Broadening Participation, Fostering Cultural Wealth, and Increasing Student Success Through an Undergraduate Research Training Program

在改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）的支持下，这个第二轨道项目将支持休斯顿大学生物学和生物化学专业有重大经济需求的本科生。具体而言，该项目将吸引学生参加为期两个学期的顶点课程，为未来的研究经验奠定基础。参与的学生将在一个温馨的环境中发展关键的科学和工作技能，并探索STEM研究生教育和STEM劳动力的机会。在顶点课程结束后，学生将被安排到研究实验室，与积极参与、积极响应的导师一起，帮助他们亲身体验科学是如何创造和传播的。对有经济需要的学生的重视是至关重要的，因为低收入的学生经常面临可能使他们无法获得研究机会和其他经历的挑战。这些学生也不成比例地来自历史上在许多STEM学科中代表性不足的人群，这使得该项目的努力对于在全国范围内充分利用人才的更大目标至关重要。该项目的主要目标是：i)通过发展培训课程序列增加STEM准备，自我效能和身份；Ii)通过促进实验室实习，培养学生的文化财富，在那里他们可以与经验丰富、反应迅速的导师进行研究；iii)促进向STEM职业或研究生学习的过渡。混合方法项目研究计划将把学生参与、STEM归属感、自我效能感和持久性与项目的关键组成部分联系起来。项目评估将进一步探索项目组成部分的实施，并确定项目如何帮助参与者克服新的或已知的成功障碍。研究结果将通过教师和学生在专业会议、学术出版物、以学生为中心的外展活动和大众媒体上的演讲来分享。本项目由科学与技术研究所资助，旨在加强科学与技术研究所的本科教育，扩大科学与技术研究所的参与，并加强科学与技术研究所的能力建设。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project will support undergraduate students with significant financial need in biology and biochemistry at the University of Houston. Specifically, the project will engage cohorts of students in a two-semester capstone course that lays the foundation for future research experiences. Participating students will develop critical scientific and workforce skills in a welcoming environment and explore opportunities in STEM graduate education and the STEM workforce. After the capstone course, students will be placed in research labs with engaged, responsive mentors that can help them experience first-hand how science is created and communicated. The emphasis on students with financial need is critical, as lower-income individuals often face challenges that can exclude them from research opportunities and other experiences. These students are also disproportionally from populations that have been historically underrepresented in many STEM disciplines, making the project’s effort important to the larger goal of harnessing the full spectrum of talent across the nation. The primary goals of this project are to: i) increase STEM preparation, self-efficacy, and identity through a developmental training course sequence; ii) nurture students’ cultural wealth by facilitating lab placements where they can conduct research with experienced and responsive mentors; and iii) facilitate the transition to STEM careers or post-graduate study. The mixed methods project research plan will connect measures of student engagement, sense of belonging in STEM, self-efficacy, and persistence with key components of the project. Project evaluation will further explore the implementation of the project’s components and identify how the project helps participants overcome new or known barriers to their success. Findings will be shared through faculty and student presentations at professional meetings, scholarly publications, and student-centered outreach events and popular media. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.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.