NSF INCLUDES Alliance: Inclusive Graduate Education Network

American Physical Society, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The Inclusive Graduate Education Network (IGEN) Alliance is an NSF INCLUDES Alliance involving a partnership of over 30 societies, institutions, organizations, corporations, and national laboratories poised to lead a paradigm shift in the participation of underrepresented racial and ethnic minority (UREM) students attaining a PhD in the physical sciences. Participation by UREM students in the physical sciences has never matched their representation in the population and the fraction of doctoral degrees earned by UREM students is dramatically less than the fraction of bachelor degrees earned by the same groups. This disparity is specifically salient because these students constitute a significant, growing, and essentially untapped source of domestic scientific talent. To erase this gap, the IGEN Alliance proposes an innovative strategy to institutionalize inclusive, evidence-based practices for selecting and training a diverse, innovative, and globally competitive scientific workforce. The primary partners in the IGEN Alliance are the American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, American Geophysical Union, American Astronomical Society, and Materials Research Society. These societies are uniquely positioned to lead efforts in the physical sciences that empower faculty members to reform and improve their graduate education practices. Together, our partners represent a constellation of organizations and individuals from disciplinary societies representing UREM students, major national laboratories, prominent industries, and leading social science researchers, who can address systemic issues that inhibit success of underrepresented students in attaining doctoral degrees - degrees that enable them to advance science and provide technological innovations for the United States. To achieve our participation and completion goals, our Alliance is 1) catalyzing UREM graduate enrollment through new application and holistic review processes championed by the professional societies in each discipline, 2) sustaining such growth by propagating programs that create more inclusive graduate education environments, and 3) improving student mentoring through critical transitions from undergraduate experiences, graduate school, and finally into the workforce. Collectively defined metrics are being used to ensure program components are supporting progress towards the Alliance's goals. The IGEN backbone organization is building infrastructure, processes, communications, and networks that support the widespread adoption of effective inclusive practices in graduate STEM education. The Alliance's Research and Inclusive Practices Hubs support leadership development, both in graduate education research and inclusive graduate education practice and professional development. Each IGEN Alliance component is designed with two principles in mind: national-scale impact and long-term sustainability. While IGEN is beginning its work in the physical sciences, expansion is being actively pursued through dialog with other disciplines including engineering, computer science, biological sciences, and mathematics. Professional societies have the unique opportunity to lead as advocates for commonly held values, as centralized sources for effective practice, and as organizations that can sustain long-term initiatives. The leadership of each society is committed to this challenge and is strategically aligning to this NSF INCLUDES Alliance's vision of achieving equity for underrepresented groups in doctoral degree attainment. This NSF INCLUDES Alliance is co-funded by the Division of Physics in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate. This NSF INCLUDES Alliance is also funded by the NSF's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program, which targets increasing the number of historically underrepresented minority faculty in STEM disciplines. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.