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Chapter 14
Leveraging NSF-CREST Center Funding To Support Undergraduate Research at Multiple Hispanic Serving/Minority Institutions Kimberley R. Cousins,*,1 Timothy Usher,2 Douglas C. Smith,1 Renwu John Zhang,1 Paul K. Dixon,2 and Sara Callori2 1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, California 92407, United States 2Department of Physics, California State University San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, California 92407, United States *E-mail:
[email protected].
The NSF-CREST Center for Advanced, Functional Materials, CAFM, at California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) has greatly increased the number of quality research opportunities for undergraduates from multiple institutions, at multiple sites. At the same time, this project promotes research advancement in materials science well beyond what was pursued before CAFM. In this chapter we overview how we used the new CAFM Center and CREST funds to maximize opportunities for undergraduate research (UR), in a new interdisciplinary area, including evaluation of the UR experiences. The program builds on other successful projects by various members of the team, including early research experiences funded by the NSF PRISM program, more focused research funded previously by DoD and NASA, and the growing impact of our campus Office of Student Research.
© 2018 American Chemical Society Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
The CREST Center for Advanced Functional Materials Success with Underserved Students Our campus and region is home to a highly underserved student population; these students are similar to those who have been previously shown to benefit positively, and in some areas even more than majority students, from research experiences throughout their undergraduate career (1, 2). Our campus, a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI), is designated both as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and a Minority Institution (MI); close to 80% of our students are the first in their families to earn a college degree, known as first generation college students, about 70% receive Pell support, and our students come from ethnically and racially diverse populations, with over 60% Hispanic, and less than 15% white, non-Hispanic (3). Hispanic students in particular, especially those who are low income and/or first generation have been shown to have the lowest college graduation rates of any ethnic group (4). Our student researchers’ demographics fall close to campus levels, as indicated in Figure 1 Working with these students provide both unique challenges and opportunities: the challenges (cultural, educational, financial) are shared by many college students, but magnified in this population; and the opportunities for growth with mentored research experiences are enhanced, compared to more traditional student populations, since the students have more to gain.
Figure 1. Undergraduate research demographics for all sites, years 1-3.
In terms of student preparation and expectations, our experience has shown that we must invest significant effort to fill the gaps in students’ education and expectations. In addition to helping them overcome gaps in their formal STEM 244 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
education (4), many of our students are unsure of what research really is, and how research differs from the scientific “facts” learned in introductory classes. They are beginning to realize that an undergraduate education is more than earning a degree to get a higher paying job, and they often greatly underestimate themselves and their abilities. These UR students do not initially understand why research experiments sometimes give unexpected results, or yield results quickly. As an example, a student made the following statement during a focus group, reflecting a developing understanding of the research process. I wanted to leave behind something and I actually wanted to get some sort of research publication out but for the first two quarters and the first five weeks into this quarter I had no results. I finally started to get something, it is probably not publishable at this point, but it is something I could leave off for the people following. --CAFM Research student 2016 In addition, many of our students work 20 or more hours a week just to make ends meet, while living at home, some supporting their families (including their own children), and some commuting an hour or more to campus. Having the option to pay students, as we do from the CREST grant and other sources like workstudy, increases the likelihood that these students will be able to work in our labs during the academic year. The residential summer research session removes the commuting issue for our students; for many students it is the first time to live away from home, as well as their only opportunity for a dorm experience. Summer stipends are essential, substituting for employment income otherwise earned. Students with limited academic and cultural preparation for college are most in need of high impact practices (5) and other campus support for college success. We firmly believe, in alignment with the Joint Statement of Principles in Support of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities (6) that a well-structured undergraduate research experience serves as an ideal high impact practice, and our success with students through our CAFM supports this supposition. Partner Institutions In addition to CSUSB, six faculty on two regional community colleges (CC’s) and their students have been involved in Center research: College of the Desert (COD), located 75 miles to east of CSUSB, and Victor Valley College (VVC), located 35 miles to the north. Both institutions are HSI’s, located remote from large Southern California population centers. The CC students and faculty mentors have few existing research opportunities without external funding, and one has virtually no history of research on campus. The Center also partners with three research institutions to enhance both research opportunities for students, and faculty professional development collaboration. The Materials Research Science & Engineering Center at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (MRSEC at UNL) has been vital in advancing our program, and the investigators at the University of Buffalo (UB), and at NASA-Armstrong Flight Research Center 245 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
(NASA-Armstrong) have played essential roles in enhancing our work. CSUSB faculty and students have travelled to these research partner sites, bringing back expertise, and CSUSB hosts one graduate student from either UNL or UB each year. Funding External funding has been essential to our progress by allowing us to: support student researchers; provide faculty mentors with sufficient time to supervise students and coordinate projects; hire valuable administrative support and program evaluators; and purchase research supplies and equipment including, an atomic force microscope, essential for investigating functional materials. Our current funding from the NSF-HRD CREST program (7) is building on prior work of three of our faculty funded by the Department of Defense (8) on organic ferroelectrics, as well as work from two participants on the NSF-DMS PRISM (9) project, supporting early research experiences for STEM students. In particular, the PRISM program (10) has provided prior practice for the residential portion of the summer research program for our CAFM students, as well as providing a model for the community college Winternship research experiences; Winternships are short term group research projects completed during the winter break at the community college campuses. These Winternships have also received support from the NASA-CPAIR (11) program. The NSF-CREST program (12) deserves special mention, as this funding was used to found our research center, and has facilitated a corresponding an upsurge in materials research activity among CAFM faculty. The CREST program, Centers for Research in Engineering, Science and Technology, provides significant support to Minority Serving Institutions, in order to establish research centers with comprehensive plans for research, education, outreach and evaluation around a coherent theme. The program is a major initiative of the NSF in developing the capacities of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, HSI’s, Indigenous Peoples-Serving Institutions, and other MIs throughout the U.S. It is noteworthy that our campus has one of only two currently active awards, at sites without graduate programs in their disciplines (a third site is developing an associated MS program now). The Research Of course, no research program can be successful without original research ideas, which are both interesting to, and appropriate for undergraduate involvement. CAFM research thrusts emerged from a smaller project on organic ferroelectric crystalline materials, undertaken by three of us, and funded by the Department of Defense (8). This work emerged from years of expertise of one of us with inorganic ferroelectric materials, as well as expertise in organic and theoretical chemistry. Center personnel use a team approach to discover new materials, specifically advanced, functional materials from organic (carbon-based) molecules and salts. These materials have potential applications in data storage, imaging, measuring, sensing, electronics and a range of consumer products. 246 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
Additional team members have added expertise in thin film preparation and analysis. Due to the fact that CSUSB is a PUI, undergraduates have a great deal of ownership in the research performed at CAFM. Also, students find the wide range of potential applications of such materials interesting. Our UR students have successfully modeled small molecules and solid state structures using state of the art computer software; used and built equipment for depositing thin films and for testing ferroelectric properties as well as temperature dependent phase changes; synthesized monomers needed to prepare crystals and co-crystals; successfully grown crystals for analysis; and used a variety of newly purchased and preexisting equipment in the two departments for analysis of materials. One interesting subproject includes the development of a low-cost scanning tunneling microscope that could be widely used for instruction, including in high schools. A high school teacher has worked closely with one of the CSUSB-based faculty members and groups of high school and college students to develop prototypes for components of this system. The problems addressed inherently require a team of theoretical and experimental chemists and physicists to solve, leading to extensive collaboration and teamwork. Input from external collaborators, particularly former visiting graduate students and their advisors, has been valuable in overcoming research obstacles at CSUSB. The Center has promoted significant interdepartmental and inter-institutional research interaction, including personnel exchanges and joint research projects, at a level surpassing any prior collaboration for our PUI participants. Undergraduate students meet regularly in “Supergroup” meetings of collaborators across research groups, and interact frequently with students and faculty mentors outside of their own labs. Winternship research projects, conducted at the CCs, are designed based on CC faculty interest and expertise, and not directly tied to CAFM research goals. This provides CC faculty with rare opportunities to pursue their own research interests. These CC-based projects, pursued by groups of students, have addressed subjects that improve classes locally, including developing a novel enzyme isolation method, as well as addressing community issues, including analysis of air and water in and around the Salton Sea.
Capacity Building In order for CAFM to continue to support UR in the long term, the program needs to build the research capacity of participants and others in the sponsoring departments. The teamwork and interdisciplinary learning fostered by the Center now, will serve to support faculty research programs for years to come. Formal and informal interactions between CAFM students and faculty across disciplines, and at our partner institutions, have been essential to promote the progress we’ve made to date. One of us has devoted a sabbatical to learning new theory; several have visited UNL for varying lengths of time. The hiring of a new assistant professor of physics/materials science has also assisted our progress, and we are planning 247 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
to pursue hiring additional faculty for the Center when growth positions become available. CREST funds have also been used to build or purchase additional instrumentation essential for research. Most important of these is our atomic force microscope with piezoelectric measurement capabilities, essential to analysis of ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials. CREST provided funds to build an in-house vapor deposition system, and a CAFM researcher was awarded an NSF-MRI (Major Research Instrumentation) grant to purchase a commercial deposition system. Funds have also allowed us to update and expand smaller equipment in participating labs. Our external collaborators have also added to our capacity—both by performing experiments on our samples for which we are not equipped, and providing email/phone/Skype consulting as needed. The three visiting graduate students, two from UNL and one from UB so far, have helped with this collaboration. These students, who have visited CSUSB for 10-12 weeks, have not only accelerated research progress in their specialties, but have also gained mentored teaching experience at a PUI/MI in the process. As we look the future, we are exploring offering a new interdisciplinary masters and/or professional masters program in materials science. CREST has funded a needs assessment of potential students and area industries: the results strongly support the need for such a program. For example, of the 286 chemistry and physics majors or alumni surveyed, 76 (27%) are definitely interested in such a program, and 142 (an additional half) want to learn more about the program. The 77 area employers who answer the survey estimated that they would be hiring hundreds of new employees with expertise in materials science, over the next five years. Based on this demonstrated need, the MS Materials committee is now taking the next steps, including forming an industry advisory board to determine likely curriculum needs. Development of an MS program will further enhance both our research capacity, and thus enhance opportunities for our future undergraduate researchers.
Maximize Student Research Opportunities Nearly 200 students have participated in CAFM affiliated/supported research in the last four years, including 86 CSUSB students, 91 CC students, and 20 advanced high school students. Depth of involvement varies from participants undertaking a single 3 to 4-week “Winternship” experience on one of the two community college partner campuses, to multiple years (academic and summer) on multiple campuses (community college, CSUSB, research partner campus). Major participant numbers for the first 3.5 years of the program are summarized in Table 1, and a brief description of each component of the program is included below. Note that the time and expertise of CC faculty, as well as faculty and graduate student/postdoctoral mentors on our partner research campuses, are essential to maximizing the opportunities for our students. 248 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
Table 1. Total Participation in One or More CREST Research Experiences CSUSB students
Participant Enrollment/Project component CSUSB Summer research (2014-2017)
69
CSUSB AY research (2014-2017)
77
UNL summer research (2014-2017)
21
UB Summer Research
7
Community college students
Upward Bound students
20 (COD)
21 1
Winternship 2015-2017 (3 years)
53 (COD) 31 (VVC)
Students pursuing CREST research represent a breadth of majors, appropriate to this interdisciplinary project. Interacting regularly with students from other majors through research, both within individual research groups, and between groups, helps students make the leap from understanding individual disciplines, to seeing the connections between them. Year 3 is representative of all years of the program (Figure 2), with well over half of the participants majoring in physics or in Chemistry/biochemistry, along with significant numbers of engineering, computer science and life science majors.
Figure 2. Declared majors for UR participants in year 3 (all campuses). 249 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
The summer CAFM research experience at CSUSB is 10 weeks, residential, and includes social activities and field trips. It is similar to REU experiences elsewhere, and emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of the research by facilitating interaction between participating research groups. Many CAFM summer researchers at CSUSB have participated in one or more quarters of AY research prior to summer, and thus are better prepared for the summer session. A number of CAFM summer research participants have spent subsequent summers at external research sites, including at UNL and UB, sponsored by CREST, as well as multiple NASA sites, national labs like Brookhaven, and major research universities. We also welcome high school students through Upward Bound, and select COD students to our CAFM research labs, for the first 4-5 weeks of the summer session. The COD students also stay in the dorms: a near necessity, given the commuting distance. Our campus Upward Bound program makes sponsoring high school students relatively easy—Upward Bound takes care of all of the paperwork, including background checks and other issues that arise when one is working with minors. During the academic year, CAFM research continues, facilitated by faculty assigned time associated with the grant, and students earning stipends and/or academic credit for research. While at a necessarily slower pace than during the summer, AY research allows students returning from our external partners (UNL, UB, NASA Armstrong) to put their experiences to good use, and summer researchers to continue their progress. The vast majority of student presentations and posters at conferences and professional meetings occur during this period. We have also hosted three visiting graduate students for one quarter each. The graduate student visitors not only have helped with research, but also have gained mentored teaching and undergraduate research supervision at a PUI/MI, while serving as resources our undergraduate students considering pursuing graduate studies. Our collaborators at UNL and UB have provided research opportunities for our students each summer, as well as support for our ongoing research efforts at CSUSB. At least 10 research labs at UNL and 4 labs at UB have sponsored CREST-sponsored student researchers for 8-10 weeks of research over four summers. These students have been incorporated into existing (REU and other) visiting undergraduate programs for the summer, and our partner institutions have obtained two CREST partnership awards to enhance our students’ learning experiences. MRSEC (13) funding at UNL has provided additional summer research opportunities for three of our students, and one faculty member. The two community colleges sponsor 2-4 early research group projects during 3-4 week January intersessions (“Winternships”). Group research projects, directed by local faculty research interests, culminate in student oral presentations. Winternship UR students are assisted with applying for summer research experiences and internships during the Winternship, and many have gone on to participate in summer research at CSUSB, NASA and elsewhere. One Winternship project led to an expanded investigation, conducted during two summer sessions at CSUSB. This project, involving both a CC faculty member 250 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
and a CSUSB student has yielded both manuscript (in preparation) and patent application (submitted). In addition to counting on faculty expertise at the CCs and research partner institutions, we have also leveraged funds from other sources to maximize opportunities for our students, in conjunction with CAFM. For example, funds were awarded by our Office of Student Research allowing us to sponsor several summer researchers not eligible for NSF funds: DACA students (14), and non-resident students. UNL-MRSEC has sponsored one summer student through their minority initiative, and provided funds for one faculty member to conduct research at UNL with two additional students one summer. A grant from NASA provided opportunities for several students from VVC and their faculty mentor to complete internships at NASA-Armstrong Flight Research Center, and NASA and MESA funds have helped expand the number of paid Winternships offered at the CC’s. The UR students themselves are highly successful at wining opportunities that are not directly funded by CREST, including travel funds and local grants, as well as external internships and fellowships. Many factors contribute to this success; increased student confidence, mentorship in identifying opportunities, research experience, and letters of recommendation that reflect extensive knowledge of students’ abilities.
Quality Undergraduate Research Experiences: Implementation and Evaluation Involving large numbers of students in research is a sound accomplishment, but ensuring the experience is a one of quality is paramount to student success. With CREST funds we are able to include a professional evaluation team to implement a mixed-methods evaluation. The evaluators seek feedback from students from our various populations using surveys and focus groups, and gather faculty/mentor feedback on student growth. Having experienced and caring research mentors on our local team and at the CC’s is important to quality student research experiences. These faculty members seek to implement the most effective practices in research mentorship (15) and are evaluated directly and indirectly. In particular, research students from the summer program complete a survey evaluating their CSUSB mentors. In addition, focus groups follow other research experiences, including Winternships, CC student summer experiences at CSUSB, and external partner summer research programs; focus group questions include aspects of mentorship. We have used feedback from prior years of the program to improve our mentors’ skills. For example, we began including more explicit mentoring in graduate school preparation for our CREST researchers; after doing so in 2016, 82% of CSUSB researchers indicated they had talked with their mentors about graduate school; in the prior year, only 55% of students reported such conversations. Also in response to student feedback, we now better support students prior to external summer research experiences, particularly clarifying expectations and responsibilities. We are aware of the extra support our first generation college students need in a way that the external sponsoring labs may not be. 251 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
Some of our UR students have benefitted from research experiences in multiple settings: for example, many of the COD summer researchers at CSUSB have previously completed a CC Winternship experience. One COD student researcher has transferred to CSUSB where she is continuing her work on the team. Some of the Winternship participants take part in more than one year’s projects at their CCs, and several have gone on to external summer internships at institutions as varied as NASA and Stanford University. Focus groups have highlighted the considerable gain in confidence that students completing the Winternships have gained. The two quotes below, exemplify this growth.
(I am) not the type of student that an internship will be looking for. –CC student prior to Winternship, 2016 ...it helps you know you are capable of learning everything you want if you work for it, so I think that mentality comes after this internship. —CC student following Winternship, 2016
Many of our CSUSB researchers have travelled to our partner campuses of UB, UNL, and NASA, returning to share their new expertise with faculty and other students. Three of our former researchers have enrolled in graduate programs at UNL. And more than a dozen CSUSB researchers have used their local research experience as a springboard in attaining highly competitive summer internships and research experiences at research universities and government labs. Several of these students have pursued multiple internship/REUs as undergraduates. As a measure of this preparation, of the 34 student researchers who have obtained a bachelor’s degree to date, 10 are enrolled in Ph. D. programs in chemistry or physics, 1 has earned an M.S. in chemistry, and seven more are applying to graduate programs after graduation. Thus, more than half of the highly underrepresented students are, or intend to pursue post-baccalaureate degrees. Similar to others’ high retention and graduation rates for minority student researchers (1), one hundred percent of the 86 CSUSB CREST/CAFM research students have either graduated with their STEM degrees, or are still enrolled at CSUSB or another four year campus while progressing toward graduation in STEM. CSUSB research students also complete a Student Research Skills Survey (16), with a pretest at the beginning and a posttest at least one year later. Faculty mentors complete a corresponding evaluation of student research students (17). The surveys asked students or faculty to rate specific student research skills, using a five point Likert scale with 1 =”Not at all”, and 5 = “Completely”. For the 19 matched students who completed the pre- and posttests in 2016 (Table 2), student-reported mean scores increased in all categories, consistent with skill gains, and faculty mean scores showed gains in most categories. The four areas showing significantly significant improvement in student reported gains were in their abilities to: (1) formulate a research hypothesis based on a scientific question, (2) reformulate your original research hypothesis (as appropriate), (3) orally communicate the results of research projects, and (4) make use of the 252 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
primary scientific research literature in your field. All of these are skills practiced regularly by CAFM students. For faculty-reported student research skill gains (13 matched students), the largest, and only statistically significant gain was in how well students relate results to the “bigger picture” in his/her field. Faculty mentors review the findings each year, with an intent to focus on areas of perceived student weaknesses. Quality undergraduate research experiences allow students to experience the full scientific cycle—from question generation to presentation of results (6). Presentation of research brings closure, adds to the learning involved, and provides opportunities for students to improve written and oral communication skills. Students in the CREST program get frequent, and often multiple opportunities to share their research. Winternship participants give oral group presentations on the final day of their sessions. CSUSB-based researchers, whether from high school, CC or native students, regularly present their research progress at group meetings, and periodically at larger “Supergroup” meetings of the entire CAFM team. Most have also presented at least one poster and/or oral presentation at a campus-wide or external venues, such as the Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research, Emerging Researchers National Conference, CSUSB’s “Meeting of the Minds” campus symposium sponsored by our Office of Student Research, or any number of professional conferences. The 84 presentations or poster made through April 2017 are summarized in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Venues for UR student presentations/posters through April 2017. 253 Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
Table 2. 2016 Pre and Post Research Skills Survey Means for CSUSB Students Item
Student Pretesta.
Student posttesta.
Faculty pretesta.
Faculty posttesta.
Student differenceb.
Faculty differenceb.
254
Make use of the primary scientific research literature in your field
3.17
3.79
3.77
4.08
0.62c.
0.31
Orally communicate the results of research projects
3.44
4.05
4.33
4.44
0.61c.
0.11
Reformulate your original research hypothesis (as appropriate)
3.33
3.94
3.38
3.25
0.61c.
-0.13
Formulate a research hypothesis based on a specific question
3.37
3.94
3.56
3.89
0.57c.
0.33
Identify a specific question for investigation based on the research in your field
3.47
4
3.54
3.91
0.53
0.37
Write a research paper for publication
3.17
3.69
2.67
2.33
0.52
-0.33
Interpret data by relating results to the original hypothesis
3.68
4.11
4.08
4.31
0.43
0.23
Think independently
3.89
4.22
3.92
4.23
0.33
0.31
Statistically analyze data
3.56
3.89
4.5
4.5
0.33
0
Understand contemporary concepts in your field
3.63
3.95
3.92
4.15
0.32
0.23
Design an experiment or theoretical test of the hypothesis
3.42
3.72
3.56
3.89
0.3
0.33
Gourley and Jones; Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
Item
Student Pretesta.
Student posttesta.
Faculty pretesta.
Faculty posttesta.
Student differenceb.
Faculty differenceb.
Relate results to the “bigger picture” in your field
3.84
4.11
3.17
4.08
0.27
0.92b.
Observe and collect data
4.16
4.32
4.23
4.62
0.16
0.39
Prepare a scientific poster for presentation at a conference
-
4.18
4.5
4.75
-
0.25
Work independently given a research objective
-
4.18
4
4.5
-
-0.5
Understand the importance of “controls” in research
4.16
-
4.75
-
-
-
255
a. n=19 for student self-rankings; n=13 for faculty rankings of students 0.05
b.
Posttest mean minus pretest mean
c.
Paired samples t-test is significant at ρ
