Puerto Rican Higher Education Assembly of Researchers, Thriving not Just Surviving: a Conference to Promote Student Success

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program), the second Puerto Rican Higher Education Researchers Association, Thriving not Just Surviving conference aims to engage higher education faculty in Puerto Rico to benefit undergraduate education. Convened by the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust (STRT), the conference will bring together at least 40 faculty from public and private institutions in the island's Southeast region to create supportive faculty communities and drive student success.

Faculty will engage with experts to learn about current STEM workforce skills and build confidence in their potential to serve as advocates for educational change. Current undergraduate students will also participate in the conference to discuss their perspectives and educational experiences and facilitate more student-centered discussions. Participants will increase their awareness of external funding opportunities and strengthen grant writing skills as they explore collaborations with their peers.

Specifically, faculty teams will work with mentors to develop promising ideas for future grant-funded projects and begin to develop proposals to NSF and other funding agencies.

The main goals of this conference are to: (1) train faculty from the public and private universities of the Southeast region of Puerto Rico in grant writing skills focused on workforce development; and (2) leverage the centralized STRT system to help create collaborations among HSI faculty in Puerto Rico and other US institutions. Conference activities will expand participants' knowledge of STEM workforce skills and opportunities and generate evidence of improved faculty well-being and self-efficacy in grant development.

An expert evaluator will administer pre- and post-conference surveys to assess the impacts of the conference. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and increase capacity to engage in the development and implementation of innovations to improve STEM teaching and learning at HSIs.

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.