Blog

Understanding and Measuring Systems Change

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
By Kathy Booth, INCLUDES Coordination Hub Co-Principal Investigator In August, members of NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES National Network (National Network) met in Washington, DC, to share strategies for broadening participation in STEM and learn how our efforts are addressing systems change. At the opening plenary, members of the INCLUDES Coordination Hub (Hub) outlined the relationship between the INCLUDES Theory of Change, strategies associated with building collaborative infrastructure, and the conditions for systems change, with a focus on how the INCLUDES Initiative will measure outcomes in each domain. This post shares that framing and provides ...

Introducing a New Vision

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
By Andrea Venezia on behalf of the Coordination Hub NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Coordination Hub (the Coordination Hub) is thrilled to announce that it will be supporting the INCLUDES National Network (National Network) for another five-year cycle! We envision the National Network as a go-to entity for people across the country to learn about strategies, practices, and models to create equitable opportunities in STEM fields. The National Network is focused on changing systems that hold inequities in place to broaden participation in STEM. The National Network will leverage the foundation built since the inception of NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson ...

Building with Gratitude: A Glimpse at Sustainability Plans for the INCLUDES Coordination Hub

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
By Andrea Venezia, INCLUDES Coordination Hub Director, and Seth Klukoff, INCLUDES Coordination Hub Co-Principal Investigator August 31, 2023, marks the end of the funding cycle that supported NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Coordination Hub from 2018-2023. In this post, we reflect on those five years, on our gratitude to the INCLUDES community, and on plans for sustainability. We have learned a great deal from the INCLUDES National Network over the past five years and hope to maintain your engagement and involvement for years to come. As we look back on the past five years, we would like to share several important results from these first five years ...

Strengthening the Movement to Broaden Participation in STEM

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
Highlights from NSF’s 2023 Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES National Network Convening By Carissa Chang Cress and Carise Mitch, Equal Measure, partners in NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Coordination Hub Earlier this month, nearly 300 practitioners, researchers, students, faculty, and colleagues from federal agencies met in Washington, DC, to accelerate the national movement to broaden participation in STEM education and careers. The 2023 INCLUDES National Network Convening, Sustaining Equity-Driven Systems Change , featured two days of engaging plenary sessions, workshops, discussions, and networking across disciplines, geographies, ...
 
INCLUDES Tags Featured

INCLUDES Name Change Honors U.S. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
The NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub is pleased to share that the name of the INCLUDES initiative has been changed to honor the trailblazing U.S. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson . Technically, the change occurred in August when the CHIPS and Science Act was signed into law. The new name is NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Initiative and will be referred to this way on first mention, with INCLUDES or the INCLUDES Initiative on further mention. For example : NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Initiative (the entire effort, inclusive of the funding itself, the INCLUDES-funded projects, the INCLUDES Alliances, the National Network, and the ...

Centering Diverse Contexts and Cultures in Developing Shared Measures

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
By Jon Boxerman, Sharon Nelson-Barber, Kimberly Nguyen, and Liz Rechebei The goal of the NSF INCLUDES: SEAS Islands Alliance ’s research is to understand how Indigenous islanders on several U.S. territories and affiliated islands develop science or engineering identities and experience a sense of belonging to the STEM community and to their own cultural heritage. To accomplish this, we engaged with representatives with lived and nuanced cultural expertise, and together we developed measurement instruments that more accurately and authentically represented core concepts of identity and belonging in participating communities. We hope the process can ...

NSF INCLUDES' Shared Measures Platform Showcases New Data on Participation, Partners, and the Growth and Health of the National Network

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
NSF INCLUDES' Shared Measures platform tracks data collected by the Coordination Hub. Data are provided by projects funded or co-funded by NSF INCLUDES and by Network members generally. Recently, the Coordination Hub's Shared Measures team updated several data areas on the website that provide helpful insights into the work of the INCLUDES Alliances and other Network members to broaden participation in STEM education and careers. Visit the Program Participation page to see an updated list of projects funded or co-funded by NSF INCLUDES contributing data to the shared measures platform. Visit the Students and Educators tab on the same page to ...

INCLUDES Welcomes Four New Alliances

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
The U.S. National Science Foundation has announced four new NSF INCLUDES Alliances, investing more than $39 million in the new cohort over five years. The 2022 cohort will join the 13 other established Alliances in advancing science and engineering by promoting and supporting accessibility, collaboration, equity, and inclusion in STEM education, careers, and research. "NSF INCLUDES develops networks that are the key to building and sustaining the kind of systemic change that is needed to move the needle on inclusivity in STEM in a substantial way," said Sylvia M. Butterfield, acting assistant director of NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources. ...

NSF INCLUDES Alliance: STEM Opportunities in Prison Settings (STEM-OPS)

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
By Neil Schiavo , STEM Opportunities in Prison Settings STEM Opportunities in Prison Settings (STEM-OPS) , an NSF INCLUDES Alliance, has a vision that “All persons impacted by the carceral system are able, and encouraged, to pursue a culturally responsive and equitable high-quality STEM education and career.” Our work encompasses a broad range of activities to address obstacles that currently limit access to STEM education and careers. A critical, common strategy across all STEM-OPS activities has been the inclusion of the voices and input of those who have been most directly impacted by the current system and its inequities: people ...

HBCUs and the STEM Ecosystem

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
As we continue our series of blog posts exploring how institutions influence changes in systems that create more equitable outcomes for students and learners from minoritized populations, including Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), we are celebrating Black History Month and highlighting the many NSF INCLUDES member projects led by or partnering with Historically Black Colleges and Universities. HBCUs have been vital to the American story for over 180 years. The oldest HBCUs were established after the Civil War, and in 1965 Congress officially defined them as schools of higher learning accredited and established before 1964, and “whose principal mission ...

Looking Back at 2021: A Year of Expanding and Deepening the NSF INCLUDES National Network

By Evangeline Ambat
By: NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub A message from the NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub Throughout a busy and challenging year, the NSF INCLUDES National Network has flourished and our community of support for broadening participation in STEM education and careers has expanded and deepened. The NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub is proud to support the 3000+ member strong NSF INCLUDES National Network community, which brings together the power of many to strengthen STEM equity, connecting individuals, alliances, pilot programs, federal agencies, educational institutions, and other entities across the nation working to shift inequitable systems and broaden participation ...

Centering Native Americans in the NSF INCLUDES Network

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
As the nation celebrates Native American Heritage Month, the Hub is showcasing NSF INCLUDES-funded projects that center Native American communities across the country in STEM education and careers. Many of these projects are led by or partner with Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). This is the first of a series blog posts exploring how institutions influence changes in systems that create more equitable outcomes for students and learners from minoritized populations, including TCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). The NSF INCLUDES National Network hosts an Indigenous STEM Affinity Group, where researchers and practitioners ...

Announcing the COVID-19 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Challenge

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is seeking submissions in a 3-page narrative format describing the evidence-based steps that Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) have taken, or will take, to mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diversity, equity, and inclusion of undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty in STEM higher education programs and institutions. $200,000 in total cash prizes will be awarded to winning institutions. Submissions will be accepted beginning October 14, 2021, through 11:59 EST January 31, 2022 . IHEs do not need to have a grant from NSF to enter the challenge. ...

2021 NSF INCLUDES Convening Builds and Mobilizes Community

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
Matthew Closter , NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub The theme was “Mobilizing to Transform Systems” as over 200 participants representing projects from across the country focused on broadening participation in STEM education and careers came together virtually for three days in August to share their work, connect to others, learn and share new skills, and collectively strengthen the NSF INCLUDES National Network. The 2021 convening marked three years of the NSF INCLUDES initiative, which is one of NSF’s Big Ideas for 2026. The convening featured inspiring talks from government, civic, and student leaders and innovators; breakout sessions to share successes, challenges, ...

NSF INCLUDES Launches New Initiative to Gather Data on Broadening Participation in STEM

By Pradipti Bhatta
Sharing measures, metrics, and outcomes is critical to communicating progress and challenges and promoting effective action. In September 2021, NSF INCLUDES is launching a Shared Measures platform that will collect and present data documenting the national effort to broaden participation in STEM education and careers. The initial data set, provided by the eight original NSF INCLUDES Alliances , documents the characteristics of the populations served and the growing reach and outcomes associated with the collaborative infrastructure model . Any project or initiative engaged in efforts to broaden participation in STEM for historically excluded ...

NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub Launches New Podcast Series

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
By Simone Soso, NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub Collaborative Strategies for Inclusive Change , a new podcast series from the NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub, highlights projects and partnerships that are shifting inequitable systems to improve accessibility and inclusivity in STEM education and careers. Hosted by the Hub’s co-PI, Dr. Ivory Toldson , the podcast features interviews with leaders from NSF INCLUDES-funded projects and other scholars and practitioners committed to the NSF INCLUDES vision of a STEM enterprise that reflects the diversity of the nation. Each episode will bring listeners practical ideas for creating innovative collaborations ...
 
User Created   I

Four Frameworks for Effective Virtual Collaboration

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
By Matthew Closter, NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub The social distance required by the past year’s COVID-19 pandemic has offered an unexpected opportunity to experience the benefits of virtual relationships as well as their intense uncertainty and ambiguity. It has been an unplanned experiment in what happens when you dramatically decrease the barriers to collaboration but force all collaboration to occur virtually rather than in person. Although virtual collaboration was a necessity in 2020-2021, virtual collaboration approaches and tools are relevant during any time. The collaborations that have been built to help broaden participation in STEM, often spanning ...

Rapid Community Reports Share New Learnings About Collaboration from Network Members

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
By: Carly Chillmon , NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub (Digital Promise) How can we structure, coordinate, and orchestrate the work of broadening participation in STEM? One way is through building a collaborative infrastructure to help multiple organizational partners more effectively organize their research and development efforts. To promote effective collaborative processes, the NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub is making information and insights on promising practices and methods from National Network members more rapidly and readily available to other Network members and others committed to broadening participation in STEM. Introducing a New Publication Opportunity ...

Social Media and STEM Diversity: How minority doctoral students are incorporating social media to drive STEM diversity

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
By: Simone B. Soso, Ph.D., NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub Accelerating the processes of broadening participation in STEM through collaboration is the foundation of the NSF INCLUDES National Network. In this blog post, four Ph.D. students share how they are using social media to connect, recruit, and retain diverse populations in STEM. Funded through the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health , these graduate students created platforms on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube to show the world what diversity in STEM looks like. They are working to advance diversity and engagement in STEM education and careers to ...

Girls and Women in STEM: Highlights from the Coordination Hub’s Twitter Chat

By NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub
“My mother always encouraged my interest in STEM. It all began with the 4th grade Science Fair when I built an incubator to hatch chickens. I became enthused with animal science and when old enough I began volunteering at the National Zoo and learning about careers in animal science.” NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub’s Simone Soso , along with others, described what sparked her interest in STEM in the most recent live #INCLUDESchat on Twitter. To celebrate Women’s History Month and the publication of our Evidence-Based Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Girls and Women in STEM research brief, the Coordination Hub hosted a live #INCLUDESchat on Twitter ...