Research Collaborations in a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center: Perceptions and Experiences of Faculty and Students at a Minority-Serving Institution

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research in Progress Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: Examining Perceptions and Sense of Belonging for English Learners and Students of Color in Education Contexts (Table 6)

Abstract

The NSF Science and Technology Centers (STC) program supports industry and academic collaborations to promote innovative, multidisciplinary research in science and engineering (National Science Foundation, n.d.). STCs are often large in scale and require national and/or international collaborations among multiple partners in industry and academia. STCs include minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and non-MSIs. Inter-institutional research partnerships between MSIs and non-MSIs can provide reciprocal benefits, including the development of effective mentoring skills to ultimately broaden STEM participation among those underrepresented in STEM (Allen-Ramdial & Campbell, 2014). The purpose of this study is to understand the perceptions and experiences of students and faculty at MSIs participating in an NSF STC composed of a majority of non-MSIs. Research on inter-institutional research partnerships is often presented in terms of general program outcomes, while this study aims to understand faculty and student experiences from MSIs in their collaborations with non-MSIs. This study has been designed around collaboration research network theories (CRN), which examine the means by which research networks "converge to the acquisition of individual and collective scientific and social capital" and who "share their resources in order to achieve a common project" (Liete & Pinho, 2017, p. 25, 28). The study of collaboration is particularly relevant to an NSF STC, as STCs conduct research collaboratively at the intersection of various scientific disciplines through partnerships among institutions of higher education (National Science Foundation, n.d.).

Authors

• Courtney Stone, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Caitlin Albrechtsen, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author