2024 Transforming STEM Higher Education Conference

Call for Proposals

Submit a Proposal

AAC&U and its Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) invite proposals for sessions that will empower faculty, staff, and administrators to critically question, explore, and examine some of the most vexing challenges of STEM higher education reform today. 

Submit

Developing and Submitting a Proposal

The online proposal form includes the following fields:

  • Name, Title, Institution, Discipline, and Email Address of each presenter. If there is more than one presenter, please indicate who should be listed as the Primary Presenter. The Primary Presenter will receive all proposal submission correspondence.
  • Session Title
  • Session Type
  • Session Format
  • Keywords to tag sessions by areas of interest. Select all that apply from the following options: Active Learning - Anti-Racism – Artificial Intelligence - Assessment - Broadening Participation - Community College - Communities of Practice - Evaluation - Faculty Development - Institutional Change/Transformation - Interdisciplinarity - Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) - Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCU) - Inclusive Excellence - Leadership - Learning Assistants - Learning Communities -Mental Health - Metacognition - Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) - Peer Mentoring - Predominantly Undergraduate Institution (PUI) - Trauma - Tribal Colleges or Universities (TCU) - Undergraduate Research - Virtual Learning
  • Keywords to tag sessions by Undergraduate STEM Reform Community association: ASCN - BioQuest - HHMI IE - PKAL - PULSE - NSF S STEM - NSF HBCU UP - NSF INCLUDES - TIDES
  • Program Abstract. Provide a summary of your presentation to be used in the official conference program if your proposal is accepted. The abstract should summarize the nature of the work conducted and highlight what is distinctive and transferable about the work being presented. (150 words maximum)
  • Background and Significance. Provide a brief overview of your presentation. Include a description of the problem you are addressing, a rationale for your approach, theory(ies) informing your work, and methods. (500 words maximum)
  • Results/Evidence of Effectiveness (not required for Innovation/Ideation proposals). Describe, in detail, the specific outcomes of your work and the metrics used to determine the effectiveness and overall impact. (350 words maximum)
View a sample proposal

Proposal Review Criteria

AAC&U and PKAL strive to offer a balanced, informative, and thought-provoking conference that advances the reform of STEM higher education. The conference proposal selection committee includes a national community of experienced, diverse STEM faculty and administrators from a broad range of STEM disciplines and institution types. In evaluating each conference proposal, reviewers consider both the technical aspects of the proposal and the ways in which the presentation/session will contribute to transforming STEM higher education.

Using a Likert scale (1=lowest; 5=highest), reviewers are asked to consider and rate the following elements of each conference proposal:

  • Is the proposed session/presentation grounded and informed by the literature?
  • Does the proposal provide a thorough overview of the problem or challenge to be explored and/or addressed?
  • To what extent does the proposed session/presentation offer creative, novel, and/or transformative mechanisms to improve undergraduate STEM education?
  • Given the context surrounding the work, is there convincing qualitative and/or quantitative evidence to support the effectiveness of the approach described in the proposal?
  • To what extent does the proposed session/presentation address the historical marginalization of minoritized students and faculty in STEM?
  • What is the relative ease with which the proposed session/conference materials and/or project outcomes can be adapted to a wide range of institutions of higher education or communities of practice?
  • What is the potential for the proposed session/presentation to advance our knowledge and understanding of undergraduate STEM education?
  • What is the overall merit of the session/presentation?

Additionally, reviewers are offered the option to provide summary statements on:

  • the major strengths of the proposed session/presentation
  • the major weaknesses of the proposed session/presentation
  • the value added to the conference

Session Types

The following session types will be offered at the Transforming STEM Higher Education Conference.

  • Presentations within Session Type I should focus on undergraduate STEM education change models that have an impact at a local level (i.e., within a single institution or academic department). Proposals that enhance our understanding of the systemic institutional structures and/or barriers that limit the participation of STEM students and/or faculty from historically marginalized groups are particularly encouraged.

    Proposed Session Type I presentations must be deeply grounded in the literature and driven by either quantitative or qualitative research approaches. Additionally, Type I presentations must demonstrate potential for continued and/or broadened impact. Proposals that merely present a “show and tell” of outcomes, are devoid of a theoretical basis, or do not address how the successful STEM reform strategies are relevant across other institution types will likely not be accepted.

  • Presentations within Session Type II should focus on undergraduate STEM education change models that have an institution-wide impact. Proposals that enhance our understanding of the systemic institutional structures and/or barriers that limit the participation of STEM students and/or faculty from historically marginalized groups are particularly encouraged.

    Proposed Session Type II presentations must be deeply grounded in the literature and driven by either quantitative or qualitative research approaches. Additionally, Type II presentations must demonstrate potential for continued and/or broadened impact beyond one institution. Proposals that merely present a “show and tell” of outcomes, are devoid of a theoretical basis, or do not address how the successful STEM reform strategies are relevant across other institution types will likely not be accepted.

  • Presentations within Session Type III should focus on models for STEM higher education reform that directly impact more than a single institution. These presentations should explore how national alliances and communities of practice—whether formal or informal—can be used to advance and accelerate undergraduate STEM reform. Proposals that enhance our understanding of the systemic institutional structures and/or barriers that limit the participation of STEM students and/or faculty from historically marginalized groups are particularly encouraged.

    Proposed Session Type III presentations must be deeply grounded in the literature and driven by quantitative or qualitative research approaches. Additionally, Type II presentations must demonstrate potential for continued and/or broadened impact beyond one institution. Proposals that merely present a “show and tell” of outcomes, are devoid of a theoretical basis, or do not address how the successful STEM reform strategies are relevant across other institution types will likely not be accepted.

  • Presentations within Session Type IV should focus on generating new knowledge relevant to the empirical exploration and examination of undergraduate STEM student learning, broadening participation, faculty development, leadership, and/or institutional change. Proposals that demonstrate potential to enhance our understanding of reform efforts that differentially impact students and faculty from historically marginalized groups in STEM are particularly encouraged.

    Proposed sessions for Session Type IV must be theory-driven and deeply grounded in quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methodological approaches. Proposals that merely present a “show and tell” of outcomes, are devoid of theoretical basis, promote “one size fits all” approaches, and/or fail to consider the range of various institutional types that surround and influence STEM education programs will likely not be accepted.

Session Formats

  • Poster presentations are expected to provide presenters with an opportunity to create concise, visual displays of their STEM reform interventions, findings, and/or outcomes. These presentations should be designed to engage attendees in the kind of targeted, informal discussions that cannot be fully achieved in other presentation formats. Proposed sessions must be deeply grounded in the literature and driven by either quantitative or qualitative research, as appropriate.

  • These sessions will feature “untested” strategies, emerging research, and/or new theories or concepts that show promise for advancing our nation’s undergraduate STEM reform agenda. Innovation/Ideation Sessions should include time for audience questions and feedback.

    The selection of proposals for these sessions is based on a modified level of review, which considers the relative absence of preliminary findings to be a strength. However, the proposal should provide a very detailed description of the idea or innovation to be presented, as well as the context in which it is expected to be successful.

  • Regular sessions will provide an opportunity for presenters to disseminate findings and/or outcomes from their most recent undergraduate STEM reform initiatives in less than 30 minutes. Presenters should prepare concise presentations to allow ample time for attendee questions and feedback.

    The selection of proposals for these sessions does consider the quality of preliminary findings or outcomes. Proposals for regular sessions should explain the overall context in which findings and/or outcomes occurred in order to determine whether sufficient impact has been made. Regular session proposals should be deeply grounded in the literature and driven by either quantitative or qualitative research, as appropriate. Regular session proposals that reflect novel approaches to undergraduate STEM reform are particularly encouraged.

  • Facilitated discussions will provide an opportunity for conference attendees to deeply examine and explore STEM higher education reform topics of current interest. Presenters are expected to guide conference attendees in examining new ways of thinking about STEM higher education reform and the specific strategies that are needed for advancing and accelerating a reform agenda that fully considers the diversity of individual and institutional contexts that will be represented at the conference.

    Proposals for facilitated discussions should explain the overall context surrounding the anticipated discussion and clearly identify the intended audience. Proposed discussions must be deeply grounded in the literature and driven by either quantitative or qualitative research, as appropriate. Proposals for facilitated discussions should also reflect the capacity to explore new ideas and questions as a means of making the session stimulating and meaningful for all involved.

  • Workshops will provide a highly interactive environment for presenters and conference attendees to deeply examine, explore, and engage with the relevant theories and strategies that can contribute to advancing STEM higher education reform. Workshops are expected to actively involve conference attendees in reflection and discussion about work related to undergraduate STEM reform models and/or practices.

    Proposed workshops must be deeply grounded in the literature and driven by either quantitative or qualitative research, as appropriate. Workshop proposals must provide details about the scholarship that will inform the workshop topic and the planned approach to achieving conference attendee engagement. Proposed sessions that are designed to model high-impact practices, such as small-group collaboration and experiential learning, will be given priority.

Additional Information

Submission Deadline

The deadline to submit proposals is May 7, 2024.

Notifications

Upon submission of a proposal, the Primary Presenter will receive an automatic message indicating that AAC&U received the proposal. Please remember to check the spam folder. If the message was not received, please email [email protected].

The Primary Presenter will receive a notice via email of the decision regarding the proposal. Please remember to check the spam folder. If the message is not received, please email [email protected].

Registration Fees

All session presenters are responsible for conference registration fees, travel expenses, etc.

STEM Conference Sponsors

AAC&U values the insights of individuals from within and outside of higher education. Practitioners/Scholars/Researchers from non-campus organizations (e.g., non-profit, for-profit, association, etc.), who are interested in participating as presenters at the AAC&U Transforming STEM Higher Education Conference, are encouraged to either submit a proposal for peer review or submit a Sponsored Session Description to the AAC&U Office of Advancement at [email protected].

Peer-reviewed Sponsored Sessions will undergo review as described above. Sponsored Session presenters are responsible for covering their own conference registration fees, travel expenses, etc. There are no additional fees associated with this Sponsored Session type.

All other Sponsored Sessions require executive approval. This Sponsored Session Type requires additional payment, to be determined by mutual consent between presenters and AAC&U staff. Presenters are required to adhere to all Conference guidelines regarding session format and expectations.