CURRENT PROJECTS
By bringing together social scientists and disciplinary-based education researchers, we maintain a high level of theoretical & methodological rigor while ensuring relevance of the work for the scientific community. Studies underway are linked below.
What do undergraduate mathematics majors know about the graduate school application process? Do mathematics majors have access to the research needed to apply to graduate mathematics programs? Does knowledge of the graduate school application process and access to application resources differ by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender of the students? Project Leads: Tim McEldowney & Lynnette Michaluk, West Virginia University
What are staff and minoritised doctoral students' experiences of engaging with and navigating pre-application processes? Project Leads: James Burford, University of Warwick & Emily Henderson, University of Warwick
How do professional societies successfully embed/disseminate DEI reports in ways that shift the discourse and activity of member departments? Project Leads: Steve Desir, University of Southern California & Julie Posselt, University of Southern California
How do Ph.D. students experience the process of seeking and finding an advisor and research group? Project Leads: Mike Verostek, Rochester Institute of Technology & Ben Zwickl, Rochester Institute of Technology
What are the structural, cultural, and cognitive routines faculty adopt in implementing holistic review? How do they make inferences about admissibility from grades in light of COVID-19? Project lead: Deborah Southern & Julie Posselt, University of Southern California
To what extent do structured community-building activities help create a sense of belonging in the student cohort and the department as a whole? Project leads: Ankur Desai, Alicia Hoffman & Zoë Brooke Zibton, University of Wisconsin – Madison
What factors of the graduate experience do Black females perceive to have been most and least helpful to their persistence in earning their doctoral degree in STEM? Project lead: Andrea L. Tyler, Tennessee State University
How do racially minoritized graduate students and postdocs in space science perceive their entry into a mostly homogenous industry? Project lead: Radomir Ray Mitic, University of North Dakota
How are the characteristics of mentoring relationships between computing graduate students and undergraduate students shaped by organizational structures and dynamics? Project lead: Annie Wofford, Northern Arizona University
Can we measure socio-emotional (i.e., non-cognitive) competencies in graduate education? Project leads: Joann Quinn, University of South Florida & Casey Miller, Rochester Institute of Technology
How do Black women narrate their legitimacy as scholars for the purposes of gaining admission to graduate school? Project leads: Aireale Rodgers, University of Southern California & Martha Kazooka, Morgan State University
What factors are associated with time to degree? How does it vary by race/ethnicity & gender? Project lead: Michael Ashby, University of Oklahoma
To what extent have bridge programs influenced the culture of physics departments, from the perspective of actors within the bridge programs? Project lead: Geraldine Cochran, Rutgers University
How can qualifying and prelim exams be re-designed from tools of gatekeeping to tools of individualized, holistic development? Project leads: Julie Posselt, University of Southern California & Román Liera, Montclair State University
How can data science reveal racial & gender discrimination in hiring for postdoctoral fellowships? Project lead: Kimberlee Shauman, University of California-Davis