Board 22: A Multi-Tiered Mentoring Community Approach to Expanded Research Experiences for Local Students from Complex and Underrepresented Minority Backgrounds

Thomas McKean; Ranil Wickramasinghe; LaShall Bates; Gary Bates; Jacquelyn Wiersma-Mosley

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Chemical Engineering Division (ChED) Poster Session
Tagged Division: Chemical Engineering Division (ChED)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46788

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Paper Authors

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Thomas McKean University of Arkansas

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Thomas McKean III is a Ph.D. candidate in the Materials Science and Engineering program and the Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas working under Dr. Ranil Wickramasinghe. Thomas holds his MS from the University of Arkansas in Microelectronics Photonics and BS in Chemical Engineering from Syracuse University. He has extensive experience mentoring new graduate students and tutoring undergraduate chemistry students. He hopes to continue to help young researchers discover their passion for STEM while finishing his PhD and after.

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Abstract

A research and mentoring program was developed to provide local first-generation students, students returning to school after a professional experience, and underrepresented minority students resources and relationships to guide them toward a STEM degree from a four-year university. These students typically do not pursue research experiences due to lack of awareness and confidence conducting advanced STEM research. A multi-tiered mentoring community was formed including direct mentoring from graduate students and faculty advisors, peer mentoring among undergraduate students from different colleges and universities, and high school students to increase the accessibility of research opportunities for this demographic. The program mirrored a traditional Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) summer research format, then added mentoring sessions for the local students during the academic year that REU programs typically lack. Local undergraduate students were recruited from Northwest Arkansas Community College and rising high school seniors were recruited from the University of Arkansas Upward Bound program to combine community college and high school students in a novel manner. High school students had the chance to complete educational experiments and the community college students joined different University of Arkansas research labs. The programs were combined whenever possible to emphasize peer mentoring, including mentoring lunches, research meetings, presentation sessions, conference presentations, and professional development mentoring sessions. On the post-program survey, students indicated the community formed in the program supported their research identity development, provided them with quality relationships, and developed skills valuable to completion of a STEM degree. No significant differences in scores were observed between community college and high school programs, genders, races, and first-generation students. The majority of the students, including eight of ten community college students who regularly engaged with the program after the summer research, participating in this program pursued additional research at a four-year university or internship opportunities after participating in the program. Two of six high school students have decided to pursue engineering at the University of Arkansas and attribute their decision to their experience in the program. The post-program scores and continued efforts of different demographics of students to pursue STEM highlight the versatility of the multi-tiered mentoring community model to serve students from different ages, backgrounds, backgrounds and demographics.

Citation
Format

McKean, T., & Wickramasinghe, R., & Bates, L., & Bates, G., & Wiersma-Mosley, J. (2024, June), Board 22: A Multi-Tiered Mentoring Community Approach to Expanded Research Experiences for Local Students from Complex and Underrepresented Minority Backgrounds Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46788

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - A research and mentoring program was developed to provide local first-generation students, students returning to school after a professional experience, and underrepresented minority students resources and relationships to guide them toward a STEM degree from a four-year university. These students typically do not pursue research experiences due to lack of awareness and confidence conducting advanced STEM research. A multi-tiered mentoring community was formed including direct mentoring from graduate students and faculty advisors, peer mentoring among undergraduate students from different colleges and universities, and high school students to increase the accessibility of research opportunities for this demographic. The program mirrored a traditional Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) summer research format, then added mentoring sessions for the local students during the academic year that REU programs typically lack. Local undergraduate students were recruited from Northwest Arkansas Community College and rising high school seniors were recruited from the University of Arkansas Upward Bound program to combine community college and high school students in a novel manner. High school students had the chance to complete educational experiments and the community college students joined different University of Arkansas research labs. The programs were combined whenever possible to emphasize peer mentoring, including mentoring lunches, research meetings, presentation sessions, conference presentations, and professional development mentoring sessions.  On the post-program survey, students indicated the community formed in the program supported their research identity development, provided them with quality relationships, and developed skills valuable to completion of a STEM degree. No significant differences in scores were observed between community college and high school programs, genders, races, and first-generation students.  The majority of the students, including eight of ten community college students who regularly engaged with the program after the summer research, participating in this program pursued additional research at a four-year university or internship opportunities after participating in the program. Two of six high school students have decided to pursue engineering at the University of Arkansas and attribute their decision to their experience in the program. The post-program scores and continued efforts of different demographics of students to pursue STEM highlight the versatility of the multi-tiered mentoring community model to serve students from different ages, backgrounds, backgrounds and demographics. 
AU  - Thomas McKean
AU  - Ranil Wickramasinghe P.E.
AU  - LaShall Bates
AU  - Gary Bates
AU  - Jacquelyn Wiersma-Mosley
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 22: A Multi-Tiered Mentoring Community Approach to Expanded Research Experiences for Local Students from Complex and Underrepresented Minority Backgrounds
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/46788
ER  -