Using Mentored Research Relationships to Empower Underserved Students and Improve Early Retention in STEM Majors

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing and disseminating best practices for using mentored research experiences and relationships to improve retention rates of underserved and underrepresented students in the first two years of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. A diverse STEM workforce that brings multiple perspectives and experiences is urgently needed to tackle grand societal challenges. The project aims to empower and encourage students from underserved and underrepresented groups to stay in STEM fields. The project will build a research community and provide paid mentored research experiences for students from underserved and underrepresented groups, including first-generation, low-income, and ethnic/racial minorities that have been historically marginalized in STEM. A research internship in the summer before matriculation will embed scholars in a community on campus, jumpstart them into their major, and provide them with mentored experiences that support their transition from incoming student to upper-division student and researcher. The project’s innovative research experiences for students in the first two years of their majors are anticipated to significantly improve the students' experiences and encourage them as they develop their STEM identities. The expected outcome is an evaluated model that can be implemented at other universities with the goal of decreasing significant equity gaps that exist in first- and second-year retention rates between represented and underrepresented students in STEM. Novel research outcomes are expected to improve the understanding of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on students from underrepresented groups and inform effective interventions for increased STEM-major retention. The anticipated long-term outcomes are broadened participation in the STEM workforce and more inclusive and equitable science. The overall goal of this project is to empower scholars from groups historically marginalized in STEM by using mentored research experiences as both entry point to campus life and purposeful progression through the foundational level STEM curriculum. The program will create an intentional, continuous research path for students from first-generation, low-income, or racial/ethnic minority groups. The project will support over 36 student scholars to participate in activities that include team-based mentoring, engagement in research relationships and experiential learning, community building, professional and academic development workshops, reflection and scientific presentations, and travel to conferences. Participants will be recruited using existing partnerships with university offices that support high school and college preparatory programming for students from underserved and underrepresented groups who are interested in life sciences and related STEM majors. The two project components will be assessed through partnership with an external evaluator using frequent surveys and interviews to ensure that the components meet overall objectives. The project will also conduct social science research using in-depth interviews that follow students through their first two years in STEM majors to study the effectiveness of project interventions. In doing so, the project will investigate how students develop an understanding of the research process, science self-efficacy, science identity, and a sense of belonging. In particular, the project will study the extent to which students tie their research experiences to a sense of social agency and whether that contributes to future career trajectories. Results and developed framework on project activities will be disseminated at numerous conferences and journals to ensure broader STEM outreach. 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.