Drs. Suzanna Rose (Director, SISH), Asia Eaton (Psychology | Women’s Studies), Yesim Darici (Director, Women’s Studies Center | Physics ), and Rosemary Hickey-Vargas (Chair, Earth & Environment) have been awarded the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE grant to assist FIU in hiring, retaining, and promoting excellent women scientists and mathematicians.
The goal of the NSF-ADVANCE program is to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers, thereby developing a more diverse science and engineering workforce. ADVANCE focuses on ensuring that women faculty with earned STEM degrees consider academia as a viable and attractive career option. Since 2001, NSF has invested over $135M to support ADVANCE projects at more than one hundred different institutions of higher education and non-profit organizations in 41 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The NSF-ADVANCE grant will fund FIU’s Awareness, Commitment, and Empowerment (ACE) Project for the next three years, dedicating over $570,000 in research funding to the advancement of women faculty. THE ACE Project will be a partnership between FIU and the University of Michigan that will facilitate the hiring, retention, and promotion of women scientists using education and changes in departmental practices.
Project activities include creating a committee of established science and math professors to learn about social science research on gender, helping FIU develop and goals and strategies to recruit and hire excellent and diverse candidates, hosting faculty development workshops, and using interactive theatre to educate faculty on issues of diversity.
