2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Our program prioritizes high impact experiential learning in various forms, including course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) for women in STEM. Through these authentic experiences, students are paired with mentors (faculty and advanced peers) and given access to a professional STEM community, university resources, and most importantly an opportunity to develop their STEM identity. For over 30 years, undergraduate women, early in their education, have engaged in a first-time research experience that has four components: (i) an introductory research course which includes one semester of lab shadowing with university faculty member (ii) 10-week guided summer research (iii) a multi-layered mentor program (iv) and a research poster session. These experiences aim to improve students’ ability to persist and remain in their undergraduate STEM majors. The undergraduate research experience that serves close to 100 women each spring semester includes a recent curriculum update of the introductory research course. This unique course features an active learning classroom element which includes workshops, hands on laboratory experiments, and laboratory techniques. Additionally, students benefit from the support of the course instructor, near- peer mentor, and a five (5) hour per week lab shadowing experience with a research faculty advisor. Over 70% of the students in the course participate in the 10-week guided summer research opportunity. The summer component of the research experience includes continued support of a near-peer mentor and faculty advisor who help students develop their STEM identity as they strengthen their scientific reasoning through technical understanding of their projects. At the conclusion of the experience, students communicate their findings at a poster session. As a first-time research experience for women in STEM, this CURE highlights the importance of representation and community in research areas where women are still largely underrepresented. A quantitative program assessment was conducted to provide a look on the program’s impact on graduation over the last 10 years. The long-standing program proves to be a high impact experience as the results showed that 94% of the students who participated in the program graduated with a STEM/STEM adjacent major.