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WEPAN’s Digital Women in Engineering Knowledge Center

Abstract

The WEPAN Knowledge Center (WKC) offers several avenues for researchers and practitioners to improve dissemination activities as well as research and practice. The WKC Professional Community can be used for private communities of research teams as well as project groups and participant groups. This paper will present an overview of these opportunities as well as usage statistics for the WKC that demonstrate significant audience response to such dissemination and project activity.

Introduction

WEPAN is leading an effort to develop a resource to meet the need for readily accessible information and communication about women in engineering. Funded in 2007 by a National Science Foundation Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) grant (#0648210) WEPAN has built a digital Women in Engineering Knowledge Center focused on informing research, practice and institutional change related to women in engineering. The WEPAN Knowledge Center, launched in April 2009, serves as a national repository of links to resources, reports, books, organization profiles, data, and best practices on issues related to women in engineering. In addition, the Knowledge Center serves as a capacity-building tool, where communities of people and groups working to address these issues can connect, share best and promising practices and support one other’s programs. This paper presents an overview of these opportunities as well as usage statistics for the WKC that demonstrate significant audience response to such dissemination and project activity

Research on Professional Communities

Knowledge gained from research related to women in engineering is not disseminated to its own community or the general public as adequately as possible, asserts an audit report from the National Science Foundation, Office of Inspector General (2006), related to NSF policies on accessing results of NSF-funded research. While many programs share results with those in their own community by means of conferences, presentations, and articles; more extensive dissemination would broaden the impact of NSF grant findings and other similar research efforts. The WEPAN Knowledge Center Professional Community is an online solution to address challenges such as dissemination and additional issues such as sharing information on grants received, best practices in doing research and designing programs, and building a space for community interaction.

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Specifically, in addition to an online collection point for important resources related to women in engineering, the WEPAN Knowledge Center Professional Community provides a space in which to share interests, identify experts, mentor, and collaborate. Moreover, it provides the

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Matt, C. D., & Carpenter, J., & Langeman, J., & DuBois, L. (2010, June), Dissemination, Online Community And Usage Of Wepan Knowledge Center Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--17012