparation and skill level of teachers in the K-12 school system. The geographic region targeted for this project is the Mississippi Delta where 26 percent of all African Americans in Mississippi reside. Program activities are designed to provide improved educational experiences and opportunities for academically talented students who are pursuing STEM degrees, and to prepare them for graduate school and the workforce. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Bland, Constance Dr. Raymond Williams Lee Redmond Dr. Rachel Beecham Mississippi Valley State University MS Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 546063 1594 SMET 9178 9150 6859 0929006 October 1, 2009 RDE Collaborative Dissemination Project. The RDE Collaborative Dissemination Project's objectives are: 1. To increase awareness of how people with disabilities can be successful in STEM. 2. To increase awareness of strategies and resources for making STEM welcoming and accessible to people with disabilities, including the findings, products, and opportunities of RDE-funded projects. 3. To increase collaboration of RDE-funded projects with respect to dissemination. The project team will lead a community of representatives of RDE-funded projects, who will design project products, share strategies for making resources accessible, and explore possibilities and develop plans for cooperating on dissemination efforts. They will create three project products and will utilize the Internet, public television, and existing networks to share what works and what does not to increase the successful participation of people with disabilities in STEM. All project products will be designed to be accessible to people with disabilities. Products include: Website: A password-protected collaborative 'wiki' that engages RDE-funded projects in developing products and dissemination plans, including those for sharing information about projects, outcomes, and materials on the Internet. Video: A video that shows how high school, college, and graduate students and employees with disabilities succeed in STEM and highlights the RDE-funded Alliances for Students with Disabilities in STEM as resources. Brochure: A concise brochure that includes information and results regarding all RDE-funded Alliances for Students with Disabilities in STEM and pointers to the project website for the project video and additional information and resources. All project products will promote creative and potentially transformative concepts. The project evaluation will document (1) high quality, useful, and accessible resources; (2) effective distribution methods; and (3) increased engagement of RDE projects. The external formative and summative evaluation for this project will be conducted by Dr. Gerald Gillmore. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Burgstahler, Sheryl University of Washington WA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 199945 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0929079 October 1, 2009 Pacific Alliance for Supporting Individuals with Disabilities in STEM Fields Partnership (Pacific Alliance). The "Pacific Alliance" for Students with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) project will increase the numbers of individuals with disabilities (IWD) in STEM postsecondary education programs and ultimately the STEM workforce in Hawai`i. The Pacific Alliance will employ a Community of Practice (COP) model as they provide students with disabilities (SWDs) STEM mentoring, academic skill interventions, research experiences, and internships. The primary institution, the University of Hawai`i at Manoa (UHM), will engage SWDs in feeder high schools on Oahu and Hawai`i Islands, SWDs at Honolulu Community College, Windward Community College and Hawai`i Community College, and SWDs at UHM and the University of Hawai`i at Hilo. The partnership team will employ evidence-based practices and promising interventions to advance students through critical junctures to degree completion and into the workforce or graduate STEM degree programs. The following objectives will be addressed by the Pacific Alliance: 1: Increase the recruitment of IWD in high schools on Oahu and Hawai`i Island who enroll in STEM degree programs at partnering 2 and 4 year institutes of higher education (IHE) by 20% per year (on Oahu, from 170 to 423 over 5 years; on Hawai`i Island, from 40 to 58 over 2 years). 2a. Increase the graduation rates (associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degrees) for STEM students with disabilities in Oahu based community colleges and university partner institutions by 10% per year from 10 graduates with Associates degree in STEM to 16; from 60 graduates with Bachelors degree to 97; from 12 graduates with Master?s or higher degrees in STEM to 19 over 5 years. 2b. Increase the graduation rates (associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degrees) for STEM students with disabilities in Hawai`i Island community colleges and university partner institution by 25% per year, from 5 graduates with Associates degree in STEM to 8; from 3 graduates with Bachelors degree to 5; and from 0 graduate with Masters or higher degrees in STEM to 1 over 2 years. 3: Increase successful entry (employed) rates of Alliance graduates (high school, associate, baccalaureate, and graduate) into STEM employment by 5% (from a baseline of 150 graduates to 191 over 5 years). RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Stodden, Robert Kelly Roberts University of Hawaii HI Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 749795 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0929092 September 1, 2009 Implementation Grant: University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff STEM Academy. ABSTRACT HRD 0929092 The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is implementing The STEM Academy program (Phase II) toward increasing the number of minorities in STEM research careers. The key components of the 2009-2013 STEM implementation plan include: 1) Intense curricula revisions, faculty development and two faculty added in Biology; 2) Expanded research opportunities for STEM Scholars during the academic year; 3) Development of learning communities; 4) Pre-Graduate School workshops, including GRE preparation and graduate school application process; 5) Piloting of a licensure program for STEM Scholars who desire to be science, and mathematics teachers, 6) Piloting of an international summer/winter intersession research component for STEM Scholars and faculty. UAPB is focusing on ?best practices? and ?lessons learned? that have proven to be successful in increasing the number of STEM majors and graduates. The project is enhanced through continuous evaluation and assessment of the activities and interventions, feedback, and modifications as needed, as well as summative evaluation. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HRD EHR Benjamin, Mary Charles Colen University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff AR Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 425000 9150 SMET 9178 9150 6862 0116000 Human Subjects 0929135 August 1, 2009 LSAMP: Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate. The Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Miniority Participation (OK-LSAMP) under the leadeship of Oklahoma State University will sponsor as fifth cohort of Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) students at the University of Oklahoma. The program will focus on the recruitment, retention, mentoring, and graduation of the students from STEM fields pursuing M. S. and Ph.D. degrees in science, technology, engineering, and technology (STEM) fields. The program objectives for this cohort are: (i) recruitment of 12 LSAMP graduates to the BD program by the start of the grant period, (ii) completion of coursework by each BD Fellow within the first two years of the graduate study, (iii) identification of a research mentor by the start of the 2nd year in the program, (iv) at least 80% of the fellows earning Ph.D. degrees, and (v) each BD fellow earning at least one graduate degree in a STEM field. The program has also identified four key educational outcomes that each BD fellow must achieve prior to graduation. These outcomes are: (i) knowledge of learning methods and effective teaching strategies, (ii) ability to communicate effectively, (iii) ability to perform research independently, and (iv) an understanding of the importance of life-long learning. To achieve these objectives and outcomes, the program has developed a strong and ambitious plan which includes workshops, seminars, socials, meetings, international research experiences, conference activities for the BD fellows and research mentors. The BD Fellows of Cohort III will serve as mentors for the new fellows. Reciprocal exchanges identified between OU and Oklahoma State University?s (OSU) BD programs will benefit all BD students at both universities. The evaluation of the program objectives and the assessment of the achievement of educational outcomes include input from students, external program evaluator, and the BD Council. BD Council consists of members from OU and OSU including the PI of the Oklahoma Alliance. The proposed activity involves the furthering the research on what constitutes best practices for the recruitment, retention, and graduation of underrepresented minority students with doctoral degrees in STEM fields. There are several other research initiatives at the University of Oklahoma which are targeted at the success of females and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields such as ADVANCE, IGERT, GAANN programs and Sooner Engineering Education (SEED) Research Center. Collaboration between the BD program and these other programs in the university will not only benefit the BD Fellows but also the faculty engaged in research targeted towards promoting diversity in STEM fields. The potential impacts of the proposed activity are multidimensional. At the institutional level, success of the BD program will positively impact institutionalization of the best practices. Diversity in the graduate STEM programs will promote diversity in the undergraduate programs and vice versa. Institutional commitment to diversity as evidenced by a diverse student population will undoubtedly support the efforts of diversifying STEM faculty. For Oklahoma, it will lead to stronger relationships between K-12 schools including tribal establishments and STEM programs, diversification of the pipeline for STEM education, and further stimulating economic development in the state. At the national level, graduation of at least 10 BD Fellows with Ph.D. degrees who have achieved the four key outcomes stated for the program will have a significant impact on the gender and ethnic profiles of STEM faculty in academia, as well as industry and other government agencies employing Ph.D. graduates. Dissemination of best practices through archival paper publications and presentations at professional conferences will broaden the impact as more institutional will implement the best practices which will in turn transform the ethnic and gender distribution of the STEM workforce and also increase the number of graduates from STEM disciplines. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Emslie, A. Gordon Pakize Pulat Oklahoma State University OK Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 9150 0929138 September 1, 2009 Targeted Infusion Grant to Implement an Emphasis in Statistics within the Existing Mathematics Program. ABSTRACT HRD 0929138 Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) is implementing an HBCU-UP targeted infusion project to develop an emphasis area in statistics within the existing WSSU mathematics program in order to enhance the undergraduate curriculum in statistical data analysis. The critical need for statistical knowledge in research design and resulting data analysis creates a need to offer this statistics emphasis to insure the preparation of our students and to connect the subject of mathematics to relevant industrial applications. Part of the reticence to majoring in mathematics by minority students is the apparent lack of a clear career path aside from teaching or proceeding to graduate school. This project will create a new opportunity to expand the career options for mathematics majors. The objectives of this targeted infusion project are: (i) to implement a mathematics degree with a statistics emphasis; (ii) develop interdisciplinary statistics research and instruction models at WSSU (iii) provide considerable career development experiences to students to prepare them for the statistics workforce. The B.S. in Mathematics with an emphasis in Statistics has been approved by the University effective August 2008. The project is led by the Principal Investigator who is also the departmental chair, and two statisticians on the faculty. Currently, we have one statistician on the faculty. A second statistics position has been approved and advertised. The successful candidate begins teaching in August 2009. We have established collaborations with the department of behavioral sciences and the department of life sciences to ensure a ready and practical source of real-world problems for student research training. Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) is a historically black university located in the Piedmont Triad. It enrolls more than 6500 students with more than 81% of the students are underrepresented minorities. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Adeyeye, John Ronald Patterson Jill Harp Christopher Stanley Winston-Salem State University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 163221 1594 SMET 9178 6861 0929148 September 1, 2009 Mixed Methods Study of the Factors Influencing Recruitment, Retention, and Academic Achievement of Undergraduate Females and Males in STEM Disciplines at HBCUs. ABSTRACT HRD 0292148 Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) has the primary objective to design and conduct a mixed method study (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 1998), including both a quantitative and qualitative component, on STEM students? precollege and college factors, institutional characteristics, intellectual orientations, and vocational competence and commitment. National data indicates that the number of underrepresented women and men receiving STEM degrees has increased over the years (National Science Foundation, 2008; Nelson, 2007). However, there is a general agreement among stakeholders (Byars-Winston, Estrada, and Howard, 2008) that we need to recruit, retain, and graduate more racial and ethnic minority students in order to enhance America?s competiveness in the global economy. Other objectives of this HBCU-UP research project are to examine the similarities and differences between female and male STEM students in terms of their level of academic confidence and motivation, academic and social integration in the university environment, student involvement on and off campus, academic self-concepts, educational aspirations, and vocational competence. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to render quantitative and qualitative data to better understand the impacts of individual characteristics and institutional environments on the academic motivations and persistence strategies of female and male students majoring in STEM. Further, this study will determine if the academic environment at HBCUs influences students? vocational interest and commitment to STEM careers. Further, the findings should assist college professionals and policymakers in improving academic performance and graduation rates for STEM students at HBCUs. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Clarke, Morris James Moore III Lamont Flowers Winston-Salem State University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 499890 1594 SMET 9178 6860 0929165 September 1, 2009 Targeted Infusion to develop bio-based technology capability among minority students at Shaw University. ABSTRACT HRD 0929165 Shaw University is improving the quality of its undergraduate biology program through infusion of bio-based technology courses and strategized training programs for both students and faculty. The specific objectives of this project include the development and establishment of new bio-technology courses, redesigning of some existing courses to reflect current bio-advances, training of students in bio-based techniques and skills development, broad-based training for bio-technology capability; and training of STEM faculty in bio-technology instruction conceptual framework and methodologies. The State of North Carolina ranks among the top three biotechnology regions in the United States. As the industry continues to expand, more trained employees are needed to fill the jobs created, especially in the nearby Research Triangle Park (RTP). Currently, participation by underrepresented minorities in this workforce is very low. Shaw University is enhancing the quality of its Science program with the intention to increase the participation of African Americans in the biotechnology industrial revolution. Project activities include development and redesigning of courses; faculty training through the BioTechnology Institute, which trains Bio-technology teachers for more effective student learning; purchase of basic laboratory materials and supplies for teaching bio-techniques to students and for student-participatory laboratory activities for enhanced skills training, and dissemination of results. The overall comprehensive strategy targets collaboration with high-tech universities running bio-technology programs at undergraduate (and graduate) levels and organizing of student and faculty visits to high-tech labs for technology transfer; enhancement of STEM faculty for teaching of biotechnology courses through training sessions with the BioTechnology Institute; invitation of biotechnology experts to Shaw to meet with students; participation at conferences and organization of an annual in-house Biotechnology Seminar as an additional forum for training and for dissemination of project results; as well as regular evaluation of the project activities to ensure that the project plans are being achieved. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Asemota, Helen Elvira Williams Grace Ndip Renata Dusenbury Shaw University NC Marilyn J. Suiter Standard Grant 149725 1594 SMET 9178 6861 0929212 October 1, 2009 Building an Alliance for New Careers in STEM (KC-BANCS): A Collaborative Model for the Inclusion of Youth and Veterans with Disabilities. The "Building an Alliance for New Careers in STEM (KC-BANCS): A Collaborative Model for the Inclusion of Youth and Veterans with Disabilities" is a project that will increase the participation and success of high school and college students with disabilities within the Kansas City region in STEM education pathways. The result will be an increase in veterans and other students who complete associate and undergraduate degrees and ultimately enter the STEM workforce. The KC-BANKS Alliance's lead institution, the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), will partner with two associate degree granting institutions: Metropolitan Community College (MCC) and Kansas City Kansas CC (KCCC). The project will work with Project Lead the Way and Project UpLink to access secondary students from 42 Kansas City high schools. Additionally, collaborations with Veterans Upward Bound and local Veteran Services Offices will provide partnering for veteran student recruitment. The following objectives will be addressed by the KC-BANCS Alliance: 1) To increase the number of students and veterans with disabilities who enter STEM post-secondary academic programs (pre-college pipeline experiences); 2) To increase the number of students and veterans with disabilities who complete two-year and four year degrees in STEM fields (support and retention in post-secondary experiences); 3) To increase the number of STEM students with disabilities who enter the workforce in STEM related careers; and 4) To develop an Alliance Partnership Model that engages STEM educators, community organizations, and youth/veterans with disabilities as equal partners and collaborators. An evaluation team from the Resource Development Institute (RDI) will work with the KC-BANCS Alliance team to conduct formative and summative evaluation. During the initial phase of the project the RDI team will work with KC-BANKS and contact people at UMKC and each of the partnering organizations to identify key personnel who can supply data on students with disabilities currently attending the educational institutions. RDI evaluators will work with these designated personnel to establish procedures by which each institution will supply disaggregated baseline data on the number of students with disabilities to include type of disability, race/ethnicity, gender, and STEM major for those students with disabilities; as well as data on those completing STEM associate, baccalaureate and graduate degrees. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Jenson, Ronda Kevin Truman University of Missouri-Kansas City MO Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 589826 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0929216 September 1, 2009 Implementation Grant Academic Enhancement of the STEM College at Johnson C. Smith University. Johnson C. Smith University is a private historically-black college located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The university enrolls 1500 full-time students, of which approximately 300 are declared science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors. Within the newly established STEM College, the university awards Bachelor of Science degrees in Biology, Chemistry, General Science, Mathematics, Mathematics Education, Computer Science/Information Systems, Computer Engineering, and Information Systems Engineering. Johnson C. Smith University proposes to build on the successes of the previous HBCU-UP project. This project entitled "Academic Enhancement of the STEM College at Johnson C. Smith University" adds the promise of sustainable impacts from new and exciting activities arising from "lessons learned" during the initial implementation project. These activities include establishing a Faculty/Student Undergraduate Research Community designed to revise, enrich and create transformative STEM courses and programs; establishing and developing faculty/student collaborations and partnerships with STEM related industries, research centers, laboratories and other higher education institutions; providing STEM faculty "Market-Driven Re-Tooling" opportunities in pedagogy and discipline specific development; and enhancing STEM student retention, graduation and critical transitioning to graduate studies and/or the STEM workplace. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Carter, Ronald Magdy Attia Johnson C. Smith University NC Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 781774 1594 SMET 9178 6859 0116000 Human Subjects 0929248 October 1, 2009 Collaborative Research: Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM. The Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM is a collaborative effort involving Auburn University, Tuskegee University, Alabama State University, and Auburn University at Montgomery, Central Alabama Community College, Southern Union Community College, the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, and six school districts in East-Central Alabama: Lee, Chambers, Elmore, Montgomery, Macon, and Tallapoosa County school systems. The Alliance has the following four major goals: Goal 1: Increase the Quality of Students with Disabilities Completing Associate and Baccalaureate Degrees in STEM Disciplines; Goal 2: Increase the Number of Students with Disabilities Completing Associate and Baccalaureate Degrees in STEM Disciplines and entering STEM graduate degrees or STEM workforce; Goal 3: Increase the Number of Students with Disabilities Completing Graduate Degrees in STEM Disciplines; and Goal 4: Increase the number of high school students with disabilities going to college. This unique Alliance, which includes two Historically Black Universities, Tuskegee University and Alabama State University, builds upon established STEM bridge programs to include female and minority students with disabilities. The Alabama Alliance has an internal evaluation team and an external evaluator who will lead the independent formative and summative project evaluations, Dr. Abbot Packard, from the University of West Georgia. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Qazi, Mohammed Tuskegee University AL Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 230263 9150 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0929257 September 1, 2009 Enhancing the Potential of Lane College Undergraduates in STEM Programs. ABSTRACT HRD 0929257 Lane College is implementing a comprehensive initiative to enhance and strengthen STEM teaching and learning and to increase student enrollment and retention in STEM majors. The goal of ?Enhancing the Potential of Lane College Undergraduates in STEM Program? is to increase the number of STEM majors, and provide all science, technology, engineering and mathematics students with a challenging and enriching learning experience. The project is being accomplished by implementing the following objectives: (1) build students? interest and confidence so they will pursue STEM degrees; (2) create programs that will enhance student retention and success in entry-level STEM courses; (3) provide targeted recruitment of underrepresented students to major in STEM disciplines; (4) create early undergraduate research experience in STEM by providing Summer internships for students; (5) provide stipends for faculty and students at collaborating universities and laboratories; (6) create an environment at Lane in which research is now accepted as an important part of a science student?s education; (7) provide professional development opportunities for faculty to ensure their participation and support for the project; and (8) improve STEM students? preparation for graduate or professional school by providing courses/ workshops for standardized exams. Lane College is a coeducational, private historically black college that serves 2003 students, including 460 who are enrolled in STEM disciplines. Lane College offers the Bachelor of Science degree leading to majors in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science. A major in Engineering is offered through a dual degree program with Tennessee State University in Nashville. Lane College is committed to increasing the number of minority students enrolling in and successfully completing baccalaureate programs that will prepare them to enter graduate and professional degree programs in STEM disciplines. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Lott, Vicki Jimmy Hwang Larry Thompson Lane College TN Marilyn J. Suiter Continuing grant 545262 9150 1594 SMET 9178 9150 6859 0116000 Human Subjects 0929265 September 1, 2009 Implementation Grant - Project GeNex: Educating the Next Generation of STEM Professionals. St. Philip's College, one of the Alamo Community Colleges, a two-year public college and the only nationally designated Historically Black College and Hispanic-Serving Institution, will implement "Project GeNex: Educating the Next Generation of STEM Professionals" as it aspires to improve its STEM education programs and increase the number of diverse, competitive and globally engaged STEM professionals in the nation's workforce. St. Philip's College will recruit, retain, graduate and transfer students to four-year institutions where they will complete undergraduate degrees in STEM disciplines. Project GeNex aims to improve STEM education at SPC and increase the number of STEM professionals in the nation's workforce. To achieve this goal, three objectives will be targeted: 1) To increase the number of students who enroll as STEM majors; 2) To increase rate of course completion of STEM majors; and 3) To increase the retention rate of STEM majors. This project is innovative in that it will provide additional opportunities to increase the recruitment, retention, graduation and transfer to universities of minority students in the STEM disciplines. Through St. Philip's College's existing relationships with high schools, universities and industry partners, Project GeNex will have the necessary framework to ensure student and project success. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Pennick, Herbert Cynthia Katz William Davis St. Philip's College TX Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 396648 1594 SMET 9178 6861 0929268 October 1, 2009 Collaborative Research: Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM. The "Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM" is a collaborative effort involving Auburn University, Tuskegee University, Alabama State University, and Auburn University at Montgomery, Central Alabama Community College, Southern Union Community College, the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, and six school districts in East-Central Alabama: Lee, Chambers, Elmore, Montgomery, Macon, and Tallapoosa County school systems. The Alliance has the following four major goals: Goal 1: Increase the Quality of Students with Disabilities Completing Associate and Baccalaureate Degrees in STEM Disciplines; Goal 2: Increase the Number of Students with Disabilities Completing Associate and Baccalaureate Degrees in STEM Disciplines and entering STEM graduate degrees or STEM workforce; Goal 3: Increase the Number of Students with Disabilities Completing Graduate Degrees in STEM Disciplines; and Goal 4: Increase the number of high school students with disabilities going to college. This unique Alliance, which includes two Historically Black Universities, Tuskegee University and Alabama State University, builds upon established STEM bridge programs to include female and minority students with disabilities. The Alabama Alliance has an internal evaluation team and an external evaluator who will lead the independent formative and summative project evaluations, Dr. Abbot Packard, from the University of West Georgia. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Jenda, Overtoun Asheber Gebrekidan Daniela Marghitu Caroline Dunn Auburn University AL Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 1310207 9150 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0929276 October 1, 2009 Collaborative Research: Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM. The Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM is a collaborative effort involving Auburn University, Tuskegee University, Alabama State University, and Auburn University at Montgomery, Central Alabama Community College, Southern Union Community College, the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, and six school districts in East-Central Alabama: Lee, Chambers, Elmore, Montgomery, Macon, and Tallapoosa County school systems. The Alliance has the following four major goals: Goal 1: Increase the Quality of Students with Disabilities Completing Associate and Baccalaureate Degrees in STEM Disciplines; Goal 2: Increase the Number of Students with Disabilities Completing Associate and Baccalaureate Degrees in STEM Disciplines and entering STEM graduate degrees or STEM workforce; Goal 3: Increase the Number of Students with Disabilities Completing Graduate Degrees in STEM Disciplines; and Goal 4: Increase the number of high school students with disabilities going to college. This unique Alliance, which includes two Historically Black Universities, Tuskegee University and Alabama State University, builds upon established STEM bridge programs to include female and minority students with disabilities. The Alabama Alliance has an internal evaluation team and an external evaluator who will lead the independent formative and summative project evaluations, Dr. Abbot Packard, from the University of West Georgia. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Pettis, Carl Alabama State University AL Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 203499 9150 1545 SMET 9178 9150 0929281 January 1, 2010 STEM STARS. STEM STARS is an enrichment project that will advance the field?s knowledge of how Hispanic and Native American undergraduate students with disabilities successfully complete gateway Algebra, Pre-Calculus and Biology course given access to a unique group of student interventions and faculty training. NMHU is located in a rural, agricultural region of the state with nearly 70% students from Hispanic or Native American demographic backgrounds. The STEM STARS project is a proposal to implement evidence-based learning strategies for students with disabilities to double the percentage of minority students with disabilities in STEM majors from 4.8% to 9.6% at NMHU. This increase will be accomplished by implementing the following evidenced-based strategies for students with disabilities in two introductory Math and two introductory Biology courses: 1. Employ Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. UDL will be used in redesigning course syllabi. 2. Training and support of faculty in the use of UDL in higher education STEM courses. 3. Co-teaching and co-facilitating by Biology, Math and Special Education graduate student assistants serving as teaching assistants in the targeted Math and Biology courses. 4. Peer assisted learning and mentoring. 5. Career and internship advising by Accessibility Services Coordinator and Career Services staff. 6. Assistive technology to enhance STEM courses and laboratories. The proposed project has the potential of benefitting a wide range of students who are currently underrepresented in STEM fields. It is expected to bring about systemic changes in teaching and learning at NMHU. The dissemination of the lessons learned will be useful not only to NMHU faculty and administrators but also to other minority-serving institutions. The proposed techniques and strategies are applicable to pre-college, community college, and university level students with disabilities at all types of institutions. The project will yield invaluable information on bridging the gap between teaching and learning. In summary, implementation of the proposed teaching and learning strategies enhances the educational experiences of STEM faculty and provides students with learning opportunities not previously available in STEM courses at NMHU. Dr. Christiane Herber-Valdez is the external evaluator for the project. Dr. Herber-Valdez has extensive experience evaluating the design, development and implementation of large scale federally funded grants, including initiatives funded by NSF and NIH. The project information and findings will be disseminated to the public via professional conference presentations, journal publications, and a project website. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Shaw, Mary Stella Helvie New Mexico Highlands University NM Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 199476 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0929343 August 1, 2009 Alliance for Broadening Participation in STEM NMSU Bridge to the Doctorate VII. New Mexico State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (NM-LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and New Mexico higher education institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The 2009-2011 program, at New Mexico State University, prepares students to meet the challenges of completing master's and doctoral programs of study preferably for academic careers in higher education. In addition, the program develops leadership skills necessary for success in the STEM workforce nationally and internationally. Integrating research and education, the BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohort community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the New Mexico State University Integrated Graduate Education in Research and Training (IGERT) as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program at the New Mexico State University during the 2009-2011 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of Hispanics and Native Americans in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in successful recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Cruzado-Salas, Waded Ricardo Jacquez New Mexico State University NM Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9178 0929353 August 1, 2009 SUNY LSAMP 2009 Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Cohort at Stony Brook. SUNY LSAMP 2009 Bridge to the Doctorate Cohort at Stony Brook: Project Summary The State University of New York Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (SUNY LSAMP) is ready to immediately put into place its fourth cohort of Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) students at Stony Brook University, the lead institution of the Alliance. This new cohort will build on our three previous efforts that have not only significantly added to the UREP STEM graduate enrollment and masters and doctoral degrees but have also led to important changes in the culture and practice of STEM education in ways that not only help UREP students but all graduate STEM students. Project Goals and Objectives The goals and objectives of the SUNY LSAMP 2009 Bridge to the Doctorate Program at Stony Brook are: To recruit 12 LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate students by: ?] Using recruitment pathways that we have developed that target the state and national LSAMP pool and recruit students from a variety of LSAMP institutions and STEM majors. ?] Having a selection process that works with STEM departments and SUNY AGEP to choose talented LSAMP students who will succeed with program support To design and implement a program that helps students successfully complete two years of STEM graduate study by: ?] Providing a comprehensive set of services that monitor student progress, builds a strong BD community, builds BD students academic and professional skills and use UREP STEM graduate students as mentors and instructors wherever possible ?] Collaborating with other NSF and state and federal programs to make the best use of program resources by integrating BD students into the existing network of activities and programs ?] Assessing the success of program services through external evaluation and developing new or modified activities or interventions based on the results of this evaluation To make sure that BD students enter and successfully complete doctoral study and then move into academia and the high technology workplace by: ?] Helping students to successfully gain admission into doctoral programs ?] Preparing BD students to apply for NSF and other graduate fellowships ?] Working with STEM departments, the Graduate School and the Turner Fellowship program to develop plans to provide a formal pathway to PhD programs that include financial support for BD students after the two years of BD NSF support ends ?] Working with STEM departments to provide academic support where needed to help students through doctoral study ?] Maintaining an effective system for tracking students after they leave the BD program through their educational career and professional work experience To promote systemic change in graduate STEM policy and practices in ways that will increase the success of individual students on the doctoral pathway and the effectiveness of UREP STEM graduate education by: ?] Using resources from multiple sources to examine broad issues related to UREP STEM graduate education using the BD, AGEP and UREP STEM graduate population INTELLECTUAL MERIT The project will add to current efforts by SUNY LSAMP to build research capacity in STEM education in the area of graduate education. The lessons learned from the study of the Bridge to the Doctorate Program will be put into the context of broader issues of systemic change and disseminated to a broad national audience BROADER IMPACT Using the lessons learned from this project, we expect to continue to develop and refine strategies that will increase the recruitment and retention of UREP STEM graduate students. This will that will help to increase the number of UREP STEM students who successfully complete doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines and make changes in STEM departmental culture and practice. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Ferguson, David SUNY at Stony Brook NY Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0929409 September 1, 2009 Collaborative Research: Improving STEM Learning through Interactive RoboBooks. The Improving STEM Learning Through Interactive RoboBooks is a collaborative project between Tufts University?s Center for Engineering Educational Outreach and the Center for Applied Special Technology, Inc. This project will develop RoboBooks, a novel interactive cyberenabled workspace for high school students with learning disabilities and/or behavioral/emotional disabilities that will improve their science understanding in chemistry and physics. Phase 1 will focus on preparing the RoboBook technology for the proposed research by embedding supports and scaffolds into the tool with the goal of improving the science learning experience for students with disabilities. Expertise and assets created in an NSF-funded collaborative research project (DRL-0730260) in which CAST, EDC and the University of Michigan are developing UDL approaches to science curricula for middle and high school students will be leveraged for this project. They are 1) developing an open source UDL Inquiry Science System that enables science curricula to be transformed into digitally supported versions that incorporate UDL features, 2) creating guidelines for designing UDL science materials, and 3) developing four UDL exemplars of chemistry and biology units from tested instructional materials and evaluating the benefits of these exemplars for middle and high school students with and without learning disabilities. In addition to preparing the technologies with embedded supports and scaffolds, the development of precise curricular units in physics and chemistry will take place during this phase of the project. A small cohort of teachers from Fenway High School and Boston Arts Academy will be incorporated into the project to advice in the design of the specific supports as well as the curricular materials. These teachers, along with one additional teacher, will be trained in the summer of 2010 to implement RoboBooks in their science classrooms in Fall 2010. Two teachers from each participating school will work with the team in Phase 2. Phase 2 of the project focuses on collecting pilot data on the overall effectiveness of RoboBooks as designed for students with high incidence disabilities. This phase will involve two teachers each from Fenway High School and Boston Arts Academy. A pilot study will be conducted with four classrooms to measure impact of the books as well as learning (content and process) gains and engagement in science. The primary research questions driving the pilot study will be: 1. How do students with high incidence disabilities use interactive RoboBooks in high school physics and chemistry classes? 2. Which supports and scaffolds embedded in RoboBooks do students and teachers find useful? 3. How does the use of the RoboBooks affect student engagement relative to content using more traditional resources? 4. What are the student-level attitudinal benefits reasonably ascribable to using RoboBooks? 5. What cognitive benefits can be ascribed to the use of the RoboBooks? How do different implementations affect learning outcomes? What contextual variables facilitate or impede student-level learning benefits? The pilot study will employ the following measures: student and Teacher questionnaires embedded in RoboBooks to obtain feedback on usability and content presentation; interviews with teachers and students facilitated by the project staff and the external evaluator to gather more qualitative feedback; and pre/post science assessments. In addition, classroom observations will be conducted to observe the practices of use students with disabilities engage in with RoboBooks. Davis Square Research Associates will conduct the formative and summative independent evaluation. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Murray, Elizabeth CAST, Inc. MA Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 44280 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0929435 August 1, 2009 FGLSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate. University of South Florida will serve as the 2009-2011 Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Project site for the Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (FGLSAMP) Program. In accordance with the goal of the National Science Foundation and FGLSAMP?s commitment to providing experiential exposure opportunities, the new FGLSAMP USF BD Program extends the successful outcomes and ?best practices? of nine previous training grant awards (BD, IGERT and GK-12 and Sloan) to all STEM fields, ? mathematics, earth system sciences, biological & physical sciences and engineering/computer Science. This proposal extends a successful mentoring and training model used in the previous cohorts to the entire USF. A unique feature of this program is that it leverages extensive institutional commitment from across USF, Sloan Foundation and McKnight Foundation with commitment from companies in the Tampa bay community and collaborators all over the world are all committed to ensuring success of both, the trainees and the program. This commitment will result in 7 additional two-year fellowships awards (supplementing the 12 NSF-funded BD Fellowships for a total of 19 two-year BD Fellowships) as BD Fellows. Additionally, the non-USF commitments secured for this proposal will enable institutionalization of funding packages averaging $30,000 per year in years 3-5 of the traineeship, from endowed fellowships and external programs. This has been complemented with national and international internship opportunities. The program leverages NSF dollars with $900,000 in student and program support (fellowships tuition waivers, administration) from USF; $600,000 in Sloan Doctoral Fellowships for students continuing towards their Ph.D., and $900,000 from the Florida Education Fund. Thus, this program is leveraged by $2,500,000 of non NSF funds. Every dollar from NSF will result in at-least $2.5 in matching support. Our goal for this cohort is to ensure that 100% of the students complete their Ph.D, with transformative mentoring, retention and community building strategies. Additionally, the USF BD Project will serve as a national model for the synergistic and formal connection of LSAMP BD fellows with other NSF supported programs (GRFP, IGERT, GK-12, CREST, AGEP, LSAMP, etc.), enable students to gain an international level research perspective via didactic coursework and research experiences, receive research training at national labs (Brookhaven, NIST) that will provide a ?bridging? mechanism for postdoctoral appointments and permanent employment; and develop technical, communication and research skills. The cost of education allowance provided by the NSF supplement will be utilized to: 1) facilitate the BD Fellows' research and training activities; 2) conduct professional development activities and special BD course-related activities; 3) co-sponsor an annual FGLSAMP BD and GK-12 research symposium for graduate fellows from the respective programs to present their research; 4) cover travel costs for the BD Fellows to present at NSF LSAMP/AGEP research conferences; 5) support travel for extended research experiences at national labs; 6) cover costs associated with sponsoring the BD Fellows' participation in GRE exam preparation courses and retaking the GRE exam (this should result in their increased competitiveness for national external and internal USF fellowships); 7) foster international research-training for BD fellows with international partners and collaborators; and 8) provide health insurance coverage for all BD Fellows. With a goal towards institutionalization of minority graduate STEM fellowship opportunities, USF has already established two Alfred P. Sloan Minority Fellowship programs in eight different academic programs, two endowment funds in College of Marine Science for minority BD students to which more than $900,000 has already been committed. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Turner, Ralph Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0929509 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - Career Advancement for Women through the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN). This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). While the number of women receiving advanced degrees in the geosciences has been rising, the face of scientific leaders in academia remains dominantly male. Through the establishment of infrastructure to support the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN), this ADVANCE PAID project will promote career development, build community, and facilitate professional collaborations for women in the Earth Sciences. ESWN is a peer-mentoring network of women, mostly early in their careers, serving the variety of fields within the geosciences discipline. ESWN started in 2002 as an initial group of six early-career women in atmospheric science, and has grown to more than 750 members spanning a wide range of geosciences sub-disciplines. ESWN's growth has evolved solely from person-to-person contacts, and its sustained, rapid growth testifies to the group's value to early career women. The unique aspects of this disciplinary network include its focus on women at early career stages, and the fact that it was formed and is led by early career women scientists. These features allow the group to assist women in the Earth Sciences in advancing professionally while connecting them with a community of their peers. The network's "grassroots" structure provides an exceptional opportunity to influence the retention and promotion of female earth scientists. Intellectual Merit: Building on the success of ESWN's activities to date, this project will support the development of a sustainable ESWN infrastructure and career-development activities to benefit women in academia and promote their advancement. The requested funding will support the following initiatives over four years: grow ESWN to serve a wider section of the geosciences community; design and administer career development workshops; promote professional networking at major scientific conferences; and develop web resources to build connections and collaborations for and among women in the Earth Sciences. The size and diversity of ESWN provides a valuable opportunity to collect statistics and information on the developing careers of women geoscientists. The membership will participate in online surveys, interviews and web site monitoring. Insights and recommendations emerging from these studies will be disseminated through publications, an online newsletter, and highlights on the ESWN website. Broader Impacts: The project activities emphasize the advancement and promotion of women in academic positions in the Earth Sciences. These activities will identify and develop resources useful to women in academia, increase accessibility to these resources, initiate mentoring opportunities, and create a community. An increase in the number of successful women scientists and their visibility will greatly influence the recruitment of the next generation. ESWN members already identify the network as a valuable part of their professional lives and often encourage peers and advisees to join. This project aims to increase the ethnic and racial diversity of ESWN via connections with existing successful recruitment programs. By identifying strategies to reduce barriers to professional success for women geoscientists, we aim to promote a culture that will enhance the success of all scientists. The nature and extent of the network, and its continued growth, will also influence the success of female scientists in a variety of scientific positions including within academia, the federal government, and public and private sectors. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Steiner, Allison University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 59919 7568 OTHR 7568 6890 0000 0929531 August 1, 2009 Greater Philadelphia Region LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (Cohort VII) Project. The 2009-2011 Bridge to the Doctorate Program of the Greater Philadelphia Region Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Philadelphia AMP)will expand and intensify the alliance's on-going efforts to substantially increase the number of qualified African American, Hispanic and Native American students entering graduate study in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), attaining doctoral degrees, and moving into the professoriate. The Philadelphia AMP represents a diverse alliance of nine institutions consisting of public and private, 2- and 4-year research and non-research, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and majority institutions. Delaware State University is the site for the 2009-2011 Bridge to the Doctorate program. The goals of Philadelphia AMP's Bridge to the Doctorate project are to: (1) recruit twelve students into masters degree programs at Delaware State University; (2) retain these students through the completion of the Masters program providing them with full qualifications for admission into a highly regarded Ph.D. program in their chosen STEM specialty with full financial support; (3) enable their admission and smooth transition into a Ph.D. program; and (4) monitor their progress through Ph.D. completion into employment. We aim to have 100% of these students successfully complete their graduate study and enter a STEM career, with many progressing into the professoriate at institutions of higher education. The students will be able to matriculate into 10 STEM M.S. programs (chemistry, applied chemistry, applied mathematics, mathematics, physics, applied optics, natural resources, biology, neuroscience, and plant science), many of which are underrepresented by minorities. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Greenberg, Mark Stephen Cox Drexel University PA Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0929546 August 1, 2009 The Bridge-to-the-Doctorate Initiative: Building a Highly Competitive STEM Education and Research Enterprise. The University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras is the host site for the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PR-LSAMP) Bridge to the Doctorate Program for academic years 209-2011. A seventh cohort of 12 students will be supported during the first two years of graduate studies in a STEM field at UPR, bringing the total number of BD fellowship recipients to 82 since the start of the program in 2003. Fellows will participate in the Support Program that was successfully implemented with the six previous Cohorts, to enhance their academic preparation. A tracking system, designed by PR-LSAMP and in use, will document participant progress, including completion of degree and entering into the workforce, including the professoriate. The BD Program is designed to: 1) prepare the next generation of scientists for careers in research and/or university teaching in Puerto Rico or the Mainland US and, 2) increase the nation?s pool of well-prepared, competent scientists with diverse views. Increasing the pool of STEM faculty members with Ph.D. degrees in Puerto Rico?s undergraduate institutions will have a long-term impact, particularly when taking into consideration the cumulative effect of graduates? life careers in academia and the thousands of students whose learning will be impacted. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Gomez, Manuel Ana-Rita Mayol University of Puerto Rico PR Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0929591 August 1, 2009 LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate. Jackson State University (JSU) and the Mississippi Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-MAMP) partners continue to focus their collective resources on the rich nationwide pool of LSAMP graduates, with over 25,000 produced annually, to recruit for the LS-MAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Program (BD). The synergy resulting from these interactions continues to transform the instructional, research and administrative aspects of cooperation among these institutions in ways never before envisioned. STEM disciplines targeted for BD include: chemistry, mathematics, biology, environmental science, computer science, and engineering. The requested support for the expansion of the LS-MAMP BD prgram will continue to accelerate and increase the numbers of minority students entering the Ph.D. pipeline. The success of the program is based upon the theory that minority students who pursue the M.S. degree have the potential to complete the Ph.D. degree in STEM areas if provided sufficient financial support, rigorous curricula, committed mentoring and national and international extensive research experiences. The addition of a seventh Cohort to the LS-MAMP BD program will increase the number of students who have been supported by the program to 82. The program is highly interactive covering the first two years of the students? graduate tenure leading to the M.S. degree. Students are expected to continue their work through to the doctorate. During the first year the students satisfy the required core courses of their degree program and select their research advisor. During the first summer, the students are exposed to scientific and technical workforce environments through short term visits and internships at national or international laboratories, corporations and universities. During this time, students and their faculty advisors continually interact on the learning experiences and initiation of research projects. The second year is dedicated to research, writing the M.S. thesis, taking specialized courses and applying for admission to doctoral programs and fellowships. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Mohamed, Abdul Jackson State University MS Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 9150 0929697 August 1, 2009 LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate at UMBC. University of Maryland System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program is a collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and University of Maryland institutions to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minorities matriculating to completion of the doctoral degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (STEM) fields. The program at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County prepares students to meet the challenges of completing doctoral programs of study and for academic careers in higher education. The BD fellows will be nurtured over two years as a cohort community that will benefit from a program of academic and personal development activities as well as social support to sustain their commitment and success to the terminal Ph.D. STEM degree. Program activities include linkages to the Maryland Alliances for Graduate Education in the Professoriate (PROMISE) as well as other NSF-funded research and education projects, including programs that provide mentoring opportunities for undergraduate students. A total of 12 students from underrepresented minority populations in STEM fields will participate in the program a University of Maryland-Baltimore County during the 2009-2011 academic years. Results from this support will broaden the participation of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Pacific-Islanders in the STEM pipeline, U. S. workforce and abroad. Results from rigorous evaluation of the project will add to the body of literature in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority students in STEM fields. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Hrabowski, Freeman Janet Rutledge Cynthia HILL Renetta Tull University of Maryland Baltimore County MD Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9178 0929727 August 1, 2009 UT Alliance Bridge to the Doctorate Proposal - Cohort VI. The University of Texas System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP)will sponsor a Bridge to the Doctorate Program (BD) with full support for twelve graduate fellows at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). This will increase the number of talented students, in particular from under-represented minority (URM) groups, who will obtain doctoral degrees in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and upon completion either enter the technical workforce or choose a career in academia. The program will build on the experiences gathered from previous BD cohorts at the University of Texas at El Paso. Critical components of the program include the following: 1. The program will target primarily students with prior undergraduate research experience who enroll in the fast track to the Ph.D. in a STEM discipline. 2. A wide pool of qualied applicants who plan to begin graduate studies at UTEP in the fall of 2009 will be solicited. 3. Applicants will be carefully screened; the application process will include personal interviews conducted by the program administrators. 4. Students accepted into the BD program will identify a faculty mentor and a research topic during their rst semester as graduate students. 5. Besides full nancial support, fellows will receive quality advising and mentoring to help them achieve their academic goals, to give them support in overcoming obstacles to the doctorate, and to prepare them to be knowledgeable and competent professionals. 6. Eligible BD fellows will apply for continuing support to the NSF Graduate Fellowship Program. 7. Fellows are expected to attend at least one professional meeting in their discipline per year; students will also participate in the Joint Annual Meeting of the NSF. The project will contribute to the knowledge base concerning interventions needed to lead qualied students from underrepresented minorities from an undergraduate degree in STEM disciplines to successful completion of a doctoral program in their field of study. The fundamental research question that the project attempt to address is: Can an intensive intervention strategy positively contribute to graduate student success for a student population (often academically under-prepared, economically disadvantaged, and/or first generation) that is significantly under-represented among the recipients of doctoral degrees in the STEM disciplines? The proposed program will lead to the discovery of successful strategies for URM graduate student success that are applicable to other institutions of higher learning with characteristics similar to those of UTEP (urban research university, high proportion of URM enrollment). The program will contribute to the national goal of increasing the number of underrepresented minority students in STEM disciplines with terminal degrees in their area of expertise. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Flores, Benjamin Helmut Knaust University of Texas at El Paso TX Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0929782 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - Career Advancement for Women through the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN). This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). While the number of women receiving advanced degrees in the geosciences has been rising, the face of scientific leaders in academia remains dominantly male. Through the establishment of infrastructure to support the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN), this ADVANCE PAID project will promote career development, build community, and facilitate professional collaborations for women in the Earth Sciences. ESWN is a peer-mentoring network of women, mostly early in their careers, serving the variety of fields within the geosciences discipline. ESWN started in 2002 as an initial group of six early-career women in atmospheric science, and has grown to more than 750 members spanning a wide range of geosciences sub-disciplines. ESWN's growth has evolved solely from person-to-person contacts, and its sustained, rapid growth testifies to the group's value to early career women. The unique aspects of this disciplinary network include its focus on women at early career stages, and the fact that it was formed and is led by early career women scientists. These features allow the group to assist women in the Earth Sciences in advancing professionally while connecting them with a community of their peers. The network's "grassroots" structure provides an exceptional opportunity to influence the retention and promotion of female earth scientists. Intellectual Merit: Building on the success of ESWN's activities to date, this project will support the development of a sustainable ESWN infrastructure and career-development activities to benefit women in academia and promote their advancement. The requested funding will support the following initiatives over four years: grow ESWN to serve a wider section of the geosciences community; design and administer career development workshops; promote professional networking at major scientific conferences; and develop web resources to build connections and collaborations for and among women in the Earth Sciences. The size and diversity of ESWN provides a valuable opportunity to collect statistics and information on the developing careers of women geoscientists. The membership will participate in online surveys, interviews and web site monitoring. Insights and recommendations emerging from these studies will be disseminated through publications, an online newsletter, and highlights on the ESWN website. Broader Impacts: The project activities emphasize the advancement and promotion of women in academic positions in the Earth Sciences. These activities will identify and develop resources useful to women in academia, increase accessibility to these resources, initiate mentoring opportunities, and create a community. An increase in the number of successful women scientists and their visibility will greatly influence the recruitment of the next generation. ESWN members already identify the network as a valuable part of their professional lives and often encourage peers and advisees to join. This project aims to increase the ethnic and racial diversity of ESWN via connections with existing successful recruitment programs. By identifying strategies to reduce barriers to professional success for women geoscientists, we aim to promote a culture that will enhance the success of all scientists. The nature and extent of the network, and its continued growth, will also influence the success of female scientists in a variety of scientific positions including within academia, the federal government, and public and private sectors. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Hastings, Meredith Brown University RI Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 592035 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 6890 0000 0929789 September 1, 2009 LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate. NYC LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Statement of Objectives The objectives of this Bridge to the Doctorate proposal is to recruit and retain recent LSAMP STEM Graduates into a research/academic career that leads to the completion of a Ph.D. degree. The NYC Alliance will track twelve such individuals into doctoral programs and eventually the professoriate. Methods to be Employed Recent Tier 1 LSAMP graduates from the National LSAMP pool of graduates, and LSAMP graduates who have completed no more than one full-time semester equivalent of graduate study shall constitute the group that will be invited to apply for the Bridge to the Doctorate program. LSAMP senior undergraduates will continue to be allowed to participate in Bridge activities. Bridge students will be beneficiaries of a proactive retention and professional enrichment program that will include academic and research mentoring, GRE workshops, roundtable discussions with advanced doctoral students, faculty and administrators, and attendance and participation at local and national professional conferences. The at-large faculty pool associated with the CUNY Graduate Center, and CUNY Institute/Center Directors will serve as Bridge faculty/research advisors. The Alliance will continue to partner with Brookhaven National Labs to provide cutting-edge research training during the academic year and summer terms. International research experiences will also be integrated into the training of all selected BD scholars. Expected Results It is expected that the NYC LSAMP Bridge program will add 101 students to the Ph.D. pipeline from Cohorts 1-7 (2003 through 2011). Broader Impacts of the Proposed Activity A critical infrastructure component for research and education is the availability of competent and committed students. The Bridge program will continue to serve as a catalyst for raising financial support for graduate students to a level that would attract US citizens into the STEM research pipeline in numbers sufficient to sustain the national STEM enterprise. LSAMP will continue to use the level of support provided by the Bridge program to leverage an increase in STEM graduate student compensation across the board, in order to sustain an increase in Ph.D. throughput beyond its two-year duration. Dissemination of Results Progress and results of the Bridge to the Doctorate program will be disseminated at the NYC LSAMP Urban University Conference Series, and through its Virtual Community (http://nyc-amp.cuny.edu), and Newsletter. The Urban University Conference Series, held annually since 1998, has attracted over 5,500 participants, and among other networking opportunities, provides the opportunity to recruit enrolled undergraduate scholars to CUNY for graduate study, or to other doctoral granting institutions. The BD scholars represent a resource of STEM trainees that are poised to be involved in Informal Science and Math Education. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Parker, Neville CUNY City College NY Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0929820 August 1, 2009 Houston-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation: Bridge to the Doctorate. The Houston-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Senior Alliance was assembled for its potential to impact a minority majority population in southeast Texas. The alliance is comprehensive, including the country?s largest school district, two community college systems, a comprehensive HBCU and HSI, and the second most ethnically diverse research university in the country. For this proposal, the alliance has unanimously selected the University of Houston to apply for the Bridge to Doctorate Cohort-1. The University of Houston is the US?s second most ethnically diverse research university, and the 23rd largest in the United States. The University of Houston currently offers over 108 baccalaureate, 131 master, and 53 doctoral programs. Though a combination of a strong leadership team, outstanding faculty and staff, a proven track-record for success in diversity, using its leverage in the community, and national standing, the University of Houston plans to use Cohort-1 of the BD grant to: Goal 1 Increase the minority representation in graduate STEM programs at the University of Houston by 25%. Goal 2 Increase the number of Underrepresented Minority PhD degrees granted from the University of Houston by 200-300% (from 2-3 to 6-9) per year at the end of five years Goal 3 Promote and motivate more minority students from the UH-LSAMP program to pursue graduate education Goal 4 Create a university-wide enrichment program for graduate education that focuses on the retention of a diversified graduate student body though the integration of the Next Step workshop, a Deans? Lecture Series on diversity, and the collaborative learning community model to serve as an underlying program of support Intellectual Merit: The H-LSAMP-BD program uses a proven collaborative learning community model, based on over ten years of experience in implementing such a comprehensive model. This program also uses data drive methods to promote faculty enhancement. Numerous faculty who will serve as mentors to students in this program who will also have active collaborations with several national research centers. Broader Impacts: The program will support students in two colleges, across the departments of Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Earth and Atmospheric Science, Electrical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering. Furthermore, the university is realigning all research into interdisciplinary research clusters, such as space systems and energy. This program will impact not only a diverse student population, helping to create well-trained minority researchers for academic and industrial jobs, but it will have substantial long-term impact on the US economy. This will happen by providing well-trained minority mentors to future STEM majors, and providing a well trained workforce to help create a new and emerging economy. PROJECT IMPACT This program?s impact is expected to be substantial, both in terms of short and long term goals. It seeks to establish a Collaborative Learning Community for graduate education, a structured mentoring program for undergraduate and graduate students, enhance faculty understanding of diversity issues, and most importantly lay the foundation for long-term change within the University. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Khator, Renu John Bear Craig Cassidy Joseph Tedesco University of Houston TX Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0929828 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - Career Advancement for Women through the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN). This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). While the number of women receiving advanced degrees in the geosciences has been rising, the face of scientific leaders in academia remains dominantly male. Through the establishment of infrastructure to support the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN), this ADVANCE PAID project will promote career development, build community, and facilitate professional collaborations for women in the Earth Sciences. ESWN is a peer-mentoring network of women, mostly early in their careers, serving the variety of fields within the geosciences discipline. ESWN started in 2002 as an initial group of six early-career women in atmospheric science, and has grown to more than 750 members spanning a wide range of geosciences sub-disciplines. ESWN's growth has evolved solely from person-to-person contacts, and its sustained, rapid growth testifies to the group's value to early career women. The unique aspects of this disciplinary network include its focus on women at early career stages, and the fact that it was formed and is led by early career women scientists. These features allow the group to assist women in the Earth Sciences in advancing professionally while connecting them with a community of their peers. The network's "grassroots" structure provides an exceptional opportunity to influence the retention and promotion of female earth scientists. Intellectual Merit: Building on the success of ESWN's activities to date, this project will support the development of a sustainable ESWN infrastructure and career-development activities to benefit women in academia and promote their advancement. The requested funding will support the following initiatives over four years: grow ESWN to serve a wider section of the geosciences community; design and administer career development workshops; promote professional networking at major scientific conferences; and develop web resources to build connections and collaborations for and among women in the Earth Sciences. The size and diversity of ESWN provides a valuable opportunity to collect statistics and information on the developing careers of women geoscientists. The membership will participate in online surveys, interviews and web site monitoring. Insights and recommendations emerging from these studies will be disseminated through publications, an online newsletter, and highlights on the ESWN website. Broader Impacts: The project activities emphasize the advancement and promotion of women in academic positions in the Earth Sciences. These activities will identify and develop resources useful to women in academia, increase accessibility to these resources, initiate mentoring opportunities, and create a community. An increase in the number of successful women scientists and their visibility will greatly influence the recruitment of the next generation. ESWN members already identify the network as a valuable part of their professional lives and often encourage peers and advisees to join. This project aims to increase the ethnic and racial diversity of ESWN via connections with existing successful recruitment programs. By identifying strategies to reduce barriers to professional success for women geoscientists, we aim to promote a culture that will enhance the success of all scientists. The nature and extent of the network, and its continued growth, will also influence the success of female scientists in a variety of scientific positions including within academia, the federal government, and public and private sectors. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Laursen, Sandra University of Colorado at Boulder CO Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 173196 7568 OTHR 7568 6890 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0929836 August 1, 2009 California LSAMP Bridge To The Doctorate Cohort V, UCSB. This request for funding for the Bridge to the Doctorate responds to the NSF Program Solicitation for current senior LSAMP Alliances. The University of California LSAMP has chosen to alternate BD host sites among the 8 UC partner campuses, and is prepared to attract students from different parts of the state and the nation. UC Santa Barbara has been selected to host Cohort V through a competitive process, including its record for minority student B.S. degree completion rates, strong research infrastructure, faculty and departmental commitment, and long-term support for the development of minority graduate students beyond the first two years. Funding requested in this proposal would provide a $30,000 stipend/student/year plus an allowance of $10,500 per student/year for educational fees and costs for up to two years. Students will be guaranteed support to ?stay on the bridge? through to completion of the Ph.D.. This proposal has the enthusiastic support of all STEM departments and the Deans of the College of Letters and Science, the College of Engineering, and the Graduate Division. Our long term objective is to recruit and retain a diverse group of graduate students who are successful beyond the two-year funding period of the award by earning their doctorate degrees at UCSB, and becoming competitive candidates for postdoctoral positions in STEM disciplines. We will provide an extensive and comprehensive academic and professional preparation program that offers BD Scholars access to tools and a supportive academic network that will foster success in their graduate programs and subsequent postdoctoral careers. The BD program will include both formative and summative evaluation to assess its impact on the diversity of the population of graduate students and future faculty. In conjunction with CA LSAMP leadership, the BD Scholars program of academic and professional development activities will be coordinated by the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), a research institute that pursues interdisciplinary research in nanoscience and engineering. CNSI hosts a portfolio of education programs aimed at broadening participation in STEM disciplines. In cooperation with others at UCSB, CNSI has been at the frontier of applied research on programs that bring underrepresented students from diverse backgrounds to the highest levels of achievement in STEM. The proposed BD program incorporates best practices and innovative ideas for recruitment and retention of graduate researchers and builds upon lessons learned from programs at other University of California campuses as well as sister LSAMPs. This proposal leverages the distinctive strengths of several graduate and undergraduate research programs at UCSB to prepare BD scholars to be successful scientists and role models who can diversify the faculty ranks in research institutions. Students will receive rigorous academic and research training experiences that support completion of the Ph.D. as well as future contributions to our nation's scientific and engineering expertise. The developmental workshops, conference participation, and exposure to STEM career fields will contribute to the professional and personal growth of minority graduate students and increase the efficacy of existing activities. The BD will create increased opportunity for talented students who want to make a difference, locally and globally, while increasing intellectual diversity. To date, UC-LSAMP has supported 46 URM students in BD activities. The potential is great: UC Systemwide granted 1,497 B.S. degrees to URM students in 2007-08. Our talent pool of LSAMP students is strong, and the demand to enter graduate school is significant. This proposal will foster stronger partnerships within UCSB and between UC and specific non-Ph.D. granting institutions having large populations of minority students enrolled in STEM undergraduate majors, including collaboration with the California State University LSAMP (reference MOU between CSU and UC LSAMP and AGEP). UCSB faculty and graduate students will strengthen existing, and create new, research collaborations with institutions that host LSAMP programs. The program will create and support the community of students, faculty and staff who will engaged in a focused program of intensive mentoring, communication skills and professional development necessary to prepare BD fellows for the highly competitive doctoral environment and ultimately for academic positions. By increasing the success of underrepresented graduate students we will create a stronger campuswide research environment that welcomes diverse approaches to scientific discovery. UCSB will disseminate the results of this initiative within the University and through a diverse array of publications and presentations at national venues in order to advance the understanding of the necessary components to achieve success in STEM academic careers. The long-term impact of the BD activity will be on America?s STEM workforce, both in academia and in industry research and development. By nurturing the future professoriate as well as the scientific workforce, the value added will be seen in the visibility of minorities in science and engineering, increasing representation and providing role models and motivation for the next generation. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR Drake, Michael University of California-Irvine CA Dr. A. James Hicks Standard Grant 987000 9133 SMET 9179 0929839 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - Career Advancement for Women through the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN). This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). While the number of women receiving advanced degrees in the geosciences has been rising, the face of scientific leaders in academia remains dominantly male. Through the establishment of infrastructure to support the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN), this ADVANCE PAID project will promote career development, build community, and facilitate professional collaborations for women in the Earth Sciences. ESWN is a peer-mentoring network of women, mostly early in their careers, serving the variety of fields within the geosciences discipline. ESWN started in 2002 as an initial group of six early-career women in atmospheric science, and has grown to more than 750 members spanning a wide range of geosciences sub-disciplines. ESWN's growth has evolved solely from person-to-person contacts, and its sustained, rapid growth testifies to the group's value to early career women. The unique aspects of this disciplinary network include its focus on women at early career stages, and the fact that it was formed and is led by early career women scientists. These features allow the group to assist women in the Earth Sciences in advancing professionally while connecting them with a community of their peers. The network's "grassroots" structure provides an exceptional opportunity to influence the retention and promotion of female earth scientists. Intellectual Merit: Building on the success of ESWN's activities to date, this project will support the development of a sustainable ESWN infrastructure and career-development activities to benefit women in academia and promote their advancement. The requested funding will support the following initiatives over four years: grow ESWN to serve a wider section of the geosciences community; design and administer career development workshops; promote professional networking at major scientific conferences; and develop web resources to build connections and collaborations for and among women in the Earth Sciences. The size and diversity of ESWN provides a valuable opportunity to collect statistics and information on the developing careers of women geoscientists. The membership will participate in online surveys, interviews and web site monitoring. Insights and recommendations emerging from these studies will be disseminated through publications, an online newsletter, and highlights on the ESWN website. Broader Impacts: The project activities emphasize the advancement and promotion of women in academic positions in the Earth Sciences. These activities will identify and develop resources useful to women in academia, increase accessibility to these resources, initiate mentoring opportunities, and create a community. An increase in the number of successful women scientists and their visibility will greatly influence the recruitment of the next generation. ESWN members already identify the network as a valuable part of their professional lives and often encourage peers and advisees to join. This project aims to increase the ethnic and racial diversity of ESWN via connections with existing successful recruitment programs. By identifying strategies to reduce barriers to professional success for women geoscientists, we aim to promote a culture that will enhance the success of all scientists. The nature and extent of the network, and its continued growth, will also influence the success of female scientists in a variety of scientific positions including within academia, the federal government, and public and private sectors. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Wiedinmyer, Christine University Corporation For Atmospheric Res CO Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 74965 7568 OTHR 7568 6890 0000 0929907 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Institutions Developing Excellence in Academic Leadership. Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), based on results of a prior ADVANCE award, will implement an ADVANCE PAID project that focuses on gender equity transformation at five regional public institutions of higher education in northern Ohio while continuing institutional transformation at CWRU. Using a dual (individual and organizational) focus, this project will also adapt successful practices and models to educate and empower faculty and administrative leaders in each university to undertake customized institutional transformation. Intellectual Merit. The proposed project, IDEAL, will encourage participating individuals and institutions to review assumptions and practices regarding women?s professional roles in S&E disciplines, and provide resources to apply those lessons to transform their academic cultures. It will call for rigorous organizational self-examination and the formation of ameliorative strategies based on evidence. It is envisaged that this project will create an intercollegiate regional community to share information and ideas on achieving improved gender participation and equity in academic STEM disciplines. This project will allow for the dissemination of ideas and practices from NSF ADVANCE institutions and allow further exploration of how to engender effective transformational change at universities. Broader Impact. Because of the institution?s past experiences from a previous ADVANCE IT award, this project is well poised to affect behavior and policy at six institutions in the northern Ohio region, and, subsequently, position those institutions to stimulate change across post-secondary education in the entire state of Ohio. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Singer, Lynn Helen Qammar Diana Bilimoria Case Western Reserve University OH Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 921244 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0929967 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - The CCAS ADVANCE Initiative. This ADVANCE-PAID project will adapt best practices from an existing ADVANCE-supported leadership development program in order to transform a national association of academic deans, the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS). Specifically, CCAS will partner with the University of Washington's (UW) Leadership Excellence for Academic Diversity (LEAD), a national professional development workshop of documented effectiveness, to infuse STEM gender equity content into CCAS's existing professional development programs for deans and department chairs. The objectives of the CCAS ADVANCE Initiative are to: 1) infuse gender equity content and activities into CCAS's professional development programs in a sustainable way; 2) maximize opportunities for positive impacts of the initiative on individuals underrepresented in STEM disciplines; and 3) develop, utilize, and make widely available a set of robust case studies that incorporate gender equity elements. The CCAS professional development programs and activities that will be targeted for infusion of STEM gender equity content are the New Deans' Seminar, Department Chairs' Seminar, Annual Meeting, selected Topical Seminars, and Pre-/Post-conference Workshops. LEAD program personnel will facilitate CCAS's adaptation and dissemination of successful practices from LEAD's workshops for chairs, deans, and emerging faculty leaders. Strategic efforts will be undertaken to increase the participation in CCAS workshops of individuals from minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Case studies are an important learning tool used in CCAS's current professional development programs. Multiple cases addressing gender equity scenarios commonly encountered by STEM deans and chairs will be developed and implemented throughout CCAS's programming. The initiative's intellectual merit derives from its innovative and multitiered approach of transforming an association of academic administrators as a means of promoting change among its member institutions. As well, because this project will effect lasting changes to a well-established and self-supporting professional development infrastructure, it will be sustainable. The project offers high potential for broad impact, in that CCAS membership includes nearly 500 higher education institutions ranging from baccalaureate liberal arts through major research universities whose representatives include approximately 1,600 deans, associate deans, and assistant deans. CCAS's professional development activities also reach 80-120 department chairs annually. Educating these key populations - individuals who play pivotal roles in the recruitment, mentoring, development, and advancement of STEM faculty - will cultivate academic leaders who are more knowledgeable about STEM gender equity issues, more able and motivated to address those issues, and thus better positioned to effect positive transformational change in their own colleges and departments. Further, with a membership that includes 48 MSIs and targeted efforts to solicit project participation by MSI representatives, there is substantial potential for impacts on populations underrepresented in STEM disciplines. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR McCartan, Anne-Marie College of William and Mary VA Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 40224 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0929997 September 1, 2009 ADVANCE Institutional Transfermation Award: Advancing Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math at Marshall University. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Marshall University (MU)-ADVANCE Program, established in 2006, capitalized on Marshall's existing human resources by establishing faculty-administrator partnerships to oversee the Program's initiatives: Recruitment, Faculty Development, and State and Institutional Policy Changes. Reporting directly to Academic Affairs, the Program works in partnership with six campus offices: Equity Programs, Career Services, Multicultural Affairs, Institutional Research, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CTL), and the MU Research Corporation. The inclusion of Administrative Partners in the analysis and review of existing barriers to the success of female STEM faculty has led to the development of work/life policies, programs, and best practices that have built-in administrative support. The objectives for this project are to 1) continue to support pre-tenure female STEM faculty; 2) coordinate faculty recruitment, retention, and policy efforts with the university offices that will sustain them; and 3) establish a Path Forward Committee to monitor the progress of institutionalization. During this project, MU-ADVANCE will work with university offices to build sustainability for the recruitment, retention, and policy efforts. Recruitment efforts will be coordinated with Equity Programs to implement improved search procedures. To support this implementation, MU-ADVANCE will continue to provide liaisons to STEM search committees, and will maintain a reporting procedure for hiring departments and their college offices that will provide information about the diversity of the applicant pool, the interviewees, and the hires. The Dual Career Services is already a university-wide program sustained by MU Career Services. This service will be expanded by collaborating with neighboring institutions' career development officers. Faculty Development efforts in collaboration with CTL will focus on a university-wide comprehensive new faculty support program for faculty within their first two years, which is a critical transition time when Marshall experiences significant STEM faculty attrition. This program will begin with New Faculty Orientation and continue with a fall Seminar Teaching Series and spring Research Boot Camp, a program that offers new faculty an opportunity for intensive, focused, distraction-free, supervised writing time; thus helping them make steady progress in their specific projects. MU-ADVANCE and CTL will also develop a permanent mentoring program for new faculty based on MU-ADVANCE's coaching sessions which have helped new faculty form networks within Marshall and the community. Efforts to retain tenure-track STEM faculty will continue through strong individualized support and networking. The Policy Committee will conduct ongoing research on faculty teaching loads and salaries, and continue the review of university policies and practices. This Committee will be sustained as the Policy Advisory Committee, which will report to Academic Affairs. University evaluation has been the driving force used to identify barriers and to guide the development of focused plans for each of the Program's initiatives. In collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Affairs, MU-ADVANCE will expand data collection to include the status of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities for our entire campus. A permanent Path Forward Committee, housed within Academic Affairs and reporting to the Provost, will oversee the institutionalization of these efforts. Because West Virginia (WV) women are among the least likely to succeed professionally and have the lowest levels of education in the country, programs such as MU-ADVANCE are of critical importance. Of Marshall's student population, 56% of undergraduates and 70% of graduate students are female, many of whom are first generation college students. While 41.5% of the faculty at Marshall are women, only 27% of the STEM faculty are women. Therefore, the MU-ADVANCE Program's impact on the number of female faculty represents a broader impact of providing much-needed role models for WV students. In addition, MU-ADVANCE's faculty development programs help female STEM faculty balance and integrate their teaching and service commitments, while building competitive research programs. This increase in research activity has the potential to increase external funding, providing the state of WV, and the metropolitan area of Huntington, economic development opportunities. MU-ADVANCE and the WV Division of Science and Research will develop a state-wide project to disseminate institutional transformation methods. This project will include evaluation (e.g., climate surveys, the status of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities) to provide a data-driven approach to support diversity efforts, create family-friendly atmospheres, and foster faculty development activities at WV colleges and universities. SPECIAL STUDIES AND ANALYSES HRD EHR Harrison, Marcia Beverly Delidow Judith Silver Elizabeth Murray Patricia Logan Marshall University Research Corporation WV Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 750000 1385 OTHR 9150 6890 1738 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0930018 September 1, 2009 Broadening Participation in Materials Science through Institutional Integration of a Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program at Fisk, Delaware State, and Vanderbilt Universities. We propose an innovative pathway to the PhD for substantially broadening the participation of underrep-resented minorities in materials science, linking multiple NSF-funded materials research programs (CREST and REU) at the partnering institutions. The nucleus of this I3 will be the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge program, with its strong track record of enabling students to earn a Master?s degree at Fisk as a stepping stone to the PhD program at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt and Fisk are joined in this I3 by Dela-ware State University (DSU). Our program?s path to the PhD emphasizes research engagement and de-liberate mentorship by faculty at PhD-granting institutions to help students cross the aspirational and insti-tutional transitions. We will directly address all of the I3 program goals. In so doing, with the I3 funding requested here we will enable at least 2 underrepresented minority graduate students toward the PhD in Materials Sci-ence each year, representing ~20 times the national institutional average. Over the 5 years of requested I3 support, this represents 10 individuals supported by I3 funding who will complete, or be on the path to-ward completing, the PhD. By itself this is a substantial, tangible result of our innovation and integration and a vital contribution to the STEM workforce. Arguably even more important for the long-term sustained impact and institutionalization of this program, and the eventual expansion of our Masters-to-PhD Bridge model into additional STEM disci-plines, will be the foundation laid here for truly understanding how best to design the architecture of our model to ensure successful portability into new disciplinary and institutional contexts. We will: 1. Expand the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program to include Materials Science. Key faculty have been identified as the ?bridge builders? following the model of the existing program in physics. Leveraging significant institutional support already in place, we will ex-pand and deepen the footprints of our NSF-funded CREST projects and enhance their sus-tainability. 2. Extend the Bridge Program in partnership with Delaware State University. The resulting Fisk-Vanderbilt-DSU Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program will permit students to transition from the MS at Fisk to the PhD at Vanderbilt, from the MS at Fisk to the PhD at DSU, or from the MS at DSU to the PhD at Vanderbilt. The result will be increased synergy and collaboration across our NSF-funded CREST and REU programs, reducing the artificial boundaries that can so often impede student mobility across educational junctures. Broadening Participation in Materials Science through Institutional Integration of a Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program at Fisk, Delaware State, and Vanderbilt Universities brings together NSF/EHR awards from the IGERT and CREST programs, as well as other work, around the I3 integrative themes for broadening participation, critical educational junctures, and the integration of research and education. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR McCarty, Richard Warren Collins Sandra Rosenthal Keivan Stassun Noureddine Melikechi Vanderbilt University TN Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 972743 9131 1594 SMET 9178 5281 0930067 September 1, 2009 Aaniinen-Nakoda Environmental Excellence Center. The primary goals of this I3 project are to: (1) strengthen the educational effectiveness of FBC?s STEM degree programs and associated component projects through the synergistic integration of STEM research and education; and (2) broaden participation in STEM research and education among American Indians. To achieve these goals, the project will bring together five currently active environmental research and education projects under the common administrative and programmatic umbrella of the Aaniinen-Nakoda Environmental Excellence Center (ANEEC). The ANEEC will promote connectivity and synergy among component projects in a manner that: (1) builds the intellectual capital and research capacity of the entire institution; (2) increases the effectiveness of each component project; and (3) provides students with a fully integrated STEM learning experience in which research and education are embedded in a cultural and land-based context that fosters student engagement and promotes student success. Specifically, the ANEEC project will: (1) develop FBC?s environmental research capacity and intellectual capital through cross-disciplinary STEM faculty development efforts; (2) coordinate the administration of environmental research and education projects to enhance their educational effectiveness and efficiency; (3) infuse Aaniinen and Nakoda cultural perspectives into all environmental research and education projects; (4) create a shared framework for providing students with high-quality summer research experiences; and (5) modify curriculum to establish clear linkages between summer research experiences and academic year course offerings. Aaniinen-Nakoda Environmental Excellence Center brings together the NSF/EHR award from TCUP, as well as other work, around the I-3 integrative themes of the integration of research and education, and broadening participation. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR HisHorseIsThunder, Deborah Fort Belknap College MT Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 884505 9131 SMET 9178 5281 0930073 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Advancing Ways of Awarding Recognition in Disciplinary Societies (AWARDS). Professional awards are external markers of achievement and recognition, and are important for job satisfaction and career advancement for recipients. After receiving recognition, awardees provide inspiration for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals and for those aspiring to an academic career. However, marked gender disparities in awards and recognition have resulted in a climate that hinders advancement of women and impairs their retention as STEM leaders. The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) and the Recognition of the Achievements of Women in Science, Medicine and Engineering (RAISE) Project will implement a project called AWARDS (Advancing Ways of Awarding Recognition in Disciplinary Societies) to address the underrepresentation of women among recipients of awards from STEM disciplinary societies. AWARDS will partner with seven Disciplinary Societies to develop processes customized for each organization to foster the diversity of their scientific award recipients (Goal 1). Towards this goal, over the next three years, AWARDS will work collaboratively with the American Chemical Society (ACS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the American Mathematical Society (AMS), the American Statistical Association (ASA), the Mathematics Association of America (MAA), the Society for Neuroscience (SfN), and the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM); to: 1) Analyze their existing awards, awardees, nominations, and award processes; 2) Identify components of their cultures, awards nomination and selection processes that influence who is nominated and selected for awards; 3) Provide information on research based best practices to increase gender equity in awards, tailored to their Society's characteristics; 4) Assist each partner Society in selecting and implementing changes to their Society and award processes, and evaluating the consequences of those changes; and 5) Develop maintenance practices for long term and sustainable support of award equity. The partner Societies have a combined membership of 329,000 and sponsor nearly 400 awards. Lessons learned from this work will be used to formulate a framework for use with additional and varied disciplinary societies (Goal 2). AWARDS will build on resources from the STEM community, ADVANCE programs, and social science research to reduce the impact of implicit bias and foster organizational change. Activities will be directed by a five member Executive Committee, assisted by an Advisory Committee, and conducted by an action Task Force, all focused on facilitating changes in partner Societies. The partner Disciplinary Societies will maintain control and ownership of activities leading to change within their Society. An outside evaluator will ensure activities are effective and goals are met. Intellectual Merit: The existing research on implicit bias and organizational change will be adapted to the awards processes of seven diverse STEM Disciplinary Societies. AWARDS will support Society partners as they increase impartiality, resulting in greater diversity of their award nominees and winners, and develop leadership within the organization to sustain these changes. Organizational change experts and Society representatives will assure that processes are evidence based and appropriate for each Society. Development of a framework and resources that can be successfully implemented in additional professional societies with distinctive cultures and awards structures will expand the impact far beyond the initial Disciplinary Society partners. Broader Impacts: AWARDS will increase the diversity of STEM awardees and expand the number of role models who will encourage future generations of women and other underrepresented groups to pursue and persist in STEM careers. Engaging Disciplinary Society leaders in AWARDS will change their perceptions and direct attention to other areas in which equity might be enhanced, e.g., allocation of resources. AWARDS activities will put members of committees in leadership roles, and enhance their ability to catalyze organizational changes within and beyond their professional societies. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Kean, Elizabeth Anne Lincoln Janet Bandows Koster Stephanie Pincus Association for Women in Science, Inc. DC Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 796834 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0930097 January 1, 2010 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination (PAID): An Analysis of NSF ADVANCE Programs. This project addresses the need to understand how universities can most effectively create institutional environments that support the success of women scholars. We will leverage the significant work done at institutions that have implemented Institutional Transformation (IT) projects under the National Science Foundation's ADVANCE program. Individual institutions have assessed and chronicled their own goals, strategies, and processes. This study takes a cross-institutional, analytical and synthetic approach to extract the lessons, best practices, and organizational strategies that support the success of women scholars in STEM fields. The study addresses the following question: What has been learned about the effectiveness and long-term viability of organizational change efforts to create institutional environments that are conducive to the success of women scholars, particularly in STEM fields? The sub-questions are: - What strategies and processes have worked well in creating institutional environments that are conducive to the success of women scholars, especially in STEM fields? Have some strategies worked particularly well in regard to specific goals? - Why have these strategies and processes worked well? Why did some not work well? - How does a university's organizational culture and other institutional characteristics relate to the initial choice and ultimate effectiveness of the strategies and processes used? - In institutions where change strategies and processes have resulted in significant outcomes in terms of creating environments that are conducive to supporting the career progress of STEM women faculty, what can be learned about effective theories of change and effective strategies and processes? That is, what lessons on "best practices" can be learned from ADVANCE programs that have had an impact? The three-year study will use a mixed-methods approach, guided by conceptual frameworks concerning organizational change and faculty work. Nineteen institutions that have held ADVANCE IT awards will be surveyed, from which five will be chosen for detailed examination as case studies. Data-gathering methods include a review of project reports, a web-based survey, telephone interviews, and site visits; these largely qualitative data will be analyzed using the conceptual frameworks and organized in Change Strategy Matrices. Intellectual Merit The study is grounded in the literature on organizational change and faculty work and presented by a highly qualified team. It is explicitly designed to contribute both to practice and the scholarly literature. Through analysis of multiple data sets, the study will produce research findings that expand knowledge about the process of organizational transformation in higher education. Findings will contribute to knowledge of how institutions can foster environments conducive to women's success, how specific change strategies relate to organizational impact, how institutions use explicit change theories or rationales, and how institutional context influences the impact of particular change strategies. Broader Impact The study will produce outcomes and deliverables that provide specific evidence-based information and detailed case examples to a wide variety of audiences: institutional leaders and change agents who seek to enhance the success of women STEM scholars; female STEM faculty who may use the study to guide their own career planning or to shape their own institutions' policies, programs, or strategies; and scholars of higher education, gender, and organizational change. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Austin, Ann Sandra Laursen Michigan State University MI Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 775291 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0930118 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - Career Advancement for Women through the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN). This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). While the number of women receiving advanced degrees in the geosciences has been rising, the face of scientific leaders in academia remains dominantly male. Through the establishment of infrastructure to support the Earth Science Women's Network (ESWN), this ADVANCE PAID project will promote career development, build community, and facilitate professional collaborations for women in the Earth Sciences. ESWN is a peer-mentoring network of women, mostly early in their careers, serving the variety of fields within the geosciences discipline. ESWN started in 2002 as an initial group of six early-career women in atmospheric science, and has grown to more than 750 members spanning a wide range of geosciences sub-disciplines. ESWN's growth has evolved solely from person-to-person contacts, and its sustained, rapid growth testifies to the group's value to early career women. The unique aspects of this disciplinary network include its focus on women at early career stages, and the fact that it was formed and is led by early career women scientists. These features allow the group to assist women in the Earth Sciences in advancing professionally while connecting them with a community of their peers. The network's "grassroots" structure provides an exceptional opportunity to influence the retention and promotion of female earth scientists. Intellectual Merit: Building on the success of ESWN's activities to date, this project will support the development of a sustainable ESWN infrastructure and career-development activities to benefit women in academia and promote their advancement. The requested funding will support the following initiatives over four years: grow ESWN to serve a wider section of the geosciences community; design and administer career development workshops; promote professional networking at major scientific conferences; and develop web resources to build connections and collaborations for and among women in the Earth Sciences. The size and diversity of ESWN provides a valuable opportunity to collect statistics and information on the developing careers of women geoscientists. The membership will participate in online surveys, interviews and web site monitoring. Insights and recommendations emerging from these studies will be disseminated through publications, an online newsletter, and highlights on the ESWN website. Broader Impacts: The project activities emphasize the advancement and promotion of women in academic positions in the Earth Sciences. These activities will identify and develop resources useful to women in academia, increase accessibility to these resources, initiate mentoring opportunities, and create a community. An increase in the number of successful women scientists and their visibility will greatly influence the recruitment of the next generation. ESWN members already identify the network as a valuable part of their professional lives and often encourage peers and advisees to join. This project aims to increase the ethnic and racial diversity of ESWN via connections with existing successful recruitment programs. By identifying strategies to reduce barriers to professional success for women geoscientists, we aim to promote a culture that will enhance the success of all scientists. The nature and extent of the network, and its continued growth, will also influence the success of female scientists in a variety of scientific positions including within academia, the federal government, and public and private sectors. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Holloway, Teresa Erika Marin-Spiotta University of Wisconsin-Madison WI Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 99804 7568 OTHR 7568 6890 0000 0930138 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - The CCAS ADVANCE Initiative. This ADVANCE-PAID project will adapt best practices from an existing ADVANCE-supported leadership development program in order to transform a national association of academic deans, the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS). Specifically, CCAS will partner with the University of Washington's (UW) Leadership Excellence for Academic Diversity (LEAD), a national professional development workshop of documented effectiveness, to infuse STEM gender equity content into CCAS's existing professional development programs for deans and department chairs. The objectives of the CCAS ADVANCE Initiative are to: 1) infuse gender equity content and activities into CCAS's professional development programs in a sustainable way; 2) maximize opportunities for positive impacts of the initiative on individuals underrepresented in STEM disciplines; and 3) develop, utilize, and make widely available a set of robust case studies that incorporate gender equity elements. The CCAS professional development programs and activities that will be targeted for infusion of STEM gender equity content are the New Deans' Seminar, Department Chairs' Seminar, Annual Meeting, selected Topical Seminars, and Pre-/Post-conference Workshops. LEAD program personnel will facilitate CCAS's adaptation and dissemination of successful practices from LEAD's workshops for chairs, deans, and emerging faculty leaders. Strategic efforts will be undertaken to increase the participation in CCAS workshops of individuals from minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Case studies are an important learning tool used in CCAS's current professional development programs. Multiple cases addressing gender equity scenarios commonly encountered by STEM deans and chairs will be developed and implemented throughout CCAS's programming. The initiative's intellectual merit derives from its innovative and multitiered approach of transforming an association of academic administrators as a means of promoting change among its member institutions. As well, because this project will effect lasting changes to a well-established and self-supporting professional development infrastructure, it will be sustainable. The project offers high potential for broad impact, in that CCAS membership includes nearly 500 higher education institutions ranging from baccalaureate liberal arts through major research universities whose representatives include approximately 1,600 deans, associate deans, and assistant deans. CCAS's professional development activities also reach 80-120 department chairs annually. Educating these key populations - individuals who play pivotal roles in the recruitment, mentoring, development, and advancement of STEM faculty - will cultivate academic leaders who are more knowledgeable about STEM gender equity issues, more able and motivated to address those issues, and thus better positioned to effect positive transformational change in their own colleges and departments. Further, with a membership that includes 48 MSIs and targeted efforts to solicit project participation by MSI representatives, there is substantial potential for impacts on populations underrepresented in STEM disciplines. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Battles, Denise Carmen Cid University of Northern Colorado CO Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 1170023 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0930164 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry & Engineering. The Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at five large state universities in Florida will join together to form the Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry and Engineering (AAFAWCE). The University of South Florida is the lead institution with four partners: Florida State University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), University of Florida, and Florida International University (FIU). The project will modify and adapt successful programs developed by previous ADVANCE projects focusing on the Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at the partner institutions. The project will implement strategies for; 1) recruiting women in academic searches based on work developed at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; 2) transforming careers via leadership COACh workshops developed at the University of Oregon; and 3) advising and mentoring academic women at the assistant and associate levels based on work developed by the University of Texas-El Paso. In addition, the project will adapt and implement a faculty climate survey within all of the participating departments which was first developed by the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WESLI) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The survey will be used to identify issues for faculty related to recruitment, mentoring, and the tenure process. Intellectual Merit: The project will adapt previously developed strategies to a state-wide consortium of universities in Florida. The collaboration between the five institutions is important given the low numbers of female faculty in engineering and chemistry within these institutions. Faculty in each of the participating campuses' engineering and chemistry programs will participate in recruitment workshops along side department chairs, deans and other administrators. Faculty will have an opportunity to participate in the COACh workshop on advancing one's career and engage in a mentoring and advising program. Broader Impacts: The project provides opportunities for female faculty at all ranks to engage in activities with others in their discipline areas from other Florida campuses as well as on their own campus. The collaboration includes two Minority-Serving Institutions; FAMU which is a Historically Black University and FIU which is a Hispanic-Serving Institution. This network will provide support for the faculty as they progress in their academic careers. The project will post videos of the workshops and other materials on the Global Educational Outreach web portal. In addition, the project team expects to publish a monograph with chapters by the project team on the objectives and activities of the program as well as by the participants in the alliance activities. Intellectual Merit: The project will adapt previously developed strategies to a state-wide consortium of universities in Florida. The collaboration between the five institutions is important given the low numbers of female faculty in engineering and chemistry within these institutions. Faculty in each of the participating campuses' engineering and chemistry programs will participate in recruitment workshops along side department chairs, deans and other administrators. Faculty will have an opportunity to participate in the COACh workshop on advancing one's career and engage in a mentoring and advising program. Broader Impacts: The project provides opportunities for female faculty at all ranks to engage in activities with others in their discipline areas from other Florida campuses as well as on their own campus. The collaboration includes two Minority-Serving Institutions; FAMU which is a Historically Black University and FIU which is a Hispanic-Serving Institution. This network will provide support for the faculty as they progress in their academic careers. The project will post videos of the workshops and other materials on the Global Educational Outreach web portal. In addition, the project team expects to publish a monograph with chapters by the project team on the objectives and activities of the program as well as by the participants in the alliance activities. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Gilmer, Penny Rufina Alamo Florida State University FL Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 123406 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0930172 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry & Engineering. The Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at five large state universities in Florida will join together to form the Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry and Engineering (AAFAWCE). The University of South Florida is the lead institution with four partners: Florida State University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), University of Florida, and Florida International University (FIU). The project will modify and adapt successful programs developed by previous ADVANCE projects focusing on the Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at the partner institutions. The project will implement strategies for; 1) recruiting women in academic searches based on work developed at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; 2) transforming careers via leadership COACh workshops developed at the University of Oregon; and 3) advising and mentoring academic women at the assistant and associate levels based on work developed by the University of Texas-El Paso. In addition, the project will adapt and implement a faculty climate survey within all of the participating departments which was first developed by the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WESLI) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The survey will be used to identify issues for faculty related to recruitment, mentoring, and the tenure process. Intellectual Merit: The project will adapt previously developed strategies to a state-wide consortium of universities in Florida. The collaboration between the five institutions is important given the low numbers of female faculty in engineering and chemistry within these institutions. Faculty in each of the participating campuses' engineering and chemistry programs will participate in recruitment workshops along side department chairs, deans and other administrators. Faculty will have an opportunity to participate in the COACh workshop on advancing one's career and engage in a mentoring and advising program. Broader Impacts: The project provides opportunities for female faculty at all ranks to engage in activities with others in their discipline areas from other Florida campuses as well as on their own campus. The collaboration includes two Minority-Serving Institutions; FAMU which is a Historically Black University and FIU which is a Hispanic-Serving Institution. This network will provide support for the faculty as they progress in their academic careers. The project will post videos of the workshops and other materials on the Global Educational Outreach web portal. In addition, the project team expects to publish a monograph with chapters by the project team on the objectives and activities of the program as well as by the participants in the alliance activities. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Hruda, Simone Ngozi Ugochukwu Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 55006 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0930182 September 1, 2009 Center for Academic and Future Faculty Excellence (CAFFE). Michigan State University (MSU) will establish a Center for Academic and Future Faculty Excellence (CAFFE). The purpose of the Center is to coordinate and integrate existing programmatic activities to train and prepare a U. S. workforce of future faculty for academic excellence and success in the tenure streams of colleges and universities. The approach of this I3 proposal aims to coordinate the efforts of multiple offices and programs at Michigan State University to optimize the development, in graduate and undergraduate students, post-doctoral scientists and junior faculty, of skills, attitudes, values and behaviors essential for smooth transitions across critical educational stages, and for success in an academic careers. There are new and rapidly changing demands and expectations for new faculty. These demands and expectations include, among others, effective pedagogy, skills in the managing and supervision of technical personnel and support staff, grant writing, and the responsible conduct of research. The establishment of the CAFFE would be a landmark step in providing a venue for the preparation of young scholars in a fashion complementary to their disciplinary professional development and aligned with what they will face as they join the academic workforce. Our plan for the delivering of the curriculum of CAFFE is guided by the appreciation that at all stages considered here, professional development takes place in an intimate disciplinary environment. Thus our approach, in contrast to a central or universal prescription of workshops and other activities, will involve a collaboration of the leadership of CAFFE with those responsible for the mentoring and education of developing scholars. Our goal is for an integration of what CAFFE offers with individualized professional and disciplinary development plans. Our approach also acknowledges that the need for particular skills and information often arises at different stages of professional development and that many activities of CAFFE would include concurrent participation of students, post-docs and faculty; we see this feature as an opportunity to enhance the flow of information across different cohorts and as the foundation for inter-generational mentoring. Center for Academic and Future Faculty Exchange (CAFFE) brings together NSF/EHR awards from the ADVANCE and AGEP programs, as well as other work, around the I3 integrative themes for broadening participation and critical educational junctures. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE MINORITY GRADUATE EDUC ACTIVIT HRD EHR Wilcox, Kim Karen Klomparens Julius Jackson Antonio Nunez Theodore Curry Michigan State University MI Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 1000000 1544 1515 SMET 9178 9133 5281 0930184 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Department Chair Training to Increase Women in Neuroscience (IWIN). The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will implement an ADVANCE PAID project that focuses on enhancing opportunities for women in the neuroscience disciplines by targeting department chairs. The overall and long-term goal of this project is to increase the number of women, including underrepresented minority (URM) women, among faculty in neuroscience. This will be accomplished by effecting change in behavior and practice related to recruitment, promotion and work climate for women within academic neuroscience and neuroscience-related departments. The detailed project strategy will allow SfN to reach up to 300 department chairs and to influence over 50 institutions. Specifically, the SfN PAID project will involve: a training intervention in the form of eight regional interactive workshops; development of institution-level implementation plans; ongoing support to participants through peer-to-peer interaction and online resources; and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices. Intellectual Merit. The SfN ADVANCE PAID project will utilize workshop materials from the University of Michigan, University of Arizona, and University of Washington. Each of these institutions developed ADVANCE resources that have been proven to improve recruitment, promotion and work climate for women faculty. At the macro level, by effecting change, the current project will allow women to arrive and thrive in the highest levels of neuroscience where their contributions can be realized to the fullest. Broader Impact. This project is expected to have broader impact beyond the immediate project participants as a result of: 1) the project's design (multi-level training and support activities); 2) the interdisciplinary nature of the field of neuroscience which reaches across multiple STEM academic departments and programs; and 3) the role of SfN as the premier association for the profession. The project's support for workshops will help disseminate information broadly at the institutional level. The best practices and lessons learned identified through the project will be directly applicable to neuroscience and other neuroscience-related departments, and SfN is ideally suited to disseminate this information through its multiple communication resources (journal, member newsletters, annual meeting, Web site, etc.) and partners. This transferability is unique to the field of neuroscience and will ultimately make the lessons learned and best practices sustainable beyond NSF funding. SfN will monitor and evaluate progress toward project objectives using formative and summative evaluations. The lessons learned from this project will be compiled and disseminated at a best practices meeting to be held as a wrap-up activity in the final project year. This activity will ensure that best practices are shared across academia in neuroscience and related fields and are applied to SfN's continuation of the project beyond the grant period. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Becker, Jill Anne Etgen Society For Neuroscience DC Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 589371 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0930187 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry & Engineering. The Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at five large state universities in Florida will join together to form the Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry and Engineering (AAFAWCE). The University of South Florida is the lead institution with four partners: Florida State University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), University of Florida, and Florida International University (FIU). The project will modify and adapt successful programs developed by previous ADVANCE projects focusing on the Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at the partner institutions. The project will implement strategies for; 1) recruiting women in academic searches based on work developed at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; 2) transforming careers via leadership COACh workshops developed at the University of Oregon; and 3) advising and mentoring academic women at the assistant and associate levels based on work developed by the University of Texas-El Paso. In addition, the project will adapt and implement a faculty climate survey within all of the participating departments which was first developed by the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WESLI) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The survey will be used to identify issues for faculty related to recruitment, mentoring, and the tenure process. Intellectual Merit: The project will adapt previously developed strategies to a state-wide consortium of universities in Florida. The collaboration between the five institutions is important given the low numbers of female faculty in engineering and chemistry within these institutions. Faculty in each of the participating campuses' engineering and chemistry programs will participate in recruitment workshops along side department chairs, deans and other administrators. Faculty will have an opportunity to participate in the COACh workshop on advancing one's career and engage in a mentoring and advising program. Broader Impacts: The project provides opportunities for female faculty at all ranks to engage in activities with others in their discipline areas from other Florida campuses as well as on their own campus. The collaboration includes two Minority-Serving Institutions; FAMU which is a Historically Black University and FIU which is a Hispanic-Serving Institution. This network will provide support for the faculty as they progress in their academic careers. The project will post videos of the workshops and other materials on the Global Educational Outreach web portal. In addition, the project team expects to publish a monograph with chapters by the project team on the objectives and activities of the program as well as by the participants in the alliance activities. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Tansel, Berrin Gustavo Roig Jaroslava Miksovska Florida International University FL Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 56643 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0930193 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): The College NJ's Advancement Program (TAP) to ADVANCE Female Faculty Through Effective Career Development. The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a highly selective, primarily undergraduate institution (PUI) that will implement an ADVANCE PAID project on its campus. This project will focus on several important initiatives that will advance the careers of women faculty, while highlighting mechanisms that can be useful with alternative tenure and promotion structures. Intellectual Merit. This project is comprised of four distinct initiatives: 1) the Mentorship Initiative, which will enable female faculty to develop a circle of mentors, comprised of individuals inside and outside of TCNJ; 2) the Professional Development Initiative, which is grounded in the adaptation of Hunter College's highly successful workshop series targeted towards both new and existing faculty; 3) the Family Initiative, consisting of a work climate survey and the formation of an ad-hoc college-wide committee that will culminate in the drafting of specific recommendations for providing flexibility in a faculty member's teaching load as well as other family-friendly policies; and 4) the Equity Assessment Initiative that will consist of a thorough assessment of gender equity at TCNJ through the collection and tracking of faculty data, work climate surveys, and qualitative interviews of full and associate professors in NSF supported disciplines. Broader Impacts. This program provides an opportunity to replicate successful programs initiated by Hunter College (one of the few teaching-intensive institutions with successful ADVANCE programs and a partner in developing TCNJ's initiatives) and an adaptation of programs from research institutions in a PUI context. The results of this program will serve as a template for other PUIs seeking to remedy gender inequalities at their own institutions. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Grega, Lisa Miriam Segura-Totten Diane Bates Carol Bresnahan The College of New Jersey NJ Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 688132 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0930220 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research-Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry & Engineering. The Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at five large state universities in Florida will join together to form the Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry and Engineering (AAFAWCE). The University of South Florida (USF) is the lead institution with four partners: Florida State University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, University of Florida, and Florida International University. The project will modify and adapt successful programs developed by previous ADVANCE projects focusing on the Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at the partner institutions. The project will implement strategies for; 1) recruiting women in academic searches based on work developed at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; 2) transforming careers via leadership COACh workshops developed at the University of Oregon; and 3) advising and mentoring academic women at the assistant and associate levels based on work developed by the University of Texas-El Paso. In addition, the project will adapt and implement a faculty climate survey within all of the participating departments which was first developed by the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WESLI) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The survey will be used to identify issues for faculty related to recruitment, mentoring, and the tenure process. Intellectual Merit: The project will adapt previously developed strategies to a state-wide consortium of universities in Florida. The collaboration between the five institutions is important given the low numbers of female faculty in engineering and chemistry within these institutions. Faculty in each of the participating campuses' engineering and chemistry programs will participate in recruitment workshops along side department chairs, deans and other administrators. Faculty will have an opportunity to participate in the COACh workshop on advancing one?s career and engage in a mentoring and advising program. Broader Impacts: The project provides opportunities for female faculty at all ranks to engage in activities with others in their discipline areas from other Florida campuses as well as on their own campus. The collaboration includes two Minority-Serving Institutions; FAMU which is a Historically Black University and FIU which is a Hispanic-Serving Institution. This network will provide support for the faculty as they progress in their academic careers. The project will post videos of the workshops and other materials on the Global Educational Outreach web portal. In addition, the project team expects to publish a monograph with chapters by the project team on the objectives and activities of the program as well as by the participants in the alliance activities. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Holbrook, Karen Kathryn Borman Sylvia Thomas University of South Florida FL Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 257456 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0930229 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination (PAID): Career Success in Science & Engineering-Related Fields for Female Faculty at Public Two-Year Institutions. This empirical mixed-methods research study will investigate career paths, employment outcomes, and factors that influence academic career success for female faculty in science and engineering-related (S&E) fields at public community colleges. So far, very limited research exists on the career advancement of these female faculty members at public two-year institutions. Within a four-year institutional setting, several employment outcomes, including representation in faculty and leadership positions, tenure status, academic rank, salaries, disciplinary affiliation, research productivity, and others, are identified as markers of academic career advancement. Community colleges differ dramatically from their four-year counterparts in missions and institutional characteristics. These differences point to the need to re-examine the explanatory power of some findings on S&E career success and advancement outcomes of female faculty in the four-year sector in the context of two-year institutions. To this end, this study will investigate (1) the extent to which the factors associated with advancement and employment outcomes in the four-year sector translate to the two-year institutional context, and (2) the extent to which there exist other factors affecting female faculty members' employment outcomes that are unique to two-year institutions. The conceptual and theoretical framework for the study is largely grounded in sociological, organizational, and economic theory. This study follows a mixed methods design to identify factors associated with community college female faculty members' academic career success and employment outcomes in S&E fields by multivariate regression analyses based on the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) and to contextualize these results through qualitative analysis. Success will be measured using a number of employment outcomes. Qualitative inquiry will focus on career choices and patterns of academic career advancement, including an examination of barriers to success. Intellectual Merit: Two relevant areas of research on gender differences in higher education-science and engineering in academe and faculty work at two-year institutions-have very limited information on the experiences of community college women faculty teaching S&E disciplines. The former literature largely focuses on the role of women scientists and engineers in research universities and on doctoral recipients, whereas the two-year sector scholarship mainly explores general experiences of female faculty irrespective of their disciplinary backgrounds. The state of current literature thus ignores, in general, the role that both two-year institutions and their S&E female faculty play in developing science and engineering talent, as well as factors promoting the advancement of women S&E faculty in these institutions. Broader Impact: In today's climate of economic downturn, it is vitally important and, in fact, urgent to explore how more affordable community colleges may contribute to developing S&E talent. Community and technical colleges promote diversity by offering opportunity and access to a heterogeneous student body, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, and individuals at all stages of their lives engaged in life-long learning. All of the benefits of community colleges may only be fulfilled if the talent of both female and male well-qualified scientist and engineers will be utilized to its fullest potential. Providing female S&E faculty members chances for career advancement merited by their academic achievements is a matter of national importance. Results from this study will be disseminated through many channels, including presentations to such bodies as the American Association of Community Colleges, and may thus affect policies to strengthen the overall S&E education infrastructure. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Martin Conley, Valerie David Ingram David Koonce Cynthia Anderson Ohio University OH Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 500000 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0930231 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Enhancing and advancing the scholarship of STEM women faculty at the University of New Hampshire. This ADVANCE PAID project at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) will have as its focus advancing women STEM faculty at the institution. Specifically, several primary objectives will be achieved, including: facilitating women STEM faculty?s ability to advance successfully through their careers at UNH as leaders in research and teaching; increasing women STEM faculty?s capacity to influence policy and decisions at the institutional and national levels; increasing women STEM faculty satisfaction with resources and research support and minimize feelings of research isolation amongst women STEM faculty; and increasing women STEM faculty satisfaction with faculty colleagues, deans and chairs who mentor them. Intellectual Merit. UNH?s ADVANCE PAID program will build upon strategies implemented at other ADVANCE institutions with innovative approaches that will be initiated and customized for the needs of UNH women faculty. As such, the existing UNH Faculty Mentoring and Professional Development Program will be strengthened and STEM women faculty scholars will be advanced through the initiation of a partnership program between tenure track and research faculty and through the provision of incentives for tenured women to participate in academic leadership positions within and outside of UNH. Broader Impacts. The UNH ADVANCE PAID initiatives will enhance existing programs and provide resources to develop more substantial programs to advance STEM women faculty. Additionally, a significant component of this project will include the establishment of new research collaborations. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Huddleston, Mark Janet Campbell Karen Graham Wanda Mitchell Thomas Brady University of New Hampshire NH Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 1334126 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0930232 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Creating a Culture of Success for Women in Engineering and Science. The College of Engineering and Science (COES) at Louisiana Tech proposes to implement an ADVANCE PAID project, ADVANCEing Faculty , which has as its mission advancing women in STEM disciplines. Specifically, this project will address climate issues with twice weekly Faculty Lunches; a formal faculty mentoring program; innovative worklife policies and support (release time and graduate student assistance); and training modules for administrators/faculty on climate issues. To promote retention/promotion, the project will establish a grant writing program, career networking awards and a distinguished lectureship program to facilitate networking and collaboration with experts from around the country. To enhance professional development this project will offer an executive coaching program; career development workshops; and an annual awards banquet to recognize performance accomplishments. Additionally, specific resources will be created to support: training for administrators and faculty; best practices for recruitment and retention; a talking-points guide on institutional policies; and a resource for guide/coach/mentor best practices. Internally, we will share these through workshops and the OWISE office. Intellectual Merit. This project will adapt existing ADVANCE programs to an innovative interdisciplinary engineering and science team-based environment which should yield greater impact and success. The primary objectives of this project are to: 1) provide a framework and resources to educate all faculty and enable women faculty in STEM to participate in a supportive work environment, reduce isolation, and enhance retention, research productivity and job satisfaction, and 2) apply social cognitive career theory (SCCT), which suggests that beliefs in self-efficacy strongly affect ability to perform career-related tasks and are shaped by (1) personal success experiences, (2) exposure to successful role models, (3) social and verbal persuasive communication, and (4) maintaining a positive work environment. Broader Impact. Given the strong history and focus of this institution on interdisciplinary interaction, this project will serve as an experimental baseline for innovative programs that can be disseminated to other settings. Also, this project will directly impact not only women faculty in STEM fields, through training, mentoring and networking initiatives, but also all faculty and administrators at the university, as well as the women undergraduate and graduate students with whom they teach an interact, by way of the training modules and increased success and numbers of women faculty and leaders in STEM at the university. Further, the innovative programs developed through this program will be widely disseminated via national conferences (WEPAN, ASEE, SWE and FIE) and a program website, as well as the WEPAN digital Knowledge Center. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Carpenter, Jenna Dennis O'Neal Despina Davis Louisiana Tech University LA Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 736500 7568 OTHR 9150 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0930237 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Collaborative Research - Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry & Engineering. The Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at five large state universities in Florida will join together to form the Alliance for the Advancement of Florida's Academic Women in Chemistry and Engineering (AAFAWCE). The University of South Florida is the lead institution with four partners: Florida State University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), University of Florida, and Florida International University (FIU). The project will modify and adapt successful programs developed by previous ADVANCE projects focusing on the Colleges of Engineering and Departments of Chemistry at the partner institutions. The project will implement strategies for; 1) recruiting women in academic searches based on work developed at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; 2) transforming careers via leadership COACh workshops developed at the University of Oregon; and 3) advising and mentoring academic women at the assistant and associate levels based on work developed by the University of Texas-El Paso. In addition, the project will adapt and implement a faculty climate survey within all of the participating departments which was first developed by the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WESLI) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The survey will be used to identify issues for faculty related to recruitment, mentoring, and the tenure process. Intellectual Merit: The project will adapt previously developed strategies to a state-wide consortium of universities in Florida. The collaboration between the five institutions is important given the low numbers of female faculty in engineering and chemistry within these institutions. Faculty in each of the participating campuses' engineering and chemistry programs will participate in recruitment workshops along side department chairs, deans and other administrators. Faculty will have an opportunity to participate in the COACh workshop on advancing one's career and engage in a mentoring and advising program. Broader Impacts: The project provides opportunities for female faculty at all ranks to engage in activities with others in their discipline areas from other Florida campuses as well as on their own campus. The collaboration includes two Minority-Serving Institutions; FAMU which is a Historically Black University and FIU which is a Hispanic-Serving Institution. This network will provide support for the faculty as they progress in their academic careers. The project will post videos of the workshops and other materials on the Global Educational Outreach web portal. In addition, the project team expects to publish a monograph with chapters by the project team on the objectives and activities of the program as well as by the participants in the alliance activities. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Kwolek-Folland, Angel Cammy Abernathy Anne Donnelly University of Florida FL Jessie A. Dearo Standard Grant 157852 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0930242 September 1, 2009 The City Tech I-Cubed Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration. The City Tech I3 Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration addresses three NSF I3 goals: broadening participation, integrating research and education, and developing a global workforce. The incubator will broaden participation by enabling our students, the majority of whom are underrepresented in STEM programs of study and professions, to learn science, mathematics, and engineering technology applications in laboratories that have been transformed to reflect the collaborative interdisciplinary approaches of advanced science and industry labs today. The incubator will provide new opportunities to fuse STEM education and STEM research by creating an institution-wide focus on inquiry based research as a means of learning and doing science in labs, in faculty-led research projects outside the classroom, and in industry settings in the New York metropolitan area, where our students will seek their futures. Finally, the incubator will contribute to the development of a global workforce by enhancing and expanding the role of industry representatives in communicating their needs and practices to the college and reciprocally using the college to meet their own technological workforce needs. The City Tech I3 Incubator will weave together dimensions of four current NSF-funded projects: Metropolitan Mentors Network: Growing an Urban Talent Pool in New York City (STEP), Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Ground-Based and Satellite Remote Sensing at NOAA-CREST (REU), S-STEM Scholarships for Students, and Research, Reflect, Plan: ADVANCE IT-START at New York City College of Technology (ADVANCE). Mechanisms of integration are 1) creation of a multi-dimensional model of lab practice across all STEM departments as a tool for benchmarking lab transformation; 2) creation of a cross-project matrix for grant funded projects that charts diversity goals, outreach to high schools, research engagement of students, involvement of industry, and significant learning outcomes; 3) a management structure led by the provost, two academic deans, and a biologist on the faculty that will be continuously advised by a City Tech I3Incubator Advisory Board comprising members of departmental advisory boards and the PIs of current grant-funded STEM initiatives; 4) location of professional development activities for the wider STEM faculty in the Faculty Commons, a college-wide center for teaching and learning; and 5) enhancing communications by using the cross-project matrix as a communication tool and establishing a strong web presence for all I3 activities. The City Tech I-Cubed Incubator: Interdisciplinary Partnerships for Laboratory Integration brings together NSF/EHR awards from the ADVANCE, NSF-STEP and S-STEM programs, as well as other work, around the I3 integrative themes for broadening participation, developing a globally engaged workforce, and the integration of research and education. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR August, Bonne Pamela Brown Robin Bargar Vasiliy Kolchenko CUNY New York City College of Technology NY Lura J. Chase Continuing grant 928836 9131 1544 SMET 9178 5281 0930243 September 1, 2009 Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID): Successfully Navigating Your Career - Advancing Women Faculty in Engineering and Technology at HBCUs. The proposed ADVANCE PAID project from the Texas Engineering Experiment Station at Prairie View A&M University will create a well-designed program focused on assisting women faculty in successfully navigating and advancing through the professoriate ranks and entering into academic administration at Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU) in Colleges or Schools of Engineering and Technology. The multi-faceted project will offer an array of activities including professional development and leadership workshops, mentoring/networks, professional Coaches, seed grants, and a female faculty repository. Participants will be provided with customized and relevant materials aimed at promoting professional development through the academic pipeline. Intellectual Merit. The quintessential goal of this ADVANCE PAID project is to generate a toolkit for the different stages of an academic career path and provide a new base of information regarding effective strategies and promising practices for women faculty at HBCUS. The specific objectives of the proposed project are: 1) to develop a continuum of activities that will assist women faculty in their professional development and growth while retaining them within the academic and administrative ranks at HBCUs in Colleges or Schools of Engineering and Technology, 2) to establish Professoriate Affinity Communities (PAC); 3) to explore the perspectives of key stakeholders (i.e. Deans, Department Chairs/Heads, etc.); 4) to establish communication mechanisms for life-long engagement; and 5) to disseminate Best Practices to HBCU Engineering Administrators. Broader Impacts. The project will increase the retention and advancement of women engineering faculty at HBCUs which will provide more women and minority role models at HBCUs and potentially increase the pool of women and minority graduates at HBCUs. Also, the emphasis on women engineering administrators at HBCUs will change the institutional culture by changing the face of the decision-makers. In addition, the findings from the project will be disseminated as recommendations to HBCU administrators on best practices for advancement and retention strategies for women engineering and technology faculty at HBCUs. ADVANCE-PAID HRD EHR Nave, Felecia Karen Butler-Purry Chanda Elbert Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Kelly M. Mack Standard Grant 850000 7568 OTHR 7568 0000 0116000 Human Subjects 0930769 September 15, 2009 Spatial Thinking in the Curriculum of Students who are Blind or Low Vision. The Spatial Thinking in the Curriculum of Students who are Blind or Low Vision project will advance the knowledge of how students who are blind or visually impaired learn spatial thinking, a cornerstone of science and mathematical learning. This demonstration research project will result in pilot-tested assessment and interventions, which will serve as the basis for more advanced, robust investigations of how students who are blind or visually impaired think spatially and learn spatial thinking. The two primary research questions driving the pilot study are: Do students who are blind or low vision demonstrate similar spatial thinking skills as their sighted peer groups? Step 1: Adapting existing instruments into tactile and audio format. Step 2: Formative evaluation of tactile instruments. Can educational interventions or spatial thinking training protocol enhance spatial thinking skills of students who are blind or low vision as measured by traditional and new instruments? Step 1: Developing the Spatial Thinking Intervention. Step 2: Formative Evaluation of Intervention Activities. Step 3: Applying the Intervention Activities. Dr. Phil Gersmehl, a nationally recognized expert in geographic education and spatial thinking, will serve as the external evaluator for this project. Dr. Gersmehl is Co-Director of the New York Center for Geographic Learning and a Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota. Project materials will be disseminated at Dr. Lobben?s Spatial and Map Cognition Laboratory website at the University of Oregon Eugene. Results will be disseminated at one or more of the following conferences: the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Association of American Geographers, the International Cartographic Conference, and the NSF?s Division of Human Resource Development Joint Annual Meeting. Journal articles are expected to be submitted to publications such as the Annals of the Association of American Geographers and/or Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Lobben, Amy University of Oregon Eugene OR Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 214749 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0930896 September 1, 2009 Collaborative Research - Improving STEM Learning through Interactive RoboBooks. The Improving STEM Learning Through Interactive RoboBooks is a collaborative project between Tufts University?s Center for Engineering Educational Outreach and the Center for Applied Special Technology, Inc. This project will develop RoboBooks, a novel interactive cyberenabled workspace for high school students with learning disabilities and/or behavioral/emotional disabilities that will improve their science understanding in chemistry and physics. Phase 1 will focus on preparing the RoboBook technology for the proposed research by embedding supports and scaffolds into the tool with the goal of improving the science learning experience for students with disabilities. Expertise and assets created in an NSF-funded collaborative research project (DRL-0730260) in which CAST, EDC and the University of Michigan are developing UDL approaches to science curricula for middle and high school students will be leveraged for this project. They are 1) developing an open source UDL Inquiry Science System that enables science curricula to be transformed into digitally supported versions that incorporate UDL features, 2) creating guidelines for designing UDL science materials, and 3) developing four UDL exemplars of chemistry and biology units from tested instructional materials and evaluating the benefits of these exemplars for middle and high school students with and without learning disabilities. In addition to preparing the technologies with embedded supports and scaffolds, the development of precise curricular units in physics and chemistry will take place during this phase of the project. A small cohort of teachers from Fenway High School and Boston Arts Academy will be incorporated into the project to advice in the design of the specific supports as well as the curricular materials. These teachers, along with one additional teacher, will be trained in the summer of 2010 to implement RoboBooks in their science classrooms in Fall 2010. Two teachers from each participating school will work with the team in Phase 2. Phase 2 of the project focuses on collecting pilot data on the overall effectiveness of RoboBooks as designed for students with high incidence disabilities. This phase will involve two teachers each from Fenway High School and Boston Arts Academy. A pilot study will be conducted with four classrooms to measure impact of the books as well as learning (content and process) gains and engagement in science. The primary research questions driving the pilot study will be: 1. How do students with high incidence disabilities use interactive RoboBooks in high school physics and chemistry classes? 2. Which supports and scaffolds embedded in RoboBooks do students and teachers find useful? 3. How does the use of the RoboBooks affect student engagement relative to content using more traditional resources? 4. What are the student-level attitudinal benefits reasonably ascribable to using RoboBooks? 5. What cognitive benefits can be ascribed to the use of the RoboBooks? How do different implementations affect learning outcomes? What contextual variables facilitate or impede student-level learning benefits? The pilot study will employ the following measures: student and Teacher questionnaires embedded in RoboBooks to obtain feedback on usability and content presentation; interviews with teachers and students facilitated by the project staff and the external evaluator to gather more qualitative feedback; and pre/post science assessments. In addition, classroom observations will be conducted to observe the practices of use students with disabilities engage in with RoboBooks. Davis Square Research Associates will conduct the formative and summative independent evaluation. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Rogers, Chris Ethan Danahy Tufts University MA Mark H. Leddy Continuing grant 71330 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0930962 September 1, 2009 Investigating Strengths People with Learning Differences Bring to STEM. The Investigating Strengths People with Learning Differences Bring to STEM project will advance knowledge about the neurological differences associated with undergraduate students with dyslexia that can lead to advantages for visual processing and learning in STEM. This demonstration research project will result in pilot-tested experiments and interventions, which will serve as the basis for more advanced, robust investigations about the characteristics of undergraduate students with dyslexia that can lead to advantages for visual processing and learning in STEM. Three pilot studies will be conducted: 1. The first feasibility study will investigate whether the techniques used to investigate advantages for spatial learning and peripheral processing, previously observed in astrophysicists with dyslexia, can be applied to investigate STEM learning and STEM processing skills in pos-secondary students with dyslexia. 2. The second pilot study will investigate an intervention model using a sample of post-secondary students with dyslexia who are studying STEM. 3. The third experiment will employ gaze tracking techniques to map strategies used by college students with dyslexia when performing STEM tasks. This experiment will manipulate working memory demands by varying memory loads presented during the tasks; demands for visual attention will be varied by adjusting levels of visual noise masking the work. Dr. Gerhard Sonnert, a Research Associate in the Department of Physics at Harvard University, will serve as the external evaluator for this project. Dr. Sonnert?s publications include topics on gender differences in science careers, connecting science and society, and Einstein. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Schneps, Matthew Robert Speiser Lincoln Greenhill Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 124300 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0931237 October 1, 2009 Preparing for College: Using Technology to Support Achievement for Students with Learning Disabilities in Mathematics. The Preparing for College: Using Technology to Support Achievement for Students with Learning Disabilities in Mathematics project will advance knowledge about improved learning, motivation and achievement of undergraduate students with mathematics learning disabilities when using digital interventions. This demonstration research project will result in pilot-tested interventions, which will serve as the basis for more advanced studies of how students with learning disabilities learn math in a cyber-enabled environment. The primary intervention tool for this project is a cyber-enabled mathematics tutor, "Wayang Outpost," that helps students solve challenging test problems, teaches explicitly, and uses visual representations to help students learn. Modifications to the tutoring system will be piloted that address cognitive, metacognitive, and affective dimensions of the system, corresponding to the representation/expression and engagement strands underlying universal design for learning. This demonstration research pilot project will include testing a series of interventions with undergraduates in developmental mathematics classes at the University of Massachusetts and at Arizona State University. The project will target approximately 200 undergraduates, with and without learning disabilities, across four classrooms in experimental and control conditions. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Woolf, Beverly Ivon Arroyo Winslow Burleson University of Massachusetts Amherst MA Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 120668 1545 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0931373 September 1, 2009 Research and Infrastructure Support for Renewable Energy in Materials Science and Engineering at Norfolk State University. This HBCU-RISE proposal will allow Norfolk State University to establish the resources and research capabilities for the development of novel and functional materials for renewable energy in the Center for Materials Research (CMR)and Engineering department. The research components under this proposal are: (a) Development and enhancement of capability of fabrication of thin multi-Junction films for solar cells applications; (b) Development and enhancement of capability of fabrication of low bandgap Polymers for solar cells applications; and (c) Development of nanostructures for hybrid solar cells and nanobatteries. The proposed project will provide the resources to develop the Center's infrastructure by broadening its research capabilities, with the addition of materials for renewable energy, their design and preparation, and increase the Center's human resources capacity by the training the young faculty researchers to become independent investigators and also increase the opportunities for training in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) among underrepresented minority groups CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Pradhan, Aswini Suely Black Kyo Song Messaoud Bahoura Cheng Zhang Norfolk State University VA Patrick F. Mensah Standard Grant 1000000 9131 SMET 9179 0931679 September 1, 2009 HBCU-RISE: Modeling and Design of Robust and Scalable Network Architecture for QoS Assured Multi-Service Applications. The HBCU-RISE proposal by PVAMU has an underlying theme to improve the efficiency of secure multiservice and multi-rate communications in wireless networks through careful consideration of cross-layer design principles and end-to-end network optimization. This has brought together faculty from two minority (HBCU) institutions (PVAMU and Tuskegee University) with expertise in communications theory, wireless networking, signal processing, and control theory to apply their joint expertise to solve the proposed research problems in wireless ad-hoc networks. It is anticipated that the outcomes of this research will fill some important gaps in the current understanding of the fundamental limits and design trade-offs in MANET and sensor networks, enabling this growing field to fully realize its potential. Given that the next-generation military and commercial wireless communication systems need to support a multitude of services with a wide range of data rates, reliability, latency, and security requirements, we believe that successful implementation of the research project will have a wide ranging impact in the design of future wireless networks. The proposed project will also provide educational training to students and professionals through research and hands-on experience. It will support enhancement and increase the production of graduate (MS and Ph.D)theses/dissertations and undergraduate senior design projects in electrical and computer engineering at PVAMU. The proposed collaborative research with Tuskegee University will strengthen the existing collaborations among faculty and students at these two HBCUs and will further improve the knowledge base of women and minority students at the undergraduate, master?s and doctoral levels of engineering education so that they can compete in the job market in industry, academia and government. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Vaman, Dhadesugoor Warsame Ali Siew Koay Annamalai Annamalai Texas Engineering Experiment Station TX Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 992706 9131 SMET 9179 0932038 August 15, 2009 The Center for Physics and Chemistry of Materials (CPCoM) at Fisk University. With NSF support, Fisk University proposed second phase CREST Center for Physics and Chemistry of Materials (CPCoM) will primarily establish a sustainable program that integrates high-quality science education with state-of-the-art research and develop it over the course of CREST support into an internationally recognized research center in the area of physics and chemistry of advanced materials. Education of undergraduates and graduates will be a vital component of the Center. The major objectives of the CREST-CPCoM Center are to continue establishing a world-class research center for the study of electronic and optical materials and related technologies. The research focus of the proposed Center for Physics and Chemistry of Materials is in the study of advanced materials, novel processing methods, new properties and phenomena while enabling new devices for science, industry, energy, environment, and medicine. Phenomena and their applications will focus on detection, emission and modulation of electromagnetic radiation based on selected electronic and optical materials in the form of crystals, nanomaterials, amorphous materials and glasses, glass-ceramics and thin films. Broader impacts include dramatic increases in the production of well prepared members of underrepresented groups (primarily Afro-American and/or female) with Masters and PhDs at CPCoM and its partners through rich interdisciplinary interactions and cross-fertilizations of ideas among the faculty and students in the discovery and study of novel materials and creating breakthroughs based on scientific and technological excellence. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Collins, Warren Arnold Burger Steven Morgan Richard Mu Weijie Lu Fisk University TN Victor A. Santiago Continuing grant 3000000 9131 SMET 9179 9150 7608 0932137 September 1, 2009 "HBCU-RISE Center for Microbial Ecology, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, and Water Quality. This HBCU RISE proposal seeks support for the Center in the Environmental Sciences Institute at Florida A&M University devoted to the Study of Microbial Ecology, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology and Water Quality. The proposed HBCU-RISE project at FAMU will be in collaboration with researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL), University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Science and the J. Craig Ventner Institute of Genomic Research. The proposed Center already has an established foundation upon which to build, the highly productive Molecular Microbial Ecology Laboratory (MME Lab) initiated in 2005.with support from the previous 2005 HBCU RISE award. The Center will provide high quality research, instruction and expertise in microbial ecology linked to molecular biology techniques and concepts. Two major sub-projects proposed under the overarching theme are 1) to compare the ecology and role of the BALOs and viruses in bacterial mortality and the cycling of nutrients and 2) to sequence the genome of novel BALOs that appear to have an important role in bacterial mortality of specific species. The results of the Center?s research will be broadly disseminated through publications and presentations at international and national conferences. The broader impact of this proposal is that it would provide for students extensive learning and training opportunities in microbiology, aquatic sciences, molecular biology and bioinformatics. Activities are also included for high school, undergraduate and pre-college teachers also The BALO?s uniqueness and action packed life style make them an excellent model for attracting and holding the attention of students at all educational levels. As such they will enhance the educational outreach components of the proposed project. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Williams, Henry Darrell Grimes Rachel Noble Jonathan Badger Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 997214 9131 SMET 9179 9178 6861 0932300 September 1, 2009 NEXT GENERATION COMPOSITES CREST CENTER, NextGenC3. Proposal Title: Next Generation Composites CREST Center, NextGenC3 Institution: Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge (SUBR) Abstract Date: 7/27/09 With NSF support, Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge (SUBR) will undergo the development of strong collaborative, innovative, and self-sustaining research and education in the establishment of the proposed Next Generation Composites CREST Center (NextGenC3). This Center will be a leading entity that promotes the creation of new knowledge in collaboration with scientists and researchers in institutions, research centers, national labs, and industry, and will serve as a beacon for the education of future scientists and engineers with diverse, competitive, and well-trained populace in the area of next generation composite materials and technology. The major objectives of the CREST Center will be to provide excellent educational opportunities to traditionally underrepresented students in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines and to produce synergistic understanding of next generation composites through the development of integrated and pioneering research. The NextGenC3 CREST Center will investigate three research focus areas: Development of Multifunctional Composites and Structures: Sensing, Damage Tolerance, and Vibration Damping; Grid Confined Shape Memory Particulate Composites for Impact Mitigation and Self-Healing; and Synthesis of the Next Generation Composites: Cure-On Demand Coatings, Self-healing, and Sensing Polymers. The development of NextGenC3 will yield new opportunities by providing researchers at SUBR with infrastructure and resources that will immeasurably enhance their research capabilities. The NextGenC3 will play an important role in the training of minority students to become future Materials Scientists and Engineers. The research and educational activities of the center includes stress-strain analysis, optimization, and failure criterion of multifunctional composites; kinetics of new resin systems, interfacial bonding strength development and evaluation, damage mechanics based structural analysis, integration of sensing and healing ability to composites, failure criterion, development of high damage tolerance; and thermo-electro-mechanical response of polymer composites, and design and modeling for optimum properties. The proposed NSF CREST Center will have broader impacts on research, research productivity and capabilities, and education in material sciences & engineering at Southern University. The development of cutting edge interdisciplinary research based on next generation composites and educational activities through this Center will provide students traditionally underrepresented in the STEM disciplines with more meaningful research experiences at a readily accessible advanced research facility. The Center will help develop the necessary technical knowledge and skills so that qualified minority students will be produced to fill positions in the field of materials science and engineering. The increasing use of composites in applications, such as automotive, naval, aerospace, energy generation, and transportation structures, where light weight, damage tolerance, and multifunctionality are major factors, has highlighted the need for better materials research. The innovation and research at this Center will provide new and more durable multifunctional materials to advance the infrastructure of our nation. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Woldesenbet, Eyassu Guoqiang Li Edwin Walker Karen Crosby Southern University LA Victor A. Santiago Continuing grant 3000000 9131 SMET 9179 9150 0932339 August 15, 2009 Integrating High Performance Computing in Research and Education for Simulation, Visualization and Real-Time Prediction. This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will create the Center on Simulation, Visualization and Real-Time Prediction (SiViRT Center) to integrate the simulation-based research activities in the Colleges of Engineering and Sciences at UTSA, provide computational infrastructure and intellectual leadership for developing outstanding interdisciplinary programs in computationally related research and education, and develop collaborative relations within UTSA, the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSCSA) and other regional, national, and international institutions. The SiViRT Center will also attract minority undergraduate and graduate students to engineering and science careers, enhance diversity in UTSA, improve the retention of under-represented minority students and prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers to meet the challenges of solving scientific and engineering problems using reliable, high-performance computational systems and simulations. The SiViRT Center will include three interacting and interdependent research teams in the areas of imaging, real-time prediction and uncertainty quantification. The imaging team will be responsible for the creation of new theory as well as efficient methods and procedures for imaging processes, high fidelity filtering, and image fusion to be used in real-time simulations and control processes. The real-time prediction team will establish a general framework for real-time control and prediction with applications in cancer treatment modeling, surgical control, neuro-biological response simulation and intelligent unmanned vehicles. The uncertainty quantification team will create a general framework for uncertainty quantification in diverse engineering systems and applications of this framework will be sought in engineering fields such as: mechanics of bone fracture; heat transfer with nanofluids; and fate and transport of nanoparticles. The three teams are complementary and support the vision of the SiViRT Center: to be in the forefront of research and to significantly enhance the integration of research and education at UTSA. The multidisciplinary effort on fundamental scientific and engineering research will result in noteworthy technological developments and significant creation of knowledge by bringing together experts from the disciplines of Engineering, Science, Statistics, Biology and Medicine. The Center's educational programs will become the focus of attraction for high school students who will follow science and engineering careers; will provide encouragement and incentives for undergraduate students to pursue research; and will attract, encourage, support, advise, mentor and assist in the placement of doctoral students, who will become the next generation of researchers and university educators. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Michaelides, Efstathios Mehdi Shadaram Wei-Ming Lin Can Saygin Fidel Santamaria University of Texas at San Antonio TX Victor A. Santiago Standard Grant 5000000 9131 HPCC 9217 9179 9131 6890 0932421 September 1, 2009 CREST Center for Energy and Sustainability. The California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State L.A.) proposes to establish a new CREST Center for Energy and Sustainability (CEaS). CEaS embodies a new vision for a new CREST center that builds on existing strengths of Cal State L.A.?s Colleges of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology (ECST) and Natural and Social Sciences (NSS). The Center?s mission is threefold: 1) to increase the number of underrepresented students in STEM fields and, especially, to put them on a path towards the professoriate; 2) to conduct innovative, multidisciplinary, research in energy and sustainability; and 3) to increase public awareness and engage policymakers in this nascent movement. CSLA will be have a consortium of partners that includes representatives from institutions (i.e., middle and high schools, and a community college) with highly diverse student populations, public and private Ph.D.-granting institutions, the largest energy providers and utilities in the U.S., private industry, the Los Angeles Mayor?s office, and national laboratories. Collaborating with these institutions helps us pursue a vision of conducting cutting edge research and transforming sustainable energy from environmental chic to accessible technologies that excite 6th-graders and benefit society. Under the unifying theme of Energy and Sustainability, the four center subprojects will engage in research to address the three cornerstones of energy sustainability: diversity in energy sources, efficiency in energy use, and long-term sustainability. The ?biofuels combustion? subproject will immediately tackle research projects to make current combustion more efficient and less polluting. The ?photovoltaics? subproject will work on developing highly efficient and inexpensive photovoltaic cells. The ?fuel cells? subproject is interested in creating micro-fuel cells for applications in portable electronics. Finally, the ?carbon sequestration? component is interested in understanding the impacts of carbon capture and storage on the environment. Together, these four subprojects have a good mix of scientists and engineers with both short- and long-term research agendas. CENTERS FOR RSCH EXCELL IN S&T HRD EHR Khachikian, Crist Frank Gomez Feimeng Zhou Darrell Guillaume Trinh Pham California State L A University Auxiliary Services Inc. CA Victor A. Santiago Continuing grant 999999 9131 SMET 9179 0936434 November 1, 2009 GSE/RES Taking credit for one's success: Reducing stereotypic attributional bias can improve women's science and engineering outcomes. Intellectual merit: Women studying in fields non-traditional for women, including science and engineering, are proposed to show a spontaneous pattern of implicit achievement attribution, termed "stereotypic attributional bias" (SAB). SAB is defined as a subtle form of stereotypic bias in which women's science and engineering successes are spontaneously attributed to external causes (such as luck) and their failures spontaneously attributed to internal causes (such as lack of ability). This research explores whether the tendency to engage in SAB is promoted by being in educational environments perceived as unwelcoming to women. Features of unwelcoming environments include having few or no other female colleagues or role models, and witnessing subtle behavioral biases favoring men. It is proposed that female students pursuing science and engineering may come to engage in SAB, independent of their explicitly stated beliefs about women and science, as a result of stereotypic messages encountered in their environments. This research unites three strong theoretical perspectives (gender distinctiveness, implicit stereotyping, and achievement attribution) to advance understanding of women's lower participation in science and engineering compared to men. The SAB concept is a unique contribution based on sound research evidence in social psychology placed in a new theoretical framework, i.e. as an unintended, implicit attributional bias that is increased by stereotypic environmental cues and that influences academic outcomes. This project also promotes both basic experimental and applied intervention approaches to understanding, predicting, and improving academic outcomes among female science students. In seven laboratory studies, the research tests these hypotheses: 1) female students in settings perceived to be unwelcoming to women [e.g., male-dominated settings and/or those in which behavioral biases favoring men exist] will show greater SAB than women in settings more welcoming to women; 2) SAB predicts diminished motivation for and performance in science and engineering among women; 3) female science and engineering students who do not evince SAB show increased academic persistence after success feedback, whereas women who engage in SAB do not; 4) the implications of SAB will be different for White vs. African American women due to differences in the content of stereotypes regarding their race/ethnicity; and 5) an intervention designed to reduce SAB can improve women's science outcomes, as a result of increasing internal attributions for their science and engineering success. Broader impacts: The proposed research advances discovery about factors influencing female science students while promoting teaching, training and learning as undergraduate and graduate students will participate fully as student collaborators in all aspects of the project. Members of underrepresented groups will participate in the proposed research, as this project focuses directly on an important underrepresented population (women in science), and reserves key roles for racial minority and majority male and female students as research assistants as well as respondents. The proposed research will serve to enhance infrastructure for research and education, as computer technologies will be developed and collaborative contacts will be made with the university's Center for Research and Learning on Teaching, the College of Engineering, and related departments, encouraging and facilitating future research collaborations. Broad dissemination of the results of the research will include research presentations and publications, in both psychology and education journals. Moreover, these results will be shared with educational, research, and diversity programs. Finally, this project will offer important and significant benefits to society, as understanding the processes influencing women in science is critical in moving toward the goal of greater representation of women in science and scientific innovation. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Sekaquaptewa, Denise University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 171701 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0936613 January 1, 2010 GSE/RES A Multi-Method Investigation of the Situational Cues and Contexts Inhibiting Women in STEM Settings. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: This project draws on the contextual theory of social identity threat to 1) examine how the features and structures of STEM settings serve as cues to women about how they might be valued and treated in STEM settings, and 2) investigate the mechanisms by which situational cues influence women's interests, aspirations, persistence, and performance in STEM. The proposed project involves 2 phases. Phase 1 consists of a 3-year longitudinal and experience-sampling study of women and men in 3 theoretically informative college contexts: (a) a large, public university (University of Illinois, Chicago), (b) a women?s college (Mills College), and (c) a polytechnic university (California State Polytechnic University). With the public university serving as an ecologically-valid comparison group, the researchers will investigate several situational cues (e.g., numerical representation, gender of professors, explicit institutional values of women and/or STEM, etc.) to identify the ones that most impact women's STEM outcomes. This work assesses critical time periods in students' college careers (years 1-3) when they appraise the cues in their new environments, decide upon a major, take major-related courses, and select career options. The data are analyzed using HLM techniques. Phase 2 consists of six experimental laboratory studies that investigate the causal mechanisms by which cues affect women's STEM outcomes. In particular, they test whether the orientations that academic institutions adopt towards STEM abilities and learning moderate the extent to which situational cues affect women's STEM outcomes. Two sets of institutional orientations, drawn from the literature, are investigated: (a) fixed v. malleable lay-theories of STEM ability, and (b) competitive v. cooperative orientations. Because STEM settings are complex and likely to contain more than one situational cue, the experiments will investigate these orientations within the context of other cues known to negatively affect women in STEM (e.g., numerical under-representation, gender-segregation, and the congruence between an individual's and an institution's orientation). It is hypothesized that institutional orientations that facilitate effort and persistence while guarding against performance concerns--namely malleable (v. fixed) theories of STEM abilities and a cooperative (v. competitive) environment--will ameliorate the negative effects of under-representation and gender segregation on women's STEM outcomes. Data are analyzed using ANOVA and linear regression techniques that allow for tests of causal mechanisms. BROADER IMPACTS: The project offers direct examinations of how situational cues influence women's interests, aspirations, persistence, and performance in STEM. This work has potential to illuminate aspects of STEM settings that negatively influence women's STEM outcomes and provide specific, concrete, and easily adaptable strategies that can be used in STEM classrooms and to train STEM faculty and students. By providing strategies for both institutions and individuals, this work is poised to provide insight into how equitable and inviting STEM environments can be created. The findings will be actively disseminated in psychology and education journals and at national conferences. A website will also be developed to enable broader dissemination. In addition, the findings will be actively shared with STEM educators at both the high school and university levels. The project fosters the integration of research and education as undergraduate and graduate research assistants are involved at every stage. Women and members of underrepresented groups will be recruited as undergraduate and graduate research assistants. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Murphy, Mary Julie Garcia Sabrina Zirkel University of Illinois at Chicago IL Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 206759 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0936647 February 1, 2010 GSE/RES. Supportive Communities: How Gender Impacts the Native American Experience in STEM Fields.. INTELLECTUAL MERIT This study will investigate how Native American men and women differentially negotiate cultural expectations as well as social support structures to persist in STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines. The researchers hypothesize that Native American cultural roles may intersect with perceived gender roles to either enhance or undermine student?s persistence in STEM disciplines. Further, the study is based on the hypothesis that Native American men and women differentially interact with formal and informal support structures in a university setting and may benefit from different specific interventions in pursuing STEM careers. The project has two aims: Aim 1: Investigate how the gendered experiences of Native American men and women influence their persistence in STEM disciplines. Aim 2: Investigate how specific formal and informal support structures differentially benefit Native American men and Native American women in STEM disciplines. The study will follow 240 total Native American men and women in STEM majors at 2 institutions, Montana State University and Northern Arizona University, and perform in-depth interviews with at least 60 of these students. Researchers will examine the differential impact across gender of social support structures, informal academic support structures, and formal academic support program and of the persistence of these students in STEM, with the goal of identifying the specific structures that lead to Native American student persistence in STEM. The study utilizes a mixed-method, longitudinal approach of quantitative analysis using well-validated instruments, and qualitative analysis of open-ended survey responses and in-depth interviews. BROADER IMPACTS Native American students are underrepresented in higher education, particularly in science and engineering. Native Americans represent 1.6% of college-age students, but are awarded less than 1% of college degrees, and only about 0.7% of science and engineering bachelor degrees. Additionally, there is a gender disparity in the makeup of Native American students in educational settings. Since 1994, the increase in Native American students entering college appears to be due mostly to the increased enrollment of Native American women. It is therefore critical to study impact of gender on Native American student success; both in relationship to mainstream cultural expectations associated with gender as well as gendered expectations that may stem from traditional Native cultures. The study will identify specific social and academic support structures important for Native American men?s and women?s persistence in STEM, and expect to make concrete, data-driven recommendations to academic institutions that lead to more equitable learning environments for Native students in these disciplines. This award is co-funded by the EPSCoR and the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering programs. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Smith, Jessi Montana State University MT Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 217859 9150 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0936672 September 1, 2009 GSE/RES: Red Light, Green Light Signals? Defining Family and School Influences on Rural, American Indian Girls' Early STEM Interests. Intellectual Merit A team of multidisciplinary researchers at Oklahoma State University (OSU), in collaboration with local public school officials, will measure changes in young students' STEM interests, achievement, and attitudes over three years and relate these changes to identifiable parent/teacher influences. The research goal is to determine significant predictors of low-income, rural Native American boys' and girls' early interests in science and mathematics that can provide guidance for classroom practices that encourage young girls' STEM interests. Specifically, this research will (1) determine and examine family and school influences related to changes in students' science and math interests and achievement from 3rd - 5th grade among rural, largely Native American populations in Oklahoma and (2) generate case studies that illustrate influences on girls' STEM interests within this special population. The targeted school region includes large numbers of low, socio-economic status (SES) students (those eligible for free and reduced-price meals) and Native Americans. The 35 schools in this study are (1) small, rural schools within the Cherokee, Pawnee and Osage Indian Nations and (2) located near the research base. The study includes 800 students (with approximately 45% Native American students) in grades 3 - 5 with similar numbers of girls and boys at each level. A Native American Advisory Board will provide guidance to assure cultural awareness and sensitivity informs methodology and analysis. Methods include observation protocols, survey instruments, focus groups, and student test scores. Broader Impacts Research results and new strategies will be widely disseminated at national conferences, in professional publications, and to tribal groups and policy makers. This study will break ground as the first research-based research of home and school influences on STEM interests among rural, Native American populations. Educational infrastructure will be enhanced by providing research opportunities for diverse students, creating new partnerships with rural schools, and expanding the network of educators prepared to address gender and minority equity issues in STEM. Long-term, innovative changes will be measured in the determination of pedagogical teaching practices that encourage STEM interests of young Native American women. This research has implications for improving opportunities for a larger and more diverse domestic science and engineering workforce. Oklahoma State University is strongly committed to faculty and student diversity, actively recruiting among many traditionally underrepresented groups. It should be noted that OSU has the highest enrollment of Native American college students in the United States. This award is co-funded by the EPSCoR and the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering programs. EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Thomas, Julie Karen High Melanie Page James Smay Jean Van Delinder Oklahoma State University OK Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 499945 9150 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0936692 August 15, 2009 GSE/RES: Club to School (C2S): Rethinking the SMT Pipeline. Intellectual Merit: How do middle school girls become engaged in science, especially when their developing "sense of self" can seem to be at odds with traditional images of what it means to be a good science student or a scientist? The purpose of this investigation is to better understand the mechanisms by which urban middle school girls author possible selves in science, and what impact this has on their interest and participation in the science, mathematics and technology (SMT) pipeline. The objectives of the project are: 1. To follow a cohort of girls in four cities over their middle school years to document the mechanisms by which they author possible selves in science, how their identity formation (and their attendant resources and positions) in different figured worlds support them in doing so, and what impact this has on their interest and participation in science class and the SMT pipeline. 2. To develop a model for how and why girls recruit identities across different figured worlds and how girls seek to leverage them in support of participation and interest in science. 3. To create a set of cases along with guiding design principles focused on girls' identity development and SMT pipeline participation that can be used as tools for teacher learning and program design. The research follows 400 girls in four US cities over three years. Utilizing a nationally validated survey instrument focused on identity development and pipeline participation, data will be gathered over the three years to ascertain patterns in identity development and pipeline participation. The project also includes ethnographic longitudinal case studies of 40 girls in two of the sites over three years. Case study data will allow for an in depth analysis into girls' participation and experiences in out-of-school figured worlds and the figured world of school science, to uncover the salient identities pertinent to them, and how they select and coalesce identities across figured worlds to further their interest and performance in science. Broader Impacts: This project yields a theoretically-based, empirically-driven model for the relationship between identity development and participation in the SMT pipeline for low-income urban girls from racially diverse backgrounds. By creating a set of cases along with guiding design principles focused on girls' identity development and SMT pipeline participation, the project team will work with teachers and program organizers to tailor program design and instructional practice to best support girls. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Calabrese Barton, Angela Edna Tan Michigan State University MI Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 162011 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0936704 November 1, 2009 GSE/RES: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Effects of First-Year Project Pedagogies on the Retention and Career Plans of Women in Engineering. Intellectual Merit: This project will examine first-year project pedagogies in engineering in order to identify approaches that enhance the likelihood of women continuing in engineering majors and entering engineering careers. Specifically, the study will investigate the problem-based learning (PBL) model to identify elements of the model most likely to better support the persistence of women in engineering. The PBL model employed in a single-major program will be compared to a more general project-based approach centered on the engineering design process in a course serving multiple engineering disciplines. The proposed project integrates multiple approaches to motivation (the participation-identification model, the expectancy-value model, and self-efficacy theory) and the application of those approaches to a specific pedagogy (problem-based learning) that shows promise for first-year design courses. Each of the motivation frameworks has been shown to be significant in predicting students' choices, effort, persistence, and achievement in schooling, but little is known about how these approaches generalize to women in first-year engineering courses, especially when considered in combination with one another. At the same time, studies of first-year experiences tend to examine curricular impacts broadly, but little rigorous pedagogical research on specific approaches to first-year (cornerstone design) and the effects of those approaches on women. The proposed study bridges these gaps. Broader Impact: There is a growing importance of cornerstone design in engineering, but a distinct lack of research on concrete pedagogical models appropriate for such courses. This project moves beyond the general application of "design projects" to first-year courses to identify how specific, transferable elements of a pedagogical framework such as PBL affect women's beliefs, performance, retention, and career persistence. In doing so, it will provide future engineering faculty with principles of course design and implementation that can have measurable effects on women in first-year engineering programs across the nation. By addressing a widespread curricular phenomenon and moving research into practice through targeted outreach and communication efforts, the project seeks to have a transformative impact on first-year engineering curricula nationwide. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Paretti, Marie Tamara Knott Brett Jones Christopher Williams Holly Matusovich Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 492637 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0936718 November 1, 2009 Collaborative research GSE/RES: A cultural-psychological analysis of gender discrimination (and privilege) in STEM fields. Intellectual Merit: This project uses a cultural-psychological approach to examine the processes that create and maintain the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study examines how the male-gendered construction of STEM creates environments that put women at risk for social identity threat, which harms their performance, motivation, and identification with STEM fields. For men, the masculinization of STEM leads to social identity privilege, which can improve their outcomes. This research tests three hypotheses. The amplification hypothesis proposes that the impact of social identity threat will be greater in more masculinized STEM fields relative to less masculinized STEM fields. This is tested through a manipulation of social identity threat by exposing participants to an allegedly sexist instructor (Study 1), a sexist joke (Study 2), or body objectifying photos (Study 3). The cultural grounding hypothesis proposes that the masculinization of STEM and the resultant gender gap varies across cultural contexts. This hypothesis is tested by examining the magnitude of the amplification effects across universities (Studies 1 ? 3). The consciousness-raising hypothesis proposes that increased consciousness of sexism as a source of the STEM gender gap protects women's outcomes in STEM fields. Studies 1 ? 3 test this hypothesis by examining whether individual differences in critical consciousness are a source of resilience for women exposed to social identity threatening cues in a STEM domain. Study 4 tests this hypothesis by examining whether a consciousness-raising intervention has long term impacts on academic outcomes among women majoring in STEM. STEM majors at the University of Kansas, Tulane University, and Xavier University are participating in this research. Broader Impact: This research promotes teaching, training, and learning at the PIs? institutions through the creation of research teams of undergraduate and graduate research assistants. Students will have the opportunity to assist in data collection, data analysis, and will be given opportunities to serve as co-authors on conference presentations and publications when appropriate. The project broadens the participation of underrepresented groups in science by including Xavier students as both research participants and as members of the research team. Providing opportunities for Xavier students to work as research assistants contributes to the development of ethnic minority scientists. The results of this research will be communicated to STEM majors at the participating institutions, STEM educators, and the scientific community. The research has the potential to benefit society more broadly by identifying factors that make women vulnerable and resilient in STEM contexts. The approach will integrate research and education by using the results of the research to develop an educational intervention to increase women?s performance and participation in STEM fields. The research findings and integrative approach ultimately contribute to more effective scientific institutions. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Adams, Glenn University of Kansas Center for Research Inc KS Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 166036 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0936722 November 1, 2009 Collaborative research GSE/RES: A cultural-psychological analysis of gender discrimination (and privilege) in STEM fields. Intellectual Merit: This project uses a cultural-psychological approach to examine the processes that create and maintain the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study examines how the male-gendered construction of STEM creates environments that put women at risk for social identity threat, which harms their performance, motivation, and identification with STEM fields. For men, the masculinization of STEM leads to social identity privilege, which can improve their outcomes. This research tests three hypotheses. The amplification hypothesis proposes that the impact of social identity threat will be greater in more masculinized STEM fields relative to less masculinized STEM fields. This is tested through a manipulation of social identity threat by exposing participants to an allegedly sexist instructor (Study 1), a sexist joke (Study 2), or body objectifying photos (Study 3). The cultural grounding hypothesis proposes that the masculinization of STEM and the resultant gender gap varies across cultural contexts. This hypothesis is tested by examining the magnitude of the amplification effects across universities (Studies 1 - 3). The consciousness-raising hypothesis proposes that increased consciousness of sexism as a source of the STEM gender gap protects women's outcomes in STEM fields. Studies 1 - 3 test this hypothesis by examining whether individual differences in critical consciousness are a source of resilience for women exposed to social identity threatening cues in a STEM domain. Study 4 tests this hypothesis by examining whether a consciousness-raising intervention has long term impacts on academic outcomes among women majoring in STEM. STEM majors at the University of Kansas, Tulane University, and Xavier University are participating in this research. Broader Impact: This research promotes teaching, training, and learning at the PIs' institutions through the creation of research teams of undergraduate and graduate research assistants. Students will have the opportunity to assist in data collection, data analysis, and will be given opportunities to serve as co-authors on conference presentations and publications when appropriate. The project broadens the participation of underrepresented groups in science by including Xavier students as both research participants and as members of the research team. Providing opportunities for Xavier students to work as research assistants contributes to the development of ethnic minority scientists. The results of this research will be communicated to STEM majors at the participating institutions, STEM educators, and the scientific community. The research has the potential to benefit society more broadly by identifying factors that make women vulnerable and resilient in STEM contexts. The approach will integrate research and education by using the results of the research to develop an educational intervention to increase women?s performance and participation in STEM fields. The research findings and integrative approach ultimately contribute to more effective scientific institutions. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR O'Brien, Laurie Elliott Hammer Tulane University LA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 325996 1544 SMET 9178 9150 0116000 Human Subjects 0936725 January 1, 2010 GSE/RES-Collaborative Research: Capitalizing on Opportunity: Narrowing the Gender Divide in Engineering and Computer Science through Professional Development. Intellectual Merit: This is a three-year collaborative research project between Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University examining gender issues in professional identity development among engineering (ENG) and computer science (CS) students. Developing professional identity can help engender a sense of belonging in the STEM field that ultimately contributes to undergraduate retention. Grounded in social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this project investigates the mechanisms by which professional identity is developed when students capitalize on self-development opportunities available outside of the classroom. This project applies SCCT, a well established theoretical framework, to capitalization, a new area of research. Investigating capitalization using SCCT contributes to understanding gender differences in STEM and to the broader social psychology and capitalization literatures. Multiple research methods are used, including qualitative critical incident interviews, quantitative longitudinal surveys, and quasi-experimental design to test utility of capitalization training. The proposal includes several benchmarks and an experienced evaluator to oversee all assessment and statistical aspects of the project. Broader Impacts: The proposed research contributes to the development of human capital by identifying mechanisms for intervention in the effort to increase gender equity in STEM. The training experiment is expected to yield evidenced-based methods for improving capitalization antecedents and capitalization; and, as a result, contribute to the development of professional identity, thereby leveling the playing field for women. Since capitalization is a self-development skill known to yield positive benefits in the workforce, skills developed at the undergraduate level will contribute to the development and retention of STEM professionals as well. Examining a Historically Black University and a Predominantly White University broadens the understanding of capitalization across contexts. Expanding the knowledge base regarding supports and barriers at each university type provides the opportunity to derive a common set of ?best practices? with wide applicability. Research findings will be shared via an interactive website; international, national and regional conferences and journal publications; and brochures and email campaigns targeted to relevant departments and professional societies nationally. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Major, Debra Karin Orvis Old Dominion University Research Foundation VA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 451273 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0936759 January 1, 2010 Collaborative Research: Capitalizing on Opportunity: Narrowing the Gender Divide in Engineering and Computer Science through Professional Development. Intellectual Merit: This is a three-year collaborative research project between Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University examining gender issues in professional identity development among engineering (ENG) and computer science (CS) students. Developing professional identity can help engender a sense of belonging in the STEM field that ultimately contributes to undergraduate retention. Grounded in social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this project investigates the mechanisms by which professional identity is developed when students capitalize on self-development opportunities available outside of the classroom. This project applies SCCT, a well established theoretical framework, to capitalization, a new area of research. Investigating capitalization using SCCT contributes to understanding gender differences in STEM and to the broader social psychology and capitalization literatures. Multiple research methods are used, including qualitative critical incident interviews, quantitative longitudinal surveys, and quasi-experimental design to test utility of capitalization training. The proposal includes several benchmarks and an experienced evaluator to oversee all assessment and statistical aspects of the project. Broader Impacts: The proposed research contributes to the development of human capital by identifying mechanisms for intervention in the effort to increase gender equity in STEM. The training experiment is expected to yield evidenced-based methods for improving capitalization antecedents and capitalization; and, as a result, contribute to the development of professional identity, thereby leveling the playing field for women. Since capitalization is a self-development skill known to yield positive benefits in the workforce, skills developed at the undergraduate level will contribute to the development and retention of STEM professionals as well. Examining a Historically Black University and a Predominantly White University broadens the understanding of capitalization across contexts. Expanding the knowledge base regarding supports and barriers at each university type provides the opportunity to derive a common set of ?best practices? with wide applicability. Research findings will be shared via an interactive website; international, national and regional conferences and journal publications; and brochures and email campaigns targeted to relevant departments and professional societies nationally. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR DeLoatch, Sandra Rasha Morsi Norfolk State University VA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 48725 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0936769 October 1, 2009 GSE/RES: Gender Differences in the Foundations of Sense of Belonging: Effects on Achievement, Aspirations, and Learning in STEM Disciplines. Intellectual Merit: This research focuses on two key social factors that are important predictors of women's math performance: negative stereotypes about women's math abilities and perspectives on the nature of math ability as being either a fixed trait or a developable skill. The researchers are particularly interested in how a sense of belonging (SOB)--feeling like an accepted member of an academic community whose contributions are valued--can buffer women against the negative impacts of negative stereotypes or fixed concepts of math ability. The PIs will conduct a series of four studies designed to test hypotheses about how SOB emerges from various sources: a) experiencing high achievement; b) having friends in the domain; or c) exerting high effort. The PIs predict that effort-based sense of belonging will mitigate gender differences in math achievement, aspirations and learning, particularly those due to stereotype threat and fixed-ability learning environments. Hypotheses will be tested by experimentally manipulating both SOB and either stereotype threat or theories of intelligence and data will be analyzed through ANOVAs on math achievement, math aspirations, course-taking behaviors, and math learning. The study will involve both college freshmen and middle school students as they transition to high school. Research sites include Baruch College and middle schools in Montclair, NJ. Broader Impacts: The proposed research addresses two key moments in students' educational lives--transitions to high school and college. Educational experiences at these points lay the foundation for future interest in STEM domains, and thus influence decisions about future career paths. If findings support the notion that effort-based sense of belonging decreases the effects of stereotype threat and messages of fixed ability for females, then fostering effort-based sense of belonging may address pipeline issues for women in STEM fields and redress the persistent gender gaps in these domains. Specifically, educators who emphasize effort (rather than high achievement) as a key determination in students' belongingness in STEM may help eliminate the culture of "talent" and the mentality of the "weed-out system" that pervades many STEM classrooms and that can undermine women's STEM outcomes. Specifically, environments that foster a culture in which anyone who develops their skills through effort and engagement is considered a member of the community may encourage many more females to pursue STEM degrees. In addition, the methods of increasing SOB are easily implemented in any classroom setting. Although this study focuses specifically on sex differences in math outcomes, the findings may apply to any STEM discipline and to members of any group who face negative stereotypes and messages of limited ability, such as Black and Latino Americans. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Good, Catherine Jennifer Mangels CUNY Baruch College NY Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 500000 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0936780 January 1, 2010 GSE/RES: The Influence of Educational Climate on College Women's Attrition from STEM Fields: A Three-year Longitudinal Study. Intellectual Merit: This project investigates how educational climates affect college women?s withdrawal from STEM fields. Specifically, the research examines: 1) the extent to which negative educational climates for college women (e.g., those that are perceived as uncivil, sexist, racist; have few female and faculty of color role models, and are male-dominated) lead them to depart from STEM fields; 2) whether women's perceptions of STEM careers (e.g., the presence of a glass ceiling, that non-STEM fields are more welcoming for women), aspirations in STEM fields, declines in well-being (e.g., mental health, physical health, and school satisfaction), and declines in performance (e.g., GPA) mediate the relationship between negative climates and withdrawal; and 3) whether demographics (e.g., race, socioeconomic status, parents' education level, and academic ability), support resources (e.g., family, peer, and environmental support), and personal resources (e.g., self-efficacy, nontraditional gender attitudes, and instrumental personality traits) moderate these relationships. The study is following college women in STEM fields for three years and asking them to complete online surveys. Data is being collected from women at two different universities to assess whether the theorized processes act similarly in disparate academic contexts. The primary focus is on women's climate experiences, but a small sample of college men who are STEM majors are also included to allow for cross-gender comparison. Tinto's theoretical work on student persistence and departure serves as a foundation for the project. Hierarchical linear modeling is used to test the hypotheses. The proposed study addresses six critically important but neglected gaps in the literature on the retention of women in STEM fields. First, although some research has examined climate issues for college women in STEM, few have examined how climate affects women in a range of STEM fields in the same study to determine how they are similar or different. Even less attention has been given to how both objective and subjective aspects of educational environments simultaneously affect STEM women's departure decisions; the proposed project assesses both of these climate dimensions. Second, the proposed project includes participants from two very different universities--a predominately white research university and a minority-serving undergraduate university--which will allow a comparative evaluation of how climate affects women in dissimilar educational environments. Third, over half of the participants in the study are women of color; there is currently a paucity of research examining factors that affect women of color's retention in STEM fields. The sample also includes variability in social class and first-generation college student status, allowing an investigation of how climate affects STEM women from working-class backgrounds. Fourth, this project examines STEM women's career perceptions, career aspirations, well-being, and academic performance as key factors that may mediate the climate-withdrawal link. This component of the proposed research increases our understanding of why women exit STEM fields when they experience negative educational climates. Fifth, the proposed research investigates factors that moderate, or buffer, women from the negative effects of negative educational climates, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will remain in STEM. Finally, the longitudinal design allows for the identification of particular points in women's college trajectory that are most sensitive to departure. Broader Impacts: Findings from the proposed project have the potential to transform the undergraduate educational experience for women in STEM fields and address the critical social need of educating young women to compete in the global economy. As such, educators, students, parents, researchers, policy makers, and the general public benefit from the study's findings. Outreach focuses on: 1) the construction of a website reporting all major findings and providing links to published papers and presentations on study findings, 2) meetings with university administrators, faculty, and student groups to report findings, discuss intervention strategies, and provide recommendations, and 3) dissemination to the academic research community via presentations at professional meetings and peer-reviewed publications. Study results also inform educational intervention design to promote women's retention in STEM and allow employers and policy makers to develop effective strategies to retain female workers in STEM fields. The project also provides research training opportunities for female and racial minority undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, findings contribute to societal debates regarding the extent of sexism, racism, and general mistreatment targeted at women in university environments, particularly those that are science-based and male-dominated. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Miner-Rubino, Kathi Anne Rinn Texas A&M Research Foundation TX Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 173600 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0936791 January 1, 2010 GSE/RES: Students' Pathways into Computer and Information Sciences Majors:A Study of Community College Men and Women. Intellectual Merit: Women's enrollment in computer and information sciences (CIS) majors and completion of CIS undergraduate and graduate degrees has declined in the US over the last 20 years. Efforts to reverse this trend have been limited by a lack of research on the pathways into and out of CIS majors, including community college pathways. Community colleges are of interest because they attract a higher proportion of females and a broader demographic in terms of age and socioeconomic status than 4-year universities. This study is designed to collect data that can be used to inform efforts to encourage women to pursue CIS majors by exploring the experiences of women and men in community colleges taking introductory programming courses and the impact of those experiences on their decisions to pursue a four-year CIS degree. The study is based on theoretical frameworks that suggest the importance of motivation, parent and peer support, and previous computer use, especially computer game play. The researchers will recruit 700 female and male students in introductory programming courses at community colleges that are key feeder schools to the University of California (4-year public universities) CIS departments. Participants will complete three surveys over two years, and a subsample will be interviewed. Broader Impacts: The findings of the study will provide much-needed data on three widely held assumptions about gender differences in pathways to CIS majors; recent reviews suggest that there is little actual research on the role of motivation, family support and computer use (particularly digital gaming) among community college CIS students. That which exists was collected before the availability of widely accessible mobile (e.g., cell phone) and multiplayer Internet games, is short on theory, does not examine variation within gender, and lacks a design or analytic approach that allows for causal inference or the determination of effect sizes. This study will overcome these limitations and provide data on why students choose introductory programming courses and how those influential factors relate to decisions to pursue CIS at a 4-year institution. In addition, this study will contribute to knowledge about the role of digital gaming in choice of CIS major, since prior research focuses on frequency of game play rather than on type of play. This research will inform efforts to increase the number of students who pursue CIS majors at 4-year universities. Enrollment in these majors has dropped in the last five years, especially for women. But efforts to close the gender gap have been limited by a lack of rigorous research on students? pathways into and through community college; little is known about why CIS students transfer to 4-year institutions. This research aims to fill this gap by identifying the characteristics and prior experience of students who take introductory programming courses, and whether those characteristics and current experience in CIS courses predict intention to go on to pursue a CIS major at a 4-year university. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Denner, Jill Linda Werner ETR Associates CA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 499998 1544 SMET 9178 0116000 Human Subjects 0937112 November 1, 2009 GSE/DIF: Fast-Track Math for Women. Intellectual Merit: Fast Track Math for Women (FTMW), a train-the-trainer program, will create a cadre of math educators with both a heightened awareness of gender equity in STEM fields and the knowledge to implement a successful math intervention program. FTMW is designed to certify a core set of teachers to become FTMW Administrators, who in turn will train other teachers to administer FTMW programs in their geographic locales. The project will convert the Fast-Track Math teaching as well as a unique curricular segment, Gender Equity in STEM (GES), into professional quality, "diffusible" materials: 12 flash-animated, web-based concept modules and accompanying training manuals. In summer 2010 up to 5 teams of FTMW Administrators will be trained, using videos of the 2009 course, the flash-animated modules reinforcing new math pedagogy, manuals, student progress management software, and a two-week on-site practicum. Through the GES module, FTMW applies findings from existing gender equity research that indicate that special programs such as FTMW can increase girls' and women's interest and persistence in math, science and engineering. The curricular elements of the GES module of the program have been developed by a gender expert in curriculum development; the math program is based on a 10-year-old proven intervention, with its developer among the project collaborators. With feedback from the first cohort of FTMW Administrators received during the 2010-2011 academic year, the program will be modified to include an additional component to train new FTMW Master Facilitators capable of training future FTMW Administrators. Broader Impacts: FTMW advances current knowledge on gender equity research to a broader practitioner community. The program will demonstrate that a multidisciplinary approach to STEM education can be extraordinarily effective. FTMW has the potential to reach thousands of women and girls and train them in the necessary math skills and confidence to persist in STEM disciplines, potentially leading to an increase in women?s recruitment and retention rates in STEM disciplines. The FTMW program has been designed to enable it to continue in ensuing years to use the materials developed through this grant to train FTMW Administrators and Master Facilitators at educational sites across the nation. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Udayagiri, Mridula Madeleine Fish University Enterprises, Incorporated CA Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 250000 1544 SMET 9178 0937245 October 1, 2009 GSE/EXT: Girls RISE (Raising Interest in Science and Engineering) Museum Network. Intellectual Merit: Based on nearly two decades of museum programming for low-income Hispanic and African American girls at the Miami Science Museum, this extension service project employs a train-the-trainers approach to build a network of museum-based Extension Agents dedicated to helping informal science educators attract the interest and support the persistence of minority girls, grades 6-12, currently underrepresented in STEM studies. Led by the Miami Science Museum, the collaboration brings together an experienced group of institutions with representation from the informal science, gender research, and engineering communities. In addition to the Museum, the Expert Project Team consists of key staff from the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), and SECME Inc. (formerly the Southeastern Consortium of Minorities in Engineering), who serve as the conduit for the participation of minority engineering professional organizations. An advisory/research panel of researchers in gender in STEM, whose work complements those of the project investigators, works closely with the Expert Project Team to prepare Extension Agents from ten geographically dispersed museums, who in turn provide a range of training and peer mentoring services to the practitioner community of informal science educators in science-rich institutions nationwide. Participating museums include: Connecticut Science Center (Hartford, CT), New York Hall of Science (New York, NY), Maryland Science Center (Baltimore, MD), Miami Science Museum (Miami, FL), COSI (Columbus, OH), St. Louis Science Center (St. Louis, MO), Louisville Science Center (Louisville, KY), Sci-Port (Shreveport, LA), Explora (Albuquerque, NM), and California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco, CA). Specific objectives of the project are to: - Utilize the national network of science centers and museums to raise awareness and broaden access for girls underrepresented in STEM. - Develop linkages among organizations with the common purpose of increasing the pipeline of minority female engineers. - Facilitate the translation of gender and diversity research into practice through a unified training program. - Provide ongoing services, access to program materials, and tools to broaden the ability of science centers and museum practitioners to provide relevant and engaging programming for girls. The Girls Rise Network's program of change is tightly focused on increasing the capacity of science centers and museums to interest girls from underrepresented populations in the engineering sciences. It consists of three major processes: 1. Assessing organizational climate with respect to gender, race and ethnicity. 2. Identifying and building community resources related to recruiting, serving and retaining girls in the engineering pipeline. 3. Optimizing the informal science learning environment to engage minority girls in engineering precollege competitions and related programming. Broader Impacts: The extension services provided through the Girls RISE Museum Network enable museum practitioners to reach a more diverse population, potentially impacting hundreds of girls; and contribute to broader efforts to reduce barriers to minority girls? participation in STEM activities, courses, and majors. In addition, the informal science educators participating in the project benefit from increased awareness and knowledge of cultural differences, resulting in a network of culturally competent educational leaders within the informal science learning community. The project draws from Expert Project Team resources to provide a central repository of high-quality resources for engaging girls, particularly Hispanic and African American girls, in engineering. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Brown, Judy Laura Huerta Migus Michele Williams Miami Museum of Science Inc FL Jolene K. Jesse Continuing grant 452475 1544 SMET 9178 0937314 September 1, 2009 GSE/DIF: SciGirls en la Familia. Intellectual Merit: The SciGirls en la Familia outreach project builds on the SciGirls national diffusion effort that puts girl-focused resources from the award-winning PBS Kids science series DragonflyTV into the hands of afterschool program leaders, informal science educators, and outreach professionals at PBS stations. SciGirls stresses current research into what strategies most effectively engage girls in STEM activities: extended communication and collaboration; finding real-life contexts for science; promoting open-ended investigations; and placing value on diverse ways of knowing, viewing and describing the world. Broader Impacts: In the past three years of SciGirls programming, over 100 educators and community leaders have been trained reaching over 5,000 girls in grades 3 through 8. For SciGirls en Español, a prior diffusion effort, Twin Cities Public TV partnered with the Self Reliance Foundation (SRF), one of the leading supporters of informal science education in Hispanic communities. SciGirls en Español provides Spanish-language print and video resources, leader training, and grants to existing Latina-serving organizations to help encourage a greater engagement in STEM. As the SciGirls en Español project developed, one theme was repeatedly emphasized: the importance of family and parental guidance in Latino culture. As a result, this project is a new diffusion initiative: SciGirls en la Familia. This project will provide community educators with resources and training in best practices to engage not only Hispanic girls in STEM, but their families as well. SciGirls en la Familia materials will be delivered to grantees (after-school programs across the country), as well as SRF?s diverse partner network, including Community Science Workshops, National Council of La Raza, and Aspira. Materials will also be distributed to other organizations (NSTA, ASTC, and PBS stations) and made available on DragonflyTV's Web site at www.pbskids.org/dragonflytv. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Hudson, Richard Alicia Santiago Twin Cities Public Television MN Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 249876 1544 SMET 9178 0938273 September 1, 2009 Implementation Grant: Development of Multidepartmental, Multidisciplinary Concentrations at Tuskegee University. The "Development of Multidepartmental,Multidisciplinary Concentrations at Tuskegee University" project seeks to reform the approach to biology instruction by infusing a strong genomic-bioinformatics and biophysics focus into the current biology curriculum and linking it to a collaboratory research experience that will promote critical thinking, enhance quantitative skills, ascertain mastery of integration of knowledge learned, and illustrate the interconnectedness of STEM disciplines for all students. The overarching goal of this project is to develop a genomic-bioinformatic and biophysics stream of concentration by developing requisite courses including Microbial Genomics, Introductory Bioinformatics, Computational Genomics, with dry and wet labs with genomics data search using computers; by integrating genomics and bioinformatics modules into existing courses; by implementing and evaluating the newly developed courses using wet/dry project collaboratories and computer-based lectures; and by disseminating the results of these efforts among undergraduate faculty in general and those at HBCUs and MSIs in particular. This effort will result in an increase in the quality of educational instruction in biology, production of a cadre of very talented students (particularly minority students) who are capable of employing diverse aspects of mathematics and physics to answer biological questions, and better-trained faculty who are capable of deploying pedagogical approaches that infect students with an enthusiasm for scientific discovery. The transformation of the biology curriculum will have the outcome of effecting changes across the natural and physical sciences departments and increasing the dialogue of how best to train students for the practice of science in the 21st century. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Williams, Luther Gregory Pritchett Danielle Gray-Singh John Davidson Tuskegee University AL Claudia M. Rankins Continuing grant 592877 1594 SMET 9178 9150 0938413 September 1, 2009 Lessons-Learned from GSE Extension Services Grantees, 2005-2009. Intellectual Merit: The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Center for Advancing Science & Engineering Capacity will review experience with the Extension Services (EXT) component of the NSF Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE) program. The purpose of the review is to compile lessons-learned among all project cohorts since 2005 and evaluate how the intended concept translated into field experience. Extension Services grantees are awarded up to $2.5 million over five years, a large investment for a relatively small program budget. The first two projects funded have passed a three and a half-year mark. Collectively seven projects represent over 17 years of experience in the field, testing the concept of this particular investment (each for five years). EXT projects are engaged in the process of changing educational values, practice, and knowledge, a process that is neither linear nor predictable. Models for assessing the success of new initiatives range from short and expedient, e.g. briefings, to formal, comprehensive evaluation of outcomes. As new initiatives, EXT's lack a standard template or control for gauging success. Periodically assessing lessons-learned is one approach for doing so. The proposed work is exploratory in combining methods of evaluation research (formal outcomes measurement), systems analysis (review and documentation of organizational processes and functions in a consistent manner), management review (leaders describe their experience), journalistic reporting (interesting stories and facts), and anthropology (how people explain what they are doing in situ). The method is inherently novel, interdisciplinary, and pragmatic. Among key inputs are interviews with project managers, project documentation, reports and reviews gathered via the third-year reverse site visit, analysis of the concept as articulated in annual program announcements, and interviews with the NSF Program Director. Interviews with grantees will employ an Interview Guide Approach (per the Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook). The goal is to develop an overview of how the lead EXT teams interpreted the solicitation with guidance from the Program Director, how they designed their version of an Extension Service, and what happened when they confronted the realities of implementation. Interviews will be conducted by staff of the AAAS Capacity Center, who are experienced in multiple methods among those cited above, especially evaluation theory and methods, and who are familiar with NSF's objectives and operations, the GSE program, the community of practice and the knowledge base related to issues of women in S&E, and who have personally produced many similar reports for university, corporate, and federal clients. Broader Impacts: Lessons-learned about GSE's Extension Services will potentially enable the program to refine the solicitation, guiding new teams toward productive strategies in organizing their services and reaching various communities not currently participating. To the extent certain kinds of EXT events and relationships are found to be promising, they might be adapted elsewhere. Lessons-learned is not a substitute for rigorous formal project or program evaluation; it is expedient and pragmatic in real time, elucidating what is useful to others and NSF as "field experience," capturing significant experience as these large-scale projects evolve. Taken together, these lessons constitute a portfolio assessment of projects that can guide current and future performers as well as NSF management. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Chubin, Daryl American Association For Advancement Science DC Jolene K. Jesse Standard Grant 92940 1544 SMET 9178 0940201 April 1, 2009 RDE-FRI: Supporting Math Access for Middle and High School Blind Students Through Adaptive Math Tutoring Technology (STEM Access). The project RDE-FRI: Supporting Math Access for Middle and High School Blind Students Through Adaptive Math Tutoring Technology (STEMAccess) is a 24-month, $300,000 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of this project is to address the relatively poor math achievement of middle and high school students who are blind and who have the academic ability to participate in STEM fields. This goal is addressed through a series of experiments to study three (3) primary objectives: The investigation of math problem solving cognitive processes in blind students with a focus on characteristics of word problems associated with successful problem representation; the evaluation of the contribution of mathematics motivation to math learning in blind students with a focus on self-regulated behaviors such as help-seeking and persistence; and the adaptation of technology-based instruction to help improve math problem solving in blind students. This project builds on the prior success of the PI's current and previous work on the cognitive and motivational outcomes of tutoring technology for non-disabled students in mathematics that was funded by NSF (DRL-0411886) and the US Education Department's Institute of Educational Sciences (R305K050086). This highly experienced team from the University of Southern California (USC), which is lead by an expert research psychologist, is conducting three (3) experiments with blind middle and high school students using quasi-experimental designs to compare the mathematics performance of the blind students to each other and to the mathematics performance of sighted students. The experiments involve 60 middle and high school students who are blind and recruited through an existing partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Program for Students with Visual Impairments. The data for the sighted students includes comparison data from 60 sighted peers as well as using an existing dataset with performance data from over 500 sighted student subjects. The project primarily addresses one (1) of the FRI track goals: To investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM. There is a formative and summative project evaluation plan being conducted by an experienced independent external evaluator, Valerie Shute, from Florida State University. Additional formative project input is provided by a team of expert advisors who are experienced in STEM education for blind students, spatial cognition and working memory, and the use of technologies for learning. There is also a dissemination plan which includes sharing information with the RDE community and publishing in peer-reviewed professional journals. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Beal, Carole University of Arizona AZ Mark H. Leddy Standard Grant 135600 1545 SMET 9178 1545 0116000 Human Subjects 0941218 September 1, 2009 A Proposal to Conduct an Outreach Forum on Building STEM Research and Education Capacity at Hispanic-serving Institutions. The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network will conduct a two-day outreach forum and related follow-up activities to provide information and gather input from Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs) regarding program components and requirements for a proposed NSF HSI-STEM initiative focused on STEM education and research capacity building for HSIs. Seventy-five (50 four-year/university and 25 two-year) High Hispanic Enrollment (>25%) higher education institutions will be invited to send a two-member STEM faculty team to the outreach forum Following the Forum, QEM will draft, distribute for comment, revise, and provide a report to NSF's Division of Human Resource Development (HRD) on information, concerns, and recommendations gathered at the Forum. The goal of the Forum is to assist HRD in gathering broadly representative, informed, and comprehensive input regarding essential program components and requirements for an HSI-STEM initiative. The Forum will actively engage teams from HSIs in plenary and breakout sessions to: (1) ensure that faculty at HSIs have an opportunity to inform the development of an NSF STEM education and research capacity-building program to address their needs; and (2) identify critical needs in STEM undergraduate education and research at HSIs. ALLIANCES-MINORITY PARTICIPAT. HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Michael D. Fredenberg Standard Grant 365219 9133 SMET 9178 0951625 September 15, 2009 Regional Workshops on Increasing the Enrollment of Male Undergraduates in STEM Disciplines at Minority-serving Institutions. The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network's project is conducting three regional workshops focused on increasing the enrollment of male undergraduates in STEM disciplines at Minority-serving Institutions (MSIs). The three regional workshops will take place during March and April 2010. The goals of the project are to conduct a workshop series focused on effective strategies and best practices for increasing male student enrollment at MSIs, particularly in STEM; to identify potential reinforcing pipeline options; and to prepare and disseminate a Summary Report on the best practices and key workshop findings. Collectively, the three workshops will provide a broad spectrum of representation, experiences and perspectives from representatives of two and four-year Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs); Tribal Colleges and Universities/Alaska Native-Serving Institutions (TCUs/ANSIs); and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). TCUs/ANSIs, HSIs and HBCUs all share the quiet crisis of limited enrollment of males in STEM disciplines and all will benefit from the expanded knowledge base resulting from the workshops. Significant societal benefits, including an enhanced STEM workforce, will result from greater participation in STEM of all underrepresented groups, including minority males. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR McBay, Shirley QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK DC Claudia M. Rankins Standard Grant 267259 1594 SMET 9178 9906043 August 15, 2000 PPD: Bridges: High School and Community College Demonstration Model to Increase Students with Disabilities Accessibility to Careers in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Tech. Science and mathematics faculty from Holt High School (HHS) and Lansing Community College (LCC), service agency providers, and businesses will work collaboratively to develop a model to increase students with disabilities' accessibility to careers in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET). The Bridges Project is a comprehensive model to develop the linkages between these institutions and agencies that support students with disabilities in their transition to post-secondary education. The model is designed to prepare students with disabilities for the transition to a community college by providing them with appropriate experiences and support including: providing high school mentorship experiences in SMET, strengthening their self-advocacy skills, grounding them in the use of assistive technology, providing them with a precollege workshop to facilitate a successful transition to college, linking them with an adult mentor with disabilities in their career area to support them in their studies, and making college classrooms/labs good learning environments. The model has several major components to expand and develop these bridges. The methods employed to create this model are as follows. The existing HHS Mentorship Program will be expanded to a seventh hour after school to allow students with interests in careers in scientific areas to explore opportunities in these fields in workplace settings. The mentorship will assist students in developing skills in interviewing, self-advocacy, working in a professional environment, and developing a focus for their future. A Collaborative Inquiry Team (CIT) of HHS and LCC faculty in science/math, special education teachers, LCC disabilities counselors will be initiated to increase awareness and understanding of disabilities and to discuss curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning strategies and accommodations for students with disabilities including assistive technology. The collaboration will take several forms: monthly meetings, E-mail, a Bridges Web Page, and intense summer collaboration. Through these exchanges members of the CIT will increase their awareness of curriculum between the institutions, teaching methods, alternative assessments, and accommodations for students with disabilities and incorporate them in their practice. As the collaboration progresses CIT members will develop the content for workshops for all college faculty about strategies to accommodate students with disabilities, assistive technology, and elements of the legal mandates, IDEA and ADA. CIT members will mentor other faculty in science/math in the use of these practices as they teach students with disabilities. Several methods to support students with disabilities in post secondary settings will be employed. HHS will incorporate evaluation and training of students with disabilities in the use of assistive technology within its Self-Determination class. HHS faculty will be trained in the use of assistive technology as well. LCC math/science faculty will receive similar training and with the support of the Disabilities Services Office develop a workshop for all LCC faculties. Students with disabilities will complete a pre-college workshop to assist them in their transition by reviewing with them the learning strategies and study skills necessary for college success, practicing their self-advocacy skills with college faculty, and refreshing their skills in the use of assistive technology. A plan for ongoing support will be the Bridges Adult Mentorship Program; a connection for the student with an adult mentor with a disability employed in SMET careers. The adult mentors will offer college students support to sustain their efforts in achieving their goals. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Lamb, Margaret Holt Public Schools MI Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 449867 1545 SMET 9178 9177 9906123 June 15, 2000 PPD: Distance Learning Science Project for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. The Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf has developed the Distance Learning Science Project for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. The goal of this three-year project is to increase deaf and hard of hearing students' interest and aptitude in science. The project's objectives include increasing the degree of interest in science among deaf and hard of hearing students in elementary, middle school, and high school programs; decreasing the gap in science knowledge between deaf/hard of hearing students and students who can hear, and increasing the target population's knowledge of various science topics over the life of the project. The goal and objectives will be achieved with the provision of science enhancement lessons and activities integrated with technology. Science enhancement lessons will be provided to deaf/hard of hearing students in several educational programs throughout the state via interactive television. Video-conferencing technology will enable the students and teachers to work together from four remote locations at the same time. The teachers from the participating schools planned six ITV science lessons per year, and the lessons follow the state standards for science education. During the classes, students will present projects and solutions to problems that were assigned to them at the previous class. Between classes, they will communicate with each other about the projects via e-mail, if they are old enough to have the written language skills. For the first time, educational programs for deaf students across New Jersey will be coordinating instruction in a content area. This is beneficial for the students, who tend to move from one program to another throughout their educational careers. In addition to the ITV science classes, students will participate in summer science camps, which are viewed as fun and educational mechanisms to increase students' interest in science and knowledge about scientific topics. The project is expected to increase students' interest in science in several ways. The use of interactive television will create excitement in and of itself. Interest will also be generated for the students through the experience of working cooperatively with other deaf/hard of hearing students. Additionally, science is often a neglected area in deaf education, because communication skills and basic reading and writing skills are viewed as having greater importance for deaf students. The emphasis on science through the enhancement lessons and activities is expected to facilitate the achievement of the project's goal. The project includes a plan to collect and analyze data in order to determine if the goal and objectives are met. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Goodwin, Ronald New Jersey Department of Education NJ Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 439474 1545 SMET 9177 9906134 March 1, 2000 PPD: Reaching New Audiences with New Media: Opening the Door to Science and Math. The main thrust of this project is to build new materials on the foundation of information that EASI has compiled and disseminated in previous NSF grant projects. In addition to the new materials, EASI has identified critical new audiences that must be reached if individuals with disabilities are going to be integrated into the science, mathematics, engineering and technology fields. To most effectively deliver EASI's message and information the project is relying on innovative multimedia techniques to disseminate the materials. Specifically, EASI is creating a modular array of materials that will include SMET information relevant to K-12 audiences, post-secondary education and the business community. While EASI has focused primarily on the educational aspect of SMET in past years, EASI believes and is aware of accessibility issues and requirements that are critical to reach the business community and make them aware of the potential of individuals with disabilities and issues and requirements. Additionally, EASI wants to take a first step toward helping individuals with disabilities and issues and requirements. Additionally, EASI wants to take a first step toward helping individuals with disabilities enter the workplace by establishing an intern program as one aspect of this project. To get the widest dissemination in the most cost-effective manner, EASI will use the Internet, live presentations and print media to disseminate these materials. EASI has been experimenting with innovative uses of multimedia, including Web broadcasts, on-line courses, on-line discussion lists, audiotapes and videotapes. All of these methods have shown impressive results. While EASI is doing the primary work of this project, the administrator of the grant is the TLT (Teaching, Learning and Technology) Group. A non-profit corporation, the TLT Group is an affiliate of AAHE (American Association for Higher Education). AAHE was the administrator of previous EASI/NSF grants. The TLT Group's mission is to provide materials and services that motivate and enable institutions to improve teaching and learning with technology while helping them cope with ongoing change. The TLT Group has a network of over 350 TLT Roundtable Groups which are comprised of technical support staff, faculty, librarians, and administrators. Many of these people are part of EASI's targeted new audiences. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Gilbert, Steven Norman Coombs TLT Group DC Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 216000 1545 SMET 9180 9906143 September 1, 2000 PPD: Haptic Audio Scientific Graph Analysis Project (HASGAP). Many high schools use graphing scientific calculators to assist students in math and science courses. These calculators perform scientific functions and have a built-in screen to display graphs. These calculators are used widely in higher math (Algebra and beyond) and science courses. They are valuable tools both for teachers and students. Unfortunately, the graphing scientific calculators are not usable by visually impaired students. This project will attempt to design, develop, and test a system, which provides better access for visually impaired students to graphs and scientific expressions. The Haptic Audio Scientific Graph Analysis Project (HASGAP) involves research, development, and testing. Real time, interactive, independent comprehension of two-dimensional graphs by visually impaired students is the goal of the project. This project will increase the knowledge base in interactive graph analysis and interactive scientific calculation research for visually impaired people. The force feedback WingMan Mouse from Logitech will be used. This is a haptic two-dimensional mouse that became commercially available in January 2000. Automated Functions, Inc. (AFI) has been using the prototype WingMan Mouse that was designed and developed by Immersion Corporation and called the FEELit Mouse for the past 1.5 years. AFI was a beta tester of the FEELit Mouse and suggested many functions that were placed in the commercial WingMan Mouse product. The price for the WingMan Mouse is only $100. This is significant to HASGAP since the WingMan is a vital part of the system which includes custom PC software, synthetic speech, stereo sound, and the haptic WingMan Mouse. The WingMan Mouse will be used as the graph input peripheral. Stereo sound will be used to represent the graph(s). AFI will design, develop, and test different haptic effects in order to increase the ability of the visually impaired user to comprehend two-dimensional graphs. The researchers will design and develop custom software that runs on a PC using Windows 98, the operating system platform supported by the WingMan Mouse. The speech and sound will be created using an internal sound card to augment the haptic feedback provided by the WingMan Mouse. HASGAP uses a screen reader to speak what is typed and to verbalize the different menu options and graphic controls. The system has been designed and developed around the Henter-Joyce JAWS For Windows screen reader. Other screen readers will be tested with HASGAP to assure compatibility. The project will be field tested by visually impaired students who attend a local Virginia school system. If HASGAP is successful, visually impaired students will be able to interpret graphs and perform scientific calculations independently. This project may significantly affect the ability of visually impaired students to succeed in math and science courses. UNIVERSAL ACCESS RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Morford, Ronald Automated Functions, Inc. VA Ted A. Conway Standard Grant 150000 6846 1545 SMET 9179 9177 9906159 February 15, 2000 PPD: Access to Physics Interactive Video Tutor Project. The CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) will collaborate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to make a model interactive multimedia physics Web site in development at the MIT Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES) accessible to students who are blind or deaf. The Physics Interactive Video Tutor Project (PIVOT) is a multi-layered teaching and learning Web environment built around MIT Professor Walter Lewin's physics course which will be used by college and high school students across the nation studying introductory-level physics. It is expected to serve as a template for additional MIT interactive video-based Web sites. Building upon NCAM's ongoing research into Web and multimedia accessibility, this project - Access to PIVOT - will identify and address the needs of deaf and blind students in the design of the user interface, the navigation systems, and the presentation of video, text, illustrations, graphs, tables and equations. The Access to PIVOT Project will allow NCAM to work with CAES throughout the development of the Web site to test and interpret current Web access guidelines and techniques. NCAM will research solutions, build CAES' institutional capability to provide access solutions, document the implementation process, and develop and test a set of recommended practices for other developers. Documentation of practical issues include: needs assessment, decision criteria for selecting access solutions, range and interoperability of access tools and related training as well as production challenges. Testing and evaluation with blind and deaf users will gauge the effectiveness of results. Technical advisors will ensure that emerging tools and capabilities are integrated into the Project. Web-based-education advisors will provide input into recommended practices and assist in dissemination. Project results will: o Enable science-focused high school and college students who are blind, visually impaired, deaf or hard-of-hearing to participate in an innovative and challenging Web-based introductory physics curriculum. o Enable the MIT Center for Advanced Educational Services to institutionalize the technical capabilities developed through this project to apply access solutions to a range of future educational products. o Provide developers, publishers, and distributors of distance-learning and educational multimedia with recommended practices and an applied demonstration of access-design principles for network-delivered multimedia. Recommended practices developed from this high-profile, real-world production model will be widely evaluated and, ideally, emulated by other Web-based curriculum developers. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Freed, Geoff WGBH Educational Foundation MA Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 500000 1545 SMET 9178 9177 9906189 June 15, 2000 PPD: SUCCEED-HI: Stimulating Understanding of Computational Science through Collaboration, Exploration, Experiment and Discovery for Hearing -Impaired students. Students with hearing impairments and their teachers are in significant danger of being left behind with regard to technology innovations, especially in the rapidly emerging area of computational science (computer modeling and simulation). The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC-G) Education of Deaf Children program, The Central North Carolina School for the Deaf (CNCSD), Interpreters, Inc., and the National Technical Institute of the Deaf (NTID), proposes a demonstration project entitled "Project SUCCEED-HI: Stimulating Understanding of Computational Science through Collaboration, Exploration, Experiment and Discovery for Students with Hearing Impairments." SUCCEED-HI builds on the success of an existing Shodor SUCCEED program to introduce middle and high school students to the technologies, techniques, and tools of computational science. The goal of this project is to develop quality materials - case studies, enhancement/enrichment activities, supplemental labs, projects for independent group research, science fair ideas, summer camp activities -- that all include one or more of the computational components. These materials will enable teachers to integrate computational science into the instructional programs of students with hearing impairments. Products to be developed in the project include grade and language appropriate materials for the use of computational science in science, mathematics, and the social sciences; supporting materials, such as technical signs for computational science: a report summarizing the results of pilot testing; and evaluation tools for use in continuing studies. Shodor's participation in the National Computational Science Alliance will ensure widespread dissemination of products, approaches, methods, and "lessons learned" through the appropriate national educational communities. The project methodology calls for the collaboration of pre-service and veteran educators of the hearing- impaired, computational scientists, and sign language experts, and the pilot-testing of materials and teaching strategies in a variety of in-school and extracurricular arenas. Shodor will make the process work by ensuring that continuous support for materials development, the collection, evaluation, and recording of technical signs, access to computing resources, and evaluation are coordinated and enabled by using collaborative tools and electronic networks. The major impact of this project will be the appropriate and authentic access to science and mathematics activities for students with hearing-impairments and their teachers. The development of curricular and technical signs for use in computational science will occur only with a concerted effort on the part of experienced and dedicated scientists and educators. Shodor and its partners are uniquely positioned, with the necessary expertise in both computational science education and education of the hearing-impaired, to ensure the success of this materials development effort. When completed, the result of these efforts will be teachers of students with hearing impairments who can master the computational science learning with competence and confidence. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Panoff, Robert Shodor Education Foundation Inc NC Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 446382 1545 SMET 9177 9906339 May 1, 2000 PGE/LCP: Using Inquiry-Based Learning, Multicultural Education, and Sociocultural Constructivism to Enhance Girls' Participation and Academic Performance in SMET. Even though women's enrollment in postsecondary institutions and graduation levels continue to increase, their participation in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) remains alarmingly low. At the root of this problem is the lack of science content knowledge preparation of elementary teachers. Elementary teachers often are only required to take as many as three science courses for certification, and they often are not exposed to a variety of pedagogical strategies for working effectively with girls in the classroom. These two factors, combined with a broad and superficial elementary science curriculum, work against making SMET relevant to students at an early age. At the same time, there is a desperate need to implement innovative and responsive intervention programs. Therefore, the proposed study will build on current research on gender inclusive teaching, inquiry-based learning, multicultural education, and sociocultural and constructivism to provide an alternate framework for enhancing the academic performance and participation of girls in SMET. Hence, we seek to explore the following research questions: 1. In what ways does an inquiry-based, sociocultural constructivist, and multicultural orientation to teaching enhance cooperating and preservice teachers' abilities to work effectively with girls in the elementary classroom? 2. In what ways does an inquiry-based, sociocultural constructivist, and multicultural orientation to teaching enhance girls' attitudes toward and academic performance in SMET? In what ways does an inquiry-based, sociocultural constructivist, and multicultural orientation to teaching help address the factors that negatively influence upper elementary girls' attitudes and academic performance in SMET over a period of three years (i.e., grades 4 though 6)? To explore these research questions, a three-year longitudinal study will be conducted. Three two-week summer institutes for 36 elementary teachers. The first institute will start with science, followed by mathematics and science, and then the integration of SMET during the third institute. Gender inclusive, minds-on activities will be modeled by the principal investigators in collaboration with three master teachers. Participating teachers will also be responsible for preparing a two-week curriculum unit in teams according to the grade level in which they teach. Data on pupil attitudes toward and performance grade level in science and mathematics will be gathered via questionnaires, unit pre- and post- content knowledge tests, and ethnographic interviews with a focus group. Preservice teachers will be paired with the teachers who participated in the summer workshop to increase the opportunities for professional development. Finally, the cooperating teachers' growth will be followed up as the girls in their classrooms progress from grades 4 to 6. Data will be analyzed using an ethnographic approach. Thus, all participants will be visited regularly using an ethnographic approach. Thus, all participants will be visited regularly by the research team, and several in-depth interviews and classroom observations will be conducted at key times during the course of the study. The results of this study should increase our understanding of how to effectively prepare teachers to teach SMET in gender inclusive and socially relevant ways. Similarly, this study will add insights on how to enhance the academic performance and attitude toward science of girls in diverse elementary schools. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Brown, Susan Patrick Scott Lisa Snow New Mexico State University NM Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 685941 1544 SMET 9177 9908658 March 1, 2000 PGE/SEP: WARM: Women's Animated Research in Mathematics. This extension of the Borough of Manhattan Community College's (BMCC's) highly successful NSF Gender Equity grant, Portfolios to Increase the Number of Women in Mathematics, will increase interest, retention and achievement of women in SMET. BMCC is one of the largest producers of associate degrees for African-American and Latino students in the country. An important part of the education of a mathematical scientist is the opportunity to try on the persona of a mathematician. Research is a key part of this persona, and we want to get more women involved. Project objectives are to improve the technological skills of our women research fellows, increase the number of women taking advanced mathematics courses, and to increase the number of women mathematics majors. To achieve these objectives, WARM: Women's Animated Research in Mathematics will: provide mathematical summer and academic year mathematical research fellowships; run one academic year and two summer workshops for these women research fellows; and develop both a print and web manual of projects for mathematical research that have been successful for community college women. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Wilkinson, Patricia Lawrence Sher Allan Felix CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College NY Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 99956 1544 SMET 9178 9908736 January 15, 2000 PGE/SEP: Women to Women: A Science Mentoring Network. Women for Women: A Science Mentoring Network at the State University of New York at Stony Brook draws on the commitment resources, and expertise of the University and its partners in this collaboration; the Brentwood and Riverhead School Districts and the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). We will create and sustain an ongoing cadre of undergraduate and graduate women mentors in science disciplines whose purpose is to encourage and support younger women in middle and high schools as they progress through their lives, studies, and careers in science, mathematics, engineering, or technology fields. The mentor thrust will train the university women to be exemplary mentors integrating in this effort the development of viable research experiences. This effort will offer middle and high school young women a year-long interaction with a committed mentor. We offer a semester-long mentor training course, a two-week summer campus-based, research oriented experience in which mentors and mentees will bond and work, and monthly follow-up activities during the academic year. Additionally, school-based advisors will be actively engaged with the young women, the mentors, and the science projects. Parents of the young women will be active participants in the delivery of project goals. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Steinfeld, Edith Lois Roman SUNY at Stony Brook NY Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 99778 1544 SMET 9179 9178 9177 9908753 January 1, 2000 PGE/SEP: Pilot Development and Testing of an Anthropomorphic Multimedia Theater for Fundamental Engineering Problem Solving for Pre-College Female Students. This project will develop and test pilot instructional software on CD-ROM and the Internet for female precollege students to foster the comprehension and appreciation of the intrinsic beauty and excitement of engineering as a human endeavor. Six pilot modules will be developed, each covering a typical problem in engineering economy, fluid mechanics' system, rigid-body mechanics, circuit analysis, mechanics of materials, and thermodynamics. Anthropomorphized machine parts and engineering formulas will interact with each other, guided by some of the world's greatest scientists. Without advanced math and science prerequisites, students will learn about the recursive nature and the methodological uniformities in system identification, pattern analysis and synthesis, simultaneous conditions, engineering approximation, and the "teamwork" of these general methods in pursuing a high learning efficiency in fundamental engineering problem-solving. Precollege teachers and counselors, recruited from northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, eastern Iowa, and northern Indiana, will be trained to use the pilot modules and to develop similar modules in two teacher and counselor workshops. Sixty female and sixty male precollege students will participate in a field test that will focus on the pedagogical effects of the multimedia series, recruited through the Rockford Public School District. Pre- and post-tests will evaluate students' learning about fundamental engineering problem-solving and their general attitudes toward math, science, and engineering. A comprehensive, independent evaluation will be conducted prior to national dissemination by an external evaluator. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Song, Xueshu Kristin Wilson Northern Illinois University IL Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 99966 1544 SMET 9177 9908757 April 1, 2000 PGE/SEP: MASTER IT: Mathematics And Science To Explore caReers - Investigating Together. MASTER IT is a collaboratively-planned program targeted at rural young women in the state of Kansas who have completed grades 7 and 8. Each year 48 young women, 24 rising eighth and 24 rising ninth graders, are selected to participate in MASTER IT. The objectives of this program are to: 1) make rural young women aware of applications of science and mathematics used in everyday functions, as well as in a variety of work places; 2) provide them with professional female role models in careers that are nontraditional to females; 3) strengthen their self esteem and confidence in doing mathematics and science; 4) show them the importance of continuing to take advanced mathematics and science classes in high school; and 5) set up a support network among peers and professionals. These efforts have been collaboratively designed by Emporia State University faculty and representatives from private and public institutions that serve Kansas residents. MASTER IT is a year-long program that consists of a one-week summer residential program followed by four Saturday activities throughout the school year. Activities during the summer component and at the Saturday meetings include hands-on investigations of mathematical and scientific concepts led by university women faculty and women professionals in industry, career discussions, field trips to corporate partners, and assertiveness and self esteem training. Furthermore, a listserv is used to maintain ongoing dialogue among the project staff, women professionals in industry, and the young women participants. An anticipated outcome of the project is the increased participation of young rural women in advanced science and mathematics high school courses. As a result of increased mathematical and scientific knowledge, the networking with successful professional women, and an increase in self-confidence, a second projected outcome is that these young women will seek careers that are traditionally held by males, such as engineering, computer science, and physics. Not only does MASTER IT provide a resource to keep young women in the mathematics and science pipeline, it provides other comprehensive universities or community organizations in rural settings, where corporate partners may not be in their immediate vicinity, with a framework to develop programs for young women. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Harrell, Marvin Elizabeth Yanik Emporia State University KS Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 102937 1544 SMET 9178 9177 9908759 January 1, 2000 PGE/SEP: Girls Dig It Online: An Internet Archaeology Resource for Girls. Girls Dig It Online will expand, refine and field test the Internet-enhanced learning component of Girls Dig It, a nationwide Girls Incorporated archaeology program for girls ages 12-14 currently being piloted at six test sites across the country. Girls Dig It Online will be piloted at four of the six Girls Dig It pilot sites - Santa Barbara, CA; Bloomington, IN; Lynne, MA; and St. Louis, MO - which have been selected for their archaeological resources and technological readiness. The program will reach out to low-income girls and girls of color in the critical early adolescent period when girls have traditionally traded in their interest in science, mathematics, and technology for other pursuits. Girls Dig It Online will use the popularity of archaeology - a science that captures the imaginations of young people - as a bridge to sustained participation in science and technology education for girls. The program will engage girls in discovery-based girl-centered activities that build their understanding of the principles of scientific investigation while building collaborative research teams at and among each of the four pilot sites. The computer-enhanced learning environment will include interactive online components for girls including: 1) A password-protected threaded discussion area hosted by a team of practicing professional archaeologists; 2) A monthly "Ask the Scientist" program that will create the opportunity for girls to ask questions of women scientists working in archaeology and related sciences; and 3) A publicly accessible area where girls will create and publish online science exhibitions chronicling their archaeological investigations, including photos, drawings and measurement records of artifacts being studied, hypotheses regarding the sites being excavated (either in simulation or as assistants to professional archaeologists) and debates about the validity of their hypotheses. The web site will also serve as a resource for adult program facilitators and will include: 1) A password-protected threaded discussion area where the adult facilitators of the program nationwide, along with the consulting archaeologists and other participating scientists can exchange their field notes on the effects of the online component on the girls' understanding of the scientific basis of archaeological inquiry, as well as their comfort level with working with computer and online technology; 2) A publication component where the results from this field test will be published as a resource for other educators developing web-assisted informal education programs. Building on its strong foundation of informal science education, including Eureka!. Career Development for Teen Girls through Math, Science and Sports; Operation SMART. Science, Math and Relevant Technology, and on its new initiative, GirlsLink, an effort to equip girls with technology skills to enhance their education and career preparedness, Girls Dig It Online promises to attract new groups of girls both to science through archaeology and to information technology through interactive and sophisticated uses of computer and Internet technology in a supportive environment. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Johnston Nicholson, Heather Ray Shortridge Girls Incorporated NY Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 99533 1544 SMET 9177 9908786 June 1, 2000 PGE/SEP: SEP Girls R.O.C.. The Girls Research Opportunities in Computing (Girls R.O.C.) project exposes girls, especially those from rural schools and minorities, to career opportunities in computer science. Girls R.O.C. is targeted at girls while their interest in computers is high and their enthusiasm can be encouraged through female role models, a non-competitive environment, group research, evening speakers, and field trips. In this project, middle-school girls are involved in a variety of classroom and hands-on activities that will expose them to ways that computers are used in research, business, and the home. The project consists of two three-week summer sessions with three follow-up campus visits during the following school year to continue research projects. Twenty-four girls will participate in each summer session for a total of 48 participants. Recruitment is limited to a 50-mile radius of Northern Louisiana University in order to make follow-up visits feasible. Each participant will be required to enter her research project in a local science fair. The project is led by three female project directors with the assistance of six female undergraduate computer science majors. The participants and the undergraduate assistants will live on campus during the three-week sessions. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Eaton, Virginia Charlotte Owens Kimberly Taylor The University of Louisiana at Monroe LA Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 99942 1544 SMET 9177 9909014 August 15, 2000 HBCU: Enhancing Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SMET) Education at Clark Atlanta University. CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY Clark Atlanta University (CAU) proposes a program, Enhancing Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education (SMET-Ed), that will increase the number of minority students enrolling in, and successfully completing baccalaureate programs that will prepare them to pursue graduate degrees in SMET disciplines. This will be accomplished through faculty enhancement, curriculum reform and enhancements, infrastructure development, undergraduate research experiences and critical transition activities. Specific desired outcomes are to achieve by 2004, at least, an undergraduate SMET enrollment of 1500, graduation classes with 250 SMET, majors, better than 80% retention of SMET students and 60% of each SMET graduating class continuing to graduate school. The proposed program, SMET-Ed, will support 30-50 students per year and impact over 1500 SMET students at the Atlanta University Center. It will ensure that all students have access to an excellent undergraduate SMET education and are taught through direct experiences and inquiry-based learning. Faculty enhancements will be accomplished through sabbatical/exchange programs, rewards for the best student mentors, visiting faculty programs, seminars and release time for SMET enhancement activities. Curriculum enhancements will involve development of courses/labs, revisions and assistance programs for SMET gate-keeping bottleneck courses, and integration of research into the curriculum. The new courses will include Preparatory General Chemistry, Problem Solving, Introduction to High Performance computing and environmental management and treatment technologies, precalculus, and electives in Astronomy and semiconductor devices. The revision and assistance program will affect all the introductory bottleneck courses in the SMET disciplines. A Design and Research Integration Learning Lab (DRILL) will be initiated to enhance research integration into the curriculum. Scientific writing and GRE Workshops will be organized to better prepare SMET students for graduate school. SMET students will be encouraged to seek a minor in information science and technology. The computer and network-based distance learning activities will enhance access to networked computer labs that provide greater instructional capabilities and support distance learning as part of a retention strategy. Infrastructure development will involve the purchase of equipment/instrumentation and the strengthening of the abilities of technical support personnel. Undergraduate research experiences will be enhanced through the Program for Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE), the Summer Undergraduate Research Exchange (SURE) and the Annual Competition for Originality in Research and Design (ACORD). SMET-Ed will ensure that every undergraduate SMET major participates in a research experience. It will also provide bridging strategies to address high school/undergraduate, undergraduate/graduate, and university/job market transitions. Planning, formative and summative evaluations will be conducted to measure the project outcomes, ascertain the merit and value of the activities, determine how mid-corrections will be made, and ensure that NSF policies and guidelines are strictly adhered to. Professor Y. D. Yeboah who has management training from the MIT Sloan School of Management and over 20 years of project management experience will direct the program. A Leadership Team of the chairs of the SMET departments and an Advisory Committee of internal and external experts will assist Professor Yeboah. The commitment of CAU is evidenced from the participation of Deans, release time for faculty, reduced indirect cost, and matching of equipment cost. CAU intends to become a leading institution in the production of well-prepared recipients of baccalaureate degrees in SMET disciplines who matriculate in the best research universities for advanced degrees. SMET-Ed will have a major impact in reversing the current decline in African American graduate enrollment. HIST BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIV HRD EHR Bowles, Dorcas Clark Atlanta University GA Camille A. McKayle Cooperative Agreement 3000000 1594 SMET 9178 1594 9976527 January 1, 2000 PGE/LCP : Agents for Change: Robotics for Girls. This 3-year project involves a collaboration among the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, including the GRASP robotics lab, at the University of Pennsylvania and two Clusters in the School District of Philadelphia. In response to current statistics documenting the extreme underrepresentation of girls and women in physical science and technology fields, the Agents for Change: Robotics for Girls Project undertakes to develop school-based and informal education projects and curriculum materials for middle school students designed to increase girls' participation rates, achievement, and motivation in these domains. Robotics is the organizing theme that provides a progressive sequence of hands-on learning experiences; has interesting and comprehensible applications; and integrates multiple areas of science, math, and technology in a seamless fashion. Project activities will a) emphasize connections to role models and mentors, b) provide extensive professional development for teachers and support staff to create equitable learning environments for underrepresented students, and c) involve families and community organizations in a support system helping girls to pursue education and careers related to science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The project will also be used as a research site to study current questions in gender and education with a large, multicultural pool of participants. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Massey, Christine James Ostrowski Gerald Weaver Thomasennia Amos University of Pennsylvania PA Ruta Sevo Continuing grant 874767 1544 SMET 9177 9979279 September 1, 2000 PGE/SEP: Partners in Engineering: A Problem-Based Learning Approach for Encouraging Women and Girls in SMET. The Partners in Engineering Program brings together adolescent girls from the University's rural region and a team of women engineering students from Clarkson University. Students will meet after school on a weekly basis for mentoring, leadership, and multidisciplinary problem solving activities, interspersed with field trips and visiting speakers. The program will increase students' participation, awareness, and interest in science and engineering, and will increase their capabilities and confidence in their critical thinking skills. Fifty to fifty five students will be directly impacted by the project. The project includes thorough assessment and dissemination activities. A holistic, problem-based learning approach will be employed as a vehicle to teach math, engineering, computing and science concepts. This approach not only improves students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills, but also foster an understanding of the relevance and usefulness of engineering within a larger social, political, and economic context, which tends to make these subjects more "female friendly." Throughout the course of each of two school years, college student mentors will lead middle school participants through the solution of a "real-world" problem of relevance to their school community. They will be challenged to understand critical issues associated with the problem and then find and implement an acceptable solution. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Powers, Susan Jan DeWaters Clarkson University NY Ruta Sevo Standard Grant 92899 1544 SMET 9178 9177 9979444 January 1, 2000 PEG/SEP: Design Engineering Teams: Influence of Gender Composition on Decision Making. The fields of engineering and science increasingly demand the use of team decision making in order to meet the needs of a rapidly developing technological society. Historically, women have been excluded from participating in the decision-making processes within these fields. Today women are increasingly breaking through stereotypical beliefs and barriers that have discouraged many in the past from entering and advancing in these fields. Because of such advances, current team decision-making research shows the need to examine the interactions and mixed gender team decision making. The objective of this study is to investigate how the gender composition influences the decision-making process of engineering design teams in the quality of the developed solution, the roles of team members, and the quality of experiences of team members. The proposed study will explore the mixed gender decision-making processes of student teams enrolled in the first and second year of the Engineering Practices Introductory Course Sequence (EPICS) at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM). Experts in the field of team decision making have recognized the importance of this proposed research agenda. The time required to complete this study is 12 months, with the first phase of the study spent collecting literature and development instruments. In the second phase, an experimental observation will be conducted of approximately 70 mixed-gender teams composed of four engineering design students enrolled in the first and second year of EPICS at CSM. The students are assigned an "ill-structured" design program where neither the solution process nor the goal is well defined. This study will lead to future studies concerning the influence that gender has upon the engineering team decision-making process. Results from this study could have profound implications for the effectiveness and economic viability of mixed gender team decision making. Plans to collaborate with other institutions are already in progress; these institutions have been contacted and are supportive of this research. This research will be shared with CSM faculty and students, and the gender equity research community. The investigators propose that the results from this study will contribute to current gender equity research and models designed to facilitate the interest, motivation, and achievement of women in the fields of science and engineering. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Knecht, Robert Barbara Moskal Debra Lasich Colorado School of Mines CO Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 99933 1544 SMET 9178 9979478 January 1, 2000 PGE/SEP: Project ADVANCE: Developing A Resilient Cohort of Women in Quantitative Sciences. HRD-9979478 Duke University Project Advance at Duke University will recruit and develop a resilient cohort of talented first-year women students in the quantitative sciences, focusing particularly on mathematics, computer science, and statistics. As a highly selective private research university, Duke attracts women undergraduates with demonstrated excellence in science and mathematics and high self-esteem. We seek to sustain and enhance these characteristics by developing an experimental project that intentionally links pedagogical components of the first-year curriculum, introduces an innovative, interdisciplinary half-credit seminar designed to develop students' self-perceptions and identity as scientists, and establishes a structure for guided mentorships to help this talented cohort navigate successfully through science and mathematics experiences. We have targeted the first college year because of the critical role it plays in the transition from high school to the undergraduate major, in fostering women's identity as scientists and mathematicians, and in providing the skills and experiences requisite for advanced study and successful careers. This multidimensional project builds on the pedagogies of engagement and current research on processes, such as self-identity and negative stereotypes, that have been shown to facilitate or inhibit achievement. It will provide experimental data that can be broadened across the sciences and serve as a model for how research universities, in general, can foster a more welcoming environment for the retention and support of women and, thus, foster careers of distinction. RES ON GENDER IN SCI & ENGINE HRD EHR Thompson, Robert Andrea Bertozzi Duke University NC Margrete S. Klein Standard Grant 99924 1544 SMET 9178 9985933 October 1, 2000 The Oyate Consortium: Model Institutions of Exellence (Phase II). The Oyate Consortium consists of five Lakota reservation colleges and universities (Oglala Lakota College, Sinte Gleske University, Sitting Bull College, Sisseton-Wahpeton Community College, and Si Tanka College). This award follows an initial MIE award that provided substantial network infrastructure, physical infrastructure, personnel infrastructure, and course and curriculum development aimed towards the development of Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technical Education (SMETE) capacity at Native American colleges. This award will continue these activities building upon existing infrastructure to develop new information (Information Technology BS and an MS in Environmental Science, articulations with additional non-reservation colleges and universities, and additional outreach to Native American Schools (at least 10). Additionally, methods of institutionalization of the MIE accomplishments will be pursued including the development of an endowment for SMETE capacity and the means for providing housing for faculty and, perhaps, for students at the campus sites. MODEL INST OF EXCELL NON-RESER HRD EHR Phelps, Stacy Oglala Lakota College SD Lura J. Chase Cooperative Agreement 7476585 1582 SMET 9179 9986689 August 1, 2000 PPD: Computer Science Program for Students with Disabilities. The intent of this project is to develop a barrier-free computer science program that is accessible to students with disabilities. Computer Science is a popular major choice for high school students with disabilities planning to go to college. The number of Computer Science majors at the college level has increased significantly, but few students with disabilities are among these computer science majors. A number of barriers exist for these students in a traditional computer science curriculum. Three of the major barriers are: Little assistive technology is available to aid students in learning to program, the main focus of the first two years in a computer science curriculum. The science and mathematics courses of a computer science curriculum are usually not set up to use existing assistive technology that is specifically designed for these kinds of classes. The traditional ways that most computer science courses are taught make heavy use of visual images and abstractions that cannot be easily interpreted by students with visual disabilities and some learning disabilities. We will begin by focusing our tool development on students with visual disabilities. The assistive computer equipment for the project, however, will also support students with limited mobility disabilities. The project will also tangentially support students with hearing and some learning disabilities since the activities and tools to be developed will offer alternative representations of information. Three major goals have been identified for the project: i. Build a high quality, barrier-free, computer science degree program for the southeast region of Minnesota that can serve as a model for other computer science programs in the country. It will be important for this first program to be of high quality so there is no question that graduates of the program are any less qualified than other computer scientists, and it can serve as a valid model for other programs in the country. ii. Develop awareness among Minnesota high school students with disabilities, as well as their counselors, teachers, and parents, of the opportunity to major in computer science in college. It will be necessary to actively recruit students into the program in the beginning. As these students successfully move through the program, however, majoring in Computer Science will be able to be seen as a realistic possibility for future high school students with disabilities. iii. Increase awareness, for all students and faculty in the programs, of barriers faced in computing by people with disabilities. As computer scientists become more aware of these barriers, they will be better able to design future software programs that are accessible from the start. CCLI-ADAPTATION AND IMPLEMENTA RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Francioni, Joan Ann Smith Winona State University MN Ted A. Conway Continuing grant 450000 7428 1545 SMET 9179 9178 9177 9988729 February 1, 2000 PPD: Communication/Dissemination Project on Science Education Resources for Students with Disabilities. This project is a communication/information dissemination activity aimed at teachers, administrators and teacher educators to improve their knowledge and familiarity with resources for the teaching of science to students with disabilities. The project will continue an existing alliance with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) to enhance equity for all students in science. The mode of delivery will be a two-day preconference program presented at the NSTA annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, on April 5-6, 2000, and maintaining an exhibit booth in the exhibition hall throughout the meeting. The project will educate professionals providing services to students with disabilities about effective resources, and teaching/assessment strategies. The disability areas addressed will include motor/orthopedic impairments, deaf and hard of hearing, visual impairments, learning disabilities, cognitive impairments, and behavioral disabilities. Information in the areas of career awareness, teacher education, research on effective teaching, methods of instruction, materials and programs, evaluation and assessment, and educational organizations and agencies will be disseminated to all participants in the project. The proposed effort will address responsibilities of educators contained in legislative mandates (I.E. Rehabilitation Act, 1973; Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 1997), inequities reflected in the literature concerning opportunities in science for students with disabilities, and informational needs of teachers and teacher educators in making science instruction responsive to students with disabilities. RES IN DISABILITIES ED HRD EHR Stefanich, Greg University of Northern Iowa IA Ted A. Conway Standard Grant 45178 1545 SMET 9180