Showcases for Women in STEM supported initiatives

Showcases for Women in STEM supported initiatives

WEPAN has used the Women in STEM Knowledge Center (WSKC) to shine a spotlight on projects, programs and organizations in the women and STEM community. Some of the efforts that have been showcased include:

Professional development/capacity building initiatives

ENGAGE in Engineering (ENGAGE)

The overarching goal of ENGAGE is to increase the capacity of engineering schools to retain undergraduate students by facilitating the implementation of three research-based strategies to improve student day-to-day classroom and educational experience.

ENGAGE offers a plethora of publicly-accessible resources for strategy implementation for institutions and individuals. These include:

1. Integrating into coursework Everyday Examples in Engineering to teach students engineering concepts using examples to which students can readily relate.
2. Improving and increasing Faculty-Student Interaction  to increase faculty approachability and encourage students to participate more fully with Faculty.
3. Improving student Spatial Visualization Skills to increase their success in gateway engineering courses.

Over the course of this NSF-funded project (2009-2016), ENGAGE worked with faculty and administrators from over 70 engineering schools to implement ENGAGE strategies. ENGAGE resources are managed by Stevens Institute of Technology at https://www.engageengineering.org.

Engineering Inclusive Teaching (EIT)

Engineering Inclusive Teaching (EIT) is an NSF-funded (2012-2016, award# 1203164) professional development initiative for engineering faculty providing research-based, engineering-specific strategies for creating engaging, motivating educational environments that encourage the persistence and success of all students, especially women and other underrepresented students.

Core strategies include "Live" and on-demand webinars that distill research-based, best practices; and translate findings into specific actions for educators; and easy adoption Action Checklists and other complementary resources.

The EIT program created a portfolio of ten publicly accessible webinars showcasing the work of social science researchers and Engineering master teachers.

Advancing Culture in Engineering

WEPAN has been working to build the engineering workforce of the future, constantly expanding and sharing our knowledge of gender diversity and inclusion. We've come a long way from a change model of "add more women and stir." We know that building engineering cultures that include everyone is the charge we must lead.

In this multi-year initiative, WEPAN is using proven, research-based inclusion strategies for implementation in company and university settings to shape a culture that retains women engineers. Read more about the ACE initiative.

Tracking Trends in Gender & STEM Publications (TTGSP)

There is a sizable body of knowledge about factors related to women's recruitment and success in STEM fields. In this NSF-funded project, Dr. Elizabeth Creamer provides access to a set of visualizations that synthesize trends in this body of literature over time to promote scholarship and enhance practice in under-studied areas.

Access the TTGSP publications database, project resources and the interactive visualizations here.

Community-building Initiatives

gseSpace

gseSpace is an NSF-funded project (2010-2014, award# 1016711) whose core purpose was to assess the interest of the women in STEM community to support an online professional community.

The project conducted a needs assessment over a 13-month time frame to research knowledge, views, aptitude and desires regarding participation in a GSE professional community.

gseSpace needs assessment reports are popular downloads. View these gseSpace reports for more information: Needs Assessment Summary, Needs Assessment Findings, Stakeholder Survey, Literature Review, Peer Community Research, Stakeholder Interviews.

Advance Implementation Mentor Networks (AIM)

The AIM network is a community of practice of more than 80 Program Coordinators/Directors (PC/D's) from over 50 NSF ADVANCE funded programs throughout the United States.  Through the AIM network, PC/D's interact with other coordinators and directors via monthly teleconference meetings and through an email contact list which affords on-demand response and support.

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