Track 2: Reducing Harassment and Improving Academic Engineering Environments

The broader impact of the proposed project is in addressing harassment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, which poses a major obstacle to the retention and advancement of scientists. The reasons scientists avoid and leave engineering have little to do with their personal characteristics, such as competence or interest in the field. Rather, research indicates that scientists exit the field of engineering due to the environment of engineering schools and workplaces. Efforts to address these challenges, including training and reporting systems, have not been successful. To address this situation, this project will investigate the effectiveness of applied techniques known to provide an engaging and less-threatening way to present sensitive topics, while fostering deep community involvement and connection. The proposed project aims to adapt and evaluate the Bystander Intervention Theater Workshop (BITW) and develop an online, interactive video booster session with undergraduate engineering students to improve retention in the field of engineering. The proposed research will contribute to scientific knowledge about the components and conditions of effective strategies to increase bystander intervention, and expanded participation in undergraduate engineering education for all Americans. Our findings will contribute to multiple disciplines in the STEM fields and organizational and management studies. The results of the proposed research will provide innovative strategies to improve engineering environments, with the goal of impacting the recruitment and retention of students in STEM majors particularly in engineering. Students will be recruited from both the university’s research team and a national sample to adapt BITW’s scenarios and scripts. Following the completion of the proposed project, we intend to rigorously evaluate the BITW at multiple universities. The research team has collaborators at several universities across the U.S., who are excited about the possibility of future collaborations. If the results from the proposed project are successful, we will pursue the widescale dissemination of BITW to broaden participation of Americans in STEM. 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.