BOARD # 460: Supporting pre-STEM Majors while Closing Equity Gaps: Mentoring in a Multi-Disciplinary S-STEM Program

Erica Cline; Heather Dillon; Amanda K Sesko; Emily Cilli-Turner; Zaher Kmail; Seung-Jin Lee; Raghavi Sakpal

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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/55842

Paper Authors

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Erica Cline

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Associate Professor in Sciences and Mathematics, and Director of ACCESS in STEM, an NSF S-STEM supported program that supports students in natural science, mathematics, and engineering at UW Tacoma.

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Heather Dillon University of Washington orcid.org/0000-0002-4467-2306

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Dr. Heather Dillon is Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington Tacoma. Her research team is working on energy efficiency, renewable energy, fundamental heat transfer, and engineering education.

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Amanda K Sesko orcid.org/0000-0001-7238-8962

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Dr. Sesko received her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Kansas in 2011 and is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington Tacoma. Dr. Sesko is a stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination researcher. Her work focuses on how stereotypes guide judgments of, memory for, and behavior directed at individuals belonging to stereotyped groups. For example, in her primary line of research Dr. Sesko examines the processes and outcomes of intersectional invisibility—a form of discrimination characterized by not being attended to, remembered, represented, differentiated from others, or given recognition for contributions—experienced by individual’s with multiple stigmatized identities (e.g., Black women; Sesko & Biernat, 2010, 2018).

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Emily Cilli-Turner University of San Diego

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Zaher Kmail

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Zaher Kmail, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Statistics at the University of Washington Tacoma in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences’ Division of Science and Mathematics. His general areas of research are in theoretical and applied statistics with a specialization in the design and analysis of experiments. His current research focuses on causal structure modeling, optimal design and its applications, multivariate analysis, and mathematics and statistics education. In addition to applied statistics, Dr. Kmail has published in a wide variety of fields including agronomy, engineering education, special education, student success in higher education, nursing, and environmental chemistry.

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Seung-Jin Lee University of Washington orcid.org/0000-0003-1255-0619

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Seung-Jin Lee, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington Tacoma. His research focus is on the life cycle sustainability of emerging technologies, such as transportation, biofuels, green buildings, and consumer products. His tools of research include life cycle assessment (LCA), industrial ecology, material flow analysis, energy efficiency, market diffusion models, reuse and recycling, and sustainable development. He has published in leading journals in sustainability and environmental engineering, including the Journal of Cleaner Production, Environmental Engineering Science, Waste Management & Research, Journal of Industrial Ecology, International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Sustainability, and Resources, Conservation & Recycling. Prior to his position at UWT, he was an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan-Flint (UM-Flint). During his time at UM-Flint, he was the recipient of the Dr. Lois Matz Rosen Junior Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award (2017). He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Risk Management Research Laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Raghavi Sakpal

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Abstract

The S-STEM supported program [program name blinded] started at the [location blinded] as a Track 1 grant in 2018 and continued as a Track 2 grant in 2022. Since its inception, it has supported 124 students over 7 cohorts. [Location blinded] is an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution (AANAPISI) with a high proportion of racial minority and first-generation college students. The [program name blinded] is multidisciplinary across STEM majors including Mathematics, Environmental Science, Biomedical Sciences, Information Technology, Computer Science and Systems, Computer Engineering and Systems, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering. Program scholars receive full scholarships for their first two years, and partial scholarships for their third and fourth years. Students can participate in a summer bridge precalculus or research experience course, and project-based Introduction to Engineering or Introduction to Research courses in their first year. Individual faculty mentoring, quarterly Success in STEM seminar courses, and an optional on-campus STEM living learning community help scholars form a cohesive community through group mentoring. Our S-STEM program is distinctive in focusing on pre-STEM majors in their first and second years on campus to facilitate the entry into STEM majors, and we provide mentor training for ~30-40 faculty in teaching and mentoring diverse student populations, thus impacting all students in our majors.

Our goal was to evaluate how the program supports retention and academic success of our program scholars, and whether this program helps to close equity gaps for students who identify as low socioeconomic status, underrepresented minorities, women or non-binary, or first generation in college. We compared our program scholars to a comparison group of students who met eligibility requirements but did not participate in the program. Overall, program scholars had higher first year retention, and higher GPAs, particularly for individuals belonging to groups that are historically underrepresented in STEM. Retention was markedly higher for program scholars during the pandemic, suggesting that the program may have been particularly impactful for students as they endured the emotional and financial stresses of the pandemic. Survey and interview responses emphasized the importance of mentoring and access to resources, particularly during the pandemic. In future work, we will use survey and interview data to better understand student experiences and impacts on faculty mentors participating in the program.

Citation
Format

Cline, E., & Dillon, H., & Sesko, A. K., & Cilli-Turner, E., & Kmail, Z., & Lee, S., & Sakpal, R. (2025, June), BOARD # 460: Supporting pre-STEM Majors while Closing Equity Gaps: Mentoring in a Multi-Disciplinary S-STEM Program Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55842

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The S-STEM supported program [program name blinded] started at the [location blinded] as a Track 1 grant in 2018 and continued as a Track 2 grant in 2022. Since its inception, it has supported 124 students over 7 cohorts. [Location blinded] is an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution (AANAPISI) with a high proportion of racial minority and first-generation college students. The [program name blinded] is multidisciplinary across STEM majors including Mathematics, Environmental Science, Biomedical Sciences, Information Technology, Computer Science and Systems, Computer Engineering and Systems, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering. Program scholars receive full scholarships for their first two years, and partial scholarships for their third and fourth years. Students can participate in a summer bridge precalculus or research experience course, and project-based Introduction to Engineering or Introduction to Research courses in their first year. Individual faculty mentoring, quarterly Success in STEM seminar courses, and an optional on-campus STEM living learning community help scholars form a cohesive community through group mentoring. Our S-STEM program is distinctive in focusing on pre-STEM majors in their first and second years on campus to facilitate the entry into STEM majors, and we provide mentor training for ~30-40 faculty in teaching and mentoring diverse student populations, thus impacting all students in our majors.

Our goal was to evaluate how the program supports retention and academic success of our program scholars, and whether this program helps to close equity gaps for students who identify as low socioeconomic status, underrepresented minorities, women or non-binary, or first generation in college. We compared our program scholars to a comparison group of students who met eligibility requirements but did not participate in the program. Overall, program scholars had higher first year retention, and higher GPAs, particularly for individuals belonging to groups that are historically underrepresented in STEM. Retention was markedly higher for program scholars during the pandemic, suggesting that the program may have been particularly impactful for students as they endured the emotional and financial stresses of the pandemic. Survey and interview responses emphasized the importance of mentoring and access to resources, particularly during the pandemic. In future work, we will use survey and interview data to better understand student experiences and impacts on faculty mentors participating in the program.


AU  - Erica Cline
AU  - Heather Dillon
AU  - Amanda K Sesko
AU  - Emily Cilli-Turner
AU  - Zaher Kmail
AU  - Seung-Jin Lee
AU  - Raghavi Sakpal
CY  - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 
DA  - 2025/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - BOARD # 460: Supporting pre-STEM Majors while Closing Equity Gaps: Mentoring in a Multi-Disciplinary S-STEM Program 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/55842
ER  -