ECR Projects

Explore past and current fundamental STEM education research projects across the three research areas that NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program funds, as well as across ECR funding types. Other search filters draw from both NSF's data and the ECR Hub's hand coding of award abstracts.

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Broadening Participation in STEM Broadening Participation in STEM

Integrated Research and Education for Professional Identity Development in Undergraduate Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Women

Effective Years: 2019-2024

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. This project awarded to a CAREER scholar at North Carolina A&T State University has the goal to understand the professional identity development (PID) processes of emerging women professionals in the fields or architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) towards informing educational and institutional transformations that strengthen women's persistence in becoming AEC professionals. This project integrates research and education by developing a year-round blended Professional Development Certificate Program (PDCP) and establishing the Emerging Built Environment Women (EBEW) center. This award is supported by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program. HBCU-UP encourages STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in broadening participation.

To achieve the goal of this project, robust foundational grounded theories will be constructed to provide nuanced insights into why and how the multiple identities, lived experiences and major concerns of undergraduate AEC women interact with their PID process. A multi-year, multi-site, and multi-method constructivist approach to grounded theory research will be utilized with primary data obtained from intensive interviews with critical incident and symbolic interactionist emphasis. The comparative and iterative synthesis of coded and emergent data obtained from a cohort of undergraduate AEC women from five institutions over a four-year period will provide a longitudinal understanding of why and how their views and actions change with their lived experiences across educational stages. Methodological triangulation methods of data include textual analysis of formal documents and open-ended question surveys. Emergent theories from the research will inform practical implementation of the PDCP and the EBWE center and subsequent findings will provide greater insights into research findings. The construction of robust discipline-specific PID process theories will bridge gaps in identity and diversity theories and inform transformations for more gender inclusive AEC educational and institutional environments, which will enhance the early awareness, attraction, preparation, and persistence of the next generation of women AEC professionals. Theoretical foundations will guide future identity and diversity research that can be extended to other persistent male-dominant STEM disciplines. Improved gender inclusive environments will expand the pool of qualified AEC women for a more diverse AEC workforce.

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.