NSF Award
2121293
This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing the diversity of students in the STEM pipeline through the provision of opportunities for undergraduates at a historically black university to collaborate with plant and data science researchers via a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). A vibrant and diverse STEM pipeline is critical to the nation’s economy, innovation capability, and economic prosperity. In the United States, this STEM pipeline relies on diverse backgrounds, viewpoints, and experiences to improve innovation and outcomes, yet the participation of minority ethnic groups like African Americans in the pipeline remains lower than their representation within the population as a whole. Recommendations for building and sustaining a diverse and robust pipeline in STEM call for increasing the number of mutually beneficial collaborations between faculty at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and scientists in traditionally white academic institutions. Expansion of such collaborations would enable the numbers and types of authentic research experiences available to undergraduate students at HBCUs to increase. Current efforts to improve undergraduate STEM education include the adoption of CUREs that can successfully engage large numbers of undergraduate students in authentic scientific research. CUREs in diverse disciplines including biology, biochemistry and chemistry are gaining prominence in undergraduate institutions as a successful strategy for growing the STEM pipeline, but they are not prominent at HBCUs. Through this project, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (DDPSC), a non-academic, non-profit plant science research facility, and Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU), a HBCU, are collaborating to develop and offer a plant and data science CURE. The overall goal is to increase the number of minoritized students in the STEM pipeline.<br/><br/>The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)’s 2011 report, Vision and Change, recommended that the biology education community prioritize providing opportunities for students to practice science through active engagement in research rather than just reading about it. Experiences in research for undergraduate students are known to greatly contribute to academic achievement, future career interests, and increased self-efficacy. Despite such benefits, these research experiences have historically not been readily available to entire classrooms of students at minority-serving institutions. This project will enhance the scientific research skills of underrepresented racialized minority students through a CURE which will train student in cutting-edge skills in image analysis and data science techniques, using image datasets from current scientific research studies. By major and by course (biology vs math) we will analyze various student learning outcomes, including self-efficacy, attitudes towards data science, position on a knowledge acquisition curve, and Laboratory Course Assessment Survey (LCAS) scores. We will include in our model variables that might impact knowledge acquisition and self-efficacy using a generalized linear model (GLM) that includes attitude, gender identity, race/ethnicity, educational background, major, and scores for collaboration, discovery/research, and iteration. To determine how collaborating with data scientists impacts students’ perceptions of their role in research, we will use a mixed methods approach of analyzing the LCAS results which will quantify student’s perceptions of their engagement in collaboration, discovery/research, and iteration. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.<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.
