Alam, T., & Fathima, H., & Nyarko, K., & Attia, J., & Andrei, P., & Yang, S., & Albin, S., & Graves, C. (2022, August), The Evolution of Multi-Site Combined REU/RET Program: From In-Person to Virtual to Hybrid  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41714

\bibitem{asee_peer_41714}
  Alam, T., \& Fathima, H., \& Nyarko, K., \& Attia, J., \& Andrei, P., \& Yang, S., \& Albin, S., \& Graves, C. (2022, August), \emph{The Evolution of Multi-Site Combined REU/RET Program: From In-Person to Virtual to Hybrid}
  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Minneapolis, MN.
  10.18260/1-2--41714

Tasmeer Alam, Hashmath Fathima, Kofi Nyarko, John Attia, Petru Andrei, Shujun Yang, Sacharia Albin, and Corey Graves.  "The Evolution of Multi-Site Combined REU/RET Program: From In-Person to Virtual to Hybrid".  2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN, 2022, August.  ASEE Conferences, 2022.  https://peer.asee.org/41714 Internet.  05 Feb, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_41714}
  Tasmeer Alam, Hashmath Fathima, Kofi Nyarko, John Attia, Petru Andrei, Shujun Yang, Sacharia Albin, and Corey Graves.
  "The Evolution of Multi-Site Combined REU/RET Program: From In-Person to Virtual to Hybrid".
  \emph{2022 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Minneapolis, MN, 2022, August}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2022.
  https://peer.asee.org/41714 Internet.  05 Feb, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_41714
author = "Tasmeer Alam, Hashmath Fathima, Kofi Nyarko, John Attia, Petru Andrei, Shujun Yang, Sacharia Albin, and Corey Graves"
title = "The Evolution of Multi-Site Combined REU/RET Program: From In-Person to Virtual to Hybrid"
booktitle = "2022 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2022"
month = "August"
address = "Minneapolis, MN"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/41714}
number = {10.18260/1-2--41714}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - In 2018, the Smart City Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and Research Experience for Teachers (RET) (SCR2) Mega-Site program was launched aiming to improve the participation and graduation rates of post-secondary students of underrepresented and minority groups in the field of Engineering. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the SCR2 program has been successfully conducted for the last three years, engaging a consortium of 14 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and 1 Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, is the lead institution for this program. The SCR2 program is designed to engage underperforming REU students in research opportunities which has demonstrated to improve the retention and graduation rates of students. In addition, teachers from local community colleges and high schools are recruited in this program as RET participants. The experience of RET participants in hands-on engineering research projects helps them to encourage their students to pursue engineering as a career. The SCR2 program offers summer research experience (8 weeks for students and 6 weeks for teachers) focusing on smart and connected cities. In this paper, we present our learning from the last three years of the SCR2 program which will inform the progress of engineering education and training in the United States. While the 2019 SCR2 program was able to offer on-campus research experience and mentorship for the REU/RETs, the 2020 program had to go virtual to accommodate the extraneous circumstances posed by COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this transition, the 2020 program was able to engage 32 undergraduates and 12 teachers, who successfully participated in 12 research projects across 3 host sites. Learning from the experience of the summer 2020 virtual program, the 2021 SCR2 program was redesigned as a  hybrid program, and was able to bring 6 host sites together offering 18 projects which 47 undergraduates and 23 teachers participated. One major success of the program was the positive impact of remote learning on both students and teachers. Despite the hybrid nature of the program, students excelled in their technical skills due to the effective collaboration using video conferencing tools. However, during the post program survey, one major concern reported regarding the reduced participation of women students in the program. Simultaneously, the women participants reported less satisfaction and reduced confidence and knowledge gain compared to men.  The transition of SCR2 program from on-site to online and finally hybrid model exemplifies how innovation in engineering education can overcome the challenges posed by the health crisis. However, it is evident from the assessment results that more attention is needed concerning the experience of women in the program to improve their sense of belongingness in the field of engineering 
AU  - Tasmeer Alam
AU  - Hashmath Fathima
AU  - Kofi Nyarko
AU  - John Attia
AU  - Petru Andrei
AU  - Shujun Yang
AU  - Sacharia Albin
AU  - Corey Graves
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Evolution of Multi-Site Combined REU/RET Program: From In-Person to Virtual to Hybrid
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41714
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41714
ER  -