NSF Award
2315148
Racially minoritized (RM) entrepreneurs face significant challenges due to various factors, such as limited access to entrepreneurship education, a lack of capital sources, and discriminatory social networks. This project aims to investigate entrepreneurship among both RM and non-RM students, while also implementing interventions to address these issues. The project will use comprehensive survey and focus groups to explore RM and non-RM students’ motivations, attitudes, practices, behaviors, and prior experience in STEM entrepreneurship. The project will use the findings from this study to provide tailored training, workshops, and coaching in entrepreneurship to address the specific challenges faced by marginalized groups. Given that STEM fields are crucial to the future of the US and its economy, diversifying STEM is essential for fostering innovation. This project holds direct public interest, as it seeks to ensure equitable access to the rewards of successful entrepreneurship, thereby improving innovation and creativity of the STEM ecosystem. <br/><br/>The theoretical framework guiding this project is the Equity Ethic (McGee, 2020). The survey will be conducted in year 1 of the project. Other activities in the program include summer virtual training, three-day in-person summits consisting of patent workshops and additional in-depth patent coaching for select participants. Additionally, in the fifth year, business coaches will be assigned to aid potential entrepreneurs with business incorporation. The ultimate objective is to train the next generation of RM business owners and facilitate their integration into the STEM ecosystem. The intended outcomes for the target audience encompass several goals: establishing limited liability companies (LLCs), increasing the retention rate of racially minoritized (RM) groups in STEM fields, generating financial prosperity through business ownership, promoting STEM innovation that challenges systemic racism, developing an entrepreneurship curriculum tailored for RM individuals, and augmenting the pool of RM STEM entrepreneurs who actively contribute to a more equitable STEM ecosystem.<br/><br/>This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.<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.
