The Graduate Student Role in Undergraduate Research Mentoring: A Systematic Literature Review

Hayden Ross Asbill; Mitchell Ann Letchworth; Anastasia Marie Rynearson; Christina A. Pantoja

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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: Graduate Studies Division (GSD) Technical Session 3: Advising in Graduate Education
Tagged Division: Graduate Studies Division (GSD)
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/48101

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Anastasia Rynearson is an Assistant Professor at Campbell University. She received a PhD from Purdue University in Engineering Education and a B.S. and M.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her teaching experience includes outreach activities at various age levels as well as a position as Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Kanazawa Technical College and Future Faculty Fellow teaching First-Year Engineering at Purdue University. She focused on integrated STEM curriculum development as part of an NSF STEM+C grant as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant through INSPIRE in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. Her current research interests focus on pathways into engineering and identity development.

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Christina A. Pantoja Campbell University

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Christina Pantoja is a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Engineering at Campbell University. Her research interests include career choices, pathways, and retention of women and underrepresented minorities in engineering. Her other interests include the topics of mentoring, job-crafting, and self-care. She earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, a M.S. in Education from Indiana University, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. She has four years of experience as a process engineer in industry and more than twenty years of experience in education and career counseling.

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Abstract

Background: Graduate students have an important role in undergraduate research. They are typically in a triad mentoring relationship, where they mentor the undergraduate and are mentored by their PI or faculty advisor. This type of mentoring relationship is either an open triad, where the PI does not engage with the undergraduate researcher, or a closed triad, where the undergraduate researcher has a mentoring relationship with both the graduate student and the PI. Through facilitating professional development workshops on undergraduate research mentoring with faculty and graduate students, the authors have found that existing mentoring relationship models do not fully describe the relationships between all three members of the mentoring triad. Purpose: This systematic literature review is intended to comprehensively explore the literature related to mentoring triads seeking to understand the graduate student’s role in mentoring undergraduate researchers in order to support additional development of the models. Methodology/Approach: This study follows best practices in systematic literature reviews as described by Borrego, Foster, and Froyd in their 2014 paper: Systematic Literature Reviews in Engineering Education and Other Developing Interdisciplinary Fields. In particular, this study will evaluate the existing literature on undergraduate research mentoring relationships with graduate students. Findings/Conclusions: The initial database keyword search found 1208 articles. After applying various inclusion criteria, 63 articles were included in this systematic literature review. The findings of this study show the various ways that graduate student-undergraduate research mentoring relationships appear in the literature. Most literature supports the existing open/closed triad relationship model implicitly or explicitly (57%). Implications: This study examines articles that explore the relationships that graduate students engage in when acting as mentors for undergraduate researchers. In our current work, interactions with faculty and graduate students suggest that the existing models do not fully encompass the relationships they experience. The role of graduate students as well as the different experiences that postdoctoral researchers face in triadic mentoring relationships are avenues of potential future research.

Citation
Format

Asbill, H. R., & Letchworth, M. A., & Rynearson, A. M., & Pantoja, C. A. (2024, June), The Graduate Student Role in Undergraduate Research Mentoring: A Systematic Literature Review Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://strategy.asee.org/48101

TY - CPAPER
AB - Background: Graduate students have an important role in undergraduate research. They are typically in a triad mentoring relationship, where they mentor the undergraduate and are mentored by their PI or faculty advisor. This type of mentoring relationship is either an open triad, where the PI does not engage with the undergraduate researcher, or a closed triad, where the undergraduate researcher has a mentoring relationship with both the graduate student and the PI. Through facilitating professional development workshops on undergraduate research mentoring with faculty and graduate students, the authors have found that existing mentoring relationship models do not fully describe the relationships between all three members of the mentoring triad. Purpose: This systematic literature review is intended to comprehensively explore the literature related to mentoring triads seeking to understand the graduate student’s role in mentoring undergraduate researchers in order to support additional development of the models. Methodology/Approach: This study follows best practices in systematic literature reviews as described by Borrego, Foster, and Froyd in their 2014 paper: Systematic Literature Reviews in Engineering Education and Other Developing Interdisciplinary Fields. In particular, this study will evaluate the existing literature on undergraduate research mentoring relationships with graduate students. Findings/Conclusions: The initial database keyword search found 1208 articles. After applying various inclusion criteria, 63 articles were included in this systematic literature review. The findings of this study show the various ways that graduate student-undergraduate research mentoring relationships appear in the literature. Most literature supports the existing open/closed triad relationship model implicitly or explicitly (57%). Implications: This study examines articles that explore the relationships that graduate students engage in when acting as mentors for undergraduate researchers. In our current work, interactions with faculty and graduate students suggest that the existing models do not fully encompass the relationships they experience. The role of graduate students as well as the different experiences that postdoctoral researchers face in triadic mentoring relationships are avenues of potential future research.
AU - Hayden Ross Asbill
AU - Mitchell Ann Letchworth
AU - Anastasia Marie Rynearson
AU - Christina A. Pantoja
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - The Graduate Student Role in Undergraduate Research Mentoring: A Systematic Literature Review
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/48101
ER -