Albuquerque, N.M. – The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) shared today that the National Science Foundation (NSF) had awarded grants to two collaborative initiatives for which AISES is a partner. The grant awards are part of the NSF’s "first-ever awards for the NSF INCLUDES program, a comprehensive initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in science and engineering by broadening participation in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).”

 

NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) aims to improve access to STEM education and career pathways at the national scale, making them more widely inclusive to underserved populations. Over the next decade, NSF will expand the program, with the goal of developing a science and engineering workforce that better reflects the diversity of U.S. society.

 

According to NSF, “the initial recipients comprise 37 Design and Development Launch Pilots, funded through two-year grants aimed at supporting projects with the potential to deliver prototypes for bold, new models that broaden participation in STEM [and] also include 11 grants for conferences that will explore the development of backbone organizations to support a national network of NSF INCLUDES alliances and partnerships.”

 

AISES is participating in both the “50k Coalition” and the “ASSIST” funded collaborations. Each grant award is for approximately $300,000 with the two-year project period.

 

The 50k Coalition is a partnership between AISES, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) – the preeminent engineering professional societies focused on diversity and inclusion, and who collectively serve more than 75,000 pre-collegiate, collegiate and professional members. The Coalition is working toward a singular goal: to increase the annual number of engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded to underrepresented minorities and women from 30,000 to 50,000 by 2025 – a 66% increase. The Coalition intends to achieve this goal by collecting and monitoring plans generated by Coalition partners to achieve this strategic goal and by measuring, monitoring and reporting on key indicators, including the number of women and underrepresented minorities qualified to enter the engineering pipeline and the number earning engineering degrees.

 

The ASSIST project is a collaboration that includes AISES, Great Minds in STEM (GMiS), Latinos in Science and Engineering (MAES), National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Advancing Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and Society of Women Engineers (SWE). The project focus is to increase and sustain the diversification of the engineering professorate by engaging diverse early-career faculty, post-doctoral professionals, and graduate students with these national diversity-serving professional organizations supporting engineering. This engagement will support their professional development and the expansion of their informal professional networks to include diverse colleagues and the creation of cohort. AISES is currently offering travel support to the 2016 AISES National Conference for those individuals who qualify under the ASSIST project. For more information, go to: http://conference.aises.org/registration/travel-assistance. The deadline to apply is September 19, 2016.

 

NSF INCLUDES will invest in alliances and partnerships that scale up efforts to broaden STEM participation among underrepresented groups, including women, Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, persons with disabilities, people from rural areas and people of low socioeconomic status. Multi-year NSF INCLUDES alliances will engage partners from private and corporate philanthropy, federal agencies and scientific professional societies.

 

Building on these initial awards, the program will provide networked testbeds for STEM inclusion, connecting participants and enabling them to determine the key components and approaches that lead to sustainable progress at a national scale. Reach AISES