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Nitrogen isotopic compositions (δ¹⁵N) of source and trophic amino acids (AAs) are crucial tracers of N sources and trophic enrichments in diverse fields, including archeology, astrobiochemistry, ecology, oceanography, and paleo‐sciences. The current analytical technique using gas chromatography‐combustion‐isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/C/IRMS) requires derivatization, which is not compatible with some key AAs. Another approach using high‐performance liquid chromatography‐elemental analyzer‐IRMS (HPLC/EA/IRMS) may experience coelution issues with other compounds in certain types of samples, and the highly sensitive nano‐EA/IRMS instrumentations are not widely available.

We present a method for high‐precision δ¹⁵N measurements of AAs (δ¹⁵N‐AA) optimized for canonical source AA‐phenylalanine (Phe) and trophic AA‐glutamic acid (Glu). This offline approach entails purification and separation via high‐pressure ion‐exchange chromatography (IC) with automated fraction collection, the sequential chemical conversion of AA to nitrite and then to nitrous oxide (N₂O), and the final determination of δ¹⁵N of the produced N₂O via purge‐and‐trap continuous‐flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (PT/CF/IRMS).

The cross‐plots of δ¹⁵N of Glu and Phe standards (four different natural‐abundance levels) generated by this method and their accepted values have a linear regression slope of 1 and small intercepts demonstrating high accuracy. The precisions were 0.36‰–0.67‰ for Phe standards and 0.27‰–0.35‰ for Glu standards. Our method and the GC/C/IRMS approach produced equivalent δ¹⁵N values for two lab standards (McCarthy Lab AA mixture and cyanobacteria) within error. We further tested our method on a wide range of natural sample matrices and obtained reasonable results.

Our method provides a reliable alternative to the current methods for δ¹⁵N‐AA measurement as IC or HPLC‐based techniques that can collect underivatized AAs are widely available. Our chemical approach that converts AA to N₂O can be easily implemented in laboratories currently analyzing δ¹⁵N of N₂O using PT/CF/IRMS. This method will help promote the use of δ¹⁵N‐AA in important studies of N cycling and trophic ecology in a wide range of research areas.

 

Undergraduate research experiences are important for students to gain better insight into what they want. Students are paired with mentors and this can lead to both positive and negative experiences. In engineering, especially, this is a chilly climate where if you are not an abled cis white male, it is almost inevitable that you will not be part of the majority in the field. This can lead to stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation and hopelessness in a person’s academic and career pursuits. Race and gender disparities do exist in the field, where the intersectionality between women and students of color promotes the greatest achievement gap. These students, as well as faculty, are represented least in the field. Social, as well as institutional barriers, inhibit success, and our goal is to explore how we can reduce race and gender imbalance in the field of engineering. A solution is to see the intersectionality between race and gender in these women of color in STEM. “[R]esearch must focus on illuminating women of color as political subjects and the gender, racial, class, and sexual politics that impact their lives” (Crenshaw, 1991), and focus on illuminating women of color and their experiences. We have to take seriously the insights of women of color, effectively situating their work on intersectionality as subjugated knowledge (Leslie McCall, 2005). This qualitative research is based on 33 interviews of mentors and minorities protegés within the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) across four different universities within a statewide university system, in the United States of America. 

The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) supported two forms of international research experiences for undergraduates in the summer of 2022. A total of 29 students, 82.3% of whom identified with underrepresented groups, participated in either a ten-day program in the Yucatan, Texas A&M University’s College of Engineering Introduction to Research Abroad (IRAP), or a two-week intensive course in Belize, Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi’s Ridges to Reefs program (R2R). The first offered an introduction to research in collaboration with universities in the Yucatan while the second considered ecology of river and coral reef systems in Belize with programming offered on land and at the Mesoamerican Coral Reef. Pre- and post-participation surveys regarding prior experience, research skills, a variety of potential impacts, graduate school, and learning were conducted with participants. Comparison of the pre- and post-participation submissions indicated participants found the offerings valuable for learning about concepts related to their major and specific topics in the sciences, learning about research, themselves, history and culture, refining education and career plans, developing confidence in personal ability, expanding conceptions of research, science and culture while increasing openness to employment outside the United States, and ability to relate to peers and professional scientists. These outcomes were present for both cohorts, IRAP and R2R, with some instances of statistically significant increases pre- to post-participation despite the small counts of participants (IRAP = 18, R2R = 11). Several of the outcomes parallel findings from prior support of international research experiences by TAMUS LSAMP (Preuss et al, 2020; Preuss, et al, 2021; Preuss et al, 2022). The survey findings from summer 2022 are presented as an initial data set that, while requiring verification through replication of programming in 2023 and beyond, point to the efficacy of short-term international research opportunities as learning, perspective altering, and motivating experiences for undergraduates who identify with underrepresented groups and for undergraduates in general. 

In this Lessons Learned paper, we explore the themes uncovered from a series of facilitated faculty discussions on moving their course back to face to face teaching after the switch to online. The Institute at Anonymous University administrates over 100 faculty whose primary department appointments and teaching assignments are in either engineering or education. Over the last two years, the Institute hosted numerous conversations for faculty members to share experiences, research, and assessments of teaching successes and concerns as they changed instructional modalities, both with the initial move online and the subsequent move back face to face. From these conversations, faculty agree that some things during the move to online instruction, such as office hours, video archives of lectures, and some activities in break-out rooms appear to enhance student learning. Yet data showed that students believed the online experience was less desirable than face to face courses. Now that we have had a near complete semester where most classes were required to be held in the face to face mode, we are hosting conversations with faculty to understand the changes they are now making to their teaching because of the experiences from online instruction. 

In 2016 the Hispanic enrollment in computer science and computer engineering for both undergraduate and graduate students at Texas A&M University initially sat at 17.9% and has decreased to approximately 11.76% in 2021, with undergraduate Hispanic enrollment in computing reducing from almost 22% down to under 15% in that same time frame[1]. This significant shift in Hispanic student representation spurred the development of this organization, Aggie Hispanics In Computing (AHIC), to create a computing community and provide support focused around the shared experiences of being part of a minority group at a predominately white institution (PWI) in an even less diverse discipline. This organization is not a lone member of Hispanic serving organizations at Texas A&M University, overall considered a Hispanic serving institution (HSI), rather it was designed to focus particularly on serving Hispanic students in the computer science and computer engineering disciplines at Texas A&M University. Since the organization was founded during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, AHIC has grown significantly in membership, financial support, and goal attainment focused on increasing representation of Hispanic students within the computing disciplines at Texas A&M University. The organization has grown from 6 to over 50 members from various disciplines in the past year alone. AHIC has also received financial support from a multitude of companies such as General Motors, Chevron, and others. The overall goal of AHIC is to create a supportive community for minorities in various computing fields. This community has been grown through hosting supporting events that provide information and resources about university research, professional career opportunities, workshops, and mentorship programs. AHIC has also initiated several long-term initiatives such as peer teaching for introductory computer science courses in the past year. We have focused on company panels and alumni coaching in which company representatives and alumni provide career advice for currently enrolled students. The organization has also hosted seminars and workshops educating freshmen on new computing skills and opportunities that a computer science and computer engineering degree can provide. This paper will discuss the need recognized for a minority focused and serving computing organization and how the formation of Aggie Hispanics In Computing provides a community that is promising for the future of minorities in the computing field at Texas A&M University. 

In 1991, the Texas A&M University System was one of the first six Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) awardees. In the three decades of programming, several high impact practices (HIP) have been emphasized. One of them, undergraduate research (UR), is discussed. All members of the Alliance are part of the Texas A&M University System and undergraduate research was supported through a variety of initiatives on the Alliance campuses. Data presented chronicle student perspectives. Topics addressed are the impact of involvement in undergraduate research on academic outcomes, interest in further engagement with research, interest in graduate school, and career goals as well as the patterns of research engagement participants experienced and the forms of learning that resulted. These materials are presented regarding an audience that was overwhelmingly underrepresented minority students all of whom were pursuing science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degrees. Students reported UR influenced their academic outcomes, further engagement with research, interest in graduate school, and career goals while facilitating learning and skill development. These findings, for URM students from institutions with three different Carnegie classifications that are a predominantly white institution, two Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), and a historically Black college or university (HBCU), parallel outcomes reported in the literature for investigations focused on general student populations suggesting that UR benefits are generalizable regardless of institution type and ethnicity/race of the participant. Findings also suggest that these patterns apply regardless of the student’s year in school. Material presented details the research elements commonly included in TAMUS LSAMP UR experiences and in which areas students reported the most learning. Thus, this document touches on topics important in addressing development of an adequate, well-trained, and diverse STEM workforce. It also confirms the efficacy of a highly replicable approach to facilitating a HIP, undergraduate research, with students from underrepresented groups. 

The culture within engineering colleges and departments has been historically quiet when considering social justice issues. Often the faculty in those departments are less concerned with social issues and are primarily focused on their disciplines and the concrete ways that they can make impacts academically and professionally in their respective arena’s. However, with the social climate of the United States shifting ever more towards a politically charged climate, and current events, particularly the protests against police brutality in recent years, faculty and students are constantly inundated with news of injustices happening in our society. The murder of George Floyd on May 25th 2020 sent shockwaves across the United States and the world. The video captured of his death shared across the globe brought everyone’s attention to the glaringly ugly problem of police brutality, paired with the COVID-19 pandemic, and US election year, the conditions were just right for a social activist movement to grow to a size that no one could ignore. Emmanuel Acho spoke out, motivated by injustices seen in the George Floyd murder, initially with podcasts and then by writing his book “Uncomfortable Converstations with a Black Man” [1]. In his book he touched on various social justice issues such as: racial terminology (i.e., Black or African American), implicit biases, white privilege, cultural appropriation, stereotypes (e.g., the “angry black man”), racial slurs (particularly the n-word), systemic racism, the myth of reverse racism, the criminal justice system, the struggles faced by black families, interracial families, allyship, and anti-racism. Students and faculty at Anonymous University felt compelled to set aside the time to meet and discuss this book in depth through the video conferencing client Zoom. In these meetings diverse facilitators were tasked with bringing the topics discussed by Acho in his book into conversation and pushing attendees of these meetings to consider those topics critically and personally. In an effort to avoid tasking attendees with reading homework to be able to participate in these discussions, the discussed chapter of the audiobook version of Acho’s book was played at the beginning of each meeting. Each audiobook chapter lasted between fifteen and twenty minutes, after which forty to forty-five minutes were left in the hour-long meetings to discuss the content of the chapter in question. Efforts by students and faculty were made to examine how some of the teachings of the book could be implemented into their lives and at Anonymous University. For broader topics, they would relate the content back to their personal lives (e.g., raising their children to be anti-racist and their experiences with racism in American and international cultures). Each meeting was recorded for posterity in the event that those conversations would be used in a paper such as this. Each meeting had at least one facilitator whose main role was to provide discussion prompts based on the chapter and ensure that the meeting environment was safe and inclusive. Naturally, some chapters address topics that are highly personal to some participants, so it was vital that all participants felt comfortable and supported to share their thoughts and experiences. The facilitator would intervene if the conversation veered in an aggressive direction. For example, if a participant starts an argument with another participant in a non-constructive manner, e.g., arguing over the definition of ethnicity, then the facilitator will interrupt, clear the air to bring the group back to a common ground, and then continue the discussion. Otherwise, participants were allowed to steer the direction of the conversation as new avenues of discussion popped up. These meetings were recorded with the goal of returning to these conversations and analyzing the conversations between attendees. Grounded theory will be used to first assess the most prominent themes of discussion between attendees for each meeting [2]. Attendees will be contacted to expressly ask their permission to have their words and thoughts used in this work, and upon agreement that data will begin to be processed. Select attendees will be asked to participate in focus group discussions, which will also be recorded via Zoom. These discussions will focus around the themes pulled from general discussion and will aim to dive deeper into the impact that this experience has had on them as either students or faculty members. A set of questions will be developed as prompts, but conversation is expected to evolve organically as these focus groups interact. These sessions will be scheduled for an hour, and a set of four focus groups with four participants are expected to participate for a total of sixteen total focus group participants. We hope to uncover how this experience changed the lives of the participants and present a model of how conversations such as this can promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and access activities amongst faculty and students outside of formal programs and strategic plans that are implemented at university, college, or departmental levels. 

This paper describes an evidence based-practice paper to a formative response to the engineering faculty and students’ needs at Anonymous University. Within two weeks, the pandemic forced the vast majority of the 1.5 million faculty and 20 million students nationwide to transition all courses from face-to-face to entirely online. Never in the history of higher education has there been a concerted effort to adapt so quickly and radically, nor have we had the technology to facilitate such a rapid and massive change. At Anonymous University, over 700 engineering educators were racing to transition their courses. Many of those faculty had never experienced online course preparation, much less taught one synchronously or asynchronously. Faculty development centers and technology specialists across the university made a great effort to aid educators in this transition. These educators had questions about the best practices for moving online, how their students were affected, and the best ways to engage their students. However, these faculty’s detailed questions were answerable only by faculty peers’ experience, students’ feedback, and advice from experts in relevant engineering education research-based practices. This paper describes rapid, continuous, and formative feedback provided by the Engineering Education Faculty Group (EEFG) to provide an immediate response for peer faculty guidance during the pandemic, creating a community of practice. The faculty membership spans multiple colleges in the university, including engineering, education, and liberal arts. The EEFG transitioned immediately to weekly meetings focused on the rapidly changing needs of their colleagues. Two surveys were generated rapidly by Hammond et al. to characterize student and faculty concerns and needs in March of 2020 and were distributed through various means and media. Survey 1 and 2 had 3381 and 1506 respondents respectively with most being students, with 113 faculty respondents in survey 1, the focus of this piece of work. The first survey was disseminated as aggregated data to the College of Engineering faculty with suggested modifications to course structures based on these findings. The EEFG continued to meet and collaborate during the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester and has continued through to this day. This group has acted as a hub for teaching innovation in remote online pedagogy and techniques, while also operating as a support structure for members of the group, aiding those members with training in teaching tools, discussion difficult current events, and various challenges they are facing in their professional teaching lives. While the aggregated data gathered from the surveys developed by Hammond et al. was useful beyond measure in the early weeks of the pandemic, little attention at the time was given to the responses of faculty to that survey. The focus of this work has been to characterize faculty perceptions at the beginning of the pandemic and compare those responses between engineering and non-engineering faculty respondents, while also comparing reported perceptions of pre- and post-transition to remote online teaching. Interviews were conducted between 4 members of the EEFG with the goal of characterizing some of the experiences they have had while being members of the group during the time of the pandemic utilizing Grounded theory qualitative analysis. 

Protests against racial injustice have been increasing in the United States. Universities often rapidly respond to acts of injustice through public statements about their position to uphold the equality of all people. To gauge the desires and concerns around discussing events causing social unrest in engineering classrooms specifically, the engineering education faculty chair of a large university conducted discussions with both students and faculty regarding its place in their classrooms. This paper describes the emerging themes from survey responses using coding and grounded theory. Reactions from students and faculty were decidedly different. Most students stressed the importance of discussing such topics in class with their engineering faculty, while most faculty emphasized their concerns with doing so due to their lack of training to effectively handle such topics. This paper describes the evaluation of student and faculty responses and its implications for supporting diversity and inclusion in the engineering classroom. 

The Texas A&M University System was one of the first six Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) awardees. All current members of the Alliance are part of the Texas A&M University System. Many high impact practices (HIP) have been emphasized in the Alliance’s 30 years of programming with Diversity/Global Learning as a focus in the last 14 years. Diversity/Global Learning has been supported in two formats on the Alliance campuses, through traditional study abroad programming and a College of Engineering initiative. Data presented were derived from a number of sources, project evaluation information regarding student perspectives and outcomes, survey research conducted by an independent party, and institutional data and online platforms accessed to assess student outcomes. Triangulation was completed between data sets. Results indicate both forms of programming were efficacious for underrepresented and first-generation students. Outcomes reported were substantial increases in awareness of and interest in graduate school, increases in cultural learning, confidence in travel outside the United States, learning relevant to major, commitment to continuing involvement with research, interest in another similar experience, and willingness to consider employment outside the U.S. Participants reported statistically significant growth in personal, professional, and research skills. They persisted, participated in additional study abroad experiences, and graduated at higher rates than their institutional peers with approximately 90% of informants indicating intention to consider graduate school in the future, over 40% indicating intent to attend immediately following undergraduate study, and 39.4% of 2007–2014 participants enrolling in graduate school by the spring of 2021. Programming described is replicable at and likely to be efficacious for a wide variety of institutions of higher education.