HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: CAMINOS (Creating A More Inclusive Network and Orientation through STEM Community Engagement)

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic‐Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project aims to increase participation in scholarly STEM experiences for Latiné and other historically underserved students at Northern Arizona University to promote culturally sustaining values, career competencies and academic success. These populations continue to be underrepresented in STEM fields, excluding their voices from the important process of solving pressing societal problems. Participation in paid undergraduate research, internships, and other scholarly experiences support students' sense of belonging in STEM, and develop career competencies, important for economic mobility. These experiences can increase the motivation to persist in STEM and pursue STEM careers. In this project, lower division undergraduate students will be exposed to scholarly STEM experiences, while upper division students will participate in mentored internships to communicate research outcomes with the broader community and local youth. Participation in scholarly STEM experiences that benefit society builds on students’ cultural assets and supports the integration of cultural and science identities, important for increasing representation in STEM. To further support students, a new culturally responsive mentoring module will be incorporated into existing faculty and staff mentor training. Outcomes for scholars will include development of career competencies, and increases in STEM identity, academic success, and retention to graduation. The specific aims of the project are 1. to prepare lower division students to be competitive for scholarly STEM experiences, 2. to provide upper division science and education students science communication internships integrating cultural assets and career competencies, 3. to offer research mentors culturally responsive mentor training to augment current mentor training opportunities, and 4. to generate new knowledge about how participation in scholarly STEM experiences impacts Latiné and other underserved minority students' identities and sense of belonging in STEM. The research study will use a concurrent mixed methods design to offer a fuller understanding of the impact for historically underserved students and their intersectional identities when culturally responsive practices and cultural assets are intentionally integrated into program design. Research and evaluation findings will inform development of co‐curricular STEM experiences for historically underserved populations while also addressing cultural and STEM identities. Additionally, the inclusion of elementary education students will contribute to knowledge about how engaging with the scientific research community through informal experiences can contribute to the development of science teacher identities. Findings will be disseminated to the broader audience of postsecondary institutions serving high numbers of Latiné and other traditionally underserved students, and the local community. 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.