Ana M. Cauce - US grants

The proposed study will examine the utility of an ecological model as it related to normal adolescent social and emotional development within two minority groups. Blacks and Chinese- Americans. A three-year longitudinal design is employed with multiple measure assessment of the parental context, family environment, and adolescent development. Both parents and adolescents will be assessed. An ecological model stresses the importance of the family environment in influencing child developments. It also emphasizes that family functioning is influenced by the parental context. Two aspects of the parental context are examined: parents' social support networks and parents' work environments. Multivariate regression techniques and structural equation modeling will be utilized to examine the direct and indirect processes hypothesized to underly these relationships. The information generated from this study will provide us with a more comprehensive portrait of the context of development for "non- deviant" minority adolescents, which have been extremely understudied. The within-group longitudinal analyses, in particular, will yield important information of the implementation of culturally sensitive prevention efforts and public policy aimed and enhancing the well-being of minority youths and their families.

This project will help us better identify and understand the factors in street youth's family histories, developmental patterns and processes, and the socio-environmental conditions that are linked to their victimization on the streets, their involvement in violence against others, and their alcohol use and abuse. Of particular interest is the role of alcohol abuse in placing street youth (ages 13-20) at risk of becoming both a victim of and a perpetrator of violence. It is hypothesized that alcohol exacerbates the physical and psychological risks associated with life on the streets, thus setting the course for adult homelessness. The project involves interviews with 400 homeless adolescents on the streets and through youth shelters in order to test a model developed by G.R. Patterson and colleagues. about the effects of cumulative risk and coercive family processes. A subsample of at least 100 parents/parent equivalents of these adolescents will also be interviewed. In addition. a subsample of 240 adolescents, selected for either high or low levels of alcohol use will be followed, on a quarterly basis, over a two year period. Data will be analyzed using standard regression techniques and repeated measures analysis. as well as structural equation modeling and survival analysis. African-Americans and females will be oversampled so that we can better understand whether or what gender and ethnic effects exist in terms of the etiologic factors, the risk factors, and the course of homelessness.

The goal of this project is to contribute to the development of a national science and engineering academic workforce that includes the full participation of women in all levels of faculty and academic administration, particularly at the senior academic ranks, through the transformation of institutional practices, policies, climate and culture. The University of Washington (UW) recognizes the important contributions that women make in science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM), and the factors that still inhibit women's full participation. The University proposes to create the Center for Institutional Change (CIC) to design and implement programs to help eliminate obstacles to women's full participation and advancement in the SEM disciplines. Many of these challenges occur in departments, so changing departmental culture will be a part of the CIC mission.

The CIC will focus on these issues in SEM on campus:

Leadership development for chairs and deans
Department cultural change
Policy change
Leadership development
Short-term support program for faculty in times of transition

The work of the CIC will seve all groups (men, women, underrepresented) and improve the environment for everyone in SEM. UW will share its experiences with other institutions, professional societies, and industrial partners that are addressing the issues of low representation of women faculty in engineering and science. A network will be established to facilitate dissemination, and UW will work with Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, CH2M Hill, and REI to share best practices.

This project is supported by the NSF ADVANCE Program. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

While women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have made significant strides in the last several decades, gender discrepancies still exist in these disciplines. The strategies and programs for institutional transformation created by the first two rounds of ADVANCE schools to support the advancement of women faculty in STEM have gone far beyond administrative rhetoric. They have challenged and redefined the status quo and have benefited not only women faculty, but also the faculty at large.

In general, at many universities and colleges, faculty professional development is not explicitly addressed. While research, and increasingly teaching, support has been available on campuses, other areas of faculty work (service, leadership, networking, etc.) have received very little attention. Yet these areas are critical to success of the faculty overall, and play an important role in the likelihood of advancement, particularly for women faculty.

Academic leaders, and particularly department chairs, carry considerable responsibility for departmental faculty recruitment, advancement, and retention. In this respect, they are key players in the institutional transformation process and in setting the climate of their departments. Few resources are available to support this role, however, and many chairs have little regular access to other department chairs, who could provide peer mentoring.
The goal of this ADVANCE PAID proposal is to provide department chairs with the resources, skill development, and peer networks that will support more effective department leadership and governance, and contribute to a more positive department culture for all faculty.

The University of Washington will implement a series of two-day national leadership workshops over a three-year period for department chairs, deans, and emerging leaders in STEM. One workshop will be held each year at the University of Washington (UW), and in two of the three years, a second workshop will be held at an alternate regional site. These workshops are based on the UW ADVANCE program's quarterly leadership workshop series and two national pilot workshops. A pre-workshop mentoring-for-leadership event will be offered to women faculty at each workshop.

Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit of this proposal is the creation of leadership and professional development opportunities for STEM department chairs and emerging leaders, particularly women faculty. The workshops will provide opportunities for academic leaders to address issues of gender equity, leadership, faculty recruitment, faculty professional development, family-friendly policies, and policy implementation. Each workshop will result in the creation of resources to support and advance issues relevant to the success of all faculty, and women faculty in particular.

Broader Impact: The national scope of the workshop allows the impact to be far reaching. The University of Washington will collaborate with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other institutions to include department chairs and faculty of color, particularly women. Holding workshops at regional locations will increase participation and ideally create local communities of department chairs who can continue to network and learn from each other, and potentially replicate parts of
the workshops at their own institutions. The national workshops provide a venue for STEM department chairs from around the country to exchange best practices and strategies. Up to 250 department chairs and emerging leaders are expected to attend the workshops. The project team will also be available for consultation with institutions interested in hosting local, campus-based workshops. All workshop materials will be widely distributed via websites, presentations, papers, etc.

Strategic interventions are needed to achieve gender parity in the faculty ranks of science and engineering disciplines. Wooing women faculty in STEM from one university to another is, nationally, a zero-sum game. Instead of recruiting women away from other universities, there is a mostly-untapped pool of Ph.D.-level women scientists and engineers in industry and research laboratories. Many are very accomplished at their research, which is the primary figure of merit for success at Research-Extensive universities. With the proper mix of information, networking, and support, they could become very successful professors. The goal of this project is to increase the pool of women faculty available to all universities by providing professional development to Ph.D.-level women in industry or research laboratories. In particular, we will host a two-day workshop each year over a three-year period to provide practical tools and support to women who are interested in making the transition to academia. We will specifically target women who are a minimum of three-four years past their Ph.D. and/or postdoctoral position. The attendees and speakers will form a community who can support each other during the job application period, the interview process, the startup negotiations, and the first years in academia. In summary, the project will develop "On Ramps into Academia."

Intellectual Merit: It is of great interest to determine the challenges, skills, and resources needed for people to successfully make the transition from industry or national laboratories to academia. The assessment plan, which is strongly directed at outcomes evaluation, will help identify concrete best practices to encourage women into faculty pathways. By providing the necessary skills and advice to help women make successful transitions from industry to academia, UW ADVANCE will help develop a third pathway into academia, in addition to the current practices of hiring new Ph.D.s and postdoctoral fellows and hiring women away from other universities. This third pathway into academia is an original approach to recruitment and a creative way to expand the pool of women faculty in STEM.

Broader Impacts: This project will expand the national pool of women faculty in STEM disciplines. Even a small increase of STEM women faculty can improve the image of the disciplines and encourage more women to pursue them.

The project proposes to integrate NSF-funded efforts at the University of Washington (UW) in an innovative way to improve the experiences of underrepresented undergraduate minorities, women and students with disabilities in the College of Engineering. A primary catalyst for this synergy is the use of the UW's PEERs project (Promoting Equity in Engineering Relationships), which seeks to positively impact the climate of engineering through a cadre of change agents who create and encourage improved and more equitable relationships. The four institutional partners for the proposed collaboration are the institution's:
1. ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change;
2. Center for Workforce Development;
3. Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELT); and
4. Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT).

These institutional partners will use the PEERs model to enhance the goals of three NSF-funded projects and to leverage lessons learned from the existing awards to work toward improving the climate for and the participation of underrepresented minority, female and disabled engineering students; and provide a foundation for campus-wide replication. The three NSF awards upon which the I3 project will build include:
1. Collaborative Research - Northwest Engineering Talent Expansion Partnership: A Coordinated Regional Recruitment and Retention Effort (DUE-0431659);
2. CCLI: Developing Engineering Lifelong Learners Through Freshman Seminars and Faculty Development Workshops (DUE-0737535); and
3. Northwest Alliance for Access to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (HRD-0227995).

Four primary objectives will be achieved by this project
1. Raise awareness of unconscious and implicit biases toward underrepresented minority, women and disabled students;
2. Promote actions both majority and underrepresented minority, women and disabled students and faculty can take to counteract these biases to cultivate a more welcoming and success-promoting climate;
3. Cultivate change agents among both student and faculty bodies; and
4. Build a foundation, and collaboration mechanisms, for future efforts to make STEM and other programs campus-wide welcoming and accessible to underrepresented minority, women and disabled students.

The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the STEM workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming STEM education through innovative recruitment and retention strategies and experiences in support of groups historically underrepresented (URM) in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines: African-Americans, Alaskan Natives, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. The Pacific Northwest Louis Stokes Alliance (PNW LSAMP) includes the three state region of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Broadening participation in STEM is critical to the region's economic vitality given the significant number of STEM related industries and research initiatives. PNW LSAMP partners are active contributors to state and regional STEM initiatives, and the strong partnership between alliance campuses has resulted in increased pathways to college, student success in STEM majors and access to undergraduate research experiences. Since the inception of the alliance, degrees granted to underrepresented minority (URM) students in STEM have increased 70%, far outpacing the overall increase of 21% on partner campuses. PNW LSAMP is sustaining its foundational work and enhancing it with an emphasis on community college transfer and preparation for graduate study in STEM fields.

The PNW Alliance will continue to implement best practices for engaging students in STEM including bridge programs, community-building and participation in undergraduate research. The Alliance will strengthen its partnerships with eight community colleges to better facilitate community college student transfer to 4 year degree programs and their participation in undergraduate research. The Alliance will expand the number of students exposed to information about STEM graduate study through an enhanced focus on graduate school preparation. Project goals include 1) increase the number of STEM bachelor degrees granted to URM students by 10% per year; 2) increase the percentage of bachelor degrees granted in STEM to URM students who transfer from community colleges to 40%, and double the number of degrees granted to URM STEM transfer students; and 3) provide workshops and services to ensure that 95% of LSAMP-affiliated students are exposed to information about graduate school preparation. The knowledge gained through the partnership with MESA community college programs will allow PNW LSAMP to pilot and implement national models for engaging community college students in STEM as they are discovered.