2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Students from underrepresented communities in STEM often face challenges of cultural biases and systemic barriers that can hinder their academic and professional advancement. As these students navigate their academic journey, mentorship is key to providing them with guidance, support, and a sense of belonging to overcome such hurdles. Faculty are often a source of mentorship for setting academic and career goals, serving as a role model for attaining a career in STEM, and finding research opportunities. However, they may not always have the bandwidth to directly mentor undergraduate students specifically. Previous work on peer mentorship focuses on how mentoring exposes and prepares undergraduates for graduate education, and we contribute to this discussion by analyzing specific traits and strategies that make peer mentoring effective towards cultivating students’ interest in graduate school. Our study explores success factors in peer mentoring of students from underrepresented groups in STEM.

We developed a mentoring program between Hispanic graduate and Hispanic undergraduate students to identify aspects of peer mentoring that may increase Hispanic representation in advanced STEM degree programs. We aim to address these questions: 1) How do interactions between mentoring pairs affect access to professional resources? 2) Which mentor qualities are successful in graduate school guidance? and 3) How can virtual activities engage students to build leadership skills and confidence in their academic pathways and future careers? The program structure has three key features to enrich the peer mentorship experience: (i) goal setting and reflections, (ii) academic/professional development, and (iii) community building. We evaluated the program through a series of surveys and interviews to collect information about undergraduates’ knowledge on graduate admissions items, reflections on mentoring interactions, and accomplishments made during the program.

We recruited participants through in-person promotion during meetings of student organizations, referrals, and written/electronic advertising (e.g., newsletters, websites). Our cohort of 16 included 8 graduate student mentors and 8 undergraduate mentees. Three of the four graduating seniors in the cohort enrolled into STEM graduate programs with fellowship offers, one is working as an engineer, whereas the other 4 students are continuing their undergraduate studies.

Undergraduates shared that interactions with their mentor were key for providing information about graduate school, including advice on writing strong personal statements and finding external resources. Graduate students noted the importance of their role as mentors especially if they have similarities with their mentees. Participants’ responses indicated that accountability, openness, and good communication are necessary in graduate school guidance. Their feedback at the end revealed that the program activities helped improve their leadership and communication skills. They also showed interest in expanding events and maintaining the program's initiatives to enable the Hispanic engineering community on campus to serve as a self-reliant resource. Our mentoring program demonstrates a promising structure in addressing Hispanic students’ access to mentorship towards promoting interest in graduate school and the importance of ongoing support in this effort.