2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

BOARD # 461: The Husky PAWS (Pathways for Academic Wellness and Success) S-STEM Program

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session II

The Husky PAWS (Pathways for Academic Wellness and Success) NSF S-STEM program at Michigan Tech was awarded in 2023. Our team reviewed initial applications in Spring 2024 and launched the primer 3-week Husky PAWS Summer Bridge in 2024. The inaugural cohort included 6 students at the 4-year scholarship level and 6 students receiving one-year finishing scholarships. The Husky PAWS S-STEM program is utilizing Yosso’s Cultural Wealth Model [1] to leverage scholar’s cultural wealth assets for their academic success. The overarching program goals are increasing retention and graduation rates of these Pell-eligible scholars to those of non-Pell students.

Centering the Husky PAWS S-STEM scholars as experts in their own lived experience, the Husky PAWS S-STEM program takes a participatory action research (PAR) approach to improving our program. We have included funding for one of the Husky PAWS S-STEM scholars to serve as a PAR co-researcher alongside our project team. At this point, we have identified our first PAR researcher, who is a co-author on this poster and paper.

This paper will highlight progress, and offer key takeaways of the Husky PAWS S-STEM program through its first year. Efforts include developing applicant screening materials, summer bridge metacognition programming, cohort activities to build community throughout the academic year, and our PAR approach to improving these activities for the second project year.

Authors

Jose Manuel Padilla Michigan Technological University
Dr. Michelle E Jarvie-Eggart P.E. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6795-3899 Michigan Technological University [biography]

Dr. Jarvie-Eggart is a registered professional engineer with over a decade of experience as an environmental engineer. She is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Fundamentals at Michigan Technological University. Her research interests include technology adoption, problem based and service learning, and sustainability.
Briana C Bettin Michigan Technological University [biography]

Dr.Briana Bettin is an assistant professor of Computer Science and Cognitive and Learning Sciences at Michigan Technological University. Her research goals intersect computing education, user experience, and reimagining sociotechnical design through consideration of human communication, learning, interest, and impacts.
Kathryn Laura Hannum Michigan Technological University
Dr. Adrienne Minerick http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2382-7831 Michigan Technological University [biography]

Adrienne R. Minerick is a Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering. She earned her B.S. from Michigan Tech and her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), ASEE, and, most recently, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). She has served in various administrative roles at Michigan Tech and is a former President of ASEE. She earned the AES Electrophoresis Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 and was a prior Michigan Professor of the Year Nominee, which illustrates her dual passion for leveraging research and education for student growth and societal advances. While directing the Micro Medical Device Engineering Research Laboratory (uM.D. – ERL), she has managed ~$14.9 million, yielding 104 research graduates, a patent, and >110 publications. Her favorite quote is by Ray McDermott, “Culture is not a past cause to a current self. Culture is the current challenge to possible future selves.”

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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