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In higher education, faculty diversity is critical for a variety of important outcomes, including supporting students in pursuing and persisting in STEM fields by providing in-group role models. However, current engineering faculty do not equitably represent the general population. In order to address this lack of representation in higher education engineering programs, the University of Lowell S-STEM program has the goal to recruit three cohorts of low-income, high-achieving students who wish to pursue a career in higher education. The UML S-STEM program supports engineering scholars for four years, their last two years of undergraduate school and their first two years of graduate school. The goal of the program is to attract and retain diverse engineering S-STEM scholars and prepare them to enter the competitive pool of future faculty candidates. We present our successes and challenges in recruiting the first two cohorts of low-income, high-achieving students. In the first year, we focused on email blasts, a social media campaign, partnering with student groups, and general outreach via career panels. 55 eligible students were identified by the financial aid office, 12 applications received, and 4 students fit the timeline and eligibility requirements (all were accepted). Three of the four are first generation students, and three of the four identify as students from underrepresented minority backgrounds in engineering. Recruitment lessons learned were that because the scholarship opportunity is so unique, emails alone from a faculty member the students are not familiar with do not work well. Additionally, sophomores are often not proactively seeking more information and scholarship opportunities for graduate school. As a result of these findings, we increased our outreach opportunities to allow students to discuss and explore the benefits of graduate school to build the interest and self-efficacy of our target population. Further, we asked faculty members that work with the students to reach out to students individually and encourage them to apply. Using this approach, after identifying 79 eligible students, 38 applications were received, 84% from our list of eligible students, and 63% from populations underrepresented in engineering.
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Building a Partnership Between a University and Local High School to Foster and Grow Interest in Biomedical Sciences and Engineering
Abstract To help foster interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), it is important to develop opportunities that excite and teach young minds about STEM-related fields. Over the past several years, our university-based research group has sought to help grow excitement around the biomechanics and biomedical engineering fields. The purposes of this technical brief are to (1) discuss the development of a partnership built between a St. Louis area high school and biomechanics research lab and (2) provide practical guidance for other researchers looking to implement a long-term outreach program. The partnership uses three different outreach opportunities. The first opportunity consisted of 12th-grade students visiting university research labs for an up-close perspective of ongoing biomedical research. The second opportunity was a biomedical research showcase where research-active graduate students traveled to the high school to perform demonstrations. The third opportunity consisted of a collaborative capstone project where a high school student was able to carry out research directly in a university lab. To date, we have expanded our reach from 19 students to interacting with over 100 students, which has yielded increased interest in STEM related research. Our postprogram survey showed that outreach programs such as the one described herein can increase interest in STEM within all ages of high school students. Building partnerships between high schools and university researchers increases the interest in STEM amongst high school students, and gives graduate students an outlet to present work to an eager-to-learn audience.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2037125
- PAR ID:
- 10578838
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASME
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Biomechanical Engineering
- Volume:
- 146
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0148-0731
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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null (Ed.)Undergraduate research opportunities have been demonstrated to promote recruitment, retention, and inclusion of students from underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines. The opportunity to engage in hands-on, discovery-based activities as part of a community helps students develop a strong self-identity in STEM and strengthens their self-efficacy in what can otherwise be daunting fields. Kansas State University has developed an array of undergraduate research opportunities, both in the academic year and summer, and has established a management infrastructure around these programs. The Graduate School, which hosts its own Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program aimed at URM and first-generation college students, coordinates the leadership of the other grant-funded programs, and conducts a series of enrichment and networking activities for students from all the programs. These include professional development as well as primarily social sessions. The Kansas LSAMP, led by Kansas State University, created a summer program aimed at under-represented minority community college students enrolled in STEM fields to recruit them into research opportunities at K-State. There has been strong interest in the program, which incorporated university experience elements in addition to an introduction to STEM research and the four-year university. In the 5 years since the program’s inception, cohorts of nine to fourteen students came to K-State each year for eight-week experiences and took part in both cohort-based sessions and individual mentored research experiences. The two-fold focus of this program, Research Immersion: Pathways to STEM, has resulted in the majority of the students presenting a poster at a national conference and transferring to a STEM major at a four-year institution. Survey results showed that the program was successful at improving STEM identity and academic self-concepts. Qualitative feedback suggested that the two parts of the program worked together to increase interest and self confidence in STEM majors but also ensured that students connect with other students and felt comfortable in the transition to a 4-year institution.more » « less
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Recent data across the globe indicates a decline in stem competency among secondary education students. Despite persistent interest in STEM fields this decrease in preparedness could yield detrimental effects for both future scientists and engineers. To address this current trend, a collaborative partnership between a university and high school commenced. The goal was to create an advanced experiential engineering course focused primarily on ophthalmology principles, research, and hands-on solutions. Twenty-one high school students (grades 9-12) enrolled in the course. Their objective was to investigate research questions involving ocular physiology. These ranged from surveying intraocular pressure measurement methods, examining the nature of vitreous humor properties, and investigating the inherent connection between blood flow and fluid dynamics. Furthermore, students engaged in hands-on experimentation that resulted in a hydraulics-based model which attempted to link the correlation between blood pressure and intraocular pressure involved in glaucoma progression. Post-course interviews revealed three major themes: i) an increased appreciation for the utility of mathematics and its real-world use; ii) the importance of the mentor-mentee relationship and professional networking; and iii) increased access to resources beyond what is traditionally found in a high school classroom. These findings suggest that incorporating research into a high school classroom can foster positive outcomes and spark students’ interest in ophthalmology research and in STEM more broadly. This course can serve as a model in future development of project-based engineering curriculum and help broaden participation in STEM.more » « less
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To increase interest in chemical engineering and introduce non-traditional chemical engineering fields to high school women, an outreach activity focused on the biomedical applications of polymers was developed. Surveys given to students before and after the activity demonstrated greater agreement with the statements “I am interested in chemical engineering” and “Chemical engineers help people” after the activity. Additionally, there was better alignment between students’ aspirations and chemical engineering as a result of the activity.more » « less
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A major driver in K-12 engineering education has been university-based outreach initiatives. In the U.S, there are an estimated 600,000 K-12 students participating in university-led engineering outreach annually (Iversen, 2014-2015). Reaching students as young as elementary school is important as students form their interest and impressions in engineering and other STEM disciplines early (Galton in Ormerod & Duckworth, 1975, p. 39; Maltese & Tai, 2010; Tai, Qiu,Liu, Maltese, & Fan, 2006) and those interests often decline in middle school (Murphy & Beggs, 2003; Neathery, 1997; Ormerod & Duckworth, 1975; Osborne, Simon, & Collins, 2003. University engineering students are often positioned as role models for the K-12 students they work with. However, to date, little research has been done on how students select role models and how to optimize the interactions between young students and university students to increase the likelihood that they will be taken as role models This paper will show preliminary data and analysis from an NSF-funded research project that is examining the dynamics between undergraduate university students providing outreach and elementary school student participants. The paper will focus on a case-study of a single 4th grade classroom and how different dynamics related to sharing personal information, engineering identity, and other interests interact with elementary school students identifying undergraduate engineering students as role models. Potential codes for larger qualitative studies will be shared as well as preliminary quantitative results from surveys instruments (EIDS, Draw an Engineer).more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4064664
