Fascinating!  I love the virtual REU experience.  I would love to hear more about the evaluation of mentoring and also about whether you have studied sense of belonging and identity in any of the projects.

I wull share with our SACNAS chapter and hope that you will consider presenting all of this work at SACNAS.

Are there any publications yet about this work that we can share?

This looks like a wonderful program. In my discussions with graduate students, an undergraduate research experience was instrumental in their decision to go to graduate school. In the video you mentioned improving department climate. Are there specific strategies you use for promoting change in the climate?

What we feel was significant about the virtual REU program was the opportunity to present professional development (PD) to the participating faculty. We held PD at the outset of the program and then on a weekly basis with all faculty. It was a way to connect with faculty on the importance of engaging with their REU students and reflecting on the weekly experience.

Several specific steps which departments, including mine, have taken include identifying faculty working with students, by name and topic in a newsletter or webpage; posting student-faculty research posters in hallways or other common areas; and nominating faculty and students for awards or other recognition.  This public identification of the faculty working with undergraduate students elevates the work to the entire department. Additionally, students begin to see themselves as researchers and understand the longevity of their work. 

Great information on vREU, CAHSI Capacity Building, and the 2020 events on students. 

Thank you, Lori!  We've been very impressed with how the momentum from the summer 2020 vREU experience has carried over into our programs during 2021. Students who had the 2020 vREU experience were more confident of their abilities, which showed in their coursework and extra curricular engagement this year. Faculty who participated in the vREU experience maintained their engagement with students, increased the size of their research student community, and developed or maintained remote research collaborations with other faculty, based on their experience in the 2020 vREU program. 

I am so impressed with the multifaceted approach to student and faculty research inclusion.  Did the vREU pair students with research faculty towards the development of some type of dissemination product (i.e. posters)? How much of the focus was on STEM community building and skill acquisition? We are  doing parts of this with Caribbean students but the focus is more student gains and we do not directly assess faculty extended impact on students...very vell done.

The gains in efficacy around the next steps towards a STEM career were inspirational. 

The focus of our vREU faculty-student partnerships was the development of a research poster for presentation at the Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) conference, held in October.

This shared goal was supported by our vREU faculty mentor activities, which included commenting on the student weekly research reports and the development of the poster abstract. Our weekly meetings with faculty mentors were centered on the development of a specific research skill, while allowing the faculty to also discuss how they were developing their student community.  We found that allowing the faculty mentors to share their strategies with each other was very important, almost as important as working with the students! 

Thank you for posting this video! I am impressed by the breadth and scope of all of the activities that have taken place under this initiative. The emphasis on faculty as well as student development appears to be a key approach for success. I also want to echo Patricia Morreale's earlier reply to a comment about the importance of public recognition because I've had a similar experience. Many years ago I worked to help organize and implement the National Academies Summer Institutes on Undergraduate Education, an almost decade-long initiative which brought faculty from across the country together for a weeklong institute that focused on active pedagogies, assessments, and increasing inclusiveness in STEM teaching and learning. The organizers decided early on that faculty who participated should be recognized in some tangible way. So, we named each of them National Academies Fellows in Education for the year after their participation and issued a handsome certificate to acknowledge this honor. We were told that many recipients hung the certificate prominently in their offices. One person told us that after her department chair saw the certificate, she was given additional office and research space. The number of awards in research far exceed those for teaching and mentoring, so I applaud CAHSI's insight that such recognition can be meaningful.

I do have one question: Given the success of this program for undergraduate research in computer science, have faculty in other STEM departments at your universities taken notice and tried to emulate the good work that you've reported on in this video? One of my takeaways from 23 years of working on improving STEM education while being employed by the National Academies is that there may be a thousand points of light, but too often they are not collected together to produce a focused beam of light. Your initiative seems like it could serve as a model and catalyst for similar kinds of efforts elsewhere across the university and by other professional organizations.

Thank you again for producing and submitting this video!

It is exciting to hear of your earlier work with the National Academies Summer Institute.  Thank you for detailing it here. 

The Affinity Research Group (ARG) model, which the vREU effort shown in the video is built on, is well-established and has been used in other disciplines, including STEM for the past decade. Currently, we are planning to work with biology faculty to integrate the vREU model, using ARG, into their undergraduate and graduate training. With the increased interest in diversity in STEM graduate programs, the vREU/ARG model is particularly effective at reaching students who might otherwise not have the opportunity to learn about research careers early in their higher education careers, and encourages these students to consider graduate school.

The book which is shown in the video is The Affinity Research Group Model: Creating and Maintaining Effective Research Teams, by my co-presenters Ann Gates and Elsa Villa, as well as Steve Roach and Kerrie Kephart (IEEE Press, 2009).  This is a very good resource for anyone in any area interested in learning how to use the ARG model. Additionally, we will discuss the outcomes of the vREU work in more detail during our paper presentation at this ASEE conference this summer. 

As a co-presenter and researcher, as well as a special educator in a primarily Latinx community, I am intrigued by need to increase STEM opportunities for members of this community. The lack of resources impacts the development. More girls in STEM need to have opportunities to participate and develop coding skills. I believe starting STEM at a younger age would promote careers in STEM and encourage higher education. 

 The resources on your site are superb.  i will be sharing wit many colleagues. I would love to see many places emulate and adapt the program.

I also loved the tangible rewards post from Jay.  I have also found that faculty, teachers, GS and PD benefit from letters directly sent to their supervisors.  One time we tried a parking space with your name on it for a year...

It's so difficult to feel that sense of belonging in STEM without the support and encouragement of programs like this. This sounds like an enriching experience! I hope to see this program continue and to see others adapt their programs to introduce students to different areas of STEM research and encourage self-efficacy. Great work!

Yes, letters to supervisors, with copies the individual faculty can be very powerful.  The letters are a very good addition to retention portfolios as well. Great idea about the parking spot! 

All faculty and staff with CAHSI feel strongly about supporting students to make them feel welcome in computing. We hope to spread that across all HSIs, which would contribute to "moving the needle" in computing. See Gina Garcia's article on Hispanic Servingness, which is a key concept we've adopted that will create more equitable cultures in STEM: https://www.equityinhighered.org/resources/idea...

vREU using ARG is a wonderful way of providing opportunities for students that yield for them most of the same outcomes that one would get with an in-person REU, but, with added benefits -- for example widening the breadth of their network.

A question -- in the video you all make a point of highlighting the outcomes of the CASHI 2020 survey with a focus on the impact of COVID. I have to admit I expected, then, that you would come back to those outcomes and perhaps show how the vREU helped mitigate some of the outcomes. Did you survey for that information following the vREU? If so, what are the outcomes? If not, why did you include it in the video? 

Thank you!

Videos are very engaging when students can share their stories! 

I agree!  I have found that videos are very useful ways to share student experiences, and have really helped CAHSI broaden participation and engagement. 

The vREU experience is particularly well-suited for video sharing, as the students were remote throughout the program.  Both viewers and student participants benefit.  Students benefit both from sharing experiences, inclusion in the video for those selected, and learning about other students.  This helps all students with self-identification as student researchers and seeing a role for themselves in the research community. 

Ashley--thank you for your note.  Your work in involving high school students in research is fantastic.  It would be great to see more of this.

I am very impressed by your project and your dedication to making REUs available to students during the pandemic.  I am interested in learning more about what faculty development methods you employed regarding effective research and mentoring skills.