Structuring equity and inclusion into access to undergraduate research opportunities

Agnes Germaine d'Entremont; Jennifer Pelletier

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Zone IV Conference
Location: Vancouver
Publication Date: May 12, 2022
Start Date: May 12, 2022
End Date: May 14, 2022
Conference Session: Equity and Ethics in Engineering-I
Tagged Topics: Diversity and Conference Submission
Page Count: 17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44752
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44752
Download Count: 156

Paper Authors

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Agnes Germaine d'Entremont P.Eng. University of British Columbia, Vancouver orcid.org/0000-0002-9736-119X

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Dr. Agnes d'Entremont, P.Eng., is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UBC. Her teaching-related interests include team-based learning and flipped classroom approaches, open educational materials, and educat

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biography

Jennifer Pelletier University of British Columbia

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Jennifer Pelletier is the Manager, Facilities & Special Projects, for the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver Campus). Her interests in engineering education primarily centre on equity, diversity, and inclusion, and on safety practices.

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Abstract

Research skills are central to many aspects of engineering but are sometimes stereotyped as being for people who are “clever, bright, reserved, socially clumsy” or unlike ordinary people [1], and incompatible with non-masculine identities [1]. Supporting institutional strategic goals to broaden access to undergraduate student research [2], our department created a cohort-based, course-supported summer research program, with goals to:

1. Interest students in research. 2. Create an equitable application and acceptance process based on skills important to research, de-emphasizing or eliminating aspects like GPA, experience, or reference letters that may have a disproportionate impact on some groups of students. 3. Support students by providing summer research skill courses, training their mentors, and providing cross-cohort social/learning opportunities.

In this paper, we will focus on the program aspects outside of the two summer courses.

Several approaches were used to increase understanding of and interest in research among undergraduate mechanical engineering students. The second-year cohort was given a research talk by a course instructor, with the explicit goal of exposing them to the idea and the reach of research. The third year lab course was restructured to introduce experimental design, then challenge students to design their own experiments to answer their own research questions; these students were surveyed to capture changes in belonging and self-efficacy related to research [3,4]. All students were invited to information sessions about the summer program.

Past research has suggested that GPA, standardized tests, and other commonly used metrics may not be successful at differentiating between the highest- and lowest-ranked graduate students [5], and can replicate bias against under-represented groups of students [6]. We created a rubric for assessing applicants that would de-emphasize grades and emphasize critical research skills (as determined through consultation with departmental faculty). Rubric level descriptions were created for each of: perseverance, intrinsic motivation, curiosity, navigating uncertainty, and articulating ideas. Students were asked short essay-style questions to draw out examples. A minimum GPA of 76% was required for consideration, and GPA served as a sixth, equally-weighted criteria. Blind assessment of applicants was done by a committee to reduce the impact of biases. Selected students were matched with supervisors/projects based on student preference.

Thirty eight students applied, and thirteen were accepted (GPAs: 79.5% to 90.9%; one withdrew for family reasons). Gender and international/domestic ratios matched the overall departmental undergraduate population better in the cohort program than in the group of summer research students hired through other competitive mechanisms.

Initial results suggest that students within the department have a better understanding of research and their potential interest in it following our interventions, and that the assessment rubric identified excellent students having a range of GPAs, while reducing the impact of systematic biases.

[1] Tintori and Palomba, 2017. [2] UBC Strategic Plan, 2018. [3] Anderson-Butcher and Conroy 2002. [4] Rigotti 2008. [5] Weiner 2014. [6] Wilson 2019.

Citation
Format

d'Entremont, A. G., & Pelletier, J. (2022, May), Structuring equity and inclusion into access to undergraduate research opportunities Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Zone IV Conference, Vancouver. 10.18260/1-2--44752

TY - CPAPER
AB - Research skills are central to many aspects of engineering but are sometimes stereotyped as being for people who are “clever, bright, reserved, socially clumsy” or unlike ordinary people [1], and incompatible with non-masculine identities [1]. Supporting institutional strategic goals to broaden access to undergraduate student research [2], our department created a cohort-based, course-supported summer research program, with goals to:

1. Interest students in research.
2. Create an equitable application and acceptance process based on skills important to research, de-emphasizing or eliminating aspects like GPA, experience, or reference letters that may have a disproportionate impact on some groups of students.
3. Support students by providing summer research skill courses, training their mentors, and providing cross-cohort social/learning opportunities.

In this paper, we will focus on the program aspects outside of the two summer courses.

Several approaches were used to increase understanding of and interest in research among undergraduate mechanical engineering students. The second-year cohort was given a research talk by a course instructor, with the explicit goal of exposing them to the idea and the reach of research. The third year lab course was restructured to introduce experimental design, then challenge students to design their own experiments to answer their own research questions; these students were surveyed to capture changes in belonging and self-efficacy related to research [3,4]. All students were invited to information sessions about the summer program.

Past research has suggested that GPA, standardized tests, and other commonly used metrics may not be successful at differentiating between the highest- and lowest-ranked graduate students [5], and can replicate bias against under-represented groups of students [6]. We created a rubric for assessing applicants that would de-emphasize grades and emphasize critical research skills (as determined through consultation with departmental faculty). Rubric level descriptions were created for each of: perseverance, intrinsic motivation, curiosity, navigating uncertainty, and articulating ideas. Students were asked short essay-style questions to draw out examples. A minimum GPA of 76% was required for consideration, and GPA served as a sixth, equally-weighted criteria. Blind assessment of applicants was done by a committee to reduce the impact of biases. Selected students were matched with supervisors/projects based on student preference.

Thirty eight students applied, and thirteen were accepted (GPAs: 79.5% to 90.9%; one withdrew for family reasons). Gender and international/domestic ratios matched the overall departmental undergraduate population better in the cohort program than in the group of summer research students hired through other competitive mechanisms.

Initial results suggest that students within the department have a better understanding of research and their potential interest in it following our interventions, and that the assessment rubric identified excellent students having a range of GPAs, while reducing the impact of systematic biases.

[1] Tintori and Palomba, 2017.
[2] UBC Strategic Plan, 2018.
[3] Anderson-Butcher and Conroy 2002.
[4] Rigotti 2008.
[5] Weiner 2014.
[6] Wilson 2019.
AU - Agnes Germaine d'Entremont P.Eng.
AU - Jennifer Pelletier
CY - Vancouver
DA - 2022/05/12
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Structuring equity and inclusion into access to undergraduate research opportunities
UR - https://peer.asee.org/44752
DO - 10.18260/1-2--44752
ER -