The purpose of this proposal is to seek funding for four EITM Summer Institutes and an associated EITM Scholarship Program in 2019-2022.
The proposed EITM Summer Institutes offer younger scholars an opportunity to work with senior scholars who are leaders in advancing theoretical and empirical research. The content of Institute activities pertains to the development and expansion of best practices. The substantive focus is on areas where appreciable research integrating theory and methods already exists. Institute activities transcend passive receipt of lecture material. Each institute offers participants dynamic opportunities to receive mentoring and feedback from a wide range of sources.
The proposed EITM Summer Institutes include more one-to-one mentoring with a much wider range of faculty; new, dynamic, and innovative small group collaborative opportunities that can help participants realize complementarities amongst methods; a new emphasis on how to effectively present complex arguments to broader audiences; a more expansive view of multi-method research; and a yearly capstone conference.
We also propose continuation of the EITM Scholarship Program. The program?s main purpose is to offer preparation and support for people who want to learn advanced inferential skills and to send the very strong signal of EITM?s openness to people of all backgrounds. As is the case with many STEM fields, EITM has difficulty attracting applications from members of historically underrepresented groups. Aspiring members of these populations often desire the benefits of an EITM experience, but lack confidence that their institutions have adequately prepared them. With NSF?s encouragement and support, the Scholarship Program has given EITM the ability to be proactive in building new opportunity pipelines for such individuals.