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With support from NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM), the Culturally Adaptive Pathway to Success (CAPS) program aims to build an inclusive pathway to accelerate the graduation for academically talented, low-income students in Engineering and Computer Science majors at [University Name], which traditionally serves the underrepresented and educationally disadvantaged minority students in the [City Name area]. CAPS focuses on progressively developing social and career competence in our students via three integrated interventions: (1) Mentor+, a relationally informed advising strategy that encourages students to see their academic work in relation to their families and communities; (2) peer cohorts, providing social support structure for students and enhancing their sense of belonging in engineering and computer science classrooms and beyond; and (3) professional development from faculty who have been trained in difference-education theory, so that they can support students with varying levels of understanding of the antecedents of college success. To ensure success of these interventions, the CAPS program places great emphasis on developing culturally responsive advisement methods and training faculty mentors to facilitate creating a culture of culturally adaptive advising. This paper presents the CAPS progress in the past two project years. In particular, we will share several changes that we have made after the first project year to improve several key components of the program - recruitment, cohort building, and mentor training. The program strengthened the recruitment by actively involving scholars and faculties in reaching out to students and successfully recruited more scholars for the second cohort (16 scholars) than the first cohort (12 scholars). Also, the program has initiated new activities for peer-mentoring and cohort gathering within each major. As continuous development of the mentor training, the program has added a training session focusing on various aspects of intersectionality as it relates to individual’s social identities, and how mentors can use these knowledge to better interact with mentees. In addition to these changes, we will also report findings on how the program impacted on scholars’ academic growth and mentors’ understanding about the culturally adaptive advisement to answer the CAPS research questions (a) how these interventions affect the development of social belonging and engineering identity of CAPS scholars, and (b) the impact of Mentor+ on academic resilience and progress to degree. The program conducted qualitative data collection and analysis via focus group meetings and interviews as well as quantitative data collection and analysis using academic records and surveys. Our findings will help enhance the CAPS program and establish a sustainable Scholars Support Program at the university, which can be implemented with scholarships funded by other sources, and which can be transferred to similar culturally diverse institutions to increase success for students who have socio-economic challenges.
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Engaging early-stage undergraduate students in research through a Science Communication Fellowship
Early engagement in undergraduate research opportunities promotes improved critical thinking and scientific reasoning, increased academic performance, enhanced retention both within STEM majors and in college overall, and improved satisfaction with college. It is therefore critical to create pathways for early-stage college students to engage in undergraduate research. Transdisciplinary Grand Challenges programs at large public universities provide an opportunity to engage undergraduates in research that is directly tied to their community’s needs. The objective of this paper is to present the development and implementation of a science communication fellowship to engage early-stage undergraduate students in research. We created the Grand Challenge Water Science Communication Fellowship, in which students work with mentors (faculty, research scientists, graduate students) to create a communication project to educate the public on a water resources related issue that is currently being researched. The research used to produce the communication project can either be the student’s own or the research of their mentor. Students select their own communications venues (e.g., paintings, podcasts, videos, infographics) and work individually with their mentor and together as a cohort to develop and refine their individual projects. The projects are presented at the end of the semester-long fellowship program at the University’s Undergraduate Research Conference, which is open to the public. Participating students and mentors represent a wide variety of backgrounds, including biology, physics, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, economics, environmental science, and geography. Several tangible benefits were seen for both students and mentors in the program’s first year. Students formed an active multidisciplinary cohort that created a sense of belonging to the university; most of the students are now working in the research lab of their mentor; and students from the prior year’s cohort and organizing and mentoring the next year’s cohort. Research mentors have obtained broader visibility of their research by using the produced communications pieces in grant proposals, research papers, presentations, websites, and other public avenues for knowledge sharing. In the second year of the program, we now aim to use qualitative and quantitative surveys to understand if participation in the program increases students’ self-efficacy and research identity. Survey questions ask students to evaluate aspects such as, how active their role was in planning the project, sense of responsibility for project progress, sense of belonging to a community of researchers, and intention to persist in a research experience. Results will be used to scale this opportunity and create similar communication fellowships for other Grand Challenges and disciplinary programs at the university.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1914490
- PAR ID:
- 10525016
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE Conferences
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Baltimore , Maryland
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Vasconcelos, Sonia (Ed.)Undergraduate research experiences benefit students by immersing them in the work of scientists and often result in increased interest and commitment to careers in the sciences. Expanding access to Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) programs has the potential to engage more students in authentic research experiences earlier in their academic careers and grow and diversify the geoscience workforce. The Research Experience for Community College Students (RECCS) was one of the first National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded REU programs exclusively for 2-year college students. In this study, we describe findings from five years of the RECCS program and report on outcomes from 54 students. The study collected closed- and open-ended responses on post-program reflection surveys to analyze both student and mentor perspectives on their experience. Specifically, we focus on students’ self-reported growth in areas such as research skills, confidence in their ability to do research, and belonging in the field, as well as the mentors’ assessment of students’ work and areas of growth, and the impact of the program on students’ academic and career paths. In addition, RECCS alumni were surveyed annually to update data on their academic and career pursuits. Our data show that RECCS students learned scientific and professional skills throughout the program, developed a sense of identity as a scientist, and increased their interest in and excitement for graduate school after the program. Through this research experience, students gained confidence in their ability to “do” science and insight into whether this path is a good fit for them. This study contributes to an emerging body of data examining the impact of REU programs on community college students and encourages geoscience REU programs to welcome and support more community college students.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--43310
