Fostering broader participation and thriving in STEM: A comprehensive investigation of faculty mentorship of doctoral students
Effective Years: 2020-2025
The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. This project awarded to a CAREER scholar has the goal to increase our understanding of effective faculty mentoring and its connection to STEM graduate student “thriving”, defined in terms of engagement and achievement. This project integrates research and education with graduate traineeships, annual training workshops, and the dissemination of research. Besides developing training materials for faculty, the educational activities include training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. This award is supported by the EHR Core Research program which supports fundamental STEM Education research initiatives.
The work will apply a framework based on the psychological theory of social support to understand the role of faculty mentorship in student outcomes. Within this theoretical construct, the impact of social identity is linked to the student’s perception of the mentor’s belief in the student’s potential as well as the student’s perception of support provided by the mentor. These appraisals by the student can contribute to “thriving” as measured by objective outcomes (e.g. passing requirements, publications) and subjective experiences (e.g. motivation, stress). The study will examine: what aspects of faculty mentorship are perceived by doctoral students to impact their success; the role of perceived and observed faculty support; and, what types of behavior by a faculty mentor impact the student’s perception. In-person workshops will serve as the basis for the development of an online training module on effective mentoring by STEM faculty. The results of this project will expand knowledge of the impact of mentorship on preparing graduate students and reducing attrition rates by increasing our understanding of how faculty mentors can impact the success of students.
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.