2023 Collaborative Network for Computing and Engineering Diversity (CoNECD)

Sparking shifts in STEM: Facilitating equitable change through workshops on emerging and understudied research questions

Presented at Session 2 - Track 4: Sparking shifts in STEM: Facilitating equitable change through workshops on emerging and understudied research questions

Faculty, Professional, Race/Ethnicity, Gender
Building on the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) ADVANCE program efforts towards organizational change for equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions, the NSF-funded ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network promotes systemic change by producing new perspectives, methods, and interventions for gender equity in STEM through an intersectional, intentional, and inclusive lens. The ARC Network aims to enable authentic, intentional dialogue between researchers and practitioners and facilitate the adoption and implementation of evidence-based systemic initiatives that affect those in STEM workplaces by providing relevant resources and programming.
One of these programs, the Emerging Research Workshop (ERW), engages scholars from multiple disciplines in intensive, two-day workshops designed to prioritize under-studied research questions within a general theme related to innovative and emerging research on faculty equity in STEM. These workshops serve to spark new research agendas and shift dialogue from the status quo to new and creative ways to understand and successfully address equity issues in STEM. The scholars nominated to participate represent a diverse array of disciplines, research specialties, institution types, career stages, and social demographic backgrounds. At the conclusion of these workshops, the urgent themes that emerged and suggestions for future research directions are synthesized into a report to be shared with the broader community.
Over the past year, two ERWs were held with themes related to engineering and computing. The theme identified as a primary area in need of further research exploration in STEM workplaces for the first workshop was “Using Big Data and Algorithms to Foster Equity in STEM”. The scholars prioritized three research frontiers at this workshop: 1) the problem of missing variables, values, and populations in big datasets; 2) the need for qualitative methods to complement big data approaches; and 3) designing interventions based upon results from analysis of large datasets. The theme identified for the second workshop was “Problematic Jargon in STEM”. The scholars from this workshop prioritized five research frontiers: 1) the development of a catalog and taxonomy of problematic language; 2) a metahistorical compilation of previous name changes across disciplines; 3) persuasion strategies for convincing scientists to change their usage; 4) antiracism and anti-oppression curricular development; and 5) the role of professional societies to effect culture change.
This presentation elaborates on the urgent themes identified at each workshop and invites the audience to engage in further conversation around these topics.

Authors

Dr. Joan M Herbers ARC Network
Heather E. Metcalf PhD WEPAN, Inc. [biography]

Heather Metcalf, PhD, is the Director of Research for the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). She serves as an investigator on several NSF-funded initiatives including the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network, which focuses on gender equity in academic STEM through an inclusive, intentional, and intersectional lens; Amplifying the Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success (ACCESS+), which cultivates gender equity across all of the activities of STEM professional societies; the ADVANCE and INCLUDES I-Corps Inclusion Collective, which aims to create more equitable and inclusive I-Corps programs; the New Jersey Equity in Commercialization Collective, which works with technology transfer offices and investors across the state of New Jersey to build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive commercialization ecosystem; and the Commemorating 20 Years of ADVANCE: Design Thinking Sessions for a Digital Exhibit and Archive project. She is also PI for the WEPAN Accelerator, an entrepreneurship accelerator program for women in engineering funded by the Small Business Administration.

Prior to joining WEPAN, Dr. Metcalf did her postdoctoral research at the University of Arizona as part of their NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant and was Chief Research Officer at the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). Dr. Metcalf has undergraduate degrees in applied mathematics and computer science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, master’s degrees in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and gender studies from the University of Arizona, and a doctorate in higher education, science, and technology policy from the University of Arizona.
Virginia L Rhodes M.S. The Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) [biography]

Virginia Rhodes is the ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network Project Director, one of the initiatives of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). She is passionate about advancing the culture of inclusion and diversity within STEM disciplines, and her background and experience in the social sciences and the broader ADVANCE community has allowed her to utilized her research expertise and put that knowledge into practice. She applies psychological concepts and interventions to address gender and racial disparities throughout multiple STEM fields. She becomes most excited about creating change related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and strives to build more intersectional and informed communities of practice.

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Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology
Faculty
gender
professional
race/ethnicity