Creating HSI Opportunities for Research and Undergraduate Support

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project aims to increase recruitment of first-time students of color in STEM-majors, increase fall-to-fall persistence of STEM-majors, and elevate student’s ability to envision themselves as STEM professionals at West Hills College Coalinga, a 2-year rural community college in California’s Central Valley. The academic rigor associated with STEM-disciplines can be intimidating and impacts the likelihood of a student of color declaring a STEM-major and affects their retention.

To create smooth onramps for students interested in STEM, support systems for retaining STEM-majors, and cultivate students sense of identity as a STEM professional, the Creating HSI Opportunities for Research and Undergraduate Support (CHORUS) project integrates mechanisms such as peer-to-peer mentoring for first-time STEM-majors, professional STEM speakers of color, and STEM-faculty guided research activities that culminate in an annual Virtual Symposium spotlighting students research conducted throughout the year. The CHORUS project will honor the student voice by holding focus groups to identify practices integrated into the CHORUS project that are personally meaningful and impactful.

In terms of its broader impact, the CHORUS project will demonstrate the role rural community colleges play in nurturing STEM-majors, improving transfer readiness, and preparing students for success in STEM careers.

The Creating HSI Opportunities for Research and Undergraduate Support (CHORUS) project will examine the impacts of the project on STEM student enrollment, retention, and completion and the effect on students’ STEM identity at a 2-year community college in California’s Central Valley. The central research question is: To what degree does participation in early STEM activities lead to changes in STEM interest, recruitment, persistence, and identity in Latinx students?

The project seeks to investigate the efficacy of culturally responsive practices on STEM identity including, peer-to-peer strength-based mentoring, connections with STEM professionals of color, and engagement in faculty-guided undergraduate research. Using a quasi-experimental design, the investigation will compare CHORUS and non-CHORUS students on STEM Identity and STEM motivation.

The findings from the investigation will reveal the impact of undergraduate research and peer mentoring on enrollment, retention, and completion of STEM-majors with the intention to share the outcomes in journal publications and conference presentations. 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.