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The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of multi-layered mentoring in summer engineering programs on confidence in understanding engineering research, engineering disciplines and the ability to conduct engineering research. This paper describes the work in progress towards incorporating this approach into summer programs at Rutgers University. The participants in the study included high school students from over 6 different high schools in New Jersey, coupled with in-service teachers who were participants in a National Science Foundation RET Site: Rutgers University Research Experience for Teachers in Engineering for Green Energy Technology and undergraduate scholars who participated in the REU Site: Green Energy Technology Undergraduate Program. The perceptions, understanding and evaluation of the program before the implementation of the multi-layered mentorship program are compared to the multi-layered program. High school students expressed higher confidence levels in the engineering design cycle and knowledge of the engineering discipline in the multi-layered mentorship program. Undergraduate students who were in labs where they peer-mentored teachers expressed higher levels of confidence in their skills as researchers than undergraduate students who did not peer-mentor in-service teachers or high school students. Future work will include enhanced data sampling, a revision of interview questions and assessment of participant’s understanding of concepts via quizzes.
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Speech Pathology Clinical Shadowing and Research Experiences for Undergraduate Engineers & Computer Scientists
A recent Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program immersed undergraduate engineering and computer science students in research at the intersection of engineering and communicative disorders. In this first iteration, 9 students participated in research to support populations impacted by communication, voice, swallowing, and hearing disorders. Other features included clinical shadowing, mentoring by faculty from engineering/computer science, speech-language pathology, and audiology to provide technical and clinical perspectives. The REU experience culminated with presentation of the REU students’ research at a local speech- language pathology conference. Based on focus group feedback about the program, the participants experienced high levels of satisfaction with the end-of-program conference presentations but lower levels of satisfaction with mentoring. Our aim for following years is to improve the mentor training and shadowing integration to enhance the experience for REU students in future iterations.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1852161
- PAR ID:
- 10209103
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2020 ASEE Southeastern Section Conference
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- https://sites.asee.org/se/wp-content/uploads/sites/56/2021/01/2020ASEESE22.pdf
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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