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Development of entrepreneurial mindset-driven training materials for undergraduate researchers

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT) Technical Session 6: Undergraduate and Faculty Research

Tagged Division

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT)

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--43158

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/43158

Download Count

218

Paper Authors

biography

Maysam Nezafati Georgia Institute of Technology

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I am a lecturer in the department of biomedical engineering at Georgia institute of technology /Emory University. I have been working on educational research since 2016. My main focus is on problem based learning core courses. But specifically I work on

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biography

Irene Reizman Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

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Irene M.B. Reizman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Alfred R. Schmidt Endowed Chair for Excellence in Teaching at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She holds a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research interests include metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and impacts of undergraduate research experiences on student learning.

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biography

Michelle Marincel Payne Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

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Dr. Michelle Marincel Payne is an Associate Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, her M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and her B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla (same school, different name). At Rose-Hulman, Michelle is co-leading a project to infuse an entrepreneurial-mindset in undergraduate students’ learning, and a project to improve teaming by teaching psychological safety in engineering education curricula. Michelle also mentors undergraduate researchers to investigate the removal of stormwater pollutants in engineered wetlands. Michelle was a 2018 ExCEEd Fellow, and was recognized as the 2019 ASCE Daniel V. Terrell Awardee.

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biography

Liping Liu Lawrence Technological University

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Liping Liu is an associate professor in the A. Leon Linton Department of Mechanical Engineering at Lawrence Technological University. She earned her Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2011. Her resear

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Abstract

The importance of undergraduate research can be emphasized from two perspectives: first, it enhances students' engagement in learning, and second, it increases the productivity of research labs by employing undergraduate students as professional scholars. Despite the benefits, many labs have difficulty implementing undergraduate research (UGR) programs. To address common challenges many institutions face with undergraduate research, we are developing a framework that emphasizes curiosity, connection, and value creation in research activities to foster an entrepreneurial mindset (EM) in undergraduate research. Using this framework, we aim to make research training more efficient, increase overall lab productivity, boost undergraduate research effectiveness, and motivate students.

Our project goals are to expose undergraduate students to research opportunities early, support students with resilience skills so they can persist and be successful in their work, and support faculty in developing and supporting meaningful research opportunities for undergraduate students. As part of this work, we also aim to better understand undergraduate students’ motivations for being involved in research. To foster EM and achieve these goals, we designed a series of videos and faculty-led EM training workshops for students. These activities are scalable and transferable for undergraduate researchers and their mentors at different institutions.

The intent of these workshops is to enable students to become involved in research, and once involved, allow them to directly apply EM concepts to their research projects. Workshop topics include framing research questions with EM, building resilience in research, thriving in a research environment, developing an elevator pitch, using EM to drive effective data presentation, and focusing next steps in research to maximize research impact. Each workshop includes video content, a workbook, and a moderator guide, with workshops designed to be deployed either in‐person or virtually facilitated by a workshop moderator.

In designing our interventions, we considered alignment with guidelines provided by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), which include curating engaging and high‐impact opportunities, creating a community of student scholars, peer mentoring, opportunities for early and sustained involvement, and program assessment (CUR Report 2012).

To assess the impact of our workshop-based interventions on student research productivity and attitudes about research, we developed a retrospective, post-experience survey and a one-year follow-up survey for students participating in the workshops. We initially distributed our post-experience survey to a baseline cohort of students who participated in UGR but did not complete the EM-focused workshops. To improve workshop content and better understand student motivations, we will collect the corresponding data from workshop participants in the future. This paper describes our project goals, our planned workshop content, and baseline survey results on undergraduate student attitudes and motivations related to participating in research. Eventually, by piloting workshops and collecting data collaboratively across five institutions that vary in size and culture, this project will deliver a flexible set of training modules and a menu of intervention options that other institutions may choose to modify and implement to improve undergraduate research experiences and outcomes.

Reference: Council on Undergraduate Research, 2012, “Characteristics of Excellence in Undergraduate Research (COEUR)”.

Nezafati, M., & Reizman, I., & Marincel Payne, M., & Liu, L. (2023, June), Development of entrepreneurial mindset-driven training materials for undergraduate researchers Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43158

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