IRES Track I: Immersive Undergraduate Research in the Galapagos as a Tool for Building URM STEM Careers

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

Part 1: Nontechnical Project Description. Genuine social and financial barriers prevent talented undergraduates – particularly those from underrepresented minorities – from participating in university research, and ultimately from building careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Overcoming these multifaceted barriers is a matter of equity, and is critical for scientific progress, United States STEM workforce development, and national security. The researchers have developed a 19-week undergraduate research experience in Houston and the Galápagos islands, Ecuador. The Program is designed purposefully to help underrepresented minorities overcome the social barriers that limit their participation and success in STEM. However, the combined cost of Program tuition, travel, research station fees, and lost time from work means that participation is cost-prohibitive for many students. This award will support financially the participation of talented but financially disadvantaged students in the Program. The primary aims are to enable an increase in the participation of talented, financially underprivileged students in this unique research experience and to bring these students to lifelong success in STEM. In addition, the data generated by students are used to understand the natural functioning of the Galápagos, and can guide policy recommendations that ensure responsible development and conservation not just of these islands, but of any ecologically sensitive near-coastal areas that experience growing ecotourism pressures or that are on the margins of emerging urban environments. Finally, the Program evaluation will generate data-driven insights into the aspects of the Program that leads to student success; publication of these findings will enable adoption and modification of the proposed approach not just by minority serving institutions, but by any that desire to increase the racial and economic diversity of populations successful in STEM. Part 2: Technical Project Description. The existing Program is built around helping undergraduates, particularly those from underrepresented minority (URMs) populations, overcome contextual barriers to STEM success. Students in the Program spend one semester in an intensive preparatory course at the University of Houston (UH) that uses the Galápagos as a model to explore several topics in geology, evolutionary biology, history, and conservation. Through the course, students also engage in numerous cohort building (e.g., camping, behind-the-scenes zoo tours) and professional training activities (e.g., how to read the scientific literature critically, how to present findings, RCR, use of field biology gear). They then conduct collaborative research for four weeks in the Galápagos with faculty based at the Galápagos Science Center on San Cristóbal island. Undergraduate teams contribute to faculty-led projects focused on basic biology and ecological health of the Galápagos under different intensities and forms of stress from development. While in the islands, students are immersed in local culture through home-stays with local families, build their professional networks and STEM identities, develop STEM self-efficacy, etc. Upon return to UH, students engage in several structured academic and developmental activities such as training in the use of personal narrative to communicate their experiences and research, guidance in presenting findings at professional meetings, developing applications to graduate school, etc. These activities are aimed at facilitate transition to continuing undergraduate research, post-graduate study, or careers in STEM, The full cost of Program participation is considerable, and excludes students with financial need. The IRES Award aims to provide financial support to academically talented Program aspirants with unmet financial need; funds will cover the full cost of Program participation, including tuition, travel, housing, Galápagos park and research station fees, and income lost from student time away from outside work. Data generated by the students increases our understanding the Galápagos, and has clear applied value for ecologically sensitive near-coastal areas globally. Importantly, the Program evaluation will generate new insights into how diverse and ongoing immersive training, undergraduate research, and strong financial support can drive URM success in STEM. Publication of these insights will enable broad use of our approach to increase the racial and economic diversity of populations successful in STEM. Such focused efforts to increase URM success in STEM is a matter of equity that is critical to the national interest as ongoing demographic shifts affect the composition of our student and worker populations This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.