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Kaptur: National Science Foundation Awards UT Researchers $123,859

August 27, 2016

WASHINGTON, DC– Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) joined the National Science Foundation (NSF) to announce the award of $123,859 to The University of Toledo to “develop practical strategies for broadening the participation of African American students in engineering.” The project will conduct a comparative study of the factors affecting the success and pathways to engineering careers of underrepresented minority students at both The University of Toledo and Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University.

This project, entitled "Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: Factors Affecting Underrepresented Minority Student Success and Pathways to Engineering Careers at Majority and Minority Institutions," is under the direction of the project’s principal investigator, Lesley Berhan, Associate Professor in the department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering. Berhan is joined by Revathy Kumar, Professor of Educational Psychology, and Willie McKether, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, both co-principal investigators. The award starts Oct. 01, 2016.

“Once again, The University of Toledo is on the forefront of cross-cutting, long-term research that will determine our economic destiny,” said Congresswoman Kaptur. “It’s important for future generations and our economic standing to understand and develop the means to maximize opportunity for all of our citizens to contribute to their best God-given abilities. This research aims to do that.”

“The broader impact of this project is that it addresses the national need to diversify the engineering workforce,” Berhan said. "The results will be used to identify areas where existing practices might be improved and to inform the design of programs and intervention strategies to improve the success of underrepresented engineering students not only at our home institutions, but at institutions across the country.”

The NSF’s Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) “integrate disciplinary basic research and education conducted in other divisions of NSF’s engineering programs, and across NSF, into strategic frameworks critical to addressing societal grand challenges and to promoting innovation.”

According to the NSF:

“This project is motivated by the need to develop practical strategies for broadening the participation of African American students in engineering. While inadequate college preparation is a contributing factor in the low enrollment and poor retention and graduation rates among underrepresented students in engineering programs, there is evidence that professional persistence is directly linked to identity development and social and academic interactions. For students from underrepresented groups in STEM at both Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), it is generally recognized that social capital in the form of familial, peer and mentor support is critical to persistence in their major field of study. However, the role that embedded networks within student groups in general and minority engineering affinity groups in particular play in engineering students' identity formation and academic success is not well understood. It is also not clear how other factors including institutional support and the attitudes and beliefs of faculty and staff toward underrepresented minority students affect the ability of these students to integrate into the social and academic systems at their institutions and how these factors influence the formation and development of their identities as engineers. The influence of these factors will be investigated in this project. The insight gained into the factors affecting the social and academic survival of students at PWIs and HBCUs from the psychological and anthropological perspective proposed will potentially lead to new approaches and pathways to broadening participation and improving the success of underrepresented minority students in engineering.

The central objective of this interdisciplinary, interinstitutional research initiation project is to conduct a comparative study of the factors affecting the success and pathways to engineering careers of underrepresented minority students at the University of Toledo (a Predominantly White Institution (PWI)) and Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (a Historically Black University). Specifically, the comparative investigation will focus on three areas: 1. The attitudes and beliefs of faculty and staff toward underrepresented students and how these attitudes influence their classroom, and advising interactions and expectations, and the impact they have on the students' sense of belonging and academic success; 2. The existing institutional support mechanisms at both institutions and students' perceptions of their efficacy and the role they perceive these mechanisms play in their academic success; and 3. The influence of student organizations - specifically underrepresented Minority engineering affinity groups and the embedded networks therein on the social and academic integration of African American students at the two types of institutions. The study will be embedded in the existing literature on faculty/teacher expectations of their students, the dual process model of attitude-to-behavior processes, and achievement goal motivation theory to examine faculty implicit attitudes, students perceptions of and feelings about the institution and program, and their academic and social outcomes.”

Congresswoman Kaptur is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, which has funding responsibilities and oversight over the National Science Foundation.

Background:

The National Science Foundation announcement: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1640553

For background on the NSF’s Engineering Education and Centers: https://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=eec

For background on Assistant Professor Lesley Berhan: https://www.eng.utoledo.edu/mime/faculty_staff/faculty/lberhan/

For background on The University of Toledo: www.utoledo.edu