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1. Developing a Question Corpus for a Conversational Agent Designed to Prepare Interested Black Undergraduates for the Professoriate in STEM

   iCummings, R.T. ; Dennis, S. ; Mack, N.A. ; Nias, J. ; Gosha, K. ( January 2019 , Proceedings of the 2019 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT))

   To increase the number of minorities that enter highly demanding computing field, a conversational agent is being developed to serve as a supplemental virtual mentor for minority students pursuing the professoriate. As minority engineering and computing professoriate interest is limited in the literature, it is important to identify the level of interest and concerns minority students have in pursuing the professoriate. A survey was administered to undergraduate students at an HBCU enrolled in one of three computer science courses. The results identify likelihood of pursuing the professoriate, persuasive and discouragement themes for pursuing the professoriate, as well as frequently asked questions over several variables of the minority STEM professoriate experience. Questions and data on question type, grammar, syntax and word choice will be used to improve the knowledgebase of the virtual mentor. 

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2. Chatbots: A Tool to Supplement the Future Faculty Mentoring of Doctoral Engineering Students

   https://doi.org/10.28945/4579  

   Mendez, Sylvia ; Johanson, Katie ; Martin Conley, Valerie ; Gosha, Kinnis ; A Mack, Naja ; Haynes, Comas ; A Gerhardt, Rosario ( January 2020 , International Journal of Doctoral Studies)

   Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the efficacy of simulated interactive virtual conversations (chatbots) for mentoring underrepresented minority doctoral engineering students who are considering pursuing a career in the professoriate or in industry. Background: Chatbots were developed under the National Science Foundation INCLUDES Design and Developments Launch Pilot award (17-4458) and provide career advice with responses from a pre-programmed database populated by renowned emeriti engineering faculty. Chatbots have been engineered to fulfill a myriad of roles, such as undergraduate student advisement, but no research has been found that addresses their use with supplemental future faculty mentoring for doctoral students.Methodology: Chatbot efficacy is examined through a phenomenological design with focus groups with underrepresented minority doctoral engineering students. No theoretical or conceptual frameworks exist relative to chatbots designed for future faculty mentoring; therefore, an adaptation and implementation of the conceptual model posited on movie recommendations was utilized to ground this study. The four-stage process of phenomenological data analysis was followed: epoché, horizontalization, imaginative variation, and synthesis.Contribution: No studies have investigated the utility of chatbots in providing supplemental mentoring to future faculty. This phenomenological study contributes to this area of investigation and provides greater consideration into the unmet mentoring needs of these students, as well as the potential of utilizing chatbots for supplementary mentoring, particularly for those who lack access to high quality mentoring.Findings: Following the data analysis process, the essence of the findings was, while underrepresented minority doctoral engineering students have ample unmet mentoring needs and overall are satisfied with the user interface and trustworthiness of chatbots, their intent to use them is mixed due to a lack of personalization in this type of supplemental mentoring relationship.Recommendations for Practitioners: One of the major challenges faced by underrepresented doctoral engineering students is securing quality mentoring relationships that socialize them into the engineering culture and community of practice. While creating opportunities for students and incentivizing faculty to engage in the work of mentoring is needed, we must also consider the ways in which to leverage technology to offer supplemental future faculty mentoring virtually. Recommendation for Researchers: Additional research on the efficacy of chatbots in providing career-focused mentoring to future faculty is needed, as well as how to enhance the functionality of chatbots to create personal connections and networking opportunities, which are hallmarks of traditional mentoring relationships.Impact on Society: An understanding of the conceptual pathway that can lead to greater satisfaction with chatbots may serve to expand their use in the realm of mentoring. Scaling virtual faculty mentoring opportunities may be an important breakthrough in meeting mentoring needs across higher education.Future Research: Future chatbot research must focus on connecting chatbot users with human mentors; standardizing the process for response creation through additional data collection with a cadre of diverse, renowned faculty; engaging subject matter experts to conduct quality verification checks on responses; testing new responses with potential users; and launching the chatbots for a broad array of users. 

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3. Engaging STEM Transformational Experiences for Early Momentum (ESTEEM)

   Yahdi, Mohammed ; Bracey, Zoe Buck ( November 2019 , National Science Foundation -  Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program Principal Investigator (PI) Meeting, November 2019.)

   Need/Motivation (e.g., goals, gaps in knowledge) The ESTEEM implemented a STEM building capacity project through students’ early access to a sustainable and innovative STEM Stepping Stones, called Micro-Internships (MI). The goal is to reap key benefits of a full-length internship and undergraduate research experiences in an abbreviated format, including access, success, degree completion, transfer, and recruiting and retaining more Latinx and underrepresented students into the STEM workforce. The MIs are designed with the goals to provide opportunities for students at a community college and HSI, with authentic STEM research and applied learning experiences (ALE), support for appropriate STEM pathway/career, preparation and confidence to succeed in STEM and engage in summer long REUs, and with improved outcomes. The MI projects are accessible early to more students and build momentum to better overcome critical obstacles to success. The MIs are shorter, flexibly scheduled throughout the year, easily accessible, and participation in multiple MI is encouraged. ESTEEM also establishes a sustainable and collaborative model, working with partners from BSCS Science Education, for MI’s mentor, training, compliance, and building capacity, with shared values and practices to maximize the improvement of student outcomes. New Knowledge (e.g., hypothesis, research questions) Research indicates that REU/internship experiences can be particularly powerful for students from Latinx and underrepresented groups in STEM. However, those experiences are difficult to access for many HSI-community college students (85% of our students hold off-campus jobs), and lack of confidence is a barrier for a majority of our students. The gap between those who can and those who cannot is the “internship access gap.” This project is at a central California Community College (CCC) and HSI, the only affordable post-secondary option in a region serving a historically underrepresented population in STEM, including 75% Hispanic, and 87% have not completed college. MI is designed to reduce inequalities inherent in the internship paradigm by providing access to professional and research skills for those underserved students. The MI has been designed to reduce barriers by offering: shorter duration (25 contact hours); flexible timing (one week to once a week over many weeks); open access/large group; and proximal location (on-campus). MI mentors participate in week-long summer workshops and ongoing monthly community of practice with the goal of co-constructing a shared vision, engaging in conversations about pedagogy and learning, and sustaining the MI program going forward. Approach (e.g., objectives/specific aims, research methodologies, and analysis) Research Question and Methodology: We want to know: How does participation in a micro-internship affect students’ interest and confidence to pursue STEM? We used a mixed-methods design triangulating quantitative Likert-style survey data with interpretive coding of open-responses to reveal themes in students’ motivations, attitudes toward STEM, and confidence. Participants: The study sampled students enrolled either part-time or full-time at the community college. Although each MI was classified within STEM, they were open to any interested student in any major. Demographically, participants self-identified as 70% Hispanic/Latinx, 13% Mixed-Race, and 42 female. Instrument: Student surveys were developed from two previously validated instruments that examine the impact of the MI intervention on student interest in STEM careers and pursuing internships/REUs. Also, the pre- and post (every e months to assess longitudinal outcomes) -surveys included relevant open response prompts. The surveys collected students’ demographics; interest, confidence, and motivation in pursuing a career in STEM; perceived obstacles; and past experiences with internships and MIs. 171 students responded to the pre-survey at the time of submission. Outcomes (e.g., preliminary findings, accomplishments to date) Because we just finished year 1, we lack at this time longitudinal data to reveal if student confidence is maintained over time and whether or not students are more likely to (i) enroll in more internships, (ii) transfer to a four-year university, or (iii) shorten the time it takes for degree attainment. For short term outcomes, students significantly Increased their confidence to continue pursuing opportunities to develop within the STEM pipeline, including full-length internships, completing STEM degrees, and applying for jobs in STEM. For example, using a 2-tailed t-test we compared means before and after the MI experience. 15 out of 16 questions that showed improvement in scores were related to student confidence to pursue STEM or perceived enjoyment of a STEM career. Finding from the free-response questions, showed that the majority of students reported enrolling in the MI to gain knowledge and experience. After the MI, 66% of students reported having gained valuable knowledge and experience, and 35% of students spoke about gaining confidence and/or momentum to pursue STEM as a career. Broader Impacts (e.g., the participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM; development of a diverse STEM workforce, enhanced infrastructure for research and education) The ESTEEM project has the potential for a transformational impact on STEM undergraduate education’s access and success for underrepresented and Latinx community college students, as well as for STEM capacity building at Hartnell College, a CCC and HSI, for students, faculty, professionals, and processes that foster research in STEM and education. Through sharing and transfer abilities of the ESTEEM model to similar institutions, the project has the potential to change the way students are served at an early and critical stage of their higher education experience at CCC, where one in every five community college student in the nation attends a CCC, over 67% of CCC students identify themselves with ethnic backgrounds that are not White, and 40 to 50% of University of California and California State University graduates in STEM started at a CCC, thus making it a key leverage point for recruiting and retaining a more diverse STEM workforce. 

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4. Impact of Social and Programmatic Experiences on Students’ Interest in Pursuing a Graduate Degree in a Computing Field

   Kargarmoakhar, M. ; Lunn, S. ; Ross, M. ; Hazari, Z. ; Weiss, M.A. ; Christensen, K. ; Georgiopoulos, M. ; Solis, T. ( July 2021 , 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   There is a substantial shortage of students pursuing graduate degrees in computing fields in the United States [1], and when examining participation rates of minoritized populations the disparity is even greater [2]. In order to attract more domestic students to graduate schools in computing it is important to understand what factors encourage or discourage them from participation. Literature suggests that students’ family, friends, school, and society play an important role in students' educational paths, and their own self-perceptions. Using social impact theory as the guiding lens, we explore support from family and friends, as well as social and program-related experiences, in this study to assess their impact on undergraduate students' reported interest in pursuing a graduate degree. The research questions guiding this study are 1) Which social and programmatic experiences have the greatest impact on students’ interest in pursuing a graduate degree in computing?; and 2) How does a student’s gender/racial/ethnic background and their participation in social and programmatic experiences impact students’ interest in pursuing graduate degrees? We answered these research questions using data from a survey conducted at three large public universities in Florida which targeted students in computing fields (n=740). Data was analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon rank sum tests, as well as logistic regression. The findings revealed that “presenting work to other students,” and “research experience” are two experiences which lead to an increase of students’ interest in pursuing a graduate degree in a computing field. This study also revealed the importance of having same gender friends and reported interest in pursuing a graduate degree in a computing field. These findings provide insight into which experiences may impact domestic students' interest in pursuing graduate programs in computing fields. The results of this study are beneficial for universities to consider for encouraging more students to pursue a future in academia or in the workforce after obtaining a graduate degree. 

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5. Impact of Social and Programmatic Experiences on Students’ Interest in Pursuing a Graduate Degree in a Computing Field

   Maral Kargarmoakhar, Stephanie Jill ( July 2021 , 2021 ASEE Annual Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   There is a substantial shortage of students pursuing graduate degrees in computing fields in the United States [1], and when examining participation rates of minoritized populations the disparity is even greater [2]. In order to attract more domestic students to graduate schools in computing it is important to understand what factors encourage or discourage them from participating. Literature suggests that students’ family, friends, school, and society play an important role in their educational paths and self-perceptions. Using social impact theory as the guiding lens, we explored support from family and friends, as well as social and program-related experiences, in this study to assess their impact on undergraduate students' reported interest in pursuing a graduate degree. The research questions that guided this study are 1) Which social and programmatic experiences have the greatest impact on students’ interest in pursuing a graduate degree in computing?; and 2) How does a student’s gender/racial/ethnic background and their participation in social and programmatic experiences impact students’ interest in pursuing graduate degrees? We answered these research questions using data from a survey conducted at three large public universities in Florida which targeted students in computing fields (n=740). Data was analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon rank sum tests, as well as logistic regression. The findings revealed that “presenting work to other students,” and “research experience” are two experiences which lead to an increase of students’ interest in pursuing a graduate degree in a computing field. This study also demonstrated the importance of having same gender friends and reported interest in pursuing a graduate degree in a computing field. These findings provide insight into which experiences may impact domestic students' interest in pursuing graduate programs in computing fields. The results of this study are beneficial for universities to consider what factors may encourage more students to pursue a future in academia or in the workforce after obtaining a graduate degree. 

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