Underrepresented Students In STEM Research Articles

Impact of a Networked Improvement Community’s Interventions on STEM Student Persistence. Review of Results and a Call to Action.

It is well known that high impact practices such as student learning communities and peer-mentoring, early engagement in research and faculty-student relationship building can have a positive influence on undergraduate student engagement and retention in their chosen field of study. The First2 Network is a Networked Improvement Community comprised of students, faculty, staff and administrators from eight higher education institutions in West Virginia and one in Kentucky, that has, over the past six years, engaged in creating interventions to implement and test these high impact practices with the aim of doubling the graduation rate of first-generation and other underrepresented STEM students. Relying on data collected, mostly from WVU, we see very promising outcomes on the persistence of STEM majors. These results will be shared. However, our data story is incomplete as there is no mechanism to sort data on first-generation status across all universities and colleges in the state. The value of this information and its inclusion in a future state funding formula will be explored.

Arkansas Summer Research Institute: The Evolution of an Engaging Online Training Program in Data Analytics and Research Targeting Underrepresented Students in STEM

Arkansas Summer Research Institute: The Evolution of an Engaging Online Training Program in Data Analytics and Research Targeting Underrepresented Students in STEM

Preparing for the STEM Pathways? Dual Enrollment and College Major Choice in STEM

ABSTRACT Guided by the STEM pathway model, our study hypothesizes that dual enrollment can serve as an effective strategy to improve and equalize college students’ access to STEM programs. We analyzed a nationally representative dataset to disaggregate the influence of dual enrollment course-taking (i.e. participation, dual credits in Math/Science, number of dual credits) on students’ STEM major selection, with a focus on traditionally underrepresented students in STEM. We found that taking dual enrollment courses in general is positively associated with the probability of majoring in STEM, especially at the baccalaureate level. However, taking dual enrollment courses in Math/Science is not associated with the probability of majoring in STEM when compared with students with no dual enrollment courses in Math/Science. The relationship between dual enrollment course-taking and STEM outcomes varies across different student background groups: It is consistently positive for students of higher household income to major in STEM but not statistically significant for low-income students. We discussed practical implications and future research with a focus on the role dual enrollment plays in advancing postsecondary STEM access.

Supplemental Material for When and Why Is Faculty Mentorship Effective for Underrepresented Students in STEM? A Multicampus Quasi-Experiment

Supplemental Material for When and Why Is Faculty Mentorship Effective for Underrepresented Students in STEM? A Multicampus Quasi-Experiment

When and why is faculty mentorship effective for underrepresented students in STEM? A multicampus quasi-experiment.

Faculty mentorship can be one solution to addressing the participation and persistence gaps between underrepresented groups (URGs) and overrepresented group members in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying effective STEM faculty mentorship. The present study (a) investigates if faculty mentorship impacts STEM identity, attitudes, belonging, and self-efficacy; (b) compares students' perceptions of women versus men faculty mentorship support functions; and (c) uncovers the mentorship support mechanisms underlying impactful faculty mentorship. The present research sampled ethnic-racial minority URG undergraduate students pursuing STEM majors across eight institutions (N = 362; age = 24.85; 36.6% Latinx, 30.6% Black, and 4.6% multiracial; 60.1% women). The study's overall quasi-experimental design adopted a one-factor two-level (faculty mentorship status: yes, no) between-subjects design. Among the participants who reported having a faculty mentor, we also examined faculty mentor gender (women vs. men) as a between-subjects variable. Faculty mentorship had a positive impact on URG students' STEM identity, attitudes, belonging, and self-efficacy. Furthermore, mentorship support functions indirectly predicted identity, attitudes, belonging, and self-efficacy among URG mentees who had women compared to men faculty mentors. Implications for how STEM faculty, regardless of their gender identity, can be effective mentors to URG students are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The Importance of STEM Sense of Belonging and Academic Hope in Enhancing Persistence for Low-Income, Underrepresented STEM Students

AbstractThe purpose of this longitudinal investigation was to examine the effectiveness of a comprehensive, integrated curricular and co-curricular program designed to build community, provide academic and social support, and promote engagement in academically purposeful activities resulting in more equitable environments for historically underrepresented, low-income science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) information technology (IT) students. The study also focused on the role that the sense of belonging and academic hope play in enhancing persistence to degree completion. Program participants had significantly higher persistence rates compared to a matched comparison group. Additionally, STEM-specific belonging and academic hope significantly predicted students’ intentions to persist to degree completion in IT. A major finding was that STEM domain–specific belonging was a stronger predictor of persistence than general belonging. Our investigation has implications for the role that cohort-based programs, industry engagement, peer mentoring, proactive advising, undergraduate research opportunities, career preparation, and leveraging need-based financial aid play in ensuring equity in STEM.

Ocean Discovery Institute’s Model for Empowering Underrepresented Students in STEM: Community-Based, Continuous Belief

Across the United States, there is increasing concern about the poor performance of American students in science and our country’s position as a world leader in innovation (National Science Board, 2022). Furthermore, young people are inequitably prepared to fulfill our nation's workforce needs as educational resources and achievement disparities are magnified in youth from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds who live in poverty (National Science Board, 2022). Science test scores for students of color who reside in low socioeconomic status communities lag far behind those of Caucasian students and students from more affluent areas (Irwin et al., 2022). These students are also less likely to pursue the higher education necessary for science- and technology-based careers (Fry et al., 2021). As a result, the United States’ scientific workforce does not reflect the population of the nation as a whole; for example, Hispanic individuals represent 18.9% of the US population, but only 8% of jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields (Fry et al., 2021). The Ocean Discovery Institute, a 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1999 to address this problem. Here, we describe Ocean Discovery’s unique model for empowering underrepresented students. It includes (1) embedding students within the community served, (2) reaching all students in a single cluster of schools (a “school-shed”), and (3) a program structure that emphasizes science identity (“belief”) and reinforces it through intentional mentorship.

Authenticity and Psychological Safety: Building and Encouraging Talent Among Underrepresented Students in STEM

The Undergraduate Scholarships with Mathematics and Science Training, Exploration, and Research Program (US MASTER) is a STEM scholarship program funded by the United States National Science Foundation. It was implemented at an upper-Midwest institution to target and provide structured support to low-income, academically talented undergraduates in biology, chemistry, geography and geographic information science (GISc), environmental sciences, and physics and astrophysics. In addition to providing financial support, the program features an integrated approach to mentorship and advising consisting of an ongoing seminar course in which students engage in collaborative projects, research experiences with a faculty mentor, and targeted academic advising. As part of our assessment efforts, we interviewed student participants regarding their experiences. A consistent theme emerged regarding mentorship: in addition to providing access to professional socialization experiences and the facilitation of competency and performance, students reported that it was the ability to form close relationships based on personal authenticity and feelings of psychological safety and trust that provided the best scaffolding for success in a challenging STEM environment.

End of the road? The career intentions of under-represented STEM students in higher education

BackgroundThe analogy of the leaky pipeline has been used to describe STEM education, with lower student diversity from compulsory to post-compulsory education and beyond. Although extensive research has explored the views and experiences of school-aged children about STEM, fewer studies have examined the career intentions of STEM students at university, especially those from under-represented backgrounds (e.g., racial/ethnic minority, women and working class students). This paper draws on a large qualitative study that interviewed 110 under-represented STEM undergraduates in the UK. We focus on students’ STEM career intentions and the likely directions of their post-degree trajectories, drawing on the lenses of science identity and Social Cognitive Career Theory.ResultsThree pathways were identified. The first group plans to pursue a career in or from STEM. While social inequalities may persist, the potential impact of these challenges may be neutralised by the personal drive and passion of STEM career-oriented students, who seem committed to drive into an STEM future. The second group stated intentions for non-STEM-related careers, leaving the STEM pipeline. The reasons students gave for their imminent departure from STEM are the better financial reward on offer in some non-STEM sectors, especially in finance and business, as well as wider social inequalities and stereotypes. The third group was undecided, those who are uncertain or unclear about their futures. Students described a general lack of direction or clear career pathway, from a complete lack of career ideas to an overload of options.ConclusionsWe conclude with a reminder that the STEM pipeline is far from secured or equitable, despite apparent progress in participation and representation. We reiterate the importance of fostering a diverse, inclusive and supportive learning environment that maximises the participation, strengths and potential of all students, especially those from under-represented backgrounds. While it is not uncommon for STEM students to pursue careers outside of STEM, we need to be wary that those who exit the STEM pipeline are not forced off the road by social inequalities and exclusions.

Flexible design can help overcome barriers identified when implementing a Course‐based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)

Course‐based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) are recognized for their potential to increase access to research in undergraduate STEM education. CUREs have also been identified as one mechanism for increasing participation and inclusion of underrepresented students in STEM. However, the process through which faculty decide to adopt new instructional approaches is often highly individualized and is affected by personal, institutional, and other contextual factors. Many faculty experience or perceive barriers to CURE implementation at their own institution, including available facilities and equipment, fit with departmental curriculum, and hours per week students spend in the lab. Flexibility in CURE design can help overcome some of these barriers. The Biochemistry Authentic Scientific Inquiry Lab (BASIL) CURE was intentionally designed to be flexible to facilitate adoption in a wide range of settings. We present ways in which this flexibility has been and can be leveraged to overcome real and perceived implementation barriers. We also demonstrate how the curriculum can be adapted, even for extreme situations such as the pandemic necessitating the switch to emergency remote learning.

Investigating the Interplay Between Participation in a STEM-Focused Student Success Program and Workforce Participation on STEM Undergraduate Degree Completion.

This study longitudinally tracks students participating in a STEM-focused intervention program to investigate workforce participation patterns and their association with degree completion in a STEM field. Using longitudinal data from the University of Houston's Education Research Center, this study examines the extent to which students participating in a STEM intervention program require additional work to fund tuition and other life expenses. Findings demonstrated a negative effect of workforce participation on college completion and showed that minority students were more likely to participate in the workforce while also receiving financial support from the STEM program compared to peers from other racial backgrounds. Results inform institutional and financial aid policies, as well as admission criteria as it relates to broadening access of under-represented students in STEM.

Developing Self-Efficacy and Behavioral Intentions Among Underrepresented Students in STEM: The Role of Active Learning

Increasing academic participation among students from ethnic-racial underrepresented groups in STEM yields societal benefits including ameliorating economic ramifications of the labor shortages in STEM, improving scientific innovation, and providing opportunity, access, and participation in high-status STEM fields. Two longitudinal studies with students from underrepresented groups investigated the role of active learning interventions in the development of STEM self-efficacy and intentions to pursue STEM in the future. Study 1 longitudinally tracked high school students participating in a 4-week geoscience program that applied active learning techniques ranging from hands on experiments to peer discussion. High school student participants displayed increases in self-efficacy and STEM intentions from the start to completion of the program, an effect that was observed exclusively among those who reported strong program quality. Study 2 examined the role of mentorship effectiveness with a sample of community college STEM students interested in transferring to a 4-year college. Students’ relatively strong self-efficacy and STEM intentions at the start of the semester remained stable through the end of the semester. Altogether, the present research highlights the role of positive, inclusive educational climates in promoting STEM success among students from underrepresented group members.

Strategies to Increase the Workforce Development of Interdisciplinary Cohorts of Traditionally Underrepresented Students in STEM

Strategies to Increase the Workforce Development of Interdisciplinary Cohorts of Traditionally Underrepresented Students in STEM

The Impact of the ASTRO Aspiring Scientists and Physicians Program (ASPP) on Diverse STEM Students’ Perception of Radiation Oncology

The Impact of the ASTRO Aspiring Scientists and Physicians Program (ASPP) on Diverse STEM Students’ Perception of Radiation Oncology

Georgia State University Perimeter College LSAMP Transfer Bridge Program: A Path Forward for Broadening Participation in Stem

Summer Bridge Programs are increasingly becoming a popular strategy for Colleges and Universities to retain more historically underrepresented minority students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Retaining students in STEM disciplines is a necessary first step in order to accomplish the ultimate goal of diversifying the STEM workforce to create innovative solutions for today’s complex problems. In this paper, the authors describe an exploratory and descriptive study of the promising Georgia State University Perimeter College (GSU-PC) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Transfer Bridge Program. Most summer bridge programs are designed to facilitate seamless entry into college for incoming first year students, but the GSU-PC LSAMP Transfer Bridge program is designed to support the successful transition of underrepresented STEM students transferring from a 2-year to 4-year institution. Early results indicate that the Transfer Bridge participants were significantly more likely to enroll in a 4-year STEM program, receive a STEM bachelor’s degree, enroll in a post-baccalaureate STEM program, and receive a STEM post-baccalaureate degree than a comparison group of non-Transfer Bridge students at Georgia State University Perimeter College.

MUREs: a new member of the URE-CURE family of research opportunities for undergrads.

Undergraduate research experiences are important for the development of scientific identity, appreciation of authentic research, and improvement of persistence toward science careers. We identified a gap in experiential research opportunities for undergraduate Biology students who were seeking a formal yet small-scale research experience that was unique to their own interests and career aspirations. These opportunities may be especially worthwhile for of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students aspiring to nonresearch scientific careers (i.e., medicine, dentistry, forensics, and communication) and underrepresented STEM students. Here, we reflect on the use of small-scale, individualized undergraduate research experiences that are based on established methods. These experiences have helped to fill this gap and create problem-centered learning opportunities for undergraduate students that are as unique as the students themselves.

Baltimore SCIART: A Fully Virtual Undergraduate Research Experience at the Interface of Computational Chemistry and Art

From its inception in 2016 through 2019, the Baltimore SCIART Consortium offered an annual 10-week interdisciplinary summer research program for undergraduate students. Each year, the program mentored approximately 10 students, many from primarily undergraduate institutions including minority serving institutions and historically black colleges and universities. Throughout the sessions, the students were exposed to the career paths of art conservation and art conservation science as they worked in the laboratories of scientists, engineers, art conservators, and art conservation scientists at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Johns Hopkins University, and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Preparations for the 2020 program were underway when the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the undergraduate research paradigm to a virtual experience. An in-person, laboratory-based program was no longer an option, and this challenged the SCIART team to investigate novel ways to offer a rigorous, engaging undergraduate research program in a fully virtual setting. The result was an intensive, three-week pilot program in which four SCIART students learned about and successfully applied open-source periodic density functional theory software packages to explore the interactions between small molecule adsorbates and mineral-based surfaces relevant to art conservation. This case study exemplifies how educators and research leaders were able to strategically pivot and provide an adapted curriculum for a unique, interdisciplinary, and fully virtual undergraduate research experience. The implication is a potential (scalable) model for culturally engaging research opportunities for historically underrepresented students in STEM, both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s Never Too Late”: High School Counselors’ Support of Underrepresented Students’ Interest in STEM

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature surrounding school counselors and their support of underrepresented high school students who are interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The influence of context on school counseling was also explored, in particular practicing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this phenomenological study, nine high school counselors were individually interviewed, and four themes emerged. These themes were: (a) professional knowledge surrounding issues of diversity in STEM, (b) training related to the needs of underrepresented students in STEM, (c) active engagement in supporting underrepresented students’ STEM career interests, and (d) barriers related to supporting underrepresented students’ STEM interests. This article includes implications for (a) how school counselors can support underrepresented students’ STEM interests, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) how counselor educators can contribute to STEM-related research and training; and (c) how school administrators can support school counselors’ STEM initiatives.

A Call to Action: Lessons Learned from a Book Club about Supporting and Mentoring Underrepresented STEM Students

The participation rates of historically underserved students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) remains an important concern, as inequitable access in the form of treatment and opportunities within the education system is a constant struggle. To unpack this issue, a book club was organized as an intervention at a university in the southeastern part of the United States. Findings from the book club intervention suggest that university faculty should (a) understand the importance of continuous early exposure to STEM, (b) nurture underrepresented students’ STEM identities, (c) form collaborations and partnerships with STEM professionals from underrepresented groups, and (d) commit to mentoring STEM underrepresented students. In this article, we argue that these objectives can be accomplished through the exposure to STEM professionals from underrepresented groups and the integration of STEM research in undergraduate coursework. Finally, we share the lessons we learned with respect to how the book served as our call to action in our professorial duties.

Does the Match between Gender and Race of Graduate Teaching Assistants and Undergraduates Improve Student Performance in Introductory Biology?

Research suggests there are potential benefits to students when taught by instructors who share the same gender and/or race/ethnicity. While underrepresented students have shown increased persistence and academic performance when they were taught by gender- and/or race/ethnicity-congruent faculty, there is little research that has explored the influence of matching for graduate student teaching assistants (GTAs). Given that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) GTAs spend a significant amount of time with undergraduates, measurable impacts on student outcomes have the potential to contribute to the success of undergraduates who have been underrepresented in STEM fields. This study evaluated the effects on academic performance of GTA (n = 50) matching for first-year students (n = 976) in an introductory biology lab course at a Hispanic-serving institution. There was no significant difference in academic performance for students who matched with the gender, race/ethnicity, income, and first-generation status of their GTAs. Results were consistent across multiple cohorts of students, after including statistical controls for prior academic performance and other demographic characteristics and accounting for the nested structure of the data. These results suggest there is a need of supporting GTAs to develop more effective teaching practices and to consider effects of GTA matching on other outcomes.