Research Statement
Background
I am personally invested in expanding accessibility to STEM, particularly engineering and computer science, to women, minorities, and people with disabilities, so that the working populations in STEM adequately reflect our diverse society. It is clear that to not only recruit but retain these populations, significant work must be done to change the culture in STEM environments to one of inclusivity and diversity. There has been extensive research in this area, from examining social impact to making STEM curricula and projects more palatable to these groups. There has been limited work, however, on developing and implementing quantitative teaching tools and curricula to address this problem on a national level.
Current Work
My work in this area so far has been as a leader and changemaker at the local level. In 2013, I became the first female engineering professor at the County College of Morris (CCM). During my time there, I was a fellow in the Leadership Capacity Building Project, where I worked to develop and implement a leadership plan at CCM with goals of improving the recruitment and retention of women in the Engineering department.
Inspired by the fellowship, I developed and ran an orientation program for new engineering students. Open to all, but geared toward women, the program introduced students to all the faculty in the department and discussed what engineering is, the differences between engineering fields, and the common tools that engineers use. Results were overwhelmingly positive – every attendee said they learned something new and would recommend the program to others.
Through a grant, I worked with other faculty in the engineering and mathematics departments at CCM to develop and implement remedial math assignments and projects designed to be inclusive and increase interest in engineering.
I advised the Women in STEM Club and founded a chapter of the Society of Women Engineers. Through these two organizations students and I participated in outreach to area K-12 schools.
As a faculty member, I most enjoyed teaching engineering fundamentals courses. It was very rewarding helping students along and encouraging them when they were at the point in their academic careers most likely to leave engineering. Through mentorship and advisement, I was able to retain students in the engineering program at CCM.
I also requested science-based general education courses to work with students who wouldn’t otherwise come in contact with engineering. By the end of my Concepts of Physics course, at least one student switched to an engineering major.
When I returned to Rutgers to complete my PhD, I continued to be a changemaker. I joined the executive board of the SWE Grad section immediately, first as Executive Vice President and then as President in the 2017-2018 academic year. I organized the second annual SWE Grad Symposium in 2016, which focused on making the leap from student to academia and industry, highlighted networking skills, and tapped into faculty for advice on how to navigate engineering as a woman.
Through SWE Grad, I became the unofficial Rutgers liaison to the SWE New Jersey chapter, regularly attending state meetings and updating the community with events at Rutgers. SWE Grad regularly runs career seminars and practical skills seminars like how to build your own computer and making your own household cleaning supplies. These activities not only impart skills but also build community.
Identifying the Need
It became clear to me through all this work that tackling diversity challenges is my calling, and I have been preparing for it as a career ever since. Preliminary exploration on diversity in STEM research revealed the following:
A large body of qualitative research has been conducted that identifies a cultural issue within STEM fields. A great deal of it has relied on self-reporting of study subjects rather than quantitative methods.
A large body of individual case studies for successful diversity programs have been presented, but with minimal guidance or directives to expand these programs.
There have been woefully few studies on LGBT populations in STEM, and virtually none at the K-12 level.
Research Goals
Having developed and implemented various initiatives to improve the recruitment and retention of women in engineering at the college level, my research goals are threefold:
Expand recruitment and retention methods to make STEM more accessible to everyone, including women, minorities, and people with disabilities.
Reach a K-12 audience to instill the importance of diversity and how we can learn from one another within a STEM context.
Develop open-source training methods and materials to better prepare STEM educators to promote inclusivity and diversity in and outside of the classroom.
I anticipate tapping into many funding agencies that promote women in STEM, including the American Association of University Women, the Society of Women Engineers, the Association for Women in Science, and the USDA Women and Minorities in STEM program. Since my interests go beyond just women, I also plan to write grants to the Department of Energy and the American Society of Engineering Education. Last, but perhaps most importantly, I see opportunities through the National Science Foundation, including:
ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE)
Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM)
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER)
Computer Science for All (CSforAll:RPP)
I also plan to use my connections in the field to build collaborations. At the local level, I want to collaborate with other institutions of learning in the tri-state area. I think there is also great potential to work with various departments within these institutions as well to attack diversity issues from a variety of angles. At the state level, I plan to leverage partnerships I already have with the County College of Morris, Essex County College, The College of New Jersey, Rutgers University, and SWE.