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

该项目是哥伦比亚特区大学、弗吉尼亚州立大学和孟菲斯大学之间的合作项目。 它旨在试点和调查混合（面对面和虚拟）STEM导师模式的有效性，该模式旨在提高少数民族女大学生的职业自我效能感，并提高其STEM坚持性。其次，该项目旨在提高研究生的指导技能，并激励他们追求STEM职业。参与者将参加STEM社区，分享想法，获得鼓励，与STEM专业人士互动，并接受女研究生的指导。该项目将侧重于缓解女性在STEM中代表性不足的问题，解决她们面临的最有记录的问题，持久性和自我效能，特别是非传统的女学生。研究人员将为技术促进的指导和职业发展模式提供证据，以扩大代表性不足的学生在STEM研究生教育和劳动力中的参与。同时，他们将记录一种有效的干预措施，以加强未来STEM专业人士的准备。研究人员建议使用多阶段混合方法来解决三个研究目标：1）开发和检查STEM同伴导师计划对女本科生STEM职业自我效能的有效性。2)开发和检查STEM同侪指导计划对研究生导师技能的有效性，这些技能将可转移到工作场所。以及3）开发和检查STEM同伴导师计划在提高本科生进入研究生院和STEM劳动力的倾向方面的有效性。 数据将从访谈、调查和焦点小组中收集，并使用描述性统计进行分析。 研究参与者将包括来自三个合作机构的本科生和研究生。预计研究结果将对扩大代表性不足的少数民族女性在其他HBCU和其他机构的STEM参与产生影响，同时加强计划从事STEM职业的研究生的指导技能。

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.