MCA: Mid-Career Advancement - Using STEM Interest Profiling to Build a STEM ecosystems for underrepresented students.

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program through cross-directorate Mid-Career Advancement solicitation NSF 21-516 supports scientists and engineers at the Associate Professor rank (or equivalent) to substantively enhance and advance their research program through synergistic and mutually beneficial partnerships, typically at an institution other than their home institution. The overall goal of this project is to enhance and advance the research agenda of the principal investigator (PI) through a mutually beneficial mentoring partnership that seeks to address the decrease in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) interest and attitudes of youth in the Tri-City area of Virginia (Petersburg, Hopewell, and Colonial Heights) by building a STEM ecosystem. By (re)-investing in mid-career investigators, NSF aims to enable and grow a more diverse scientific workforce at high academic ranks, who remain engaged and active in cutting-edge research. The objectives of the project are to: 1) apply cutting edge profiling analyses (Latent Profile Analysis) and Social Network Analysis, to investigate middle school age STEM efforts; 2) use asset mapping to identify potential STEM collaborators and stakeholders in the Tri City area, interested in, and committed to creating a comprehensive and robust learning ecosystem, and 3) assess the ecosystem’s health and effectiveness based on three variables: Productivity, Durability, and Resilience. These groundbreaking methodologies will enable the PI and collaborators to consider variability among groups of underserved middle school-aged youth; and will allow the investigator to examine the qualities in, and relationships between STEM collaborators and stakeholders in an ecosystem, and to fine-tune these in order to improve its efficacy and sustainability. This project will expand the notion of ecosystem approaches by advancing knowledge about national concerns regarding STEM literacy, equity, inclusion, and access, and will serve as a model to other researchers seeking to understand the role that STEM profiling can play in informing the creation, implementation, and sustainability of equitable STEM ecosystems. 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.