Our collective understanding of what constitutes ethical science, technology, and engineering (STEM) continues to grow, but we know little about how STEM ethics intersect with Indigenous cultural knowledge. This project will explore if and how culturally-embedded ethical issues affect indigenous participation in STEM fields. It will do so by researching the ethical issues experienced by Indigenous students and faculty, testing if Indigenous spiritual beliefs create cultural barriers for pursuing STEM related careers, and exploring the extent to which ethical issues impact the retention and promotion of Indigenous STEM professionals. Providing answers to these questions will enable: (1) the development of a theory about how scientific ethics intersects with Indigenous cultures; (2) the creation of a set of best practices for universities and faculty members related to ethical challenges for Indigenous students and faculty in STEM fields; and (3) identification of a set of future research questions and policy issues related to STEM participation by Indigenous individuals and communities. The results from this research project will enable more equitable representation of Indigenous peoples in STEM, and will enhance understanding of how local cultures interact with ethical issues to shape participation the scientific workforce.
This multi-method research project will use surveys and interviews to understand how Indigenous cultures and taboos shape Indigenous college students' participation in STEM fields. It will blend grounded theory with a Critical Indigenous Research Methodology to conceptualize these issues. Methodologically, the research design will be based on a broad social survey of the experiences and attitudes of Indigenous students in the western United States with STEM professions, followed by in-depth interviews with a strategic subset of survey respondents. These two data streams will then be combined and analyzed in an iterative and comparative fashion. This project will provide important intellectual advancement on three fronts: (1) it will provide theoretical and data-driven insights into how Indigenous cultures interact with scientific cultures in ways that can hinder participation in science, engineering, and mathematics; (2) it will provide practical insights and implementable knowledge for developing new policies to improve participation in STEM fields by one of the most underrepresented social groups in science; (3) it will create new tools and methods that will be useful for future researchers working to understand similar issues. Overall, this project directly advances NSF's goal of broadening participation in STEM fields by underrepresented groups.
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.
