Social, Behavioral and Economic Scientists:
The Next Generation
Dr. Wanda E. Ward
Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
National Science Foundation
Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBES) Alliances
National Conference
“Broadening Participation in the Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences”
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
April 27, 2006
NSF Mission
To promote the progress of science; to
advance the national health, prosperity,
and welfare; to secure the national
defense; and for other purposes.
National Science Foundation Act of 1950
NSF Strategic Goals
• PEOPLE: A diverse, globally-engaged
workforce of scientists, engineers and wellprepared citizens.
• IDEAS: Discovery across frontiers, connected
to learning, innovation and service to society.
• TOOLS: Accessible, state-o-the-art science
information bases and shared tools.
NSF Goals in Supporting the
Social, Behavioral and Economic
Sciences
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Increase fundamental understanding of human behavior and
society by supporting basic research, infrastructure, and
education in the SBE sciences
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Provide societal relevance by providing information on critical
national problems such as terrorism, business failures, global
workforce, America’s educational system, and the implication
of large-scale transformational changes for ethnic and cultural
diversity and equality
Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
Research Programs
Division of Social & Economic Sciences
(SES)
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Cross-Disciplinary Programs
Decision, Risk & Management
Science
Economics
Innovation and Organizational
Change
Law and Social Sciences
Political Science
Sociology
Societal Dimensions of Engineering
Science and Technology
Methodology, Measurement &
Statistics
Science & Technology Studies
Division of Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences
(BCS)
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Archaeology
Cultural Anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Geography & Regional Sciences
Perception, Action and Cognition
Linguistics
Developmental and Learning
Sciences
Social Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
(Environmental Social and
Behavioral Sciences)
Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Characteristics of the 21st Century
“No century in recorded history has experienced so many social
transformations and such radical ones as the twentieth century…In
the developed free-market countries – which contain less than a
fifth of the earth’s population but are a model for the rest – work
and work force, society and polity, are all, in the last decade of this
century, qualitatively and quantitatively different not only from what
they were in the first years of this century but also from what has
existed at any other time in history: in their configurations, in their
processes, in their problems, and in their structures…The emerging
society, the one that is based on knowledge and knowledge
workers...is far more than a social change…it is a change in the
human condition…Knowledge workers will give the emerging
knowledge society its character, its leadership, its social profile.” The
Age of Social Transformation, Drucker, Peter (1994), Atlantic
Monthly.
Characteristics of the 21st Century
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Information Explosion
Diverse Workforce
Cognitive Revolution
Transformations
Continuous Innovations
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Infrastructure Renewal
Career/Life-Long Learning
Demographic Shifts
Environmental Sustainabil.
Finite Resources
• International Partnerships
• Global Economy
Intellectual Capital
Context: Human resource development is one
of the most critical challenges and
opportunities before us today.
Greater awareness that:
• People provide the competitive advantage
• Intellectual capital is essential
• Intellectual capital is optimum when derived from
diversity of intellect
People:
The Next Generation
Representation of Blacks, Hispanics,
American Indians, and Women in 2003
8.3%
4.0%
2.8%
Blacks*
S&E Bachelor's (2003)
7.3%
4.0%
2.7%
Hispanics*
S&E Full-time Graduate
Enrollment (Fall 2003)
S&E Doctorates (2004)
American Indians*
0.7%
0.4%
0.2%
50.3%
Women
41.4%
37.4%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Percent of total
*U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
SOURCE: NCES, IPEDS Completions Survey; NSF/SRS, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates
in Science and Engineering, and Survey of Earned Doctorates.
Representation of Minorities in
Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences - 2001
Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
Social and Economic Sciences
S&E Bachelor Awards (2000)
19.0%
S&E Master's (2000)
16.3%
S&E Bachelor Awards (2000)
19.9%
S&E Master's (2000)
16.7%
S&E Doctorate Awards
S&E Doctorate Awards
12.8%
11.2%
S&E Doctoral Faculty
S&E Doctoral Faculty
9.8%
10.2%
S&E Doctoral Faculty in Res.
Univ.
9.8%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Note: Includes Psychology, Archeology, Anthropology,
Geography, Linguistics, Social Psychology.
S&E Doctoral Faculty in Res.
Univ.
8.6%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Note: Includes Sociology, Political Science,
Economics, Area Studies, Other Social Sciences.
Sources: NCES, IPEDS Completions Survey, NSF/SRS, Survey of Earned Doctorates, NSF/SRS Survey of
Doctorate Recipients.
Representation of Minorities in
Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences - 2003
10%
1991
2001
9% 9%
2003
8%
8%
7% 7%
7%
6%
6% 6%
6% 6%
6% 6%
6%
5%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
2%
0%
Science &
Engineering
Engineering
Physical
sciences
Computer/math Life sciences
sciences
Social/Behav.
Sciences
NOTES: Faculty includes full, associate and assistant professors plus instructors. Includes Native Americans.
Excludes medical sciences. Percentages rounded because of small sample sizes. Life sciences include
biological and agricultural sciences.
SOURCE: NSF/SRS, Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
Producing The Next Generation:
SBES – AGEP
A Learning System
A Learning Community
Key Strategies
• Identification of key opportunities for top
producing institutions of SBE degree recipients;
• Promotion of feeder linkages between liberal
arts and research-intensive top producers,
including minority-serving institutions (MSIs)
and predominantly white institutions (PWIs);
• Promotion of alliances and consortial
arrangements across the educational
continuum
(bridge→undergraduate→graduate→career);
Key Strategies (cont.)
• Forging substantive linkages with NSF focused programs
(e.g., Louis Stokes Alliances of Minority Participation
[LSAMP], Alliances for Graduate Education and the
Professoriate [AGEP], Historically Black Colleges and
Universities [HBCU] Program, and Tribal Colleges and
Universities Program [TCUP]); and
• Identification of a community of key NSF, flagship research
and education opportunities; priority areas; centers
programs; and international opportunities. These include:
– Priority areas (Human and Social Dynamics [HSD], Biocomplexity in
the Environment [BE], Nanoscience and Engineering [NSE], &
Mathematics
– Integration of Research & Education Activities (i.e., CAREER, IGERT,
REU, ADVANCE); Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Additional Opportunities
International
SLC
Cyber-Enabled
STC
Cyber-Enabling
NSF Investments in Broadening
Participation:
Guiding Principles
• Capitalize on strategic, programmatic investments with a
proven track record of developing the potential of those
underrepresented in the S&E workforce, i.e., minorities,
women, and persons with disabilities
• Premise program designs on research findings bearing on
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning
• Debunk existing myths of no underrepresentation problem in
the SBE sciences
FY 2005-2006 SBE Investments to
Broaden Participation
• Regional Social/Behavioral Science (RSBS)
Consortia with Alliances for Graduate
Education and the Professoriate (AGEP)
Projects
• Enhanced SBE Activity to Integrate
Research and Education – Comprehensive
Research Experiences for Undergraduates
(C-REU)
Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
FY 2005-2006 SBE Investments:
Comprehensive Research Experiences
for Undergraduates (C-REU)
• Research methods and training experience
• Expanded research experiences
• Networking, socialization experiences
• Follow-on opportunities
Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Comprehensive Research Experiences for
Undergraduates (C-REU):
FY 2005 Pilots
Disciplinary areas
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Economics (Becker)
SBE Contact: Dan Newlon, [email protected]
 Political Science (McClain)
SBE Contact: Brian Humes, [email protected]
 Psychology: Neural and Behavioral Sciences (Shuster)
SBE Contact: [email protected]
 Geography, Environmental Sciences (Yarnal)
SBE Contact: [email protected]
Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
FY 2005-2006 SBE Investments:
RSBS-AGEP Consortia
• Strategy: Enable Top 25 institutional producers of
underrepresented minority Ph.D.s in SBE sciences
through collaborations with AGEP projects
• Identify existing SBES-AGEP projects
• Fill gaps in SBE scientific representation in AGEP projects
• Establish Cross-Regional/National Network
 Monitoring/Evaluation Component
SBE Contact: Patricia White, [email protected]
Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
SBE-AGEP Participating
Institutions
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City University of New York
(CUNY)
Howard University
Michigan State University
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
Pennsylvania State University
Temple University
Texas A&M University
Stanford University
University of California at
Berkeley
University of California at Los
Angeles
University of California at Santa
Barbara
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University of Chicago
University of Florida
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
University of Maryland at
College Park
University of Miami
University of Michigan
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
University of Southern
California
University of Wisconsin
University of Texas at Austin
Wayne State University
The University of California Diversity Initiative
for Graduate Study in the Social Sciences
University of California at Berkeley – Lead
University of California at Los Angeles &
University of California at Santa Barbara
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PROGRAMS
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Faculty Mentored Research Traineeship
Research and Travel stipends
Professional Development Workshops & Seminars
Tutoring & Summer Research Opportunities
Conference support & Fellowships
Orientation workshops
Activities around community-building
RESULTS
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Hired Graduate Diversity Coordinators on all three campuses
Formal alliance established between UCB and Fisk, Morehouse, and
Spelman including domestic exchange and summer research programs.
32 participants on UCB campus alone, 30 participants from UCLA.
Atlantic Coast Social, Behavioral, and
Economic Sciences Alliance
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Lead
Howard University, University of Florida, University of Maryland at
College Park & University of Miami
• GOALS
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Recruit and prepare undergraduates to pursue the PhD degree
Assist students in the transition from BS to PhD programs
Retain graduate students to complete the PhD
Prepare future faculty for success
• ACTIVITIES
– SBE Student Participation in Preparing Future Faculty at Howard University
– One-week course — Introduction to Data Analysis for the Social Sciences
conducted by the ODUM Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill
– Videoconference short courses by the ODUM Institute.
– Support for student attendance at professional conferences
– Coordination and collaboration for recruiting, mentoring, and graduating
students in SBE programs.
COLLABORATING AGEPs - Southeast AGEP & North Carolina-OPT-ED AGEP
Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education
(EDGE) in the Social, Behavioral & Economic
(SBE) Sciences
University of Texas at Austin – Lead
University of Southern California, Stanford University,
Texas A&M University
GOALS/ACTIVITIES
• Recruitment
– Recruit cohorts of under-representative students at each alliance institution
– Establish Diversity Coordinators on each campus
– Build partnerships with minority-serving institutions (Prairie View A&M, Texas A&M
International, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, University of Texas-El Paso, University of
Texas at Pan American, University of Texas-San Antonio, University of Houston &
California State University campuses)
– Tie into existing REU Sites at University of Texas-Austin and Texas A&M
• Retention and Career Development
– Summer Fellowships between Years One & Two
– Seminar Series for writing, career development or Summer dissertation workshops
– Rotating annual Graduate Research Conference
CUNY/Michigan Alliance
City University of New York (CUNY) – Lead
Michigan State University, University of Michigan
Wayne State University
• GOALS
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Increase Participation in Summer Research Programs
Expand Recruitment and Research Opportunities
Develop Relationships with Minority-serving Institutions
Provide Across Alliance Student Mentoring and Mentoring for Faculty
Coordinate Skill-building Workshops for Graduate Study Success
Expand Student Support Groups
Enhance Fellowship Support
Increase Teaching Opportunities & Expand Teacher Training Workshops
Support Student Attendance at Professional Meetings
Expand Postdoctoral and Early Career Education
• RESULTS/ACTIVITIES
– Cohort 1 Scholars Identified at CUNY
– CUNY Conference in Science and Engineering, February 2006
– Science Conference – Michigan State University, February 2006
COLLABORATING AGEPs -MAGNET/STEM AGEP & Michigan AGEP
Northwestern AGEP for SBE
Northwestern University - Lead
Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Temple University, University of
Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin
• GOALS
– Increase the enrollment, retention, and successful graduation of underrepresented minority students in the graduate programs
– Create institutional change focused on improving graduate program diversity in
the SBE sciences on each of our campuses.
– Create network of universities in the southwest region of the United States to
share best practices in this area across campuses.
• PLANNED ACTIVITIES
– Hire a Ph.D.-level Diversity Director
– Collaborate and share best practices across the four campuses
– Work with admissions committees in key departments on each campus to more
effectively examine minority student applications
– Attend key recruiting fairs, such as the California Diversity Forum, as a
coordinated multi-campus effort
– Establish better working relationships with feeder campuses
– Host a regular 4-campus conference & professional workshops for EDGE-SBE
Fellows to provide a network of fellows across campuses
COLLABORATING AGEPs –Midwest AGEP Alliance & Northeast AGEP Alliance
SBES – AGEP
Learning Community
Northwestern
CUNY-MI
UC-DIGGS
EDGE
AC SBES
SBES – AGEP
Learning Community
Northwestern
CUNY-MI
UC-DIGGS
EDGE
AC SBES