Postdoctoral Training in STEM Education

This project team will establish the Purdue University Research Program on STEM Education (PURPOSE) postdoctoral training program to support the development of a cohort of postdoctoral scholars in the area of early STEM learning and development in informal and/or formal learning environments such as schools, homes, child care, and community settings. In this training program, postdoctoral scholars will hone their research and teaching skills, build relationships with educators, policy makers, families, and community members that could lead to collaborations, and learn how policies are developed and evaluated, broadening their understanding of how research is used in decision-making at the state level.

The program will support the postdoctoral scholars’ success in attaining impactful STEM education careers–where they can generate and disseminate STEM education knowledge–through the provision of research and professional development training experiences. Ultimately, this training will result in well-rounded early STEM education scholars equipped for success in academic, industry, and/or policy-relevant positions.

The overarching goal of the PURPOSE postdoctoral training program is to enhance the postdoctoral scholars’ knowledge base beyond traditional STEM skills, theories, and perspectives, to employ new methods relevant to STEM and non-STEM skill development, and to develop collaborations with STEM and non-STEM colleagues. These scholars will build connections and partnerships that extend to practice and policy, engage in holistic scholarly and professional development, and be poised to take the next steps in their career to generate high-quality STEM education knowledge.

The training program will be built on the three pillars of research, practice, and policy that are supported through a foundation of professional learning, diversity, equity, and inclusion (in contexts of both their scholarly and professional development), and mentoring (both the provision of mentoring and learning how to mentor). It is expected that the postdoctoral scholars will develop knowledge and skills at the intersection of early STEM education and school readiness.

Additionally, the initiative’s structure will be evaluated, refined and used as a model for postdoctoral training that will be maintained by the key personnel at Purdue and disseminated to others through future conferences, professional development training, and other opportunities.

This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.

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.