High Research Activity Research Articles

Special Education Google Scholar Metrics to Facilitate Career Development and Advance Impact

Author-level bibliometrics are one way to measure scholarly contributions. Such metrics are often calculated from journals indexed in the Web of ScienceTM. Google Scholar more comprehensively reflects the contributions of special education scholars by including many more social science and education journals. The current study analyzed 348 publicly available Google Scholar profiles of special education faculty at 213 U.S. universities to explore currently available measures (i.e., citation counts, h-index, i10-index). Using descriptive statistics, quartile distributions, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), we identified several significant differences across variables based on academic rank and Carnegie classification with medium to large effect sizes. Currently reported metrics (i.e., citation counts, h-index, i10-index) advantaged scholars with higher academic rank and those working at universities with a greater amount of research activity. Suggestions are offered to support career development.

One Size Does Not Fit All: Self-Archiving Personas Based On Federally Funded Researchers at a Mid-Sized Private Institution

Introduction: This mixed-method study analyzes the self-archiving behaviors and underlying motivations of researchers at an institution very recently recategorized by the Carnegie Classification system from “Doctoral– High Research Activity (R2)” to “Doctoral–Very High Research Activity (R1).” Methods: A quantitative analysis of data provided by CHORUS, a multi-institutional open access (OA) infrastructure project designed to minimize the administrative costs of complying with federal public access mandates, was followed by semi-structured qualitative interviews with researchers to determine the underlying motivations for self-archiving research papers resulting from federal grant support. Results: Fifty-one authors with federal research funding published 71 journal articles; 139 OA versions of these 71 articles were intentionally made available by researchers across nine types of platforms, including and in addition to those provided by publishers. Interviews with 11 investigators revealed motivators such as a dedication to public access to knowledge, learned behaviors in specific disciplines, and enlightened self-interest. Challenges included concern regarding confidentiality, confusion about intellectual property and funder requirements, administrative overhead, and integrity of the scholarly record. Discussion: Despite concerns and a lack of an OA mandate and other drivers more commonly present at larger, more research-intensive universities, several researchers interviewed actively engaged in self-archiving article versions, not always with clear motivations. These findings have implications for both scholarly communications and collection development services. Conclusion: These quantitative and qualitative data informed the creation of three distinct personas intended to help librarians at similar universities design services in a manner that aligns with investigator motivations.

Agile Project Management Facilitates Efficient and Collaborative Collection Development Work

A Review of:Stoddard, M. M., Gillis, B., & Cohn, P. (2019). Agile project management in libraries: Creating collaborative, resilient, responsive organizations. Journal of Library Administration, 59(5), 492–511. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2019.1616971 Objective – To examine the advantages and obstacles of using Agile (an approach to project management) principles to guide collection development work in ways that allow libraries to better address user needs while increasing transparency and collaboration in their processes. Design – Descriptive case study. Setting – Libraries at a private, R1 university (doctoral university – very high research activity). Subjects – Five cross-disciplinary teams of three to six people, with each team focusing on a separate strategic aspect of library collections work (Communications and Data Visualization, E-Resource Contract Negotiation, Serials Workflow Analysis, Demand Driven Acquisitions, and Serials Budget Projection & Assessment). Methods – The authors facilitated group reflection sessions for the teams to surface outcomes of employing Agile practices and also as a means through which they could learn from their experiences with Agile. The teams engaged in reflection throughout the year-long process where they were asked to share their work, respond to the work of the other teams, and contemplate their own learning and development as a member of a team. Main Results – Using Agile principles to structure and direct collection development work allowed the libraries to meet their stated goals of spending all available funds on relevant materials within the time frame allotted. This style of collaborative work benefitted from recognition of interrelated information needs, willingness to prioritize experimentation over seeking formal training, centering user needs in planning stages, and practicing reflection as a powerful learning tool. Additionally, the authors noted a strengthening of core skills held in high value throughout libraries, such as leadership and project management. Task-oriented skills that included capabilities like data visualization and operational analysis also progressed through learning by working on cross-functional teams. The authors offered guidance for applying these lessons to situations in other libraries that can be generalized to fit other projects. Conclusion – Based on their experiences with adopting Agile practices, the authors offered scalable approaches for implementing Agile that speak to employee buy-in and the overall impact of projects undertaken in this manner. Training that reflects a library’s authentic level of investment in Agile, whether minimal or extensive, is crucial to realizing positive outcomes. The authors also recognized that resistance to change and discomfort with working under transparent conditions will present challenges for many libraries in aligning workflows with Agile methodology. However, Agile did allow for positive shifts toward more investment in shared work on team and individual levels. While failure in Agile projects is more visible and therefore more intimidating, librarians can find themselves able to learn from and correct mistakes more efficiently.

A Mismatched Group of Items That I Would Not Find Particularly Interesting: Challenges and Opportunities with Digital Exhibits and Collections Labels

Objective – The authors sought to identify link language that is user-friendly and sufficiently disambiguates between a digital collection and digital exhibit platform for users from a R1 institution, or a university with high research activity and doctoral programs as classified in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Methods – The authors distributed two online surveys using a modified open card sort and reverse-category test via university electronic mailing lists to undergraduate and graduate students to learn what language they would use to identify groups of items and to test their understanding of link labels that point to digitized cultural heritage items. Results – Our study uncovered that the link terms utilized by cultural heritage institutions are not uniformly understood by our users. Terms that are frequently used interchangeably (i.e., Digital Collections, Digital Project, and Digital Exhibit) can be too generic to be meaningful for different user groups. Conclusion – Because the link terms utilized by cultural heritage institutions were not uniformly understood by our users, the most user-friendly way to link to these resources is to use the term we—librarians, curators, and archivists—think is most accurate as the link text based on our professional knowledge and provide a brief description of what each site contains in order to provide necessary context.

Cancer research activity in the Arab world: a 15-year bibliometric analysis

BackgroundThe Arab region comprises 22 countries located in the Middle East and North Africa, sharing cultural and linguistic ties. Arab countries have continued to lag in terms of biomedical research compared to other nations for several past decades. Cancer is a major public health concern, being the second leading cause of death globally. Given that high research activity on cancer reflects positively on screening programs, awareness, and clinical practice, this article aimed to examine the activity and trend of cancer research in the Arab world between 2005 and 2019.MethodsBetween 2005 and 2019, the number of cancer-related articles published by each Arab country, and regarding 27 different types, was assessed using the PubMed database. Numbers were normalized with respect to each country’s average population and average Gross Domestic Product (GDP).ResultsArab countries contributed to 1.52% of total cancer publications. The number of cancer publications has steadily grown since 2005, with the last 7 years alone witnessing 75.69% of the total Arab cancer-related publications. In terms of publications per million persons, Qatar ranked first (393.74 per million persons), while in terms of publications per national GDP, Egypt ranked first (464.27 per billion US dollars). Breast, liver, and colorectal cancers had the highest numbers of all Arab cancer-related publications, while testicular, vulvar, and gallbladder cancers had the least.ConclusionsThis paper pools information and insight for scientists, clinicians, funders, and decision-makers on the actualities and developments of cancer research in the Arab world. Addressing the barriers facing cancer research remains a cornerstone in the plan to improve the Arab world’s output and contribution to the field of oncology.

Levers of change: using mathematical models to compare gender equity interventions in universities.

Women are under-represented in academic staff in universities worldwide. Our work builds on other studies of ‘demographic inertia'. We find that time will not bridge the gender representation gap in academia, and echo others in saying bold actions are required to reach parity. Our work then uses New Zealand's unique system of scoring individual research performance to test empirically which levers universities should pull, and in which combinations. We combine individual research performance scores with 20 years of data from one university to parametrize a rank-structured mathematical model using Leslie matrices. Our model compares three key levers of change at universities' disposal—hiring, promotion and attrition. We apply the model to a bifurcated population of university staff—those with high research activity, and those who are moderately active—based on their national research quality score. We then test levers in various combinations that management could pull to improve gender representation. We find that the solutions are different for the high versus moderate research performers. For individuals with high research activity, universities should concentrate on equitable hiring practices. For those with more moderate research activity, more equitable promotion practices hold the key.

Study details the underrepresentation of women in presidential positions

As more and more women have earned doctorates and entered the academy, it is reasonable to assume that there will soon be more women in leadership roles. A recently published study, The Women's Power Gap at Elite Universities: Scaling the Ivory Tower, shows that women, particularly women of color, are underrepresented in the presidential position at R1 institutions (universities with very high research activity, defined as R1 by the Carnegie Classification).

Assessing campus sustainability literacy and culture: How are universities doing it and to what end?

Institutions of higher education have increasingly focused on data-driven decision-making and assessments of their sustainability goals. Yet, there is no agreement on what constitutes sustainability literacy and culture (SLAC) at colleges and universities, even though promoting these types of campus population-level changes is often seen as key to the greening of higher education. It remains unclear what motivates institutions to measure these constructs, the barriers they face in doing so, and how they use these assessments to improve sustainability outcomes. In order to understand how universities are conducting SLAC assessments and for what purpose, we carried out an analysis of a subgroup of institutions–doctoral universities with very high research activity (R1)–with respect to institutional organizational learning (OL). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with administrators of 20 R1 universities that reported SLAC assessments (2017–2020) in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education's STARS rating system. As anticipated, R1 universities reported conducting SLAC assessments for STARS points, but they also are motivated by the potential for the data to inform campus programs. Challenges in conducting assessments included: lack of institutional prioritization, difficulty conducting the surveys, inadequate resources, institutional barriers, and perceived methodological inadequacies. While very few of the higher OL institutions pointed to lack of institutional prioritization as a problem, more than half of lower OL universities did. Institutional support, having a dedicated office, and using survey incentives served as facilitators. This is one of the first studies to relate higher education OL to sustainability assessments. OL is likely to be an important construct in furthering an understanding of the institutional capacities required for implementation of assessments and their effectiveness in evidence-based decision-making.

The “Gift” of Time: Documenting Faculty Decisions to Stop the Tenure Clock During a Pandemic

Anticipating the deleterious effects of pandemic mitigation protocols on faculty’s research and creative work, many universities introduced mechanisms for pre-tenured faculty to receive tenure clock extensions. Unlike most stop-the-clock extensions, which occur on an individual basis, the stop-the-tenure-clock during COVID-19 was a mass-triggering event that applied to all faculty. Informed by social role theory, we examined this unique situation of stop-the-tenure clock decisions by faculty at two different universities within the same state system. Institutional level demographic and field of study data on faculty decision making at one high research activity university (n = 97) and one very high research activity university (n = 387) were examined at two time points; a first tenure-clock stop opportunity and a second tenure-clock stop opportunity. Results show that although the overall rates of clock-stops were much larger at the research-intense university, the characteristics of who was most likely to accept or opt out of the first tenure-clock stop were similar at both universities. Ethnic minoritized faculty at both universities had greater odds of accepting the clock-stop. Results also showed that at both universities, women were somewhat more likely to accept the first tenure clock extension, and exploratory follow-up shows this gendered decision manifested differently depending on field of study. Relatively few faculty accepted the second tenure clock-stop. Our findings provide a portrait of who accepts or declines tenure clock extensions with important implications for downstream effects on equity within the academy.

Analysis of Social Mission Commitment at Dental, Medical, and Nursing Schools in the US

The COVID-19 pandemic and calls for racial justice have highlighted the need for schools to promote social mission. Measuring social mission engagement and performance in health professions education may encourage institutional efforts to advance health equity and social justice commitments. To describe the current state of social mission commitment within dental, medical, and nursing schools in the US and to examine how social mission performance compares across school types. This cross-sectional survey study invited all US dental and medical schools and a subset of baccalaureate- and master's degree-conferring nursing schools to participate in a self-assessment to measure their school's social mission commitment from January 29 through October 9, 2019. The survey measured 79 indicators (with indicators defined as responses to specific scored questions that indicated the state or level of social mission commitment) across 18 areas in 6 domains of school functioning (educational program, community engagement, governance, diversity and inclusion, institutional culture and climate, and research) that have potential to enhance social mission engagement and performance. Individual health professions schools were the unit of analysis, and 689 dental, medical, and nursing schools were invited to participate. School deans and program directors were the primary target respondents because of their broad insight into their school's programs and policies and their ability to request data from various internal sources. Demographic information from respondents was not collected because multiple respondents from an institution could complete different sections of the survey. Survey responses were analyzed to create indicator scores, standardized area scores, and an overall social mission score for each school. Using descriptive analyses, frequency and contingency tables of specific indicators within each area were created, and schools were compared based on ownership status (private or public), Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education research classification group (doctoral university with very high research activity [R1], doctoral university with high [R2] or moderate [R3] research activity, baccalaureate or master's nursing college or university, or special focus institution), and discipline group (dental school, medical school granting doctor of osteopathic medicine [DO] degrees, medical school granting doctor of medicine [MD] degrees, nursing school granting baccalaureate-level degrees, or nursing school granting master's-level degrees). Among 689 invited schools, 242 schools (35.1%) completed the self-assessment survey. Of those, 133 (55.0%) were nursing schools, 83 (34.3%) were medical schools, and 26 (10.7%) were dental schools. Response rates ranged from 133 of 420 invited nursing schools (31.7%) to 83 of 203 invited medical schools (40.9%). Most schools included social determinants of health in their curriculum in either required courses (233 of 242 schools [96.3%]) or elective courses (4 of 242 schools [1.7%]), but only 116 of 235 schools (49.4%) integrated social determinants of health across all years of study. Most schools also included health disparities in either their required courses (232 of 242 [95.9%]) or elective courses (6 of 242 [2.5%]); however, only 118 of 235 schools (50.2%) integrated health disparities across all years of study. In several areas of social mission, public schools performed better than private schools (eg, curriculum: mean [SE] standardized area score, 0.13 [0.07] points vs -0.14 [0.09] points, respectively), and R1 doctoral universities and special focus institutions performed better than R2 and R3 doctoral universities and baccalaureate and master's nursing colleges and universities (eg, extracurricular activities: mean [SE] standardized area score, 0.25 [0.09] points for R1 doctoral universities and 0.20 [0.12] points for special focus institutions vs -0.05 [0.12] points for R2 and R3 doctoral universities and - 0.30 [0.12] points for baccalaureate and master's nursing colleges and universities. Different areas of strength emerged for dental, medical, and nursing schools. For example, in the curriculum area, MD-granting medical schools had a mean (SE) standardized area score of 0.38 (0.08) points, which was significantly higher than the standardized area scores of dental schools (mean [SE], -0.21 [0.14] points), DO-granting medical schools (mean [SE], -0.22 [0.13] points), graduate nursing schools (mean [SE], -0.21 [0.19] points), and undergraduate nursing schools (mean [SE], -0.05 [0.10] points). In this study, there was widespread interest from health professions educational leaders in understanding and enhancing social mission commitment. Future work may focus on identifying and promoting best practices using the framework described, providing schools with continued opportunities for self-assessment, and further validating the self-assessment survey.

Improving public science communication: a case study of scientists’ needs when communicating beyond the academy

ABSTRACT We investigated how to improve PSC at a large, public university with high research activity by examining scientists’ interest and enjoyment in PSC, their perceived aptitude of PSC skills, the channels they use for PSC, their reasons for choosing to participate in PSC, and the tools they need to engage effectively. We conducted a case study and collected data from scientists across five colleges (n = 266). Results suggest that scientists who do not engage in PSC need external support from their institution, and scientists who do engage in PSC continue to engage because they feel intrinsically motivated. Results revealed that communication skills development training is needed to improve scientists’ perceived ability to mitigate science controversies, evaluate the effectiveness of communication strategies, and manage science communications projects. We also found that scientists who used social media for PSC enjoy and contribute to PSC more than those who did not use social media. However, PSC contribution varied based on scientists’ ethnicity, years of research experience, faculty title, and college. Female scientists need more help than males do in developing their confidence and increasing their enjoyment in PSC. These results can help provide insight into the PSC environment at universities of similar stature.

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with a Thin Film Electrolyte: A Review on Manufacturing Technologies and Electrochemical Characteristicses

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are electrochemical systems converting the energy released during fuel oxidation into electrical energy. SOFCs are considered as a promising clean energy technology due to the high efficiency of fuel-to-power conversion and environmental friendliness. The potential applications of SOFCs extend from stationary power generation units for industrial and household facilities to auxiliary power units in vehicles and portable power sources. One of the main elements of SOFCs is a solid oxide electrolyte possessing ionic conductivity at high temperatures (above 700 °C). The main challenge in the SOFC commercialization is related to their high operating temperature, which entails materials degradation, short life-time, long start-up and shut-down times, and high cost. One of the most effective ways to reduce the SOFC operating temperature is to minimize the electrolyte thickness. In this regard, fabrication of SOFCs with a thin film electrolyte has been attracting high research activity over the past few decades. Different fabrication techniques were reported to be applicable for manufacturing thin film SOFCs, and the fuel cell performance was found to be highly dependent on the appropriate selection of materials and processing technologies. The present review is focused on state-of-the-art fabrication technologies of the thin film SOFCs. A brief survey of configurations and geometries of the thin film SOFCs and methods of deposition of solid-oxide films is given. Special attention is focused on the electrical generation performance of the thin film SOFCs.

Department Profile: The Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering

The Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering (CBE) at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, founded in 1984 through a unique collaboration between two state universities, Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) and Florida State University (FSU), currently educates 532 undergraduate and 60 graduate students with 17 tenured/tenure track faculty and 4 teaching faculty members.  Combining the strengths of FAMU—the top rated public Historically Black College and University (HBCU) according to the 2021 college rankings of the US News & World Report, and FSU—a Carnegie Classified R1: Very High Research Activity university, the department and college serve a diverse population of students that reflects the composition of the United States. Students enroll at one of the two universities (their home institution), where they complete their pre-requisite and non-engineering courses. In the sophomore year, all students begin taking engineering courses together at the joint college campus with faculty from both institutions. Students graduate with degrees from their home institution. Faculty members teach and supervise students in research from both institutions in common classes and laboratories, thus providing all students with experience working in diverse groups and access to state-of-the-art research opportunities.  The department has produced outstanding students who have gone on to be leaders in industry and academia.  CBE offers two undergraduate degrees: chemical engineering (ChE) and biomedical engineering (BME). Within these degrees are five majors: chemical engineering, chemical-materials engineering, biomedical (cell and bioprocess engineering), biomedical (biomaterials and biopolymers), and biomedical(imaging and signals processing). Master of Science and Doctorate degrees and a 5-year BS-MS degree are offered in both chemical and biomedical engineering.  Faculty research spans both biomedical and chemical engineering with emphasis on  polymeric materials, biomaterials, inorganic materials, complex fluids and rheology, cell/tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. CBE has made major advances in the education of a diverse population of students while conducting research and educational efforts that span and connect the two disciplines at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

University students experience the COVID-19 induced shift to remote instruction

The COVID-19 pandemic required an abrupt shift from face-to-face to online instruction for many students in higher education in the United States. Prior research has raised some concerns about both equitable access to online courses, and the quality of instruction in online courses compared to face-to-face courses. This survey study included a retrospective pretest approach to comparing students experiences before and after the transition to online instruction. The sample of 1731 students ranged across all available topics of study and all class standings from first-year students to doctoral students at a R1: Doctoral Universities—Very High Research Activity university according to the Carnegie classifications. Quality of instruction was addressed through the three principles of Universal Design for Learning. Students reported that most areas of quality of instruction were poorer after the transition, with having Engagement dropping by the largest effect size. However, Representation showed a small effect of improvement following the transition. Students who preferred online instruction reported less loss of instructional quality. Similarly, students eligible for disability services also reported less loss of instructional quality. Doctoral students reported significantly poorer access on multiple measures compared to all four years of undergraduate students’ standings. Results are discussed in terms of patterns, exceptions, effect sizes, and recommendations for future research.

Role of Perceptual Processes in the Formation of the Phenomenon of Giftedness

Currently, there is an obvious shortage of Russian studies of perceptual processes in the gifted. The study is focused on theoretical and organizational issues of research in the cognitive sphere of giftedness, in particular, perception, which is relevant not only in its fundamental but also applied aspects, - this explains the high research activity of foreign psychologists in this area nowadays. The empirical data presented in the literature on the importance of perceptual processes in the formation of the phenomenon of giftedness are considered from the methodological positions of the perceptual psychology, which allows to identify new approaches in the study of giftedness. The array of empirical evidence that is emerging today is systematized according to the main tasks to be solved in the research: (1) to identify (to measure) the cognitive characteristics of the gifted and to establish connections between them; (2) to determine the parameters of cognitive processes specific to giftedness; (3) to establish the connections between the phenomenon of giftedness and specific cognitive resources. The typical organizational features of modern cognitive psychology of giftedness are highlighted: the use of psychometric tools and comparative research methods, the predominance of child and adolescent samples, the preoccupation with the phenomenon of mathematical giftedness and the involvement of neuroscientific research resources; their capabilities and limitations are shown. Using the neurocognitive studies of mathematical giftedness as an example, the theoretical and organizational threats to the validity of the conclusions drawn in them are discussed, as well as the ways to increase the argumentativeness of the research in the cognitive sphere of giftedness, i.e., to ensure its ecological validity, integrity, ontologicality, particularly by covering a larger number of studied variables on significant groups of participants. The empirical evidence of the key role of visual-spatial processing (spatial thinking) in the cognitive structure of giftedness is systematized. Based on the thesis about the special functional significance of the direct sensory perception, the task of determining the functional characteristics of perceptual processes under the conditions of giftedness is set. The integration of knowledge from different subject areas of psychology for studying the problems of unique cognitive and social functioning, the personality organization of a gifted person is also provided.

Measuring Actual Practices: A Computational Analysis of LibGuides in Academic Libraries

This study investigates organizational patterns from 12,781 subject guides at 114 academic institutions, comparing practices evident on LibGuides with stated best practices from the literature of library and information science. Data from subject guide fields such as titles, tabs, and boxes were collected systematically from disciplinary guides at institutions in the United States that are described in Carnegie Classifications as “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity,” and then analyzed according to two general methods. First, descriptive statistics were generated for quantitative aspects of the LibGuides data (e.g., the average number of boxes used per guide), to map both normal and atypical organizational practices. Second, word and phrase frequencies from text fields were compiled to explore differences in how fields such as guide titles and descriptions are commonly utilized. The findings suggest that the average range of guides tends to follow best practices, but that in the use of certain guide elements, especially tabs, most guides do not follow recommended guidelines. In addition, the data identify a number of guides that represent extreme outliers to typical practices: a single guide contained 144 tabs, for example, while another subject guide landing page was found to include 2,033 links.

Grassroots effort for change

STEM Workforce Efforts to increase diversity in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) will not be truly successful until the systemic issues within academia that have historically prevented marginalized populations from persisting and succeeding there are transformed. Stachl et al. present the details of a collaborative effort to improve the academic climate of an R1 (very high research activity) STEM department: that of the University of California, Berkeley. Longitudinal assessment of the academic climate by annual department-wide surveys indicated that these interventions have succeeded in shifting perceptions. These results support the idea that implementing practical, sustainable, and data-driven frameworks for effecting change can improve the climate within a departmental community. ACS Omega 6 , 14410 (2021).

Undergraduate Student Career Development and Career Center Services: Faculty Perspectives

Despite the rise in scope and role of campus career centers and the role of faculty in career advising, faculty perspectives on undergraduate careers have received minimal scholarly attention. We conducted a qualitative study bounded in a medium‐sized R1 institution (i.e., a doctoral university with very high research activity in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions) in the Northeast to examine faculty perspectives on undergraduate career development and undergraduate career services. Eight faculty members participated in semistructured focus groups allowing for in‐depth conversations and analysis. Using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), we identified five principal themes: (a) positive impressions of the career center, (b) barriers to faculty engagement, (c) collective responsibility for students' career development, (d) nonlinear career paths, and (e) student perceptions. Results indicate career centers should engage faculty as a constituent group, describe to faculty how centers help students address broad career questions, and tailor resources for faculty. Future research with larger, more diverse, and multi‐institutional samples of faculty could expand knowledge in this area toward improved synergy between faculty and career centers in promoting student career development.

Leveraging undergraduate federal work study student skill sets to support an R2 university libraries’ research data services

This article discusses creative approaches to establishing a research data services (RDS) at an R2 (high research activity) institution with a limited budget. Seton Hall University Libraries conducted a study of faculty data practices to inform services. The findings indicated that there was a need to support student, faculty, and administrative offices with data related questions such as obtaining data and performing data analysis. To support the findings, undergraduate Federal Work Students (FWS) were hired to build the RDS program in the Seton Hall University Libraries. This model makes it possible for medium sized institutions with limited resources to offer RDS.

The Purpose of a PhD in Engineering: Where Does Teaching Fit In?

<strong>Background:</strong> Institutions in the United States are classified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. These classifications are largely delineated by the institutions’ focus on research versus teaching. Almost all professors in the US earn their doctorate degrees at doctoral universities with the highest research activity (R1), given that those institutions are the ones that confer PhD degrees; however, there exists a misalignment between earning a PhD at an R1 institution and preparing for a faculty career at a more teaching-focused institution (non-R1). Some professors pursue a PhD entirely for the teaching credential with the goal of teaching at an institution of higher education. With R1 institutions focusing primarily on research, the purpose of graduate education and its effectiveness in preparing the next generation of engineering faculty is put into question. <strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this paper is to explore the following question: How do engineering assistant professors at US institutions experience the transition from graduate school at R1 institutions to their current faculty position at non-R1 institutions? <strong>Methods:</strong> Audio-recorded semi-structured ethnographic interviews were conducted with twelve participants, three representing each of four institution types (R2, R3, master’s, and baccalaureate). One participant at each institution type identified as female, and the other two identified as male. An inductive-deductive thematic analysis was conducted and resulted in three major themes. <strong>Results:</strong> The participants described feelings of misalignment between their graduate program and preparation for a faculty career, especially in terms of preparation for teaching, which was attributed to the research mission of the universities they attended (R1 institutions). In addition to feeling underprepared to teach, many participants described feeling unprepared for the emotional challenge of pursuing a position that is perceived to be less prestigious than a position at an R1 institution. <strong>Discussion and Conclusions: </strong>The results of the thematic analysis point to the need to reimagine the training graduate students receive to better align with future employment opportunities, especially preparation for teaching-focused positions and including preparation for non-academic positions. Additionally, the results indicate the need for a cultural shift toward doctoral training that is more inclusive of the diverse career interests of graduate students.