The NSF Engineering Research Centers Unite project aims to develop and test a comprehensive set of instruments designed to enhance the evaluation of education and diversity programs offered by NSF-funded Engineering Research Centers (ERC). ERC education and diversity programming, including academic year activities with undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars plus summer programs for undergraduate students, high school students, K-12 teachers, and community college instructors, is a mechanism to disseminate emerging knowledge from center activities. It is critically important that programs offered by these large, multi-institutional centers be evaluated for effectiveness to ensure their impact beyond ERC technical research. The resulting suite of instruments supplemented by an evaluator toolbox will fill an existing void and allow centers to collaborate in ways previously not possible. This will enhance our understanding of ERCs and their overall impact on skill development, climate of inclusion, and future STEM workforce development.
This project is led by the Arizona State University Tri-ERC Education Consortium (TEEC), which consists of education leaders, researchers, and evaluators associated with three currently funded ERCs - Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics (CBBG), Nanosystems Center for Nano-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT), and Center for Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies (QESST). The goals to be undertaken by this team include: 1) identifying the evaluation needs of currently funded ERCs, 2) creating a suite of evaluation instruments, 3) creating an evaluator toolbox, and 4) making our resources broadly available. We will create quantitative (e.g. survey) and qualitative (e.g., interview, focus group, and lab observation protocols) measures informed by the needs and perspectives of current ERCs. These instruments will be field-tested across TEEC ERCs and other participating ERCs who have indicated an interest in using the suite of instruments. These instruments will be accompanied by an evaluator toolbox designed to support and guide evaluators in the use of these instruments. These resources will doubly serve as a means of creating an ERC community of practice around evaluation. The resulting resources will be made broadly available electronically through currently used ERC websites/hubs. Additionally, the quantitative Multi-ERC Instrument (MERCI) will be converted into an online ERC Evaluation System easily accessed by evaluators. The proposed system will specifically streamline quantitative evaluation, which will provide for greater flexibility and creativity in the selection of qualitative evaluation approaches used by center evaluators. The adoption of these shared resources by numerous ERCs will open up never before seen opportunities for cross-ERC comparisons. The findings will significantly impact how ERCs evaluate their education and diversity programming and presents a potential suite of instruments for effectively evaluating any large center that offers similar education and diversity programs.
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.
