2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work In Progress: Multiple Mentor Model for Cross-Institutional Collaboration and Undergraduate Research

Presented at Women in Engineering Division (WIED) Technical Session 7

In this paper we describe our work in progress (WIP) partnership between three academic institutions to enhance multiple-mentor models for undergraduate research students. Our collaboration includes a unique planning effort to thoughtfully increase the number of women/BIPOC students in our programs, and support them in pathways to graduate education. We have designed a scaffolded undergraduate research experience for students that includes traditional summer research experiences, course based research experiences, and a multi-mentor model for graduate pathways.

Our preliminary results indicate that the scaffolded research experience can translate to many types of academic institutions, including creating research opportunities with community college students. Our team has developed materials for mentor training, recruiting students, and long-term funding strategies using templates for faculty grants. In our first course offerings students have demonstrated a strong increase in research identity as observed in student journal prompts and survey results.

Authors

Dr. Karen Watkins-Lewis http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9710-8605 Morgan State University [biography]

Dr. Watkins-Lewis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Morgan State University. She earned her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and her Doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Howard University. She completed post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia. Dr. Lewis’s research centers on increasing awareness on the various psychosocial factors that influence academic achievement, retention and leadership in science and engineering among students of color. She is currently in partnership with a number of institutions, including the University of Washington Tacoma. Dr. Lewis is affiliated with the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, where she has lectured incoming cohorts on race, science, and social Justice.
Dr. Heather Dillon http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4467-2306 University of Washington [biography]

Dr. Heather Dillon is Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington Tacoma. Her research team is working on energy efficiency, renewable energy, fundamental heat transfer, and engineering education. Before joining academia, she worked for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a senior research engineer working on both energy efficiency and renewable energy systems, where she received the US Department of Energy Office of Science Outstanding Mentor Award.
Dr. Rebecca N. Sliger Tacoma Community College
Bonnie J. Becker http://orcid.org/0009-0000-6118-9466
Erica Cline [biography]

Associate Professor in Sciences and Mathematics, and Director of ACCESS in STEM, an NSF S-STEM supported program that supports students in natural science, mathematics, and engineering at UW Tacoma.
Cheryl Greengrove
Dr. Petronella A. James Morgan State University [biography]

Dr. Petronella James is a faculty member at Morgan State University in both the Electrical Engineering and Transportation departments. Dr. James has experience in accreditation, program assessment and evaluation process and was recently (2016-2019), the accreditation coordinator for the school of Engineering. Her interest in engineering education emphasizes developing new classroom innovations and assessment techniques and supporting student engagement. Her research interests include broadening participation in STEM, equity and diversity, engineering ethics, online engineering pedagogy, program assessment solutions, transportation planning, transportation impact on quality of life issues, and bicycle access. She is a proud Morgan Alum (2011), having earned a Doctorate in Civil Engineering, with a focus on transportation. Dr. Petronella James earned her Doctor of Engineering (Transportation) and Masters of City & Regional Planning. She completed a B.S. Management Studies, at the University of the West Indies (Mona), Jamaica.
Angela Edes Kitali
Adrienne Scarcella

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