REU Site: Unpacking the Significance and Rigor of Engineering Education Research

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site project will support the training of eight students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2023-2025. Students will be engaged in investigating questions in the area of engineering education research. Professional development activities will help students improve their research and workplace people skills. Professional development activities will be held weekly and include topics such as preparing for the graduate record exam, writing personal statements, networking, finding and reading research, writing about research findings, and mock research presentations. Four research objectives guide the project. First is to provide research experiences to undergraduate students with at least half (50%) of the program participants coming from two-year and four-year colleges and universities with limited research opportunities and half (50%) coming from underrepresented groups in STEM (including first-generation college students). Second is to provide participants with an immersive experience in engineering education through research and professional development opportunities with an emphasis on the significance and rigor expected in the field of engineering education. Third is to enable participants to develop research skills that are transferable to their STEM fields of study. Fourth, and finally, is to promote and sustain, through undergraduate research experiences, mentoring, and networking, the interest of undergraduate students in pursuing graduate education in STEM, particularly engineering education research. The recruitment strategy is focused on STEM majors, especially those from underrepresented groups and institutions with limited research opportunities. As part of the application process, students will rank their preferred projects. The Principal Investigator will oversee final student selection to ensure good mentor/mentee matches. Applications are due by March 1 each year. REU site evaluation includes formative and summative student and faculty mentor evaluations. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data will be collected and analyzed to guide future programming. Students will be tracked after the program in order to determine student career paths. Students will be asked to respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. More information is available by visiting https://www.unl.edu/summerprogram/reu-engineering-education-research. 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.