Track 1: Conference - Two Means to an End, Broadening participation research and practice - CAREER panel and workshop for DEIA leaders

Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

The vision of the CoNECD (pronounced, “connected”) Conference is to provide a forum for exploring current research and practices to enhance diversity and inclusion of all underrepresented populations in the engineering and computing professions including gender identity and expression, race and ethnicity, disability, veterans, LGBTQ+, 1st generation and socio-economic status. The CoNECD Conference is dedicated to all the diverse groups that comprise our engineering and computing workforce. The purpose of this project is twofold: 1) to enable the hosting of a panel of CAREER awardees at the CoNECD Conference and 2) to provide a preconference workshop to bring together Engineering Diversity Leaders (EDLs) from engineering academic units for a workshop to enhance both their DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) skillsets and enable the creation of a community of professionals. The Faculty Early CAREER Development Program (CAREER) is an NSF-wide program recognized as one of the most prestigious awards supporting early career faculty research efforts. It recognizes the importance of early academic career development and emphasizes the importance of the link between research and education. Research results in this area must be broadly shared with practitioners and other researchers to reap the full benefits of the research outcomes. EDLs are tasked with fostering inclusive environments and attending to retention and recruitment efforts at the undergraduate, graduate, and/or faculty levels. Additionally, they serve a community that includes pre-college, undergraduate, and graduate students and faculty and staff. However, being brought in as leaders and experts in their field, more is needed to know about the degree of support, professional development opportunities, and community these individuals have within their respective colleges and universities that pertain directly to their responsibilities. Bringing together researchers in this space and providing practical knowledge through information sharing in a workshop setting can be pivotal for practitioners in DEI leadership. This project will enable knowledge and community sharing of current practices in broadening participation through DEI leadership work with those charged with achieving this goal. It is expected that this will enable the practitioners to navigate political, resource-driven, and new environments that will increase the numbers of underrepresented and underserved individuals who engage in engineering and computing. Creating a community of DEI leaders in engineering/engineering technology academic units will facilitate sharing of ideas and best practices, as well as the development of mentoring relationships. The work conducted by EDLs is critical in achieving the stated goals and vision of equity, inclusion, and diversity at the college of engineering/technology level. Their work can be far-reaching in a college’s attempt to fulfill its strategic plans for DEI. For many colleges, these roles are new positions and relatedly have a limited body of research to reference for experiences, best practices, and community development. It is vital to cultivate and encourage a community of support for these individuals by connecting individuals with each other to share knowledge and history. This community of practice can share necessary tools, resources, and support to further their career goals and work successes. Additionally, we must bridge the research-to-practice divide. By bringing practitioners and researchers into the same space via the CoNECD conference, this project will enable greater communication between these groups and aid in disseminating research to those most suitable to implement interventions based on the research outcomes. 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.