NSF Award
2407374
This project aligns with the National Science Foundation’s mission for “the Professional Formation of Engineers, to create and support an innovative and inclusive engineering profession for the 21st Century”. The research project aims to address the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to study the effects of mentorship on persistence and success in STEMM. This study will examine the correlation and impact between mentorship outcomes and persistence in engineering for First-Time In College (FTIC) undergraduate women. A non-dyad mentoring network involving the pairing of mentees with an assembled number of mentors will be established based on deep-level similarities in sociocultural identities. Mentees will be paired with near-peer mentors in the upper-level division, an academic advisor/coach, faculty, and an industry mentor. Training modules for mentors will be developed to enhance effective and inclusive mentorship. Resource guides on mentoring best practices, mentoring tools, and training will be provided to all mentors to prepare and support their mentoring activities. Both mentors and mentees will be prompted with discussion topics. For example, prompt questions could include, “Tell me about a time when you struggled in a course and what you did to pass?” Mentees are expected to engage in formalized group activities that facilitate academic awareness, provide college survival tips, and support talent development and student success skills. Also, they are expected to participate in journal entries, focus group studies, and regular one-on-one meetings with their four mentors at different stages of their academic pursuits. A set of instruments, including reflection prompts, interviews, an inclusive demographics questionnaire, a Sense of Belonging, and Academic Self-Efficacy Scales, will be administered to respective participants in this mentorship structure. <br/><br/>This research project will be used to understand the impact of sociocultural contexts on mentoring structures, their processes, and their outcomes in the persistence of FTIC women in engineering. Specifically, to (1) determine the impact of traditional mentorship on FTIC women and their attrition rate in engineering at the University of South Florida; (2) investigate the effect of a structured mentorship model on FTIC women and their decision-making to continue pursuing engineering; (3) determine the effects of similar social and cultural perspectives of mentor and mentee relationships on the sense of belonging from their first year and beyond; (4) determine the impact of different social and cultural identities between mentors and mentees from their first year and beyond; and (5) examine and identify competency for sociocultural awareness relevancy to mentorship. Badura’s self-efficacy theory and Tinto’s theoretical framework will be employed to educate, motivate, prepare, and engage mentees. Statistical analysis and a coding software designed for qualitative and mixed-method assessment will be used to evaluate data, media, and text to decipher the outcomes between traditional and non-traditional mentoring structures and to examine the impact of similar sociocultural identities. The research will be conducted through a collaboration between engineering faculty at the University of South Florida and an engineering education faculty mentor at the University of Cincinnati. Results from this study will help expand the current knowledge base for creating and integrating a mentoring support system that intentionally targets engineering identity, persistence, and retention rates for students from populations underrecognized and underserved in STEM. The research outcome can potentially reveal, validate, and address the academic disparities in STEM education in the select population.<br/><br/>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.
