Institute for Measurement Methodology in Rural STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (IMMERSE-PRF)

University Of South Carolina At Columbia, Columbia SC

Investigators

Abstract

The project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research program which is designed to develop investigators' capacity to carry out high quality STEM education research. The project leverages the Institute for Measurement Methodology in Rural STEM Education that is supported by the ECR” Building Capacity in STEM Education Program. The project team will implement a two-year training program for three postdoctoral fellows to prepare them to become trans disciplinary scholars who can conduct research on rural STEM education and workforce development. The fellows will be positioned to measure and address barriers and protective factors relevant to rural communities and to contribute scholarship that could influence local, state, and/or federal policy and practice. The project team will provide state-of-the-art methodology and theory training to the fellows to teach the latest advanced psychometric and statistical techniques, theoretical perspectives critical to STEM education,, and current software programs and applications. The postdoctoral fellows will receive mentoring by a core of faculty scholars, in depth experience in grantsmanship and publishing in academic journals, and instruction in using nationally representative large databases. The fellows also will implement self-directed research studies that align with their research interests and professional goals. The interdisciplinary training environment and focus on measurement science could elevate the rigor of rural STEM education research across multiple lines of inquiry and disciplines. The project responds to the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field. 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.