Building Research Capacity for STEM Faculty Development

Clemson University, Clemson SC

Investigators

Abstract

Faculty in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines face intensifying pressures in the 21st century, including multiple roles as educator, researcher, and entrepreneur. They typically teach at both the undergraduate and graduate level. They write proposals and secure funding to support students at multiple levels. They mentor undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral scholars. They present and publish their research outcomes in highly rigorous outlets. They are expected to communicate their research to a broad array of audiences such as the scientific community, undergraduate and graduate students, K-12 students and educators, and the general public. Societal needs of their expertise include discovery, innovation, and workforce development. It is critical to provide STEM faculty with the professional development to support their complex roles and to base this development on evidence derived from research. Much research has been focused on STEM faculty development in support of teaching and student-centered learning with less attention on the other aspects of the professoriate in the 21st century. Therefore, the proposed workshop will bring together participants who are scholars, practitioners, policy-makers, industrial partners, and thought-leaders to assemble a research agenda on faculty development focused on the STEM disciplines. In this project a group of 30 experts will convene at Clemson University for a 1 1/2 day workshop. These experts will participate in a combination of plenary sessions and small group activities to identify the outstanding research questions associated with faculty development and craft a research agenda. The primary outcome of the workshop will be a set of effective STEM faculty development characteristics that can be implemented based on the outcomes of the workshop and explored in future projects. The findings and final report from the workshop will be disseminated through a project website, a collective blog, and presentations at conferences. Widespread dissemination of the report will spur new research on how to best support faculty in their role as educators of future engineers.