Research Experience for Undergraduates: A Non-Traditional Approach
Abstract
Research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) have been documented to be an effective way to increase student retention in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) by exposing students to research. REUs typically run during the summer months, allowing students to travel to different universities away from their home institutions. We created an REU program, Pathways Research Experience for undergraduates Program (PREP) that ran during the fall and spring academic semesters and focused on the geosciences. These students were provided with a monthly stipend to work with a research mentor, and they were required to attend a weekly professional development meeting led by the Pathways PIs and the program coordinator. The weekly training program focused on research skills, presentation skills, and graduate school preparation. Since a majority of students at University of Texas at El Paso (a Hispanic Serving Institution with 70% Hispanic and 10% Mexican students) must work outside the university while attending college, the stipends enabled students to remain on campus to "work", with the hope that this may contribute to their overall academic success. By spending more time on campus, the participants were able to interact more with faculty and other students, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Participants were chosen on a basis of GPA and the contents of an application that included a statement of purpose, a resume, a transcript, and at least one letter of recommendation. Once the student was selected, they were required to find a mentor and research project. Through an analysis of surveys, we have found that participants enjoy the meetings, which gave them a sense of belonging to a group, and an additional source of academic support. Participants were also expected to take part in outreach activities as part of our goal to create a geosciences network in El Paso. With this REU approach, we believe that our success rate suggests that this approach works well in Hispanic Serving Institutions: 51% of our participants have gone on to graduate school, 22% are still undergraduates, 17% are unknown, 5% are in industry and 5% are teaching.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMED51B0889C
- Keywords:
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- 0840 EDUCATION / Evaluation and assessment;
- 0855 EDUCATION / Diversity