focused on critical thinking, time management, and effective communication—skills essential for academic and personal success. Slide 7: Example of Skill Building Workshop • In this skill-building workshop, we focused on three key areas: critical thinking, time management, and effective communication. The session began with an engaging icebreaker where students introduced themselves and shared one personal goal for the semester, fostering a sense of community and collaboration. We then delved into critical thinking, exploring techniques such as questioning assumptions, evaluating evidence, and making well-reasoned arguments. Students participated in group activities that challenged them to analyze
computer science majors into productive STEM careers. This evaluation report is based on quantitative andqualitative data collected by the external project evaluator and The following overarching goal and four objectives guideshared by the research team from observations during the project as it seeks to broaden the participation ofprofessional learning and dissemination sessions, review of underrepresented students in STEM majors, increasingproject documentation, formal interviews, and informal opportunities for advanced graduate education and promotingdiscussions with the project PI, Co-PIs, students, graduatestudents, mentors, and survey
its various academic programs [2]. UCD lists five reasonsfor performing research by undergraduate students. According to UCD, these are: 1. Exploring career directions 2. Building transferable skills and enhancing resumes 3. Learning to publicly advocate for and defend work 4. Getting a leg up on graduate or professional school 5. Contributing knowledge and impacting the worldAlthough it has some obstacles and challenges, a paper in the 123rd annual ASEE conference inLouisiana in 2016 demonstrated that undergraduate research still has many benefits, as perceivedby the students themselves [3]. The paper was on the efficacy of undergraduate research basedon a survey of undergraduate students. The students’ most common
community organization such as the YMCA or Boysand Girls Club. These projects engage students in STEM activities for early exposure toengineering. Projects can focus on specific ranges such as K-8, K-12, grades 5-8, or grades 9-12. Mentoring-centered projects represent mentorship among various levels such as near peermentoring between undergraduate and high school students, graduate and undergraduatestudents, graduate student peer mentoring, and mentoring of graduate students by faculty andcollege administrators. Professional development projects provide training to enhance specificskills (e.g., research and academic skills, experiential learning opportunities, allyship, orinclusive language). Accessibility-focused projects develop tools in
graduation rates [2]. Among STEM majors, genderadds another burden, with women often facing the so-called “gender grade penalty” in STEMclasses relative to their male peers [3], [4]. Computer science in particular faces a dual problemwith regard to low participation by women: recruiting and retention [5].Even as the factors of race, gender, and family income remain highly relevant for understandinguneven outcomes, an increasing body of research suggests that the problems faced by STEMstudents are much more multifaceted than assumed, particularly when trying to serve low-income, first-generation, and students and those from other historically underrepresented/historically underserved (UR/US) groups in STEM. A small team of faculty and staff at
, "Attracting Students to Construction Education Programs: An Exploration of Perceptions by Gender," International Journal of Construction Education and Research , pp. 179-197, 2017.[8] S. Michalowski and A. Newman, "Understanding the Low Male Participation Rate in College Now," The City University of New York Research & Evaluation – Collaborative Programs , New York City, 2008.[9] M. Guy, K.-A. Hughes and P. Ferris-Day, "Lack of awareness of nursing as a career choice for men: A qualitative descriptive study," Journal of Advanced Nursing , pp. 4190-4198, 2022.[10] N. Olmedo-Torre, F. S. Carracedo, M. N. S. Ballesteros, D. Lopez, A. Perez-Poch and M. Lopez-Beltran, "Do Female Motives for Enrolling Vary According to STEM
-funded Women of Color in Engineering Collaborative, whose mission is to work cooperatively with other organizations to provide resources to create a supportive, encouraging, and inclusive environment in the engineering workplace. Her SWE research centers on equity issues in STEM education and the workplace, with studies on gender bias, the development of an engineering identity, and the community college transfer pathway. Prior to joining SWE, she worked in higher education policy research and on programs focused on faculty productivity and student success. She received her B.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, MBA and M.S. in Information Management from Arizona State University, and Ph.D