Broadening Participation Research Project: Investigating the Impact of Peer Mentoring on STEM Retention and Persistence among Minority Undergraduate Women

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The project is a partnership among the University of the District of Columbia, Virginia State University, and the University of Memphis. It aims to pilot and investigate the effectiveness of a blended (face-to-face and virtual) STEM mentorship model that is designed to enhance career self-efficacy among minority female undergraduates and increase their STEM persistence. Secondarily, the project aims to enhance graduate students' mentoring skills and inspire their pursuit of STEM careers. Participants will participate in STEM communities to share ideas, receive encouragement, interact with STEM professionals, and receive mentoring from female graduate students. The project will focus on mitigating the underrepresentation of females in STEM by addressing the most documented problems that they face, persistence and self-efficacy, especially nontraditional female students. The researchers will produce evidence for a technology facilitated mentoring and career development model to broaden participation of underrepresented students in STEM graduate education and the workforce. At the same time, they will document an effective intervention to enhance the preparation of prospective STEM professionals.The researchers propose to use a multiphase mixed-methods approach to address three research objectives: 1) Develop and examine the effectiveness of a STEM peer mentorship program on female undergraduate students' STEM career self-efficacy. 2) Develop and examine the effectiveness of a STEM peer mentoring program on graduate students' mentorship skills that will be transferrable to the workplace. and 3) Develop and examine the effectiveness of a STEM peer mentorship program on increasing undergraduate students' propensity to matriculate to graduate school and the STEM workforce. Data will be collected from interviews, surveys, and focus groups and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Research participants will include undergraduate and graduate students from each of the three partnering institutions. The research results are expected to have implications for broadening the participation of underrepresented minority females in STEM at other HBCUs and at other institutions while, at the same time, strengthening mentorship skills of graduate students planning to pursue STEM careers.