After being awarded a National Science Foundation Conference Grant of $49,950 toward Improving Undergraduate STEM Education, Darshon Reed intends to do just that.
The eight-month process to acquire the grant began in October 2021, Reed said, while she was serving as president of the Southwestern Psychological Association.
“I had read articles about the need to diversify the field of psychology and integrate data science in the psychology education,” she said. “So, I searched the NSF funding website for funding sources that would support conference speakers and workshops, hoping that I would be able to use the funding for both.”
She then came across a Request for Proposal focused on data science and contacted the NSF program director to ask questions. “That conversation led to my proposal,” she said.
Reed, associate dean and associate professor of psychology at UCA, plans to utilize the grant to fund her project.
“Smartphones and other personal technology have increased and enhanced our ability to track behavior, physiological responses and emotions. These devices create enormous amounts of information, which can be useful in understanding human behavior,” Reed said.
“Psychologists are prime candidates to utilize this big data to examine and explain relationships among behavioral variables, and to use predictive models to understand the underlying causes of our actions.”
Not many psychology programs include training for this rapidly growing field of data science, a major component of her project.
Reed wants to provide a data science education workshop at the SWPA annual meeting and to increase diversity in the field by equipping students with data science skills.
“The workshop will build participants’ knowledge of data science and increase their ability to employ data science methods in research,” Reed said.
The training will review skills such as acquiring, visualizing and managing data and performing specialized analyses, she said.
Reed said one of her platforms was to increase the travel support for student members to attend SWPA meetings. Specifically those from diverse, low-income and first-generation backgrounds “This funding will not only allow for student travel awards,” she said, “it will also allow the organization to keep student registration costs at their current levels during a time when many organizations are having to increase student registration costs.”
Christoni Key, a UCA psychology student in her first year of graduate school, acknowledges Reed’s motivation behind her project.
“It is necessary for research to have a focus on diversity, because people of color are historically underrepresented in the field of psychology and in research studies,” she said. “It’s great to know that psychology professors at UCA are working to promote diversity in the field rather than just expressing support for it without action.”
As a benefit of the grant funding, UCA psychology students attending the April 2023 SWPA meeting in Frisco, Texas, will pay the same low registration costs as the previous year, Reed said.
UCA psychology students from underrepresented backgrounds can apply for one of the 25 travel grants to attend the daylong data science workshop.
While reflecting on her accomplishment, Reed said, “I am honored to have been awarded this grant funding. Applying for NSF funding is always a competitive process, so being selected to receive funding is a great honor and privilege.”