The fundamental goal of the project is to create a graduate learning environment and infrastructure that provides an intentional and personalized focus on addressing the need for graduate students to develop a mature research stature and perspective.
High-level overview of the project components with graphics from NSF PI conference presentation
This project provides a study on research identity that applies to R2 and R3 universities that offer research-based graduate degrees. It includes three coordinated initiatives as shown in Figure 1:
Research Network (REN). The REN seeks to build relationships that impart knowledge, skills, and perspectives to graduate students that may not be available to them from their own major professor and their research group. The network is comprised of graduate students, select major professors, select faculty from R1 universities, and representatives from corporate research and federal research laboratories.
Small Research Groups (SRGs). These groups of five or less research-active faculty support the development of research identities among graduate students. The goal is to have all research-active faculty belong to a small research group; in this context, “research-active” faculty are faculty who are major professors for theses and dissertations.
Research Identity (RI) Assessment Process. The assessment process involves pairing well-established social and psychological theories of identity with a mixed-method social science research design to identify the content, character, and complications associated with efforts to develop Research Identity among graduate students in general and students from underrepresented groups in particular.
The research identity assessment process and tools developed under this project are applicable to many graduate research-based degrees in the STEM disciplines. They are also applicable to undergraduate research experiences and helping to build a motivated pool of students, especially from under-represented groups, for research-based graduate degrees.