Regional Center for Nuclear Education and Training (RCNET) is an NSF ATE Center designed to help create a diverse nuclear workforce pipeline across the nation. RCNET is located at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, FL, and is a consortium of over 55 colleges and universities, 100 industry partners, and multiple agencies and other partners. Over the years, RCNET has focused on several key initiatives including diversity efforts. This video highlights RCNET’s successful efforts to increase female enrollment in energy programs across the nation, a historically male-dominated field, by listening to the voices of young women.
Broadening Participation, Workforce Development
Indian River St Coll, RCNET
Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
Related Content for Female STEM Recruitment Overview
Discussion from the 2022 STEM For All Video Showcase (17 posts)
Kevin Cooper
Lead Presenter Dean
May 10, 2022 | 08:36 a.m.
Hi, Everyone this is Kevin Cooper. This work is part of an NSF Center, RCNET, focused on increasing female enrollment in nuclear fields but we have worked with a host of other colleges (+100) and NSF ATE Centers and Consortiums focused on increasing minorities and women in STEM fields such as:
1. RCNET - A Nuclear Center headquartered at Indian River State College (www.gonuke.org)
2. CREATE - A Renewable Energy Center headquartered at Madison Technical College (www.createenergy.org)
3. Project Vision - A NAF ATE Mentoring Organization (www.projectvis.org)
5. NEVC - An national electric vehicle consortium headquartered at Indian River State College
Please check out our youtube channel and if you'd like to use any of the material such as our videos with custom beginnings or endings or marketing material with your logos and contact information that can be arranged.
Excellent video, important work, and good resources. Thanks!
Karen Mutch-Jones
Facilitator Senior Researcher/Center Director
May 10, 2022 | 04:30 p.m.
Thank you for sharing your video. You framed the challenges and barriers related to recruitment of women in nuclear fields well--it was clear why the RCNet approach is needed. I also appreciated your reminder about generational differences that create barriers. Could you share suggestions, from project research, that would help scientists, engineers, and others in STEM fields to increase interest and access for younger generations? In addition to tracking increases in female enrollment (which is great!) are you also collecting other data about the pipeline--for instance, after enrollment, what strategies enable girls and women to persist and stay in the pipeline and, ultimately, move into a career in a STEM field? Thank you for helping to change the narrative!
I also appreciate the video. Karen Mutch-Jones' question inspired mine. I work primarily with older women and I am curious about how and if you are trying to reach older audiences of women as well?
Also, I clicked through to your RCNET webpage. This looks like a very complex and serious effort. In your efforts to include more women in STEM fields, what strategies are being applied to the representation of women and girls on your website? Is that a focus at all? What sort of conversations have been undertaken about representation of women and girls in icons etc. I appreciate what you are doing and recognize your efforts to increase participation of women in STEM. Thank you for your efforts.
Kevin Cooper
Lead Presenter Dean
May 10, 2022 | 05:26 p.m.
Thank you Karen and great questions, our evaluator, Ben Reid, actually did a longitudinal tracking analysis and I have asked him to respond to you on some of those takeaways. Also, his email is ben@impactallies.com. To answer your first question, I think it is communication and open-ended surveying of your customer combined with working with marketing experts, Scientists, engineers, and educators who are great at science, engineering, and education. While marketing and advertising personnel are great at marketing and advertising. We should work better together to solve this challange.
Karen Mutch-Jones
Facilitator Senior Researcher/Center Director
May 15, 2022 | 09:44 a.m.
Thanks for your response, Kevin, and for additional information and the email address. You are right--finding out the interests, needs, and barriers experienced by young women is critical, as both gender and generational issues are at play. So important that you are investigating and responding to them through your program. Best wishes!
Your project is using the resources of a very broad consortium to address important elements of systems change. It is good to see how you deal directly with the root causes of the status quo in female representation and create strategies that listen to the voices of the young women you want to recruit--and then have young women serve as ambassadors of the messages they help to create. You also are tailoring messages that promote institutional change and policy changes over time. Our work in equity systems change promotes dialogue that examines these elements and works toward continuous improvement. I will be interested in the longitudinal analyses and your continuing efforts.
Chris Atchison
Facilitator Professor
May 11, 2022 | 07:46 p.m.
Hi Kevin, very valuable work here. Do you have female colleagues on the project team? What about mentoring and advocacy that includes the voice of the women you are recruiting and working with? How are you then working to ensure the historically male-focused culture is inclusive and safe for the female students and future nuclear practitioners with a clear sense of belonging?
1
Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available
Found helpful:
Karen Royer
Kevin Cooper
Lead Presenter Dean
May 12, 2022 | 06:53 a.m.
All the work is driven by female colleagues and all the material is designed, created, and made by young female partners. In addition, as Co-PI of the CREATE (the NSF ATE Center focused on renewable energy), I know CREATE has created a women's working group to address this exact issue.
Finally, your second question about safety and belonging is a great question. It is hard to change the mentality of 100+ years of a male-dominated industry. I know the larger companies (I had a long conversation with Telsa's head of workforce on this topic and they have similar challenges in a 21st-century industry) are doing a lot of PD for their employees. It'll take time but the data still shows that women leave STEM workforce at a much greater pace than men.
1
Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available
Found helpful:
Chris Atchison
Catherine Horn
Facilitator Moores Professor and Chair
May 11, 2022 | 10:26 p.m.
Kevin - Thanks for your work! In thinking about sustainability, what are your data telling you about what interventions are working most effectively? I love that you are drawing from young women and their strengths to "change the narrative." Have you also been partnering with graphic and other designers to help you create materials that are more inclusive/reflective of the expanded career professionals? Very interested in what you are learning as you move forward that might inform how others expand similar efforts.
thanks for what you are doing!
Kevin Cooper
Lead Presenter Dean
May 12, 2022 | 06:49 a.m.
Thanks, Catherine. The data is showing that it is challenging. Each initiative my home institution or a partner institution launches takes a lot of bandwidth and moves the needle for that initiative. But is it sustainable - not without continued reinforcement that takes bandwidth and money. We are fighting 150+ of industrialized world legacy effects. And yes, all the material, logos, flyers, and videos (on our video channel) are designed, made, and edited by young women.
Catherine Horn
Facilitator Moores Professor and Chair
May 12, 2022 | 08:19 a.m.
Kevin - thanks for the candid answer. Appreciate the challenges you are facing and that you are taking them on. Know that your important efforts are valued!
Thank you for this excellent video on female recruitment. Much needed!
Dennis Kleinman
May 16, 2022 | 05:31 p.m.
Really great video that serves an important purpose. Having worked on a STEM curriculum for littles for the last ten years, I've learned quite a bit about the way gender stereotyping can push girls away from STEM in the earliest grades. It takes programs like this one to give girl students another look at the STEM career option. The project that my team and I are presenting this year is K-12 curriculum funding by the U.S. Department of Defense that explores the science behind BioFabrication. (You can have a look here: https://stemforall2022.videohall.com/presentations/2489 ). Along with the actual lessons, we did video profiles of recent college graduates who are now working for BioFab startups and, to help address the gender stereotyping issue, six of the graduates are women! You can view them here: Building a Strong Workforce Alliance for Biofabrication & Bioengineering through K-12 Education
Kevin Cooper
Lead Presenter Dean
May 17, 2022 | 08:33 a.m.
I checked it out, great work and we will be reaching out for collaboration!
Yes Kevin! We are pushing to engage more females and various under-represented populations! The female population is certainly gearing up with recent news and the timing is perfect to show the world we are equal, engaging, and effective in all career and leadership pathways! Happy to collaborate and move this long-standing issue out of the sidelines!
Kevin Cooper
Dean
Hi, Everyone this is Kevin Cooper. This work is part of an NSF Center, RCNET, focused on increasing female enrollment in nuclear fields but we have worked with a host of other colleges (+100) and NSF ATE Centers and Consortiums focused on increasing minorities and women in STEM fields such as:
1. RCNET - A Nuclear Center headquartered at Indian River State College (www.gonuke.org)
2. CREATE - A Renewable Energy Center headquartered at Madison Technical College (www.createenergy.org)
3. Project Vision - A NAF ATE Mentoring Organization (www.projectvis.org)
4. CA2VES - An Center for Aviation and Automotive Technological headquartered at Clemson (https://cecas.clemson.edu/cucwd/ca2ves/)
5. NEVC - An national electric vehicle consortium headquartered at Indian River State College
Please check out our youtube channel and if you'd like to use any of the material such as our videos with custom beginnings or endings or marketing material with your logos and contact information that can be arranged.
Kevin Cooper
kcooper@irsc.edu
Kevin Cooper
Dean
Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeBADt6D...
Elaine Craft
Excellent video, important work, and good resources. Thanks!
Karen Mutch-Jones
Senior Researcher/Center Director
Thank you for sharing your video. You framed the challenges and barriers related to recruitment of women in nuclear fields well--it was clear why the RCNet approach is needed. I also appreciated your reminder about generational differences that create barriers. Could you share suggestions, from project research, that would help scientists, engineers, and others in STEM fields to increase interest and access for younger generations? In addition to tracking increases in female enrollment (which is great!) are you also collecting other data about the pipeline--for instance, after enrollment, what strategies enable girls and women to persist and stay in the pipeline and, ultimately, move into a career in a STEM field? Thank you for helping to change the narrative!
Karen Royer
I also appreciate the video. Karen Mutch-Jones' question inspired mine. I work primarily with older women and I am curious about how and if you are trying to reach older audiences of women as well?
Also, I clicked through to your RCNET webpage. This looks like a very complex and serious effort. In your efforts to include more women in STEM fields, what strategies are being applied to the representation of women and girls on your website? Is that a focus at all? What sort of conversations have been undertaken about representation of women and girls in icons etc. I appreciate what you are doing and recognize your efforts to increase participation of women in STEM. Thank you for your efforts.
Kevin Cooper
Dean
Thank you Karen and great questions, our evaluator, Ben Reid, actually did a longitudinal tracking analysis and I have asked him to respond to you on some of those takeaways. Also, his email is ben@impactallies.com. To answer your first question, I think it is communication and open-ended surveying of your customer combined with working with marketing experts, Scientists, engineers, and educators who are great at science, engineering, and education. While marketing and advertising personnel are great at marketing and advertising. We should work better together to solve this challange.
Karen Mutch-Jones
Senior Researcher/Center Director
Thanks for your response, Kevin, and for additional information and the email address. You are right--finding out the interests, needs, and barriers experienced by young women is critical, as both gender and generational issues are at play. So important that you are investigating and responding to them through your program. Best wishes!
Vivian Guilfoy
Your project is using the resources of a very broad consortium to address important elements of systems change. It is good to see how you deal directly with the root causes of the status quo in female representation and create strategies that listen to the voices of the young women you want to recruit--and then have young women serve as ambassadors of the messages they help to create. You also are tailoring messages that promote institutional change and policy changes over time. Our work in equity systems change promotes dialogue that examines these elements and works toward continuous improvement. I will be interested in the longitudinal analyses and your continuing efforts.
Chris Atchison
Professor
Hi Kevin, very valuable work here. Do you have female colleagues on the project team? What about mentoring and advocacy that includes the voice of the women you are recruiting and working with? How are you then working to ensure the historically male-focused culture is inclusive and safe for the female students and future nuclear practitioners with a clear sense of belonging?
Karen Royer
Kevin Cooper
Dean
All the work is driven by female colleagues and all the material is designed, created, and made by young female partners. In addition, as Co-PI of the CREATE (the NSF ATE Center focused on renewable energy), I know CREATE has created a women's working group to address this exact issue.
Finally, your second question about safety and belonging is a great question. It is hard to change the mentality of 100+ years of a male-dominated industry. I know the larger companies (I had a long conversation with Telsa's head of workforce on this topic and they have similar challenges in a 21st-century industry) are doing a lot of PD for their employees. It'll take time but the data still shows that women leave STEM workforce at a much greater pace than men.
Chris Atchison
Catherine Horn
Moores Professor and Chair
Kevin - Thanks for your work! In thinking about sustainability, what are your data telling you about what interventions are working most effectively? I love that you are drawing from young women and their strengths to "change the narrative." Have you also been partnering with graphic and other designers to help you create materials that are more inclusive/reflective of the expanded career professionals? Very interested in what you are learning as you move forward that might inform how others expand similar efforts.
thanks for what you are doing!
Kevin Cooper
Dean
Thanks, Catherine. The data is showing that it is challenging. Each initiative my home institution or a partner institution launches takes a lot of bandwidth and moves the needle for that initiative. But is it sustainable - not without continued reinforcement that takes bandwidth and money. We are fighting 150+ of industrialized world legacy effects. And yes, all the material, logos, flyers, and videos (on our video channel) are designed, made, and edited by young women.
Catherine Horn
Moores Professor and Chair
Kevin - thanks for the candid answer. Appreciate the challenges you are facing and that you are taking them on. Know that your important efforts are valued!
Audrey Cohan
Thank you for this excellent video on female recruitment. Much needed!
Dennis Kleinman
Really great video that serves an important purpose. Having worked on a STEM curriculum for littles for the last ten years, I've learned quite a bit about the way gender stereotyping can push girls away from STEM in the earliest grades. It takes programs like this one to give girl students another look at the STEM career option. The project that my team and I are presenting this year is K-12 curriculum funding by the U.S. Department of Defense that explores the science behind BioFabrication. (You can have a look here: https://stemforall2022.videohall.com/presentations/2489 ). Along with the actual lessons, we did video profiles of recent college graduates who are now working for BioFab startups and, to help address the gender stereotyping issue, six of the graduates are women! You can view them here: Building a Strong Workforce Alliance for Biofabrication & Bioengineering through K-12 Education
Kevin Cooper
Dean
I checked it out, great work and we will be reaching out for collaboration!
Barbara Hopkins
Yes Kevin! We are pushing to engage more females and various under-represented populations! The female population is certainly gearing up with recent news and the timing is perfect to show the world we are equal, engaging, and effective in all career and leadership pathways! Happy to collaborate and move this long-standing issue out of the sidelines!
Further posting is closed as the event has ended.