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College to Career Readiness through Mentored Research (Brown Foundation; Modeling Intended STEM Success -Award# P120A130040)
HACU Conference 2017 Executive Director Scholars Academy – Dr. Mary Jo Parker, Project PI Mathematics Professor – Mitsue Nakamura The Scholars Academy is funded by the National Science Foundation (0728408, 0909948, 0934913),
U.S. Department of Education (P120A130040), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC-27-10-1121; NRC HQ-12-G-38-006; NRC HQ-84-14-G-0028 ),
Joint Admission Medical Program (K-2-01024), Brown Foundation, Shell Oil Company Foundation, Welch Foundation (BJ-0027), NOAA (NA113NMF4630053),
Dr. Barry S. Garrett Endowed Scholarship and UHD Donors.
• Urban Commuter School since 1974 •Hispanic Serving Institution • Minority Serving Institution
• Tuition is 6th most affordable in Texas • Over 44 bachelors and master degrees
•14,400 Students • ~ 1,000 new FTIC students annually • ~3,500 Transfer students annually
•~ 2,000 graduates each year • Over 1500 majors in College of Sci & Tech
University of Houston-Downtown
University of Houston-Downtown
UHD
• HSI and MSI federally designated institution • Four-year university, ~14,400 • Primarily an undergraduate institution • Unique geographical location
– Centered in the 4th largest city in the U.S. –Houston, Texas
• Serving first-generation students across all ethnicities (76%)
•Over 1100 majors in College of Science & Technology Composed of Departments in Natural Sciences, Computer & Engineering Technology, Mathematics & Statistics, and
the Scholars Academy •57% Natural Science majors
•36.5% Computer and Engineering Technology majors •6.5% Mathematics & Statistics majors
•Scholars Academy undergraduates represent ~17% of CST STEM majors
College of Sciences & Technology
(Data as of Fall 2014)
UHD Scholars Academy Mission: To increase to 100% the number of students
graduating with degrees in STEM Vision: Through experiential support 100% matriculation into
graduate programs, professional programs, and STEM industry careers
HispanicsAfrican AmericanCaucasianAsian/ Other
42%
17% 17%
24%
UH-Downtown Hispanics
AfricanAmericanCaucasian
Asian/Other
43% 18%
26%
10%
Scholars Academy
UHD has the most diverse student population of any liberal arts university in the Western U.S., according to U. S. News & World Report.
Male - Female 44% - 56%
Male - Female 40% - 60%
(SA data F16; UHD data F16)
SA Demographic Overview
High Impact Educational Activities
Kuh, 2008
Active learning practices research suggests increase rates of retention and student engagement
• First Year / Transfer Seminars • Common Intellectual Experiences
• Learning Communities • Writing – Intensive Courses
• Collaborative Assignments & Projects • Undergraduate Research • Diversity/Global Learning
• Service Learning, Community-Based Learning • Internships
• Capstone Courses & Projects
Benefits of FTIC/Transfer Seminars
• Building a cohort community of STEM • Acts as an orientation to expectations • Expresses one message to all • Each “introduces” research as early engagement
in scientific thinking • Movie Project (FTIC Seminar) • Research Proposal (Transfer Seminar)
• Professional preparation • Curriculum vitae • Personal statement
Benefits of Undergraduate Research
• Increased student involvement in college • Academic collaboration & engagement • Creates a positive peer advising environment • Easier to identify faculty mentors as role models,
esp. minorities • Enhance career networks (Hunter, Larsen, & Seymour, 2007; Lopatto,
2010)
• Improved critical thinking, professional protocols, & communications (Lopatto, 2009; Kuh & Hu, 2001)
• Gain a sense of research as a career at the graduate level
UHD MSEIP PhD Research Team
Dr. Brad Hoge, Associate Professor, Natural Sciences Dr. Katarina Jegdic, Associate Professor, Mathematics & Statistics Dr. Mian Jiang, Associate Professor, Natural Sciences Dr. Amy Baird, Associate Professor, Natural Sciences
Project Design
• Understanding the impact of a model program on underepresented and female STEM majors’ success outcomes associated with retention and persistence.
Modeling Intended STEM Success Project
Interventions
• Freshman Ramp-UP support • Precollege Jump start • Orientation each new semester • Freshman gateway course reviews • Parent-Student colloquium and dinner • Freshman Seminar course • Service Learning embedded in course • Active group projects including robotics
• Academic Skill Monitoring (WWC)
• 6 study hours in tutoring centers required • Barrier course intervention reviews (pre; mid; prefinal) (bio;chem;geo;math) • Free lower/upperdivision STEM tutoring (NS, PLTL, math/CS, CSET) • Mid-term grade reports
• Mentoring (WWC)
• Discipline-based groups led by PhD and peer mentor • Networking meetings • Training for upper division peer mentors • Monthly meetings with faculty mentor and peer mentor group • Monthly meetings for peer mentor group and faculty mentors
• Career/Research Skill Development (WWC)
• Broadening experiences (FT, seminars) • CV-Personal Statement development • Applications for internships/summer research • Early career mentored research with PhDs and in industry • GRE exam workshops by PhD faculty • National / State experts across disciplines and industries (ex. Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, Los Alamos Natl Lab) • Student Research Conference (oral and poster sessions) • Graduate School and Internship Fair coupled with Career Services Job Fair
• Leadership Development (WWC)
– Ambassadors, recruitment events, leadership training – Community engagement in mentor group service projects – Monthly training meetings https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/ https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/ReferenceResources/wwc_sps_protocol_v3.0.pdf
Project Objectives
1. Increase % of minority students achieving grades of “C” or higher in freshman and sophomore year gateway/high-attrition STEM courses. 2. Increase % of minority female students achieving grades of “C” or higher in freshman and sophomore year gateway/high- attrition STEM courses 3. Increase % of minority full-time students enrolled in STEM majors. 4. Increase % of minority female full time students enrolled in STEM majors. 5. Increase the number of minority students achieving STEM degrees. 6. Increase the number of minority female students achieving STEM degrees. 7. Determine the effectiveness program exposure on STEM retention, persistence, enrichment, and ultimate graduation rates by utilizing a matched research design.
• FTIC Math Reviews & Bypass Exam Sessions (June) • 36 days (to-date) • 144 hrs review/testing (to-date)
• Summer Research Days (July) • Friday program in two labs • Available three Fridays in July
• Parent/Student Colloquium & Dinner Workshop (Aug) • FMs participate • PMs participate • 500 parents/siblings (to-date) • 152 FTIC participate
• PreSTART orientation workshop (Aug) • 152 freshman served
• Fall/Spring Orientation (Aug/Jan) • All FM/PM discipline-based groups attend 6 hr orientation • 1,310 undergraduates served
Freshman Ramp-Up Metrics
Performance Summary of Freshman Seminar –START for STEM Freshman -Fall 2013-Spring 2017
Yr
No. of student enrolle
d
Mean GPA
No. of students
completesemester
Percentage of students complete semester
No. of students
completed semester with C or
better
Percentage of students complete semester with C or
better
No. of students
returned in following
spring semester
with scholarship
Percentage of students returned in following
spring semester
with scholarship
2013 39 3.87 38 97% 38 97% 34 87% 2014 39 3.36 37 95% 36 92% 24 62% 2015 30 2.9 30 100% 27 90% 25 83% 2016 41 3.54 40 98% 39 95% 36 88%
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
No. of students enrolled Percentage of studetnscompleted the semester
Percentage of studetnscompleted the semester
with C or better
Percentage of studetnsreturned in the following
spring semester withscholarship
Performance Summary – Freshman Seminar Fall 2013-Spring 2017
2013 2014 2015 2016
Academic Skill Monitoring Metrics (2014 – 2017)
• Math, science, computer science free tutoring • 9,450 per year (59,850 hrs to-date) • 175 undergraduate tutors (to-date)
• STEM course pre-final course review sessions • 4 Co-PIs • 3 sessions (pre-sem; mid-sem; pre-final sem) • 84 intervention sessions (to-date; fresh/soph gateway courses)
• FTIC study hours • 6 hrs weekly in tutoring sessions • 912 hrs extra support in studying
• Mid-term grade reports • 605 reports submitted (to-date) • 5% mandatory meetings with PI/Co-PIs (~30 to-date)
• Academic summer school catch-up/acceleration • Only when other funding permits
Mentoring Organization
Mentoring Metrics
• Peer Mentors • 118 PMs • 10 meetings per year (35 to-date) • 360 hours mentoring per semester (2,520 hrs to-date) • 3-day off-site Retreat (PM training) annually (72 hrs)
(360 training hrs to-date)
• Peer Leaders (seminar courses) • 48 PLs (2,160 hrs of in-course mentoring to-date)
Career and Research Skill Development Metrics
• Broadening experiences • 208 seminars • 332 field trips
• Early career mentored PhD research • 204 research experiences on-campus • ~60 per summer off-campus
• Dissemination of new knowledge through student conference presentations
• SACNAS, HEENAC, ABRCMS, ANS, STC-HPS, ASM-Tx Section, TAS, Grace Hopper
4 5 3
12
4
13
42
4 9
44
5
05
101520253035404550
Spring2014
Summer2014
Fall 2014 Spring2015
Summer2015
Fall 2015Fall 2016 Spring2016
Summer2016
Spring2017
Summer2017
Early Career Researchers
On/Off-Campus Research
126
11
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
On-Campus Off-Campus
Spring 2014 -Summer 2017 Early Career Research
Early Career Researchers & Classification
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Classification and Mentored Research
Fresh Soph Junior Senior
Early Career Researchers & Gender
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
M F
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
CSP Sp13(n= 31)
CSP SP14(n=30)
CSP F14(n=22)
CSP Sp15(n=22)
CSP F15(n=22)
TransferSp16
(n=35)
TransferF16 (n=26)
TransferSp17
(n=12)
Transfer Seminar Course Retention Rate Sp13-Sp17
ABC DFW Graduated Still in Univ Retention Rate
Graduate Career Paths for Early Career Researchers
24
4 3
GSMDSWRK
SA Impact on STEM Success
SA FTIC Entering
Grad/Professional School 44.9%
SA (all members) Entering Grad/Professional School
41%
Leadership Development Metrics
• Peer mentor group community service • Service hours – 1600 yearly • Project period – 11,200 hours • 40 small learning group meetings [10 per year] • PM Retreat training over 3 days followed by monthly
meetings [Total 126 hours]
• SA Ambassadors • Community engagement / Recruitment activities • 3,900 hours of recruitment • 114 undergraduates
PhD Mentored Research
• Dr. Baird – environmental toxicology studies on native populations of animals
• Dr. Jiang – study of molecular nanowires from polymer/carbon nanotube composites
• Dr. Hoge – urban watershed environments and mitigation efforts to restore watersheds
• Dr. Jegdic - hyperbolic partial differential equations called conservation laws that model various physical phenomena and have applications in gas dynamics, oil industry, chromatography
Additional PhDs Mentoring Undergraduates in this Project • Qavi – organic chemist • Simeonov – mathematics • Christmas – polymer chemist • Benavides – computational chemist • Sadana – cancer cell biologist • Feng – control & instrumentation engineer • Morano – environmental sustainability • Chang – computer science/robotics • Grebowicz – materials science • Johnson, K. – geology • Hessel – organic chemist
Outcomes
*What is your target number of minority students served per year? FY 2013 (October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014)= 200 FY 2014 (October 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015) = 200 FY 2015 (October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016) = 200 FY 2016 (October 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017) = 200 FY 2017 (October 1, 2017 – September 30, 2018) 0 *What is the actual number of minority students per year served (breakdown the ethnic minority males and ethnic minority females)? FY 2013 (October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014) = 182 FY 2014 (October 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015) = 202 FY 2015 (October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016) = 255 FY 2016 (October 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017) = 263* What is your target number of minority students served per year? FY 2013 (October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014)= 200 FY 2014 (October 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015) = 200 FY 2015 (October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016) = 200 FY 2016 (October 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017) = 200 FY 2017 (October 1, 2017 – September 30, 2018) 0 *What is the actual number of minority students per year served (breakdown the ethnic minority males and ethnic minority females)? FY 2013 (October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014) = 182 FY 2014 (October 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015) = 202 FY 2015 (October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016) = 255 FY 2016 (October 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017) = 263
Outcomes
*What is the actual number of non-minority students served? FY 2013 (October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014) = 98 FY 2014 (October 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015) = 104 FY 2015 (October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016) = 129 FY 2016 (October 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017) = TBD
Provide any Notable Results Increases in female STEM and minority female STEM noted
across those graduating (see Table 1) (Objective 4, 7)
12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16
Minority females 43 49 73 51
Minority Males 14 49 53 71
Table 1. Minority STEM graduates
Minority STEM full-time increased (See Table 2) (Objective 3)
Minority STEM All STEM Rate
2012 64 177 0.355932
2013 72 182 0.395604
2014 85 202 0.420792
2015 111 255 0.435294
2016 51 263 0.193916
Table 2. Full-time Minority STEM
Increases in female entering STEM undergraduate work (See Table 3) (Objective 3)
STEM 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Totals
Female
75 83 92 133 93 476
Male 102 99 110 122 170 603
Table 3. Increases in females in STEM
Mixed gains and losses seen in first and second year barrier course grade of “C” achievement (See Table 4)
(Objective 1, 2)
Minority 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Hispanic Females 514 576 436 261 TBD
Black Females 80 83 59 21 TBD
Hispanic STEM 1074 1002 833 430 TBD
Black STEM 200 171 100 51 TBD
Table 4. Gains and Losses in C or better grades in 1st & 2nd year courses
Qualitative Student Responses • Q-Do you feel more confident and competent to pursue graduate/professional study than similar
student who did not participate in these success strategies? • Student Answer-I feel that research experience and knowledge are important aspects of
undergraduate education in STEM. • More educated about the decisions and career paths to take in order to be a competitive applicant to
graduate schools. Yes, I felt confident enough to enter a STEM graduate program and successfully completed it.
• The seminars and fieldtrips enabled me to gain more knowledge about what graduate and professional schools look for in students.
• I have gained many leadership skills as well as my communication skills. • Well I feel more confident because I have a better understanding of what I should expect in
graduate/professional study because I got the opportunity to meet people who are currently working in the field I am aiming to work in.
• Being obligated to participate in field trips and seminars opened my view of the different options. I was able to assert my choice of biology after participating in some chemical fieldtrips and make sure that I did not like chemistry as my future job
• Working closely with the faculty mentor and other students during tutoring have provided me more interest and confidence in pursuing professional study.
• Participating in this program gave a lot of hands on experience which is very useful to be successful in life. Participating in undergraduate research allows the student to take control of their contribution to science, and become responsible for a project that is theirs, and the student can be proud of, and feel accomplished and confident of completing their work.
• Oh, yeah because it gave a head start in a way. It allowed to plan ahead based on what I observed.
Provide Lessons Learned that can be shared
PhD Scientist creates a tiered research lab mentoring system Senior undergraduate researcher Explains instrumentation Mentors early career undergraduates in small experiments Gained experience, then allows movement within the tiered system PhD Scientist provided Upper Division Senior Undergraduate as Research Leader Research Leader provides information and guidance based on PhD outcomes PhD meets regularly with the RL; RL meets regularly with the early career undergraduates PhD or RL will provide tours of the lab for visiting groups or outreach sessions RL is expected to be working on their own research project as well FTIC and Transfer Seminar provide an introduction to the activities associated with mentored research and the impetus to begin research
Dissemination of Project Results by Project Team
AACU STEM Conference HACU Conference AHSIE Conference UNM Mentoring Conference John N. Gardner Institute for Gateway Courses Conference HETS Best Practices Conference
