Research Initiation Grant: Defining Success for Undergraduate Research Experiences by Non-Elite Engineering Students

参与本科生的研究往往被视为一种机制，以提高学生保留在一个学科，并作为一种手段，以激励更多的学生追求研究生学习。 过去的研究集中在研究本科生的研究经验（URES）对高成就的学生的影响？但这些学生已经有可能毕业，而且更有可能攻读研究生课程。 由于非精英学生往往面临离开工程专业的风险，而且与成绩优异的学生相比，他们不太可能攻读研究生课程，因此拟议的项目开始研究参与URES的好处。平均水平？工程专业学生在教育和职业发展方面的能力。 本研究启动项目的主要重点是为不同类型的学生制定成功的定义，通过对学生的学术和个人背景进行分类来确定类别。确定的定义后，试点研究涉及一个有代表性的部分本科生谁参加工程研究活动在威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校（UWM）是要进行确认的定义的适当性successful.The智力这项工作的优点是，它扩大了研究的好处URES平均工程专业的学生？为了增加美国培养的工程师数量，培养学生直到毕业是很重要的。 通过确定适当的定义，成功的URE参与广泛的学生，然后测试的定义在试点研究中，该项目开始确定是否增加URE参与更大比例的工程专业学生是有用的和适当的。 此外，该项目开始确定对不同学生群体最有益的URE元素。 这项工作的更广泛的影响是潜在的显着影响本科工程专业学生的研究经验的未来方向。 通过确定不同类型的学生和研究计划的不同期望，该项目提供了工程教育工作者对未来工程师的教育和准备的本科研究的现实期望。

Participation in undergraduate research has often been presented as a mechanism to improve student retention in a discipline and as a means to inspire more students to pursue graduate studies. Past studies have concentrated on studying the effects of undergraduate research experiences (UREs) on high-achieving students ? but these students are already likely to graduate and are more likely to pursue graduate studies. Because non-elite students are often at risk for leaving engineering programs and are less likely to pursue graduate studies than high-achieving students, the proposed project begins a study of the benefits of participation in UREs for ?average? engineering students with respect to their educational and professional development. The primary focus of this research initiation project is developing definitions of success for different types of students, with categories determined through classification of the academic and personal background of the students. Following the determination of the definitions, a pilot study involving a representative fraction of undergraduate students who participate in engineering research activities at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) is to be conducted to confirm the appropriateness of the definitions of success.The intellectual merit of this work is that it expands the study of the benefits of UREs to average engineering students ? a population of students that it is important to nurture through to graduation in order to increase the number of engineers produced in the United States. By determining appropriate definitions of success of URE participation for a wide range of students and then testing the definitions in a pilot study, this project begins to determine if increasing URE participation to a larger percentage of engineering students is useful and appropriate. Furthermore, this project begins to identify the elements of a URE that are most beneficial for different groups of students. The broader impact of this work is the potential to significantly influence the future directions of research experiences of undergraduate engineering students. By determining different expectations for various types of students and research programs, this project provides engineering educators with realistic expectations of undergraduate research on the education and preparation of future engineers.