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1. Team-Based Online Learning in Multidisciplinary Research and Instruction

   Gobbert, Matthias K; Wang, Jianwu (December 2022, The 18th International Conference on Frontiers in Education: Computer Science and Computer Engineering (FECS'22))

   There is a critical nationwide shortage of IT professionals as well as of scientists and engineers with high-performance computing (HPC) and big data related advanced computing skills. Simultaneously, the technology is growing in complexity and sophistication, which has led to the use of multi-disciplinary teams with members from a broad range of home domains everywhere in industry, government, and academia. Moreover, a lot of the vital team collaborations take will place virtually using a variety of software platforms now and in the future. We report here on experiences with preparing undergraduate and graduate students for these career opportunities in several contexts, from regular semester classes, an undergraduate summer research program, to an advanced graduate student CyberTraining program. All these programs are conducted fully online and leveraged concepts of flipped classrooms, recorded lectures, team-based and active learning, regular oral presentations, and more to ensure student engagement and lasting learning. 

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2. Mentoring across difference and distance: building effective virtual research opportunities for underrepresented minority undergraduate students in biological sciences

   https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01452-23  

   Knox, Corey J.; Ab Latif, Faqryza M.; Cornejo, Natasha R.; Johnson, Michael D. (January 2024, mBio)

   Freitag, Nancy E. (Ed.)

   The National Summer Undergraduate Research Program (NSURP) is a mentored summer research program in biosciences for undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Conducted virtually over 8 weeks every summer starting in 2020, NSURP provides accessible and flexible research experiences to meet the needs of geographically diverse and schedule-constrained students. Drawing from mentee reporting and surveys conducted within the NSURP framework involving over 350 underrepresented minority undergraduate students over three cohorts (2020–2022), matched with mentors, this paper highlights the potential benefits of students participating in virtual mentored research experiences. In addition to increased access to quality research experiences for students who face travel or academic setting constraints, we found that virtual mentoring fosters cross-cultural collaborations, generates novel research questions, and expands professional networks. Moreover, this study emphasizes the role of virtual mentorship opportunities in fostering inclusivity and support for individuals from underrepresented groups in STEM fields. By overcoming barriers to full participation in the scientific community, virtual mentorship programs can create a more equitable and inclusive environment for aspiring researchers. This research contributes to the growing body of literature on the effectiveness and the potential of virtual research programs and mentorship opportunities in broadening participation and breaking down barriers in STEM education and careers. IMPORTANCESummer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) are established to provide platforms for interest in scientific research and as tools for eventual matriculation to scientific graduate programs. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of in-person programs for 2020 and 2021, creating the need for alternative programming. The National Summer Undergraduate Research Project (NSURP) was created to provide a virtual option to REUs in microbiology to compensate for the pandemic-initiated loss of research opportunities. Although in-person REUs have since been restored, NSURP currently remains an option for those unable to travel to in-person programs in the first place due to familial, community, and/or monetary obligations. This study examines the effects of the program's first 3 years, documenting the students’ experiences, and suggests future directions and areas of study related to the impact of virtual research experiences on expanding and diversifying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

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3. Best Practices and Lessons Learned on Organizing Effective Cohort-based Undergraduate Summer Research during COVID-19

   Hou, Daqing; Liu, Yu (August 2022, 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   This paper summarizes the best practices and lessons learned from organizing an effective remote REU Site during COVID-19. Our REU Site is a three-year program that is designed to offer closely-mentored summer research experience to a cohort of ten students in each of the three years. COVID-19 has disrupted our site by forcing us to split our second cohort to two groups, two students in summer 2020 and seven students in summer 2021. However, the experience that we gained in summer 2020 by mentoring the two students virtually online has provided us with the confidence that a virtual REU Site with a larger group can be as effective as in person and on campus. To further improve the quality of our REU Site in the on-line mode, we have applied multiple novel practices. Specifically, before the start of the 2021 REU site we as the site co-directors proactively worked with mentors to better understand the needs of the defined research projects. Subsequently, we tailored the topics covered by the crash course of our site to the needs of the research projects as well as purposefully increasing active learning activities and student interactions. In lieu of the previous in-person bond building activity (a two-day high rope course in a nearby camp), we added virtual scavenger image hunt in orientation and game nights every Wednesday. During the ten weeks, we also organized a half-hour daily check-in and check-out in the morning and afternoon respectively, through which students got ample opportunities to speak in a group setting about their own accomplishments and challenges for the day as well as their plans for the next day. Moreover, a PhD pathways panel and several professional development seminars on Graduate School and the research process were successfully organized to motivate students to pursue a research career. To facilitate communication, our site adopted multiple software tools (slack, google calendar, zoom, and moodle). An independent evaluator evaluated our program through online pre- and post-program surveys for both students and mentors as well as a focus group discussion with students. The evaluation report indicates significant improvement from the summer 2021 site regarding student satisfaction compared to the previous summer 2019 on-site program. Detailed quantitative analysis and lessons learned from the report will be presented in this paper to offer valuable experience and best practices for organizing effective cohort-based undergraduate research programs. 

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4. Pandemic Pivots: The Successful Transition of an NSF Research Internship to an Online Format

   McIntyre, N. E. (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access)

   The Transfer-to-Excellence Summer Research Program is an exciting opportunity for community college students to conduct hands-on research in the labs of faculty at the University of California, Berkeley. Funded by an NSF Science and Technology Center and a private foundation, the program seeks to inspire students to transfer and complete a Bachelor’s degree in science or engineering. Typically a nine-week residential program, the 2020 Transfer-to-Excellence program was greatly impacted by COVID-19 and a state-wide Shelter-in-Place order. This paper details the successful transition of the Transfer-to-Excellence program to an online format, including remote research projects, mentoring, bootcamp, professional development, and community building events. Analysis of quantitative evaluation data demonstrates that, despite the remote format, interns had a very positive internship experience and highly satisfying mentoring relationships with graduate students. Most notably, the internship significantly enhanced students’ confidence to succeed as a student in science and engineering, and self-efficacy in their research skills. As such, this paper and poster presentation will provide a model for similar NSF funded programs pursuing an online format. The administrative team expects such transitions to become increasingly common for various reasons, including the need to adapt to unexpected health and environmental barriers, reducing cost, and expanding access to nontraditional students unable to participate in residential programs. 

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5. Remote Early Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students in Computing

   Alm, Cecilia O; Bailey, Reynold; Miller, Hannah (January 2022, SIGCSE Technical Symposium)

   We provide an experience report about a remote framework for early undergraduate research experiences, which was thematically focused on sensing humans computationally. The framework included three complementary components. First, students experienced a team-based research cycle online, spanning formulating research questions, conducting literature review, performing fully remote human subject data collection experiments and data processing, analyzing and making inference over acquired data with computational experimentation, and disseminating findings. Second, the virtual program offered a set of professional development activities targeted to developing skills and knowledge for graduate school and research career trajectories. Third, it offered interactional and cohort-networking programming for community-building. We discuss not only the unique challenges of the virtual format and the steps put in place to address them but also the opportunities that being online afforded to innovate undergraduate research training remotely. We evaluate the remote training intervention through the organizing team’s post-program reflection and the students’ perceptions conveyed in exit interviews and a mid-program focus group. In addition to outlining lessons learned about more or less successful framework elements, we offer recommendations for applying the framework at other institutions as well as how to transfer activities to in-person formats. 

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