I got back from DC last night and am off to NYC tomorrow. But first I have to do laundry, finish a presentation and make lots of cookies for the students I'll be seeing Monday and Tuesday and for Zuska, to thank her for all she does. Amazingly I'm not exhausted, well actually I am; but I'm also excited. I spent Thursday and Friday at an NSF Workshop: Evaluation of Efforts to Broaden Participation in STEM. At the workshop I also learned about the NSF Working Group on Broadening Participation which has at its charge, to develop a plan to increase participation in NSF programs from underrepresented groups, and broaden the pool of reviewers for NSF proposals. There is a draft report which should be out soon, I’ll let you know when you know.

Not quite so soon (but we are writing as fast as we can), there will be a report our workshop with a focus on outcomes, metrics, indicators and designs related to broadening participation in STEM within NSF and within and across NSF programs. Will link you to the report when it is available.

In case you have any extra time while you are waiting for these reports, feel free to take a look at Toni Clewell and my latest, hot of the press. Building Evaluation Capacity Guide 1: Designing a Cross-Project Evaluation and Guide 2: Collecting and Using Data in Cross-Project Evaluations>. Here’s a shock, they target organizations that focus on increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce.