This group will provide guidance on how project activities are conducted with aim of encouraging systems change within and across the three systems identified (ABET accreditation; Professional Societies; and reforming Promotion & Tenure processes of Engineering Colleges). They also bring external knowledge and insights to the project and provide project outreach and dissemination through their diverse networks.
PI: Jacqueline El-Sayed, Ph.D, is Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of ASEE. El-Sayed will have primary responsibility for administrative and high-level coordinating functions related to managing the grant. Further, El-Sayed serves as the ABET Liaison for ASEE.
Co-PI: Ershela Sims, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). Sims will serve as WEPAN KnowlEDGE Liaison and will support dissemination through WEPAN’s extensive network.
Co-PI: Rana Ashkar, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Physics at Virginia Tech. She has been a founding and active member on several committees promoting a better environment for underrepresented and marginalized groups in STEM. She recently chaired the APS Climate Site Visits program and led a major re-design of the program to ensure accountability and measurable impact. Ashkar will advise regarding the adaptation of the APS Climate Site Visits model for use by ASEE.
Co-PI: Sarah Rajala, Ph.D., is an incoming member of the ABET Board of Directors, representing members at large. She is also Dean of Engineering Emerita at Iowa State and Professor of Electrical Engineering Emerita at NC State. She will lead ABET efforts to provide transparency in the accreditation evaluator pipeline, review and support gender DEI in ABET and PEV trainings, advocate for faculty diversity ABET criterion inclusion.
Committee Member: Heather Metcalf, Ph.D., is the Director of Research at Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). Dr. Metcalf has undergraduate degrees in applied mathematics and computer science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, master’s degrees in computer science from the UIUC and gender studies from the University of Arizona, and a doctorate in higher education with a focus on science and technology policy from the University of Arizona. Dr. Metcalf currently serves as investigator on several NSF-funded projects.
Project Director: Sarah DeLeeuw, Ph.D., Research Project Director at ASEE and Director of Innovation and Strategic Direction, will oversee the daily operations of the KnowlEDGE initiative, ensuring overall coherence and coordination of efforts as well as support from additional ASEE staff, as needed. She will be in close communication with the PI, Dr. El-Sayed, to ensure that grant activities proceed as proposed. She will also lead Advisory Committee meetings that include all co-PIs and members of the project team.
External Evaluator: Elizabeth Litzler, Ph.D., will lead the evaluation effort. As Director of the University of Washington’s Center for Evaluation and Research for STEM Equity (CERSE), Litzler brings extensive expertise to this project both as an evaluator and gender equity researcher.