NSF Award
2121376
This project aims to serve the national interest by expanding the capacity of the Center for Infrastructure Transformation and Education (CIT-E) to support civil, construction, and environmental engineering faculty members in their efforts to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into infrastructure education. The causes of inequitable infrastructure are many; however, given its leading role in infrastructure-related education and research, the civil and environmental engineering (CEE) faculty has an obligation to recognize and address the need for systemic change. Historically, CEE faculty members have not received formal training on DEI issues. While such training is becoming more common, a gap remains. This Level 1 Capacity Building project will support CIT-E, an existing and thriving community of practice (CoP), through providing the foundation for future work in developing a multi-institutional effort to transform the CEE education community into a community that can sustain growth in DEI integration. The collaborative research project is a joint effort by the University of Wisconsin, Platteville, Lafayette College, Colorado State University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.<br/><br/>With the increased capacity generated by this expanded network and a shared vision, the CIT-E CoP work will be transformative. Leveraging the CIT-E and the CoP, the project frames the work through the lens of two continua: race neutral/race conscious and inclusion infrastructure/exclusion infrastructure. This project will develop i) CIT-E communal understanding of how DEI and infrastructure are related; ii) what the interaction among members reveals about DEI; iii) how members of the CoP can educate one another by addressing DEI issues in education, research, and professional practice; and iv) how the CoP can inspire real and lasting change. Specifically, this project will increase the capacity of CIT-E through the following project objectives: i) gather evidence by compiling a list of non-normative examples of successful institutional efforts that positively impact DEI; ii) assess CIT-E resources and needs via Asset Mapping; iii) evaluate Community of Practice as an appropriate Change Theory; iv) recruit additional stakeholders and organizations to CIT-E based on the gaps identified in previous project objectives; v) identify, cluster, and prioritize ways of integrating DEI into CEE education using Group Concept Mapping (GCM); and vi) provide the foundation for developing a multi-institutional effort to transform the CEE education community into a community that can sustain growth in DEI integration. The Research Team will ensure that key stakeholders, including experts in Change Theory, DEI strategies, and curriculum development are invited to provide external peer review of the project. The Research Team will facilitate working sessions to address larger tasks such as GCM and Asset Mapping. Through a collaboration with the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS), the project will i) build the capacity of the geographically-dispersed Research Team by accelerating the team’s integration to operate as a highly-functioning team and ii) explore how Team Science might add value to efforts to expand the work. <br/><br/><br/>The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.<br/><br/>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.
