Collaborative Research: Mental Health Opportunities for Professional Empowerment in STEM (HOPES)

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The National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award to Montana Technological University, Montana State University-Billings, and the University of Montana will develop and test a suite of innovative strategies to improve the mental health and resilience of graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To accomplish this goal, the project includes interventions for both graduate students and the faculty mentors with whom they work closely as a means to help transform the cultures of the departments to become more supportive and inclusive. This project addresses a gap in proven approaches to help graduate students manage the significant mental and emotional stresses and pressures they face. Counseling available on campuses mostly is designed for undergraduates. As a result, little is known about how to empower STEM graduate students to cope with the stresses of their challenging research projects; overcome stigma, self doubt, and social isolation; and promote help-seeking and a sense of belonging. These stressors are compounded for women and minority students, veterans, students with disabilities, and students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Improving the well-being of diverse graduate students will boost their prospects for successful STEM careers, thereby accelerating science and engineering progress and contributing to American economic growth and competitiveness. The project goal is to design and pilot an innovative model for fostering graduate students’ life-long skills for mental health awareness and well-being, while transforming the way faculty engage with graduate students. The first step will be to conduct baseline surveys of students and faculty to obtain information needed to prioritize and design educational interventions. Project components will include: 1) activities to reduce stigma; 2) facilitated psychoeducational peer mentoring to assist students in developing effective coping strategies and enhanced resilience; 3) STEM faculty workshops aimed at implementing holistic mentoring, enhancing inclusiveness, and transforming departmental climates; and 4) activities engaging advisors and advisees together in collaborative problem solving. After refining the approach and demonstrating effectiveness on the three campuses, the team will assist three other universities in adapting this suite of activities to demonstrate scale up. Overall, the project will establish an innovative, effective, and replicable model for improving STEM graduate education by elevating positive mental health to an important outcome. Evaluation feedback will help improve the activities and measure progress toward achievement of the goal. Activity descriptions, facilitator guides, curricula, and scale-up guides will be published and disseminated.The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test, and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community. This project is jointly funded by the IGE program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.