Collaborative Research: HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Studying Equitable and Inclusive Strategies for Mentoring in CUREs

Collaborative Research: HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Studying Equitable and Inclusive Strategies for Mentoring in CUREs With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project aims to rigorously examine mentoring relationships and structures as they are enacted in the context of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in the biological sciences. Further, this project seeks to identify the associations that exist between the aforementioned facets of the CURE learning environment, CURE students’ attitudes and professional dispositions (e.g., their development as scientists), and their persistence in research. These analyses will be leveraged to establish working groups tasked with developing and evaluating instructional materials and professional development opportunities that foster equitable and inclusive mentoring strategies in CUREs. Collectively, the findings and products generated from this work are poised to make a substantial contribution to the field and to educational practices by revealing key mentoring behaviors, institutional-/course-level policies, and learning supports that drive success in the CUREs space. Specifically, this project will: (1) use quantitative approaches to characterize the relationship between instructor/student demographic attributes and students’ perceptions of mentoring in CUREs as well as students’ perceptions of mentoring and their affective/psychosocial development; (2) employ qualitative methods (principally ethnographic case studies) to investigate the role of social structure and power dynamics on mentoring in the CUREs context; and (3) leverage research findings to organize and convene working groups focused on the sharing of ideas and resources necessary to build a culture of effective, equitable, and inclusive mentorship in CUREs. Thus, the proposed project will not only contribute new theoretical and practical knowledge to the field, but also cultivate the human and social capital needed to ensure that mentoring in CUREs becomes an explicit focus of the CURE teaching and learning environment. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. 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.