Doctoral candidate Heather Falconer has been awarded the 2016-2017 CCCC Emergent Research/er Award for her project, “Becoming an insider: Exploring the development of discursive identity in science by women of color in an undergraduate research program.” Heather’s research explores how female students of color in an urban university undergraduate research program develop discursive identities as scientists. Her research has potential implications for the retention of women of color in STEM, as well as for those interested in changing learning cultures and incorporating writing instruction into disciplinary arenas. The CCCC Emerging Researcher Grant is a highly competitive award and was created by the largest professional organization in composition and rhetoric to cultivate and mentor new composition scholars whose projects are aligned with the larger goals of the organization.
Heather’s article, “Assessing Writing in Undergraduate Biology Coursework: A Review of the Literature on Practices and Criteria,” which won last year’s graduate essay prize in the category of Rhetoric and Writing, was recently accepted for publication by The WAC Journal. Her co-authored article, “Cultivating minority scientists: Undergraduate research increases self-efficacy and career ambitions for underrepresented students in STEM,” appears in Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Volume 54, Number 2, 2017.