NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: Inclusive STEM Workforce Development Program

University Of Cincinnati Main Campus, Cincinnati OH

Investigators

Abstract

NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: Inclusive STEM Workforce Development Program 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 goal of this planning grant is broadening participation in STEM workplaces and increasing the ability of employers to hire and retain well qualified employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The current work will investigate the workplace training and mentoring within the Cincinnati STEM Accessibility Alliance to support the recruitment, selection, and retention of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the STEM workplace. This project will build upon the collaborative infrastructure previously established by the Cincinnati STEM Accessibility Alliance to develop a leadership and communication plan across a broad network of universities and local and national STEM companies. This network of national partners will collaboratively develop a shared vision to address a significant issue to the field. This NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant project will enable the collaborative design and development of a workplace support model that will have the potential to shift the traditional job coaching programs that most often place employees with autism in secluded workplace environments, and move STEM industries towards a fully integrated and innovative workforce inclusive of neurodiverse perspectives. Future activities beyond the scope of this current planning grant project have the potential to lead to further evaluation, development, and implementation of workplace training programs across a wide range of STEM-industries and environments. 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.