Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 176 de 957
Theoretical Perspective
This paper takes a basic science policy perspective which recognizes that science is
political (Guston & Sarewitz, 2006). As much as scientists and engineers wish to rely on
ideals of objectivity and unbiased peer review, the process of selecting which competitive
proposals to fund is subject to individual judgment and assumptions about the
mechanisms for solving problems such as diminished engineering student recruitment,
retention and diversity. This is particularly true when evaluation data are lacking. At the
National Science Foundation, approximately half the program staff are temporary
“rotators” on 1-4 year assignments from their home academic institutions; this is by
design to ensure that program officers are active researchers in their fields, but it also
impacts program directions.
Methods
The U.S. National Science Foundation is a federal agency created in 1950 with the mission
“to promote progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to
secure the national defense.” Presently, the total annual budget is nearly $7 billion. Its
primary mechanism of funding is limited-term grants (10,000 new ones per year out of
40,000 proposals submitted) with an average duration of three years. NSF supports
approximately 20 percent of all federally funded basic research at U.S. colleges and
universities. NSF is organized into 7 directorates roughly aligned to academic disciplines.
Engineering education grants are awarded by both the Directorate for Engineering (ENG)
and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR). EHR funds education
activities across all STEM disciplines; most funding programs target all of STEM but
include awards for engineering education. In contrast, all education awards by ENG are
engineering education-related. Table 1 presents relevant characteristics of the four
programs selected for analysis. We also considered The Teacher Professional Continuum
program (now part of DR K-12), which funded models of professional development in
engineering and technology education, but found no unique awards since 1990 that were
not cofunded with IMD or DR K-12.
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011