gseSpace: An Online Professional Networking Environment for the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Community

Wepan Inc, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual Merit: The Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) proposes to create an online professional networking environment called "gseSpace" to serve the needs of people working to increase the participation of women in science and engineering. The gseSpace will leverage WEPAN?s Knowledge Center (WKC) with focused outreach, facilitation and dissemination activities targeted to those supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) program, Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE). This project will provide public access to enduring grant-related documents from the GSE community in the WKC database. The GSE community incorporates social science researchers, education program evaluators, educators, practitioners, policy analysts, and professional associations focused on the issue of underrepresentation. With such wide interests and perspectives, the exchange of information, mutual inspiration, and the transfer of knowledge between members of the GSE community is challenging. Abstracts, articles, and other conference-related documents are difficult to navigate and do not facilitate ongoing interaction. An online environment for supporting shared work-in-progress, results, and professional networking will create more cohesion, leverage knowledge gained, broaden experience with promising practices, and generally increase visibility of GSE-related issues. The gseSpace will also facilitate the transfer and translation of research into practice. Broader Impacts: Researchers and other interested parties studying underrepresentation can be better sustained, strengthened, and helped to greater success through a community such as that proposed by gseSpace. Ultimately, the interest lies in greater science and engineering literacy in our society, leading to more students choosing science and engineering careers, and a more diverse workforce and faculty. This project will offer the grantee and potential-grantee community more support, interaction, engagement and communication than currently available.