The Role of Undergraduate Research Experiences in Enriching the Academic Experience of College Science Students from Diverse Backgrounds

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The Role of Undergraduate Research Experiences in
Enriching the Academic Experience of College
Science Students from Diverse Backgrounds

• Robert E. Megginson
• University of Michigan

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Goal of this presentation

• Not so much to present a collection of facts,
  recommendations, musings on my part (though in
  part it will)
• as to promote a dialog among ourselves that
  could continue over lunch

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Why do we bother?

• Certainly, as a matter of social justice, we
  should try to remove barriers to full
  participation by all in the STEM enterprise
• Research shows that educational institutions have
  a compelling interest in diversity in their
  programs
• From a U.S. national perspective With the low
  participation of women and minorities in many
  STEM fields, we cannot hope to maintain our
  leadership in many of these fields while often
  discarding 70 of our available talent before it
  can fully develop

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Some aspects to promotion of diversity in STEM
fields

• Recognition of barriers to diversity
• Application of what is known to help remove those
  barriers
• Search for new solutions to barrier removal
• Allowance for diverse learning styles
• Understanding of importance of culture
• Culturally relevant material where available
• Place of STEM knowledge in students cultures

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A story How to lose an audience instantly

• From the 1990 national conference of the American
  Indian Science and Engineering Society in
  Buffalo, NY

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Evolution of this talk

• I intended to talk about this at last years
  conference
• Last minute illness canceled that out
• I intended to talk about something else this year
• But a recently released government report, along
  with local pride, made me want to return to it

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Report of the Academic Competitiveness Council,
U.S. Department of Education, May 2007

• ACC solicited 115 evaluations of federally funded
  STEM education programs, projects, or
  interventions
• Ten were judged to be scientifically rigorous
  evaluations that produced preliminary findings
  about a program or projects impact on education
  outcomes
• Of the ten, four found the activity to have a
  meaningful positive impact
• One of the four is

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UM Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program
(UROP)

• Originally targeted to underrepresented students,
  now serving all but still with a significant
  number of such students
• Using a well-designed, randomized controlled
  trial, the investigators found that UROP produced
  a 25 percent decrease in the number of students
  leaving the university prior to graduation, as
  compared to the control group.

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REUs (Research Experiences for Undergraduates)

• The evidence is mounting that these are a crucial
  piece of programming that all institutions of
  higher education should be stressing to diversity
  STEM fields hence, the focus of this talk

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Several models exist

• Regular academic year model typically
  institutional, where researchers engage
  undergraduates to work with them on research
  projects
• Major summer research model typically regional
  or national, where a team engages undergraduates
  to work together collaboratively on research
  projects

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Example of first type UROP

• Begun in 1988 as an experimental program
  targeting students from groups under-represented
  in STEM fields
• Initially 14 students of color and female
  students
• Now serves over 1,000 students with 500 faculty
  researchers collaborating across campus
• See http//www.lsa.umich.edu/urop/ for more
  information

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Example of second type SIMU

• Summer Institute in Mathematics for
  Undergraduates
• Operated at University of Puerto Rico, Humacao,
  19982002
• Program goal To increase the number of Latinos
  and Native Americans earning graduate degrees and
  pursuing careers in the mathematical sciences

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SIMU 2

• Primary audience Hispanic/Latino and Native
  American, U.S. citizen and permanent resident
  undergraduates (especially juniors and seniors)
  with potential for pursuing graduate study in
  mathematics and mathematics-based disciplines

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SIMU 3

• Six-week research program in the mathematical
  sciences
• National Science Foundation (NSF) Research
  Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site from
  20002002 also received significant funding from
  NSA
• Largest (serving twenty-four students per year)
  NSF REU program in mathematics

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SIMU 4

• Students who attended SIMU
• had completed at least two years of
  university-level mathematics courses
• were attracted to the idea of doing undergraduate
  research in the mathematical sciences and
• had shown some promise for the potential to
  pursue a graduate degree in the mathematical
  sciences, but generally had not shown themselves
  to be the superstars that graduate programs
  often target

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SIMU 5

• Documentable effectiveness As of 2004, it was
  known that
• Of the 99 program participants in 19982001, 44
  had been accepted into Ph.D. programs in the
  mathematical sciences
• Compare About 15 Ph.D. graduates in mathematics
  from these groups annually in recent years
• 40 had been accepted into other graduate programs

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SIMU 6

• For more information, see http//cuhwww.upr.clu.ed
  u/simu/
• While those who are interested in that URL are
  copying it, we have time for one local
  SIMU-induced success story
• One U.S. born Hispanic-American math undergrad at
  UM by standard measures very average
• Attended SIMU in late 1990s, caught fire
• Graduated last year from a highly respected
  California university with a Ph.D. in a
  cutting-edge area of mathematics

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Common aspects to the most effective REUs

• Conducted and supported by persons convinced that
  students really can do meaningful (which might be
  different from publishable) research in the
  relevant academic area
• Institutional infrastructure should allow for
  support of students working on problems
  independent of any regularly scheduled class
• I used to run a Math Lab that didnt then do
  that!

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Common aspects 2

• Problems have certain characteristics e.g.
• Genuine progress can be made on them by
  undergraduates (i.e., not too hard)
• Students will discover some genuinely new things
  and have a chance to have the Porta experience
  (named after Horacio Porta, a Hispanic
  mathematician and mentor of mine at the
  University of Illinois)

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Common aspects 3

• Flexibility about how students work and learn
• Allowance for diverse learning styles
• Group projects particularly valuable, where
  students can take roles that work effectively for
  them

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Common aspects 4

• Students have opportunities to present their
  work, e.g. in poster sessions
• Particularly important for students from
  under-represented groups to present in venues
  drawing faculty and other students from
  under-represented groups
• National Conference of the Society for the
  Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in
  Science (SACNAS)

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For luncheon discussions

• What institutional or other barriers to effective
  undergraduate research experiences exist at your
  institution?
• What can your department/facility/program do to
  help overcome them and support REU activities?
• Share some success stories and cautionary tales