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BOARD # 326: BASE Camp at Mines: NSF BPE Track 4 Phase 1: Year 1

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Conference

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Publication Date

June 22, 2025

Start Date

June 22, 2025

End Date

August 15, 2025

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session II

Tagged Topics

Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

6

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/55693

Paper Authors

biography

Danni Lopez-Rogina Colorado School of Mines

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Danni Lopez-Rogina has a Sociology PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder with additional certifications in College Teaching and Behavioral Statistics. They work as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Colorado School of Mines. They specialize in race/ethnic relations, immigration, and social inequality. Danni is interested in building programs and curriculum that focus on shifting the tone from shame and anxiety on what people did not know to a proactive desire to rebuild institutions better.

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biography

Stacey Roland Colorado School of Mines

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Stacey Roland is a program coordinator for the Colorado School of Mines. Her focus is building programs that address the issues of belonging and inclusion in STEM spaces and how to find solutions that work for all students. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Metropolitan State University of Denver and has experience working in both industry and K-12, as well.

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Jessica Mary Smith Colorado School of Mines Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-9700-4096

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Jessica M. Smith is Associate Professor in the Engineering, Design & Society Division at the Colorado School of Mines and Director of Humanitarian Engineering Graduate Programs. Her research and teaching bring anthropological perspectives to bear on quest

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Lakshmi Krishna Colorado School of Mines

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Abstract

Through a National Science Foundation grant (NSF BPE Track 4 Phase 1), the Colorado School of Mines launched a pilot program called BASE Camp as a creative approach to providing training to natural peer leaders within a university. The objective of this study and the associated program is to use a peer leader and mentorship model to create a stronger appreciation for the contributions underrepresented students make in STEM fields, focusing on engineering. This will create a stronger community of belonging for those who are currently socially and culturally excluded from the field.

The three overarching research questions to gauge success of the program center on 1) education, 2) comprehension and implementation, and 3) a resulting increase in a sense of belonging on campus. The pilot program includes preliminary training and follow-up assessments. Assessment of program results are being conducted through multiple measures. These include 1) pre and post surveys corresponding to training topics, 2) a broader belonging survey conducted at multiple points throughout the program, 3) university wide climate surveys conducted prior to the program start 4) journal prompts appropriate for each level and 5) focus groups to gain feedback on what needs to be adjusted.

Preliminary findings suggest that student leaders who have undergone the first module of training are entering with less inter-personal communication knowledge than their faculty mentors hoped. They know broad themes but do not feel confident in their deeper knowledge on any particular topic and have a desire to better understand what actions can be taken on their part to create a more welcoming academic environment for their peers. This finding promises a wealth of space to grow the BASE Camp program within not only the home university but also partnering small STEM institutions across the United States.

Lopez-Rogina, D., & Roland, S., & Smith, J. M., & Krishna, L. (2025, June), BOARD # 326: BASE Camp at Mines: NSF BPE Track 4 Phase 1: Year 1 Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55693

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