Information Technology Workforce -- Dear Colleague Letter (fwd)
Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong
yui at alpha.tu.ac.th
Wed May 3 08:47:18 UTC 2000
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Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 09:22:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: Adelwisa A Weller <alagawel at umich.edu>
To: cotseal.99 at umich.edu
Subject: Information Technology Workforce -- Dear Colleague Letter (fwd)
fyi.
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Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 15:07:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Linda a. eggert <legg at umich.edu>
To: AC.Fac.Assoc at umich.edu
Subject: Information Technology Workforce -- Dear Colleague Letter (fwd)
For info.
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Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 14:08:33 -0400
From: Dave Plawchan <davedrda at umich.edu>
To: NSF-NET <NSF-NET at umich.edu>, NSF-EMP-NET <nsf-emp-net at umich.edu>
Cc: Jim Macbain <jmacbain at eng.umich.edu>, Susan Johnson <sjohnson at umich.edu>,
Drew Buchanan <dbuchana at mercury.its.umd.umich.edu>,
Janet K. Seegert <jseegert at umich.edu>, Dave Plawchan <davedrda at umich.edu>,
Peggy Westrick <pegwest at umich.edu>, Pat Fink <pfink at umich.edu>,
Virginia Wait <vwait at eecs.umich.edu>, Marvin Parnes <mgparnes at umich.edu>
Subject: Information Technology Workforce -- Dear Colleague Letter (fwd)
FYI- Due Date -6/22/00
Information Technology Workforce -- Dear Colleague Letter can be found at
the following web address http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf0077
Title: Information Technology Workforce -- Dear Colleague Letter
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
Title: Information Technology Workforce
Dear Colleague,
The Federal government plans to increase its investments in
fundamental, long-term research in information technologies
(IT), encouraging, in particular, research spanning
information technology and scientific applications, and in
the area of social, ethical and workforce issues. To help
ensure that the United States continues its worldwide
leadership in IT, we need to strengthen the technological
workforce and to produce a continuous supply of well-trained
high-quality professionals in engineering and computer and
information science (President's Information Technology
Advisory Committee Report, http://www.ccic.gov/ac/report/).
Without an IT workforce that is large enough to meet both
the public and private sectors' growing demand, and that is
adept at using and producing information technologies, we
surely risk losing the scientific, economic and human
resource advantages we now enjoy.
In this respect, the under-representation of women and
minorities in the IT workforce is a serious national
problem. There is agreement among some of the nation's
leading researchers and scientists that systematic research
efforts are needed to address this problem. Hence, the
National Science Foundation is announcing a new special
emphasis on the IT workforce (ITW) that will support a broad
set of scientific research studies focussed on the under-
representation of women and minorities in the IT workforce.
Research Goals
ITW welcomes proposals that address important research
questions related to the under-representation of women and
minorities in the IT workforce. While there is no consensus
on a single definition of the IT workforce, we encourage
researchers to carefully articulate and justify their own
definition of the IT workforce model. A suggested, but not
exhaustive, list of possible research questions is included
in Appendix A. These research topics revolve around three
basic themes:
- Environment and Culture: How the environment, culture
and other social contexts (e.g., households,
neighborhoods, communities) shape interest in IT, and
how interest in and use of IT shapes the environment,
with particular emphasis on increasing our
understanding of developmental issues at different
ages.
- IT Educational Continuum: Understanding how the
overall educational environment influences students'
progress along the educational continuum from grade
school to entry into the workforce, and why students
who have the potential to succeed in the study of IT
disciplines take educational paths that preclude or
make it difficult to enter the IT workforce.
- IT Workplace: Why women and minorities who have the
potential to succeed in the IT workforce take
alternative career paths, what barriers and obstacles
they must overcome, and how the IT workplace can foster
increased retention and advancement of women and
minorities.
Multi-disciplinary collaboration among researchers in IT,
the social sciences, and education is strongly encouraged.
Research can address issues at the individual level, at the
societal level, at the institutional level, or across levels
of analysis. All proposals should take into consideration
existing relevant research on the IT workforce. Small
projects (one to two investigators) as well as medium-sized
multi-site team projects (three to five investigators) will
be supported.
ITW encourages research using a variety of methods. These
include tools design, development and experimental
evaluation, simulation and modeling, survey analysis,
statistical models, ethnographic work to test models, case
studies, and the development of new methods for
understanding increasingly complex processes and dynamics of
transformation. Formal meta-analysis methodologies across
previous studies and intervention programs will be supported
in order to build on the results of earlier work and to add
to the research base.
ITW will also support the analysis and assessment of
existing information tools and technologies and their
possible differential uses and implications for Women and
Minorities in IT. It will also support the design,
development, and assessment of prototypes of new information
tools and technologies that will benefit women and
minorities in IT.
Eligibility
Proposals may be submitted by any organization eligible for
NSF support as reflected in the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG).
Multi-disciplinary collaboration between researchers in IT and
the social sciences is strongly encouraged.
Proposal Preparation Instructions
Proposals submitted in response to this Dear Colleague
Letter should be prepared and submitted in accordance with
the general guidelines contained in the Grant Proposal Guide
(GPG) NSF 00-2 and must be submitted via Fastlane. Visit
our site on the World Wide Web
(http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov).
Submission Date
Proposals for the ITW Special Emphasis must be submitted by
5pm, local time, on June 22, 2000, using NSF's FastLane
electronic proposal submission system, see the Grant
Proposal Guide (GPG) for instructions. The complete text of
the GPG (including electronic forms) is available
electronically on the NSF Web site at: http://www.nsf.gov/.
When submitting your proposal, please type "NSF-00-77" in
the block entitled "Program Announcement/Solicitation
No./Closing Date."
Contact for Additional Information
Please send all inquiries by Email to ITW-prog at nsf.gov.
Award Information
Proposals submitted explicitly in response to this Dear
Colleague Letter will be considered for funding as well as
proposals that fit the criteria of ITW but which are
submitted to other programs, divisions or directorates. ITW
awards may be funded for up to 3 years and will generally
range from $75,000 to $250,000 per year. Depending on the
availability of funding, between 15 and 25 proposals may be
selected for support per funding cycle.
Ruzena Bajcsy
Assistant Director, CISE
_________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX A: RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Theme 1: Environment and Culture
- Given the relative newness of computing technologies in
the world today and the strong demand for skilled IT workers
in the US, why are women and minorities underrepresented in
various sectors of the IT workforce?
- How does access to computer technology affect interest
in IT careers?
- What role does socialization play in the development of
individual attitudes, stereotypes, aspirations, educational
and career choices related to IT? Do expectations and
ethnic values transmitted through family, peers, teachers,
and role models influence educational and career choices
related to IT?
- How does popular culture through media, toys, games,
and the entertainment industry influence educational and
career choices related to IT?
- What are the design principles for information tools
and technology that encourage and support the interest and
participation of women and minorities in IT?
- How do household investments in IT education and
equipment for children affect the choices these children
make later in life?
Theme 2: IT Educational Continuum
- Why do students who have the potential to succeed in
the study of IT disciplines take educational paths that
preclude or make it difficult to enter the IT workforce?
- How does the overall educational environment influence
such students' progress along the educational continuum from
grade school to entry into the workforce?
- The importance of taking appropriate courses in
mathematics and science has long been recognized as an
integral part of preparation for IT careers. Why are
minorities still under-represented in the study of
mathematics and science? What role is played by counselors,
teachers, and parents in aptitude identification and
encouragement of students to persist in studies necessary
for IT?
- IT is increasingly being integrated into K-16
education. What is the impact on women and minorities of
efforts to provide access to and general use of computers in
K-16 education?
- The traditional focus of entry level computer courses
is on programming with extensive work in computer
laboratories, and with sequential course prerequisites.
What is the impact on women and minorities, of different
teaching methods and learning styles in IT education?
- What is the impact of the perception of relevance and
social benefit of computing in attracting and retaining
women and minorities?
- A variety of information technologies are used in
educational settings. What role do they play in attracting
and retaining women and minorities in IT?
- Are there common characteristics among women and
minorities with advanced degrees in IT that explain their
persistence and success in IT fields?
- There are a number of intervention programs in place
designed to attract and retain women and minorities in IT
disciplines. What are the effects of interventions on the
retention and success of women and minorities in IT?
- There are many ways of mentoring students, faculty and
workers in the IT fields. What are the effects on the
retention and success of women and minorities in IT, of the
different mentoring models and strategies? How should
issues of replication, scalability and delivery be
addressed?
- How can educational institutions be structured and
managed to ensure diversity? What is necessary to attract
and retain women and minorities as IT faculty? Is there
knowledge to be gained from multidisciplinary studies across
fields such as engineering, medicine and law, by comparing
models of intervention that have been successful in
attracting and retaining women and minorities?
- The rapid and continuing changes in the IT work
environment fuels the need for IT workers to participate in
lifelong education, training and self-development. What is
the appropriate balance among these?
Theme 3: IT Workplace
- Why do women and minorities who have the potential to
succeed in the IT workforce take alternative career paths?
What barriers and obstacles must be overcome?
- How can the IT workplace foster increased retention and
advancement of women and minorities?
- Do quality of life issues related to IT careers such as
burnout, long workdays, and lack of social interaction
influence retention and career mobility of women and
minorities in the IT workforce?
- How do evaluation, reward structures and family-
friendly practices impact the retention of workers in the IT
workforce?
- Do stereotypes and the status of the IT profession
affect the recruitment and retention of women and minorities
into IT careers? What are the effects of traditional and non-
traditional entry and career paths on retention and career
mobility? What are the formal qualifications and desired
characteristics of IT workers that are necessary to be
successful in IT occupations? How do degrees (or lack
thereof) impact career paths and advancement? Do the
desired characteristics fit men more so than women, non-
minorities more so than minorities?
- Prior empirical work has shown that market as well as
environment and culture influence students' and
professionals' career choices. What can be learned from
investigations of the IT labor markets that might explain
the under-representation of women and minorities in IT?
About The National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research and
education in most fields of science and engineering.
Grantees are wholly responsible for conducting their project
activities and preparing the result for publication. Thus,
the Foundation does not assume responsibility for such
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