Increasing student and faculty participation and student learning in an undergraduate STEM summer research program in a government institution through a higher education partnership

Abstract

This paper describes steps taken to increase participation and student learning in an undergraduate STEM Summer Research Program at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), a government institution. The paper also describes outcomes related to how the program is helping the students prepare for their futures. These steps are taken during the third year of an ongoing process to transform the undergraduate program. A partnership among AFIT, the LEADER (Launching Equity in the Academy across the Dayton Entrepreneurial Region) Consortium, and the Southwestern Ohio Consortium for Higher Education (SOCHE) was established to assess the students' experiences and to inform future experiences based upon the results of surveys conducted annually since 2012. SOCHE has employed nearly 1,000 STEM students in the past 25 years. In 2012, a formal assessment tool was distributed to the students for the first time to measure the impact of the research experience. Also in 2012, a formal assessment tool was distributed to the Faculty Advisors of the students for the first time to measure the research experience of the students from their advisors' perspective. Following the student survey results in the 2012 Program, we identified the following four broad needs expressed by the students: (1) A desire for mentors with increased organization and communication among SOCHE, AFIT, and the students; (2) A desire for increased interactions with other students; (3) A desire to improve their CV or resume at the beginning of the program; (4) A desire to gain engineering experience, skills, and confidence in research. In the 2013 Program, we introduced and implemented four new voluntary components in response to the student needs. Because of government restrictions, the participation of students in the components is voluntary, and students were encouraged to participate by SOCHE. These transformational components are: (A) A joint orientation process with SOCHE and AFIT Project Leaders; (B) Student cohorts through social activities and STEM-based games; (C) A weekly seminar meeting with outside presentations of general interest; and (D) A Poster Session so that students can present the engineering experiences they have gained. Selected students were awarded "Posters of Excellence" Certificates in a poster competition. Student response rates in the 2013 Program were low to both a pre-survey administered by SOCHE when the program was in session and to a post-survey following the program (pre-survey response rate: 33%; post-survey response rate: 16%). While participation in the Joint Orientation was nearly 100%, student participation in the other 11 one-hour weekly events was low (13%). This paper describes increased student and faculty participation in the 2014 Program. The 2014 Program comprised 49 students and 14 Faculty Advisors. The 49 participating students is the largest number of students since the start of our assessment effort (The 2013 Program comprised 43 students, and the 2012 Program comprised 48 students). SOCHE continues to advertise the research internships conducted at the Federal Government Institution throughout southwestern Ohio. In the 2014 Program, we introduced and implemented a fifth component. This component is: (E) Counseling. This component provides personal interaction among the students and SOCHE at the Government Institution (where the students are pursuing their research projects). In this component, the Director of SOCHE drove to the Government Institution for one day (Wednesday) each week and spent four hours meeting informally with students and answering student questions regarding the Program. Approximately 20 students met the Director each day. In addition to introducing Component (E), we also standardized the location and time of each event in the four components (A)-(D). Each event was held at the same time (noon-1pm) each week in the same location. The consistency of the programming helped the students remember each weekly event and contributed to increased participation. This paper will describe the new component (E) and additional steps taken to increase student participation and student learning in the five components in the 2014 Program. This paper will also describe outcomes related to how the program is helping the students prepare for their futures and steps taken to increase faculty participation in the Faculty Advisor survey. In the 2014 Program, student participation increased in each component. Nearly 100% of the students participated in the Joint Orientation. Thirteen of the 49 students (26.5%) participated in the Kayak trip; 18 students (36.7%) participated in the resume workshop; and 21 students (42.9%) participated in the Poster Preparation Session. Seventeen students (34.7%) prepared 12 posters for the Poster Session, compared with the participation of 9 out of 43 students (21%) who together prepared 7 posters in the 2013 Poster Session (a Poster Session was not held in the 2012 Program). Faculty participation in the 2014 Faculty Advisor survey is 11 out of 13 on-campus faculty (85%) (One faculty transferred out of the country prior to the administration of the Faculty Advisor Survey and was not able to be surveyed). The increased faculty participation rate in the 2014 Program compares favorably to the Faculty Advisor response rates of 56% in the 2013 Program and 61% in the 2012 Program, respectively. Our capability to strengthen the program focuses on incorporating feedback from the students, who are government contractors, and incorporating feedback from the Faculty Advisors in order to inform best practices in workforce development. Additional results and findings of the assessment of the 2014 Summer Research Program will be discussed, and the results and findings will be compared with results from the 2012 Program and 2013 Program.