1. Lindsay Augustyn
  2. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsayaugustyn/
  3. Assistant Director and Communications Coordinator
  4. STEM CONNECT
  5. https://scimath.unl.edu/stem-connect/
  6. University of Nebraska Lincoln, Southeast Community College, Western Nebraska Community College
  1. Brittany Duncan
  2. Associate Professor
  3. STEM CONNECT
  4. https://scimath.unl.edu/stem-connect/
  5. University of Nebraska Lincoln
  1. Jim Lewis
  2. Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics
  3. STEM CONNECT
  4. https://scimath.unl.edu/stem-connect/
  5. University of Nebraska Lincoln
Public Discussion

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  • Icon for: Christine Royce

    Christine Royce

    Facilitator
    Professor
    May 10, 2022 | 02:26 p.m.

    This sounds like it brings together a good set of differing institutions and students to help them make connections.  It also addresses bringing underrepresented groups into a pipeline that will build a supportive network which hopefully will follow them into their future. Remote students is definitely part of the future but the pairing of them with onsite students helps to build connections and communication skills.  

  • Icon for: Jim Lewis

    Jim Lewis

    Co-Presenter
    Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics
    May 10, 2022 | 03:23 p.m.

    Christine,

    Thanks for your post. Our grant is open to all eligible students in the targeted disciplines, but we have put special effort into recruiting students who are 1st generation, female, underrepresented minorities or rural students. Partnering with two community colleges in our state has had an unanticipated benefit of improving relationships between the university and community colleges. 

  • Icon for: Christine Royce

    Christine Royce

    Facilitator
    Professor
    May 14, 2022 | 07:33 p.m.

    Jim,

    It's great to hear that there is a focused effort on recruiting the populations that you've listed.  Hopefully with the support described, there will be a network for ongoing and continued resilience on the students part.

  • Icon for: Jim Lewis

    Jim Lewis

    Co-Presenter
    Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics
    May 10, 2022 | 03:20 p.m.

    STEM CONNECT is an S-STEM collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Southeast Community College (SCC) and Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC). Our grant emphasizes mathematics, computer science, computer engineering and software engineering. Those students who receive a scholarship at SCC or WNCC are assured that they have a scholarship waiting for them at UNL as long as they remain in good academic standing and pursue a STEM major. Last summer we were fortunate both that one of our Co-PIs, Dr. Brittany Duncan had an REU funded by the CISE Directorate and that CISE offered supplements to their REUs that enabled REU PIs to invite S-STEM students to participate. As a result, four of our students (Hadley Susie is missing from the video) were able to do research related to programming and flying unmanned vehicles. Two of our students even earned their pilot's license that permit them to fly drones. Two of the four were freshmen benefiting from an early research experience.

     
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    Nancy Hopkins-Evans
  • Icon for: Nancy Hopkins-Evans

    Nancy Hopkins-Evans

    Facilitator
    Senior Director
    May 10, 2022 | 06:39 p.m.

    Getting students involved in research early in their college experience seems like a great opportunity to recruit and retain them in STEM majors.  With just a couple of years of the project, what types of differences have you noticed when comparing students who are involved in STEM Connect and those who are not but are interested in STEM disciplines?  Do you think access to research as a freshman could possibly help students to persist or even do better in STEM related courses?  Do participating students have to keep a certain gpa to stay in the program.  Will the students be able to participate in research until they complete their degree?  Are there other ways that students have benefitted from participating in this project that were unanticipated or unexpected?  

  • Icon for: Jim Lewis

    Jim Lewis

    Co-Presenter
    Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics
    May 10, 2022 | 08:29 p.m.

    Nancy,

    Thanks for your post. Our grant started in October 2019 and we recruited our first 10 students in January 2020, just before the pandemic started. So recruiting 1st year students who started in Fall 2021 and involving some in research in summer 2022 was our first experience with this. We haven't collected systematic data on students not in our program, so any comment I make is more of a hunch. But, I think that when students get involved in research, they begin to see themselves as belonging in the field and are better prepared to persevere when they run into a difficult course. We want our students to have a 2.75 GPA their first year and a 3.0 after that. Most do. But, some had trouble and we believe that the pandemic made things harder for everyone, but especially hard for 1st generation and low income students. So we stuck with those who had a rough year last year. This year we organized study groups and got tutors. Our hope is that the number that struggle will be smaller this year. We didn't budget for funding research experience, so we can't do it systematically for all, but we are encouraging applications to REUs and applications for a local program called UCARE that funds undergraduate research. It also appears that a good percentage of our computer science/computer engineering students want internships rather than research experiences. We view internships as also positive and we are also helping students apply for internships. Our students speak very positively about the opportunity to be part of a community either through our seminar or through their study groups. 

     
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    Nancy Hopkins-Evans
  • Icon for: Nancy Hopkins-Evans

    Nancy Hopkins-Evans

    Facilitator
    Senior Director
    May 11, 2022 | 09:31 a.m.

    Jim,

    Thanks for the detailed reply.  I like that you decided to continue with the students who struggled by considering the probable negative impact of the pandemic and put in place study groups and tutors as a mitigation and retention strategy.  Do you have any idea how those students are doing this year?  Was the study groups and tutors open to all students and not just the students who struggled?  

  • Icon for: Jim Lewis

    Jim Lewis

    Co-Presenter
    Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics
    May 11, 2022 | 07:18 p.m.

    Nancy,

    For us, this is final exam week so it's a bit early to say how the semester went, but I am hopeful. Yes, all of our Scholars were encouraged to participate in a study group for each math or computer science/engineering course. We also found tutors for a physics course and a couple of mechanical engineering courses. 

    We tried to promote the idea that all the best athletes and singers have coaches. Also, we urged those who were achieving at a high level think of this as a way to "pay it forward". We argued that one learns a subject like math best when they help someone else understand the material. (See also my reply to Anna below.)

     

  • Icon for: Anna Suarez

    Anna Suarez

    Facilitator
    President
    May 11, 2022 | 01:11 a.m.

    Interesting project. You mentioned that some students were struggling academically which was exacerbated by Covid. Were these primarily CC transfer students or UNL students? Were study groups and tutors sufficient supports to retain students and increase their GPA or did you provide additional wraparound services?  

    What percentage of students are requesting internships vs research experiences? Does the project provide for either option or are you having to secure internship opportunities as the project evolves? Given students' interest in internships will you shift project resources to accommodate? How are you recruiting industry partners to support this component? 

     

  • Icon for: Jim Lewis

    Jim Lewis

    Co-Presenter
    Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics
    May 11, 2022 | 07:11 p.m.

    Anna, 

    Thanks for your post. Let me first say hello. Back in 2004 while you worked for TIG, you provided very important help as I applied for an NSF Math Science Partnership grant. I greatly appreciate that support.

    We have encountered challenges for some of our students with i) 1st year students and ii) students transferring from community college having slightly different problems. All this is anecdotal of course because the "sample size" of our community of scholars is small. (About 40.) Some first year students have difficulty dealing with the first math or computer science course that proves especially challenging. This is leading to some of our students changing to non-STEM majors. Again, these comments are based on a relatively small number of students, but it seems that 1st year students and female students are more likely to change majors. As for the CC transfer students, it seems that the approach to grading is different at our CC partners than our university. E.g., more points assigned to aspects of a course other than high stakes exams, while at the university exams make up a higher percentage of points in a course. This transition has been difficult for some of our transfer students.

    The study groups and tutors have made a big difference for some of our students. But there's another issue here. Early in a semester, students are a bit reluctant to accept a tutor's help or to regularly attend a study group. Some think they are too busy. Others may think they don't "need" the help until they do poorly on an exam. We are, of course, trying to build a culture of recognizing mutual benefit from a study group. 

    I haven't tried to quantify percentages of students choosing internships or research experiences. In fact, nearly 1/3 of our students are taking summer classes as a way to shorten their college careers and thus the cost of college. That said, I recently met one on one with each of our students and the computer science students almost to a person stress that they want to enter the workforce after graduation instead of going to graduate school. Thus, they place a high value on internships that may provide an advantage when they apply for their first post-graduation position. And, their CS instructors often help them get paid internships so I don't think it is an issue of resources. 

  • Icon for: Anna Suarez

    Anna Suarez

    Facilitator
    President
    May 14, 2022 | 12:09 p.m.

    Hi Jim, thank you for your kind words. I was happy to see that you are leading a project focused on increasing the STEM-CS pipeline.

    It is troubling that 1st year students and females switch to non-STEM majors at a higher rates than others. I know that the Meyerhoff program specifically intervened at critical stages to retain students in mathematics. I know they were supporting high performing math majors and they still had the same issues of retention. 

    We are also working with a fantastic non-profit, We Connect the Dots (https://www.we-connect-the-dots.org/upskill), Upskilling program focuses on soft-skills, psychological barriers in order to retain students in CS.  Laurie Carey, CEO is terrific and maybe a good partner for you now or in the future.

    You are probably award of the DoL and DoCcfunding to support paid internships. These have now been expanded to include CS experiences. Please let me know if you would like me to send specific RFPs.

  • Icon for: Jim Lewis

    Jim Lewis

    Co-Presenter
    Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics
    May 15, 2022 | 08:30 p.m.

    Anna,

    I've heard so much about the Meyerhoff program. I need to learn more about their strategies. Thanks for the information about We Connect the Dots. I agree that they would be a wonderful partner.

    I am not aware of the DoL and DoC internship opportunities. Please send me info on the RFPs.

    Jim

  • Icon for: Anna Suarez

    Anna Suarez

    Facilitator
    President
    May 16, 2022 | 03:27 p.m.

    Hi Jim,

    I am having the RFPs pulled together and will post them ASAP.  

    Freeman Hrabowski, UMBC President and founder of the Meyerhoff program, is retiring this year, and would be a great advisor/consultant to bring in or someone to just speak to about the your project. Honestly, NSF should hire him as a senior advisor to BPC projects. He's really amazing and provides great leadership to ensure that students, at all academic levels, stay in mathematics. 

  • Icon for: Cynthia Stenger

    Cynthia Stenger

    Researcher
    May 14, 2022 | 10:18 a.m.

    Great project! We have an S-STEM at UNA as well and I have had the privilege of working with some of the scholars in my bioinformatics research. I had a similar experience that the undergraduate research did give them a sense of belonging and attachment to the field, seeing themselves as potential contributors. Do your students present/share their work as part of the SSTEM Program?

  • Icon for: Brittany Duncan

    Brittany Duncan

    Co-Presenter
    Associate Professor
    May 15, 2022 | 10:59 p.m.

    Cynthia,

    We do have our scholars present their experiences to their colleagues at our group meetings. This has been a great way for the students to connect with each other, demonstrate their knowledge, and help the other students consider how a research experience may fit into their future plans.

    Thanks!
    Brittany

  • Icon for: Cynthia Stenger

    Cynthia Stenger

    Researcher
    May 16, 2022 | 08:29 a.m.

    Yes! I have students stand up in front and update the class on their bioinformatics research each week and it helps with nerves as well. It is not easy to talk about research when you are just starting out. You just have to jump in to the deep end.

  • Icon for: John Kaup

    John Kaup

    Higher Ed Administrator
    May 14, 2022 | 02:57 p.m.

    Great program.  We are also sold on the early-and-often research experience.  We have found through an earlier S-STEM (2012-2018) as well as a current award (2019-2025) that working with the students through an 8-day pre-college summer experience) and expanded advising helps students develop the agency to seek out research opportunities.  Look forward to seeing the success of your program over the next few years.

  • Icon for: Jim Lewis

    Jim Lewis

    Co-Presenter
    Aaron Douglas Professor of Mathematics
    May 15, 2022 | 08:32 p.m.

    John,

    Thanks for the information.