Washington DC - According to Kathryn Palmer, "The National Science Foundation (NSF), which is the third-largest federal research funding stream for universities, is now requiring all grant applicants to submit a mentoring plan for graduate students. The expanded mentoring requirement went into effect late last month. It’s part of the federal government’s wider push to increase support for scientific research and maintain the United States’ competitive edge as a global leader in technological innovation, as outlined in the landmark CHIPS and Science Act of 2022."
Realizing the goals laid out by the CHIPS and Science Act, which authorized $200 billion in spending on scientific research, development and commercialization over the next decade, will require expanding the pipeline from graduate education to the workforce.
Mentoring will be a component of that effort because it can help students see themselves as scientists. And developing that scientific identity improves academic performance, retention and persistence in STEM, and increases STEM degree completion, according to a 2020 paper published in the International Journal of STEM Education.
"Whether a person is a graduate student or a postdoctoral scholar, they are early-career professionals in STEM,” said Jackie Huntoon, director of the NSF’s division of graduate education. “It’s really the duty of the current professionals—those people who are already in positions of authority in the field—to make sure these new people coming along have the best support possible so they can succeed.”
Mentoring is especially important for the academic and career success of women and racial and ethnic minorities in STEM who face well-documented barriers in academe and remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce.
For more:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/academics/2024/06/05/national-science-foundation-expands-mentoring-requirements?utm_source=SSTI+Weekly+Digest&utm_campaign=0ce5a43dd4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_06_13_02_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-0ce5a43dd4-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D
Mentoring will be a component of that effort because it can help students see themselves as scientists. And developing that scientific identity improves academic performance, retention and persistence in STEM, and increases STEM degree completion, according to a 2020 paper published in the International Journal of STEM Education.
"Whether a person is a graduate student or a postdoctoral scholar, they are early-career professionals in STEM,” said Jackie Huntoon, director of the NSF’s division of graduate education. “It’s really the duty of the current professionals—those people who are already in positions of authority in the field—to make sure these new people coming along have the best support possible so they can succeed.”
Mentoring is especially important for the academic and career success of women and racial and ethnic minorities in STEM who face well-documented barriers in academe and remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce.
For more:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/academics/2024/06/05/national-science-foundation-expands-mentoring-requirements?utm_source=SSTI+Weekly+Digest&utm_campaign=0ce5a43dd4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_06_13_02_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-0ce5a43dd4-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D
