Targeted Infusion Project: Spelman Skills & Habits for Aspiring Physicists & Engineers (SHAPE) Program

Spelman College, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Targeted Infusion Projects supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based, innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may pursue science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) graduate programs and/or careers. The Spelman Skills & Habits for Aspiring Physicists & Engineers (SHAPE) project creates a summer bridge program providing exposure to tools, and content that will help physics students succeed in their first academic year. A combination of asynchronous and in-person activities in the summer are supplemented by academic year meetings designed to maintain the summer cohort and highlight career choices. Working with college-level career guidance and community support efforts, the project will give students confidence to include being a physicist or engineer to their identity and resist imposter syndrome. Researchers will investigate the effects of these efforts on shifts in student identity, attitude, and self-efficacy through survey and interview data. The main objectives of the SHAPE Program are to: 1) increase the number of African American females pursuing and obtaining a degree in Physics and/or Engineering at Spelman College by addressing STEM/Math readiness and inclusivity, 2) demonstrate careers in Physics and Engineering by providing access to practicing physicists, engineers, and alumna, and 3) cultivate counterspaces and a Community of Practice (CoP) to create positive changes in student attitudes toward science and identities in physics, as evidenced in surveys, like the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (C-LASS), and semi-structured interviews. Participants will be invited to virtual and in-person activities designed by physics faculty members that will focus on scientific thinking and physics course content. A mixed-methods approach will provide survey, interview, assignment, and participation data to better understand what aspects of the SHAPE project benefit participant participants academically while affirming their role as a scientist. The results of this project will also lead to ways that other institutions can foster counterspaces for historically marginalized students. 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.