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1. HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: THE FRESHMAN YEAR INNOVATOR EXPERIENCE (FYIE): BRIDGING THE URM GAP in STEM

   Vargas_Hernandez, Noe; Ortega, Javier; Lozano, Karen; Marquez, Eleazar; Fuentes, Arturo (June 2024, 2024 ASEE Conference)

   The Freshman Year Innovator Experience (FYIE) program at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), aims to enhance the freshman experience for incoming students by developing key academic success skills. The program is developing self-transformation skills in freshman mechanical engineering students to help them overcome academic and professional challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. FYIE participants are taking two courses simultaneously: Introduction to Engineering (Course A) and Learning Frameworks (Course B). In Course A, students will complete a 6-week engineering design project, and in Course B, they are completing a 6-week academic career path project. During these parallel projects, timed interventions demonstrate the analogies between the engineering design process and the academic career pathways project. The objective is for students to realize that they can apply the design thinking skills they learn in the engineering design process to solve their academic career challenges. A pilot of the FYIE program began in the 2023 Spring semester, with instructors from Course A and B introducing the parallel projects. The pilot continues in the 2023 Fall semester, with refinements to the parallel projects and the definition of analogy intervention points for self-transformation. The authors of the paper will present the results from the pilot implementations, as well as discuss the challenges and future work. This proposed initiative is designed with the intention of adhering to the ongoing mission of the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) at the UTRGV to 1) increase the number of STEM degrees awarded to Hispanics, 2) broadening participation of females in STEM related fields, and 3) increase the persistence and self-efficacy in STEM fields amid COVID-19. This project is funded by NSF award 2225247. 

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2. The impact of COVID-19 induced emergency remote instruction on students’ academic performance at an HBCU

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264947  

   Mostafa, Sayed; Cousins-Cooper, Kathy; Tankersley, Barbara; Burns, Shea; Tang, Guoqing (March 2022, PLOS ONE)

   Zhu, Rong (Ed.)

   The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic early in 2020 forced universities to shut down their campuses and transition to emergency remote instruction (ERI). Students had to quickly adapt to this new mode of instruction while dealing with all other distractions caused by the pandemic. This study integrates extensive data from students’ institutional records at a large Historically Black College and University (HBCU) institution with data from a students’ survey about the impact of COVID-19 on learning during the Spring 2020 semester to examine the impact of the transition to ERI on students’ performance and identify the main factors explaining variations in students’ performance. The main findings of our analysis are: (a) students’ university experience was positively correlated with performance (continuing students who spent at least one academic year at the university prior to the outbreak had better performance than freshman and new transfer students), (b) students’ perceived change in performance after the transition was positively associated with actual performance (students who perceived a decline in their performance after transition to ERI had significantly worse performance than other students), and (c) students’ prior online learning experiences and students’ emotional experiences with the COVID-19 disease were not significantly associated with performance. These results suggest that the approaches adopted by higher education institutions to support students during times of crisis should pay special attention to certain groups of students. 

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3. Continued STEM Commitment in Light of 2020 Events: A Perspective From the Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation

   https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.681027  

   Botanga, Christopher; Blanc, Suzanne; Jones, LeRoy; Day, Michelle; Charles, Mariel (October 2021, Frontiers in Education)

   We evaluated the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism on Underrepresented Minority (URM) students pursuing higher education in the STEM fields. Given the ongoing pandemic and the wave of protests in response to a series of police brutalities and systemic racism, URM students were thrown into uncharted territory. We reached out to a group of Black and Latino students who were already engaged in STEM. We began surveys and interviews by asking participants how they were and how their family and communities were doing. Next, participants answered questions about academic progress, challenges, and what support would be helpful. Our framework was based on a mixed-methods approach that draws on the work of Michael Patton (Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods: Integrating Theory and Practice, 2014) and Veronica Thomas (American Journal of Evaluation, 2016, 38 (1), 7–28). Qualitative data from interviews were collected to capture perceptions, experiences, and recommendations of the study participants. Survey data were collected to reach as many students as possible and to provide numerical self-assessments of student experience, progression, and obstacles. All qualitative data were coded thematically using Atlas. ti, with the goal of illuminating emerging themes, and quantitative data were reviewed using descriptive statistics. Themes emerging from both data sets were compared, contrasted, and integrated in order to develop consistent findings that would enhance URM student perseverance and persistence in the face of confounding adversities. This study shows that ILSAMP COVID-19 Study participants maintained a commitment to pursuing a career in STEM. The findings of this study also indicate that the participants are stressed by their immediate circumstances and by the ongoing racism of U.S. society. These students ask for additional financial, academic, and networking support during the disruptions caused by the pandemic. More specifically, students request continued advising and connection with STEM professionals who can help them envision and enact a pathway to their own careers in STEM during this tumultuous period. The study validates the importance of key elements of the national LSAMP model as reported by Clewell et al. (Revitalizing the Nation’s Talent Pool in STEM, 2006). These are: academic integration, social integration, and professional integration. In addition, it identifies several other factors that are key to student success, including interventions that directly address racial trauma and economic hardship. 

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4. Historically Underrepresented Graduate Students’ Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

   https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12574  

   Walsh, B. A.; Woodliff, T. A.; Lucero, J.; Harvey, S.; Burnham, M. M.; Bowser, T. L.; Aguirre, M.; Zeh, D. W. (October 2021, Family relations)

   Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of historically underrepresented graduate students, more than half of whom were enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This focus group study represents an initial stage in developing an intervention for historically underrepresented graduate students and their families. Background: Underrepresentation of graduate students of color in STEM has been attributed to a myriad of factors, including a lack of support systems. Familial support is an endorsed reason for persisting in graduate school. It is unclear what historically underrepresented graduate students’ experiences are during uncertain times, such as a pandemic. Method: Focus groups were conducted online using a videoconferencing platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five focus groups included: historically underrepresented doctoral students (n =5), historically underrepresented master’s students (n = 6), academic faculty (n = 7), administrator, administrative faculty, and academic faculty (n = 6), and families of historically underrepresented doctoral students (n = 6). Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Historically underrepresented graduate students experienced difficulties in accessing resources, adjustments to home and family life, amplification of existing nonfinancial issues, and expressed both fears of and hopes for the future. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities in access to resources as well as nonfinancial family support. Implications: This study may help normalize historically underrepresented graduate students’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings include ideas for informing families about graduate school that can enlighten family support efforts for historically underrepresented graduate students and their families. 

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5. Conducting STEM Industry Internships while Sheltering in Place: The Biotech Partners Experience

   https://doi.org/10.15695/jstem/v4i4.02  

   Gurn, A.; Bass, K.M.; Gayden, L.; Allen, A.; Jarvis, N. (October 2021, Journal of STEM outreach)

   Before the shelter-in-place orders began, Biotech Partners (BP) was already engaged in contingency plan- ning with its school and industry partners in an effort to mitigate potential disruptions caused by the looming health crisis. For 25 years prior, BP had successfully mentored and prepared underrepresented high school students to complete profes- sional internships at diverse STEM institutions. Often working in a laboratory or pharmaceutical manufacturing setting, the internships allowed students to apply bioscience, biotechnology, and professional career skills developed in school within the context of a professional workplace. The promise of paid internships in a cutting-edge industry creates an incentive to motivate and maximize student learning in rigorous academic training and workforce preparation. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, most industry sites cancelled their 2020 participation, putting the summer internships in jeopardy. BP rapidly shifted. Collaborating with new and longstanding industry partners, the internship program was modified from in-person to remote work and learning environments. This case study examines the pedagogical challenges and opportunities of conducting remote STEM internships amid a global pandemic. This paper illuminates the role of industry partnerships, student outreach, personalized mentoring, and wrap-around support services to broaden students’ awareness of, interest in, and preparation for careers in the STEM workforce. 

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