Diversifying Participation in STEM Undergraduate Research at a Hispanic Serving Institution

Participation in research as an undergraduate has been found to increase student self-efficacy, persistence, and degree completion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics majors (STEM; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017, Chapter 4). This is particularly true for students who have historically been minoritized in such fields. Pierszalowski et al. (2021) point out that minoritized students have more barriers in accessing such research experiences. One potential barrier to minoritized students from low socio-economic backgrounds is the need to work to support themselves financially. In the current study, we explore whether a funded undergraduate research program at a small Hispanic Serving Institution diversifies the students engaged in undergraduate research compared to those who participate in research for course credit. About 100 students were recruited to join the NSF funded program, which provided 2100 in stipend per semester of participation. Students were encouraged to participate for at least 1 academic year. Two comparison groups will be selected from institutional data, one consisting of students who participated in undergraduate research for course credit, before the inception of the program but with the same faculty members, and the other consisting of students who engaged in research for credit concurrently but with different faculty members. Since the primary goal of the grant was to support students historically underrepresented in STEM (e. g. women, Latinx), we hypothesize that the funded group will be more diverse in gender, ethnicity/race, and/or socioeconomic background.