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The benefits of undergraduate student experiences are well known. Students participating in research experience for undergraduates (REU) programs report increased skills and self-confidence, a greater sense of empowerment as learners and more motivation to pursue science or engineering careers and graduate degrees. REU programs generally aim to engage students in exciting and rewarding research and professional development experiences to motivate them to pursue careers or advanced degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Unlike most other types of summer internships, REU programs are typically very student-focused. The faculty mentors, projects, activities, seminars, tours, etc. are selected to generate a positive impact on the student participants. After many years of offering a successful REU experience, the AERIM REU program at Oakland University (OU) decided to include a K-12 outreach component to its list of REU activities. This decision was driven by the many documented benefits of service-learning programs, which not only are of value to the persons receiving the service, but also the students providing it. They also help students improve their interpersonal and communication skills and develop a better understanding of the needs of people with diverse or different backgrounds. After pivoting to a virtual format in the summer of 2021 due the Covid-19 pandemic, the AERIM REU program was once again offered in-person in the summer of 2022, hence allowing for an outreach activity. The initial plan was to partner with a non-profit science center in the city of UU. Unfortunately, the science center was experiencing staffing changes, as well as ongoing challenges due to Covid-19, so the AERIM REU PIs had to come up with an alternative. The school of engineering and computer science at OU has a robust and active K-12 outreach program and has partnered with the RRR society to offer a summer residential STEM program, targeting under-represented minority high-school girls from the city of UU. Working in coordination with the assistant director of outreach, AERIM REU students were tasked with developing outreach activities and presentations for the camp participants. Each REU team was responsible for developing one 1-1.5 hour activity. REU students were given complete flexibility to develop their outreach activities with little faculty influence, but were encouraged to focus on hands-on activities that could relate back to their ongoing REU research projects and that would excite the camp participants about STEM. In this paper, we report on the organization and results of this initiative. Assessment results of the outreach activity will also be shared. We believe that this type of information could prove to be of value to other REU program directors and faculty seeking to organize similar programs.
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Early lessons learned from pivoting an REU program to a virtual format
Since the summer of 2006, the NSF-funded AERIM Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in the department of Mechanical Engineering at Oakland University has been offering rich research, professional development, networking and cohort-building experiences to undergraduate students in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. With a focus on hands-on automotive and energy research projects and a proximity to many automotive companies, the program has been successful at attracting a diverse group of students. In fact, a total of 104 students from 70 different universities have participated in the program over the past 15 years, with about 70% of the participants coming from groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in engineering (women in particular). Most research projects have been team-based and have typically involved experimental and analytical work with perhaps a handful of numerical simulation-based projects over the years. Prior assessment has shown that students greatly valued and benefited from interacting with faculty mentors, industry professionals, industry tours, and each other. As a result of limitations placed on in-person meeting and on-campus activities impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the program had to pivot to a virtual format in the summer of 2021. This virtual format brought about several challenges and opportunities, which will be discussed in this paper. Despite the virtual format, the program was successful at attracting a diverse group of students in 2021. Twelve undergraduate students from eight different institutions took part remotely in the program and encompassed several time zones ranging from Eastern Standard Time to Alaska Standard Time. The 2021 cohort included seven women, three underrepresented minorities, and two students with a reported disability. Also noteworthy is the fact that half of the students were first generation in college students. While the PIs were happy with the student make up, running the program in a virtual format was very challenging. For one, what was traditionally a hands-on, experimental research program had to pivot to completely simulation/analytical based projects. This brought about issues related to remote access to software, time lags and difficulties with engaging students while computer simulations were running remotely. While the program was able to offer several seminars and meetings with industry professionals in a virtual fashion, it was not possible to provide industry tours or the casual conversations that would spontaneously occur when meeting face to face with industry professionals. Finally, with students logging in from their homes across the country and across different time zones rather than living together in the Oakland University dorms, the usual bonding and group interactions that would normally occur over the summer were difficult to replicate. In this paper we discuss what was learned from these challenges and how the virtual format also offered opportunities that will be utilized in future years.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1852112
- PAR ID:
- 10404166
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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