NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: Developing and Strengthening Partnerships to Better Support Women of Color in the Engineering Workforce

Society Of Women Engineers, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

This NSF INCLUDES planning grant is funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale. The goals of this planning grant are to: 1) establish the Women of Color in Engineering Collaborative (WCEC), a partnership network of professional engineering associations and STEM-based companies dedicated to addressing systemic barriers that prohibit equitable work environments for women engineers of color; 2) create a shared vision focused on dismantling systemic barriers that impede the retention and advancement of women engineers of color; and 3) develop a strategic plan to guide WCEC activities. Reaching parity in engineering cannot be accomplished by approaches that solely focus on the recruitment or “fixing” of underrepresented groups; rather, efforts that connect and energize people, cross divides, and drive systemic change toward equity are needed. To date, many NSF INCLUDES projects have focused on the recruitment and retention of students into STEM education programs, but the WCEC will focus on the often cited, yet understudied, challenge of retaining women in the engineering workforce. Through the WCEC, partner organizations will better leverage their resources to promote systemic change while working collectively to decrease the barriers that lead to the attrition of women engineers of color. To reach the goals stated above, this project includes two convenings and monthly workgroup meetings. The first two-day virtual convening will include representatives from thirty organizations, including professional engineering associations and STEM-based companies. Participants will develop a shared vision, identify barriers that exist in the workplace for women engineers of color, and determine which of these barriers the WCEC is best positioned to address. Workgroups will be established around specific supports aimed at addressing those barriers. Over the course of the next six months, WCEC partners will work within their workgroups to develop a strategy to facilitate collaborative activities for their specific support. A second virtual convening will be held to consolidate the workgroup strategies and develop an integrated strategic plan to support the continuation of WCEC activities. The WCEC will develop a final report that includes the integrated strategic plan that includes a Shared Vision statement, a detailed master list of resources to support women of color in the engineering workforce, potential collaborative activities, and an outlined infrastructure to facilitate these activities moving forward. We aim to create an engaged stakeholder community and develop a Shared Vision and Partnerships to support a collaborative infrastructure that encourages an alignment of efforts, removal of resource barriers, reduction of duplication, increased leveraging of resources, and greater reach to women engineers of color in the workforce. The work of the WCEC will add to the STEM equity knowledge base, with outcomes shared through the NSF INCLUDES National Network. 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.