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“Building Your Science Toolkit”: a unique laboratory‐based mentoring program aimed at undergraduate students at risk for exiting the science pipeline (618.33)
Author(s) -
RoeckleinCanfield Jennifer,
Yasi Emily,
Bixho Ida,
Walker Stephanie
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.618.33
Subject(s) - medical education , pipeline (software) , psychology , underrepresented minority , component (thermodynamics) , women in science , mathematics education , medicine , engineering , sociology , gender studies , physics , thermodynamics , mechanical engineering
The status of women in STEM careers continues to remain a problem, both in the recruitment and retention of women in science research and teaching. It is particularly critical for women from underrepresented minorities. One critical need seems to be focused on reaching students at a younger, more impressionable age and a large component of that has been the lack of substantial mentoring early in their careers. We initiated a laboratory‐based project to develop a mentoring program for Simmons College freshman and sophomore undergraduates, utilizing senior research students as mentors. The advantage of this project is to increase mentoring activities and training opportunities for the senior student as well. Studies have long shown that persistence in the STEM field for women requires strong confidence and leadership skills. Including a laboratory component focusing on skill acquisition, younger students are able to visualize themselves as senior independent study students early in their college career, critical to helping those students at risk to remain in the science pipeline. We will discuss the laboratory and mentoring activities of two pilot cohorts illustrating a unique badging system to document laboratory technique mastery. We will show preliminary assessment data on student gains in aptitudes and attitudes towards science. The expected outcome of this program will be an increase in participation in scientific research and greater numbers of women entering into the science career pipeline