Enhancing Making and Innovation Capacity for HBCU Students and Faculty Via an Inclusive Community of Practice

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) supports conferences that seek to increase the research capacity of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students and faculty at HBCUs. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) will organize two Making & Innovation Showcases to provide students and faculty from HBCUs with an opportunity to implement and present technology prototypes.

Furthermore, AAAS will conduct an evaluation research study exploring the impact of maker-related activities on students, faculty, and institutions. The showcases will be held on November 2021 and November 2022 on the campus of Howard University. Each showcase will host sixty participants, with teams comprised of three to five undergraduate or graduate students and one faculty member.

In case the global COVID-19 pandemic does not allow in-person meetings at that time, the showcases will be conducted virtually.

The overall goal of the project is to conduct research to investigate best practices to enhance making and innovation-related capacity for HBCU students and faculty via an inclusive community of practice. This goal will be accomplished via the following activities: two yearly Making and Innovation Showcases where student teams will develop and present innovations in response to one of the seventeen United Nations Sustainability Development Goals, and participate in professional development sessions; monthly virtual engagement to support participants; e-mentoring and coaching; and development of a toolkit of making and innovation resources for HBCUs.

The research questions that guide this project at the faculty and student level are related to faculty professional development, improved teaching strategies, student motivation and STEM identity, and the students’ role in the community of practice. The impact of the activities will be studied using quantitative and qualitative research methods.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.