HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Creating Connected College Research Communities

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP will integrate curricular, co-curricular, and programmatic activities to enhance the quality of undergraduate STEM education and to increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associates or baccalaureate degrees in STEM for large numbers of Hispanic, rural, and low-income students at Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) and regional community colleges. The curricular activities consisting of redesigned coursework with a focus towards increased access and inclusion will be integrated to the co-curricular activities involving undergraduate research opportunities, mentorship, and student services, and the programmatic activities consisting of professional development, scientific literacy, community engagement, and bridges to BS degrees.

This project utilizes undergraduate research as a pathway and catalyst for increasing the number of Hispanic/Latino, rural, and underrepresented student groups receiving degrees in STEM fields. Through a unique triad of partnerships with regional community colleges, high schools, and CSU Pueblo which serve underrepresented minorities in Southern Colorado and bordering states, this project will build around shared research projects to recruit, retain, and graduate students into STEM fields.

It integrates a streamlined and innovative pathway towards STEM fields of study, particularly in biology and wildlife and resource management, via exciting experiential learning experiences within a culturally sensitive learning environment. This undergraduate research will create communities that provide intensive mentorship, student support, and a sense of belonging to transition students from secondary education to undergraduate education in STEM degree-granting programs.

This project aims to improve : 1) Recruitment – by harnessing students’ inherent interest in biological and wildlife regional issues/problems and recruit them into research projects; 2) Retention - through intense mentorship and community research teams which provide students wrap around services and support; 3) Mentoring & Coaching – via faculty research mentors and coaches at CSU Pueblo and Central Community College fostering students’ presentations, publications, and attendance at national meetings; and 4) Partnerships - with high schools to provide concurrent enrollment offerings and with Central Community College to provide seamless transfer articulation agreements and develop programs to prepare students for immediate and smooth transition into the BS degree programs in Biology and/or Wildlife and Natural Resources at CSU Pueblo. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.

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.