Assessing the Impact of an Inclusive Community of Practice to Advance Motivation and Persistence among STEM Student Researchers

TThe National Science Foundation is committed to enhancing undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and research and contributing to increased competitiveness and preparation of the nation's STEM workforce. Towards this goal, this project seeks to leverage the extensive experience of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) through their role in convening the Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM and examining its impacts on improving motivation and persistence among undergraduate and graduate students. Since 2011, the ERN Conference has engaged a vast group of participants of more than 14,000 students and faculty, all of whom have engaged in STEM education and research initiatives supported by NSF Programs. Prior efforts have primarily focused on assessing the conference’s activities, whereby data have revealed evidence to support advances in students’ awareness of educational and career opportunities. This project builds on these learnings and aims to implement an approach to support a more in-depth analysis. The new efforts will generate predictive indicators of student success that provide a rich description of the lived experience of participants and consider participation patterns over time. Collectively, the results have the potential to provide a better understanding of the long-term impacts of participation in ERN. AAAS will conduct a five-year longitudinal study that employs a mixed methods approach with the ERN Conference as the primary data source. The data will be disaggregated to determine student and faculty engagement trends across institution type and STEM discipline-specific research areas. The project provides a unique opportunity to foster talent development within the STEM workforce, as well as deepen and expand current understanding of how efforts centered on research capacity, community building, and career preparation, contribute to advancing motivation in STEM. This project will engage a direct target of 5,000+ students (~1,000 annually), 500+ (~100 annually) faculty, and other constituents within the broader STEM community. The broader impact of this analysis of ERN participants will contribute to a STEM ecosystem positioned to address global challenges. 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.