Million Dollar NSF Grant Comes to WMU

Western Michigan University assistant professor of chemical education, Dr. Megan Grunert, co-investigators Dr. Sue Stapleton, Dean of the WMU Graduate College, Dr. Jocelyn Steinke, professor in the WMU School of Communication and Reneé Schwartz of Georgia State University have been awarded a $1,246,037 National Science Foundation grant to conduct a longitudinal, multi-site study with underrepresented doctoral students in STEM fields.

This research project, funded by the NSF through their Alliances for Graduate Education and Professoriate: Broadening Participation Research program, builds on social identity theory to understand the process of identity integration for underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students in STEM programs as they integrate into a community of practice. UMR graduate students in STEM fields face multiple challenges with identification and assimilation when progressing through graduate programs at predominantly white institutions (PWIs). URMs hold multiple identities reflecting race, ethnicity, gender, social roles, family roles, and career (e.g. scientist, engineer). These identities often conflict and, consequently, influence URMs's choices, persistence, and success during the graduate years. Identity integration is essential for lasting success. Little is known, however, about how multiple identities of URMs in STEM conflict, intersect, and integrate as participants become productive members of a STEM community of practice. Using a longitudinal, multi-site, mixed-methods approach, this research traces the experiences of URM graduate students in order to understand their negotiation of multiple, and often conflicting, identities as they progress through their STEM graduate programs. These data will inform the development of a model for URM STEM graduate student identity integration that identifies specific strategies for institutional support needed to promote successful assimilation into a STEM disciplinary community of practice, leading to increased recruitment and retention of URM students in STEM graduate programs.