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Grant funding is essential to the advancement of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields with certain grants viewed as especially prestigious and career formative. The goal of this project was twofold: first to describe the gender demographics of the national winners of two prestigious grants and second, to document the impact of an educational program aimed at improving the success for women in STEM fields in a local setting. In Study 1, we analyzed publicly available national data to document gender gaps in National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) and National Institutes of Health's K01 awards from 2008-2021. Results showed that, while the ratio of K01 awards favored women, the ratio of men-to-women CAREER awardees favored men. In Study 2, we implemented a grant-writing program for CAREER awards based in self-determination theory at one university and analyzed its impact on funding success. Results comparing before the educational program and after showed that the average annual success rate increased for everyone from 11% to 33%. Women-identified faculty who participated in the program were awarded CAREER funding at a higher rate than would be expected from the number of women eligible to apply or submission rates. While the correlational and observational nature of this study make it impossible to conclude that it was only the educational programs that resulted in the benefits to women's award success, we encourage other universities to consider adapting the program and enable faculty development around grant success.

Anticipating the deleterious effects of pandemic mitigation protocols on faculty's research and creative work, many universities introduced mechanisms for pre-tenured faculty to receive tenure clock extensions. Unlike most stop-the-clock extensions, which occur on an individual basis, the stop-the-tenure-clock during COVID-19 was a mass-triggering event that applied to all faculty. Informed by social role theory, we examined this unique situation of stop-the-tenure clock decisions by faculty at two different universities within the same state system. Institutional level demographic and field of study data on faculty decision making at one high research activity university (n = 97) and one very high research activity university (n = 387) were examined at two time points; a first tenure-clock stop opportunity and a second tenure-clock stop opportunity. Results show that although the overall rates of clock-stops were much larger at the research-intense university, the characteristics of who was most likely to accept or opt out of the first tenure-clock stop were similar at both universities. Ethnic minoritized faculty at both universities had greater odds of accepting the clock-stop. Results also showed that at both universities, women were somewhat more likely to accept the first tenure clock extension, and exploratory follow-up shows this gendered decision manifested differently depending on field of study. Relatively few faculty accepted the second tenure clock-stop. Our findings provide a portrait of who accepts or declines tenure clock extensions with important implications for downstream effects on equity within the academy.

Science is undergoing rapid change with the movement to improve science focused largely on reproducibility/replicability and open science practices. This moment of change-in which science turns inward to examine its methods and practices-provides an opportunity to address its historic lack of diversity and noninclusive culture. Through network modeling and semantic analysis, we provide an initial exploration of the structure, cultural frames, and women's participation in the open science and reproducibility literatures (n = 2,926 articles and conference proceedings). Network analyses suggest that the open science and reproducibility literatures are emerging relatively independently of each other, sharing few common papers or authors. We next examine whether the literatures differentially incorporate collaborative, prosocial ideals that are known to engage members of underrepresented groups more than independent, winner-takes-all approaches. We find that open science has a more connected, collaborative structure than does reproducibility. Semantic analyses of paper abstracts reveal that these literatures have adopted different cultural frames: open science includes more explicitly communal and prosocial language than does reproducibility. Finally, consistent with literature suggesting the diversity benefits of communal and prosocial purposes, we find that women publish more frequently in high-status author positions (first or last) within open science (vs. reproducibility). Furthermore, this finding is further patterned by team size and time. Women are more represented in larger teams within reproducibility, and women's participation is increasing in open science over time and decreasing in reproducibility. We conclude with actionable suggestions for cultivating a more prosocial and diverse culture of science.

Although women have made tremendous strides toward gender equity within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields over the past couple of decades, reaching full equity will require the support of faculty colleagues. Department chairs and heads are crucial as the conduit between administration and faculty, yet they are traditionally an understudied contingent. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 STEM department heads at a U.S. university, we uncovered the limiting ideologies that guide department leaders' sensemaking around achieving gender equity--specifically meritocracy, objectivity, and neoliberalism. We discuss the implications for gender equity programs within higher education in terms of addressing these deeper frames of reference to achieve long-lasting outcomes. On one hand, change agents can leverage these dominant ideologies to create a shift in department leaders' mind-sets, leading to earlier understanding and buy-in; on the other hand, failing to critically challenge these deep-seated assumptions and beliefs can impede long-term success.

What goes into faculty decisions to adopt a classroom intervention that closes achievement gaps? We present a theoretical model for understanding possible resistance to and support for implementing and sustaining a diversity-enhancing classroom intervention. We propose, examine, and refine a "diversity interventions--resistance to action" model with four key inputs that help explain faculty's decision to implement (or not) an evidence-based intervention: (1) notice that underrepresentation is a problem; (2) interpret underrepresentation as needing immediate action; (3) assume responsibility; and (4) know how to help. Using an embedded mixed-methods design, we worked with a sample of 40 biology faculty from across the United States who participated in in-depth, semistructured, qualitative interviews and surveys. Survey results offer initial support for the model, showing that the inputs are associated with faculty's perceived value of and implementation intentions for a diversity-enhancing classroom intervention. Findings from qualitative narratives provide rich contextual information that illuminates how faculty think about diversity and classroom interventions. The diversity interventions--resistance to action model highlights the explicit role of faculty as systemic gatekeepers in field-wide efforts to diversify biology education, and findings point to strategies for overcoming different aspects of faculty resistance in order to scale up diversity-enhancing classroom interventions.

There is no doubt that connections with other people motivate behavior; yet science is stereotyped as being lonely work devoid of communal connections. Drawing from self-regulation of motivation and goal congruity theories, we ask, does relationship-building in science foster communal perceptions that then increase women's persistence in and motivation for science research? In a scientific context designed to simulate a "typical" setting that emphasized gender and the male-dominated nature of STEM, women and men students interacted with a male confederate [Study 1 (N = 245)] or women students interacted with a female confederate [Study 2 (N = 152)]. In both cases, the student-confederate pair completed a series of getting-to-know-you questions to foster a relationship, engaged in a boring "data transcription" task together, and completed measures of communal goal perceptions, science research motivation, and belonging. We also assessed actual persistence on and future motivation for the science task. Across both studies, women's communal perceptions significantly predicted belonging and science research motivation. In turn, science research motivation led to significantly greater persistence and future motivation and significantly mediated the link between communal perceptions and science persistence (Study 1). Results for belonging were mixed. Study 2 results provided a conceptual replication, extending the model to same-gender peer interactions. Overall results suggest peer relationship-building exercises are one pathway to help women feel a sense of community in science education. Focusing on creative strategies to retain women students in science will enhance science innovation and contribute to a more inclusive teaching and learning environment.

Contribution: Prior studies on goal congruity show that students are more motivated to pursue careers that allow them to work with and help others and give back to their community (i.e., careers that afford prosocial value). This paper discovers this same pattern in electrical engineering (EE) and discovers that prosocial affordance beliefs are significantly associated with intensions to persist, while agency beliefs are not. Background: Goal congruity theory finds that people are more motivated to pursue a career if it aligns with values they endorse. This theory can shed light on why some students do not persist in EE because of the stereotype that the profession does not allow working with and helping others. Research Questions: This paper seeks to answer whether EE students perceive the profession as affording prosocial value, and to test associations between prosocial perceptions and motivation to persist in the field. Methodology: The first study in this paper was conducted on students in an introductory EE course (n = 79) that measured affordance beliefs about the EE profession and tested associations with intensions to persist. The second study compared affordance beliefs and trait endorsements held by students in the introductory level course with those in an advanced EE courses (n = 51). Findings: Mediation analysis revealed that the more novice students believe that EE allows them to fulfill prosocial goals, the greater their persistence intentions (95% CI: 0.01 to 0.34). This analysis also showed that agency beliefs were not strongly associated with persistence intensions.

Can gender-based diversity programs benefit everyone? We tested whether and how a broadening participation program intended to benefit women working within male-dominated academic fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, may relate to job satisfaction for all who feel involved. Informed by self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2012), we designed and tested a gender-diversity program that supported women faculty's psychological need for autonomy, relatedness, and competence through their involvement in five activities embedded in three "ADVANCE Project TRACS" (Transformation through Relatedness Autonomy and Competence Support) initiatives. Longitudinal repeated measures collected over 3 years from men and women tenure track faculty across disciplines show that for everyone, involvement with the program predicted a significant positive change in psychological need satisfaction. This change was associated with positive changes in job satisfaction over time. Results demonstrate the success of this particular program, and suggest that diversity programs that target one group can have wide-spread positive impacts on all who feel involved.

This research examines ways in which men and women university faculty sought self-determination in the promotion and tenure (P&T) process. Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2012) research tends to view autonomy as the central factor in self-determination, taking priority over other psychological needs of relatedness and competence. The P&T process occurs within a context that inherently limits autonomy, providing a unique opportunity to examine experiences of relatedness and competence when autonomy is constrained. We used a qualitative research strategy with a matched case study design to explore how individuals experience the constructs of SDT (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) within the P&T process. Our project focuses on faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments undergoing P&T review at one university. Women faculty in STEM were compared with men faculty at the same rank and in similar departments concurrently going through P&T review. Findings showed that men reported experiencing self-determination via "informational competence" whereas women approached self-determination through "relational competence." Creating a level playing field for faculty navigating the P&T process requires being attuned to different paths to self-determination, fostering relationships between faculty, and clarifying policies and procedures.

The current research examined the psychometric properties and utility of a measure of college classroom environment in predicting goal-related outcomes rooted in goal contents and achievement goal theories. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in Studies 1 and 2, respectively, yielded support for two distinct and gender-invariant classroom environment constructs--professorial concern and affiliation. Results of multilevel regression analyses in Study 3 indicated that both constructs were positive predictors of intrinsic and self-approach goals. Additionally, professorial concern was a significant positive predictor of extrinsic goal adoption. Contrary to expectation, perceptions of affiliation in the science classroom were unrelated to task-approach goals. These findings illustrate the important role that socially dynamic classroom contexts play in fostering motivation and satisfying basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Supporting efforts to grow the scientific workforce means articulating and comparing the content of science field stereotypes. To do this, data were collected from the general public [undergraduates (n= 121) and Amazon Mechanical Turk workers (n=223)] as well as from people within science [attendees of an undergraduate conference for women in physics (n=34)]. Participants were randomly assigned to consider either biologists or physicists and then produce both spontaneous judgments and rate various person traits (e.g., ratings related to looks and personality and hobbies) and field characteristics (e.g., ratings related to the working conditions, norms, and expectations for the field). Analyses show stereotypes of the scientist and the science field were statistically significantly negative overall, with stereotypes about physicists and the field of physics more negative than biology. Compared to biologists, physicists were perceived as statistically significantly more competent, but statistically significantly more unattractive, tech oriented, awkward, and loners. Furthermore, compared to biology, a job in physics was viewed as having fewer opportunities for working with and helping others, but more opportunities for agency, a greater requirement for innate brilliance and effort to succeed, and as more difficult. That said, physicists were more envied than biologists. Data were triangulated with open-ended responses illustrating that across samples, people are more likely to reproduce science stereotypes for physicists. Implications for stereotype research and broadening participation of the science workforce are discussed, with a focus on the utility of role models and classroom interventions that negate stereotypes such as writing activities and encouraging students to approach physics with a growth mindset. Instructors are encouraged to consider what stereotypes students have about the field of physics and physicists. At the department level, instructors are encouraged to consider hosting a Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics sponsored in part by the American Physical Society.

The science education community is deeply invested in growing the next generation of scientists. One way to do this is through evidence-based interventions that support the motivation and performance of students in introductory classes. The literature is replete with interdisciplinary research presenting such interventions. Unfortunately, the process of developing and evaluating pedagogical practices is not the same as the process required to scale those efforts into actual university classrooms. Efforts to spread the word about successful practices often move slowly, through relatively small personal and professional networks. We present a complementary proactive strategy designed to raise awareness of one exemplar intervention across a broad swath of U.S. biology faculty. Our 30-minute anonymous engagement (in three 10-minute asynchronous virtual sessions) resulted in this particular intervention being adopted in some form by more than 4 in 10 faculty who learned about it, reaching an estimated 7,500 students across the United States. We describe the three phases of our intervention adoption process, each informed by social psychology theories of persuasion and decision-making, and provide a detailed guide and ready-to-use resources to replicate the process using other evidence-based interventions ready for scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivating students to pursue science careers is a top priority among many science educators. We add to the growing literature by examining the impact of a utility value intervention to enhance student's perceptions that biomedical science affords important utility work values. Using an expectancy-value perspective, we identified and tested 2 types of utility value: communal (other-oriented) and agentic (self-oriented). The culture of science is replete with examples emphasizing high levels of agentic value, but communal values are often (stereotyped as) absent from science. However, people in general want an occupation that had communal utility. We predicted and found that an intervention emphasizing the communal utility value of biomedical research increased students' motivation for biomedical science (Studies 1-3). We refined whether different types of communal utility value (i.e., working with, helping, and forming relationships with others) might be more or less important, demonstrating that helping others was an especially important predictor of student motivation (Study 2). Adding agentic utility value to biomedical research did not further increase student motivation (Study 3). Furthermore, the communal value intervention indirectly impacted students' motivation because students believed that biomedical research was communal and thus subsequently more important (Studies 1-3). This is key, because enhancing student communal value beliefs about biomedical research (Studies 1-3) and science (Study 4) was associated both with momentary increases in motivation in experimental settings (Studies 1-3) and increased motivation over time among students highly identified with biomedicine (Study 4). We discuss recommendations for science educators, practitioners, and faculty mentors who want to broaden participation in science.

The worry or concern over confirming negative gender group stereotypes, called stereotype threat, is one explanation for women's worldwide underrepresentation in undergraduate science classes and majors. But how does stereotype threat translate into fewer women motivated for science? In this quantitative study with a sample from the US, we use Expectancy Value Theory to examine whether and how stereotype threat concerns might influence women's science identification. To do this, we collected survey data from 388 women enrolled in introductory physics (male-dominated) and biology (female-dominated) undergraduate laboratory classes at three universities. We examined multiple indirect effect paths through which stereotype threat could be associated with science identity and the associated future motivation to engage in scientific research. In addition to replicating established expectancy-value theory motivational findings, results support the novel prediction that one route through which stereotype threat negatively impacts women's science identity is via effects on perceptions about the communal utility value of science. Especially among women in physics who expressed greater stereotype threat concerns than women in biology, science identification was lower to the extent that stereotype threat reduced how useful science was seen for helping other people and society. Implications for ways to create an inclusive learning context that combats stereotype threat concerns and broadens undergraduate women's participation in science are discussed.

The contributing role of stereotype threat (ST) to learning and performance decrements for stigmatized students in highly evaluative situations has been vastly documented and is now widely known by educators and policy makers. However, recent research illustrates that underrepresented and stigmatized students' academic and career motivations are influenced by ST more broadly, particularly through influences on achievement orientations, sense of belonging, and intrinsic motivation. Such a focus moves conceptualizations of ST effects in education beyond the influence on a student's performance, skill level, and feelings of self-efficacy per se to experiencing greater belonging uncertainty and lower interest in stereotyped tasks and domains. These negative experiences are associated with important outcomes such as decreased persistence and domain identification, even among students who are high in achievement motivation. In this vein, we present and review support for the Motivational Experience Model of ST, a self-regulatory model framework for integrating research on ST, achievement goals, sense of belonging, and intrinsic motivation to make predictions for how stigmatized students' motivational experiences are maintained or disrupted, particularly over long periods of time.

Online learning may be particularly sensitive to self-regulatory trade-offs between maintaining interest and performance. Undergraduates in online or on-campus sections of the same course rated strategies used to motivate studying for the first exam, and interest after the first exam and at semester's end. First exam and final class grades were obtained. We compared online and on-campus students in reported use of strategies to enhance the importance of studying-related outcomes (goals-defined) and to enhance the studying experience (experience-defined). The latter included an Internet-based strategy (i.e., making studying more enjoyable by exploring class web page). Online and on-campus students did not differ in reported use of outcome-focused strategies but online students were more likely to report exploring the class web page. For online students, greater exploration was associated with higher interest but lower first exam grades, which predicted final interest and grades. Implications for regulating interest and online learning are discussed. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

Two different standards within American women's overall cultural worldview were examined in two studies: standing out and fitting in. American culture prescribes and values uniqueness, yet gender norms for women prescribe and value inclusiveness. Thus, unlike American men, American women encounter incongruent cultural norms that make it unclear which she will uphold when faced with thoughts of death. We hypothesized that, for women (and not men), gender salience would moderate worldview adherence. Using standard terror management manipulations, American women were subjected to a self or gender prime (Study 1) as well as a non-gender-group prime and compared to men (Study 2). Results showed that under mortality salience, women primed with gender identified more with their gender group, were more likely to behave inclusively, and were more likely to desire affiliation. In contrast, those primed with the self, a non-gender-group prime, as well as men, were more likely to desire uniqueness. These findings suggest that, for an American woman, both inclusiveness and uniqueness are responses to mortality salience, depending on her momentary reference point.

Competence-based stereotypes can negatively affect women's performance in math and science (referred to as stereotype threat), presumably leading to lower motivation. The authors examined the effects of stereotype threat on interest, a motivational path not necessarily mediated by performance. They predicted that working on a computer science task in the context of math-gender stereotypes would negatively affect undergraduate women's task interest, particularly for those higher in achievement motivation who were hypothesized to hold performance-avoidance goals in response to the threat. Compared with when the stereotype was nullified, while under stereotype threat an assigned performance-avoidance (vs. -approach) goal was associated with lower interest for women higher in achievement motivation (Study 1), and women higher (vs. lower) in achievement motivation were more likely to spontaneously adopt performance-avoidance goals (Study 2). The motivational influence of performance-avoidance goals under stereotype threat was primarily mediated by task absorption (Study 3). Implications for the stereotyped task engagement process (Smith, 2004) are discussed.

The aim of this project is to further examine the construct of domain identification (i.e., a person's positive phenomenological experiences with, and perceived self-relevance of, a domain), specifically as it applies to computer technology (CT). The authors model a knownmeasure of math identification to first develop a measure of CT identification. The authors then test whether the new CT identification measure could uniquely explain the relationship between individuals' gender and CT career pursuit, above and beyond math identification. Finally, the authors examine the relationships between men's and women's CT domain identification, their perceptions of the CT field, and their interpersonal orientation to determine whether existing relationships among these variables might explain individuals willingness to consider a number of CT-and non-CT-related fields.

There is currently debate among professionals in the area of mental retardation/developmental disabilities regarding the use of, and a possible replacement for, the term mental retardation. Using the semantic differential technique, 284 participants drawn from various Midwestern populations completed assessments of several terms used to describe the condition known as mental retardation (e.g., intellectual disability) as well as the person with the condition (e.g., mentally challenged) and other disabilities (e.g., physically disabled). Assessments were made on three factors: evaluation, activity, and potency. Results indicated that although all of the terms were generally assessed neutrally, the term Mentally Challenged emerged as the most positive particularly compared to evaluations of the other investigated terms. Moreover, mentally challenged was evaluated as significantly more positive compared to the term physically disabled but was similarly evaluated as the term visually disabled. Implications of the results are discussed.

Stereotype threat is a situational experience in which an individual feels vulnerable and pressured by the possibility of confirming or being judged by a stereotype. This threatening experience leads to performance decrements, even among highly skilled individuals. This article chronicles empirically tested mechanisms for how stereotype threat negatively impacts performance outcomes. A review of relevant published investigations illustrate that a number of intuitive mediators have been suggested and tested, often with discouraging results. Thus, one objective of this article is to provide researchers with a comprehensive and straightforward account of such tested mechanisms to assist with future works. Indeed, there is much room for research in this area considering that to date, as measured, no individual mediator has completely explained the stereotype threat--poor performance relationship. As such, the second objective of this article is to propose a multiple mediator approach drawing from achievement goal theory. The Stereotyped Task Engagement Process Model is presented. This model hypothesizes that performance goal adoption can offer insights into the potential multiple processes involved in stereotype-threat effects on performance.

Examined how stereotypes might become activated in testing situations, noting the effects of this activation on task performance. Data collected on college students suggested that explicitly and implicitly activated stereotypes were equally detrimental to student performance. Members of a traditional nonstigmatized group (white men) were affected by an explicitly activated threat (Asian Americans generally perform better than Whites in mathematics). (SM)

Examined the psychometric properties of an individual difference measure of identification within the mathematics and English domains. Factor analytic results substantiated the presence of English and Mathematics subscales, which yielded scores that were internally consistent and stable over time. Results for samples of 1,143 and 98 college students also support the validity and reliability of scores on the scale. (SLD)