Broadening Participation: An Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program Dissemination Conference

University Of Alaska Anchorage Campus, Anchorage AK

Investigators

Abstract

The investigators outline a plan to host a dissemination conference on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage to share and scale exemplary practices that broaden participation among Native Alaskans and other traditionally underrepresented groups. The project is based on an emerging successful broadening participant program that aims to increase the representation of Alaska Natives in engineering. The Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP) is comprehensive model program that currently works with 2,000 students. A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the program was completed in 2015 by the Urban Institute. They found that the ANSEP model offers important lessons for other science, technology, engineering and mathematics education programs for underrepresented minorities, especially in its engagement of students from middle school through graduate school. Alaska has one of the most expensive K12 education systems in the nation and consistently ranks at the bottom for performance at all levels. Many of the conditions and student outcomes are similar to those found in under-served communities across the nation including inner cities, the Mississippi Delta, rural America, Appalachia, and Indian reservations. ANSEP has catalyzed a change in the educational paradigm and established a comprehensive set of components that extend from 6th grade to graduate school. The aim is effecting systemic change to improve the recruitment, progression, and advancement of Alaska Natives in the engineering workforce. The program has leveraged NSF support to sustain and institutionalize the various programmatic components through partnerships with more than 100 industrial firms, philanthropic organizations, federal and state agencies, schools, colleges, and universities who provide resources, advocacy, research opportunities, and internships. Seven teams from a variety of institutional types will be selected to participate in the dissemination conference. Teams will include a cross-section of higher education, secondary school, industry and philanthropic partners. Participants will be solicited from targeted institutions where a replication of the work will have the greatest impact and highest likelihood of success. The conference is designed to be hands-on and experiential. Teams will learn from panels of ANSEP partners, students, and alumni, and will participate in and observe activities associated with the ANSEP programmatic components. Each team will develop a customized program based on the nuances of their local contexts.