Convergence HTF: A Workshop Shaping Research on Human-Technology Partnerships to Enhance STEM Workforce Engagement

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

The landscape of jobs and work is changing rapidly, driven by the development of new technologies. Intelligent, automated machines and services are a growing part of jobs and the workplace. New technologies are enabling new forms of learning, skills assessments, and job training. The potential benefits of these technologies include increased productivity and satisfaction, and more job opportunities. The workshop supported by this award aims to harness these innovations to enhance the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) job opportunities and workforce engagement of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and related developmental disabilities. The workshop will promote the convergence of psychology, data science, computer science, engineering, learning science, special education, organizational behavior, and business to define key challenges and research imperatives at the nexus of humans, technology, and work. This convergence workshop will employ deep integration of knowledge, theories, methods, and data from multiple fields to form new and expanded frameworks for addressing scientific and societal challenges and opportunities. The results of the workshop will include the identification and sharing of new research directions and tools to enhance STEM workforce engagement of individuals with ASD and related developmental disabilities. This convergence workshop addresses the future of work at the human-technology frontier. The workshop will explore tools and approaches to enhance retention, engagement, and productivity in STEM jobs, and specifically to harness unique capabilities and accommodate for individual needs of individuals with ASD. The workshop will develop a convergence research agenda around four topics, including 1) human-technology partnerships to support success in K-12 STEM education, 2) tools for characterizing individual capabilities and affinities and mapping these to STEM workforce needs, 3) artificial-intelligence and visual-cognition tools for human interaction with data, and 4) technologies to accommodate for unique needs and capabilites in the workplace. These topics will integrate previously disparate disciplines and research approaches, with speakers encompassing a wide range of subject matter expertise; from engineers and technologists who are developing human-technology interfaces and devices, to psychologists who are harnessing human-technology partnerships to better understand unique human capabilities for STEM, to computer scientists who are studying and developing novel data-visualization approaches patterned on autistic visual thinking, to organizational scientists developing innovative employment models for the creation of STEM sector employment spaces and technologies that leverage and support autistic individuals in the workforce. The conclusions and recommendations from the workshop will be disseminated via a white paper, and will be used to design a research agenda to help leverage human-technology advances to maximize workforce opportunities and productivity.