1 The Spend a Summer with a Scientist (SaS) Program at ... - CiteSeerX

The Spend a Summer with a Scientist (SaS) Program at Rice University: A Study of Program Outcomes and Essential Elements, 1991-1997 Baine B. Alexander, Julie Foertsch, Susan Daffinrud (UW-Madison LEAD Center) and Richard Tapia (Rice University) African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians are substantially underrepresented in the fields of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET), particularly among advanced degree holders. In 1995, African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians made up 22.9% of the U.S. population but only 4.8% of Ph.D. degree recipients in SMET disciplines (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1995; Science & Engineering Indicators, 1996). While some of our nation’s top scientists, mathematicians, and engineers have come from ethnic minority backgrounds, the scientific and technical fields that undergird our nation’s economic power and potential are dominated by White and Asian males. As achievement and skill in science and technology become ever-more important to individual and national advancement in the high-tech economy of the 21st century, the need for American citizens from all backgrounds to contribute to scientific and technical innovation becomes all the more pressing. Although the underrepresentation of minorities in SMET disciplines is a systemic problem that results in significant losses of potential students throughout the educational pipeline, a critical disparity between minorities and non-minorities occurs between graduating from college and enrolling in graduate school. For example, in 1992, 193,000 white students but only 13,000 minority students graduated with a baccalaureate in the sciences or engineering (Massey, 1992). Of those students, 30% (57,500) of the white students went on to enroll in graduate school, and only 19% (2,500) of minorities did the same. This indicates that not only is there a large disparity in the number of whites versus the number of minorities leaving college with SMET degrees (minorities received only 6.3% of the Bachelors of Science degrees awarded that year), but that a significantly smaller percentage of minorities relative to whites with B.S. degrees continue with their SMET training, compounding the problem of minority underrepresentation even more. While there have been gradual improvements in minority graduate enrollment over time and numerous programs have been created in the last two decades to encourage greater minority enrollment, the underrepresentation problem is far from solved (Bowen & Bok, 1998; Manger, 1996; Massey, 1992, Trent et. al, in print). Even for universities that have succeeded in bringing minorities into their graduate programs, retention is still a problem, not so much because minority graduates do not complete their degrees with the same frequency as their white peers, but because their numbers are so few that every loss has a more significant impact on the ultimate demographics of the professoriate and research ranks. Clearly, increasing the numbers of minorities who pursue advanced SMET degrees and go into research requires a two-pronged effort: The first prong is that more minorities must be recruited to enroll in graduate school. Underrepresented minority students often lack knowledge about career paths involving advanced degrees in scientific fields and rarely encounter minority role models in these fields (Clark & Garza, 1994; Grandy, 1998). For this reason, it is essential that the implementers of minority graduate recruitment efforts understand the importance of : (1) undergraduate research experience; (2) interaction with potential role models; (3) engagement with a community of underrepresented students; and (4) opportunities to be mentored (Olson, 1988; Wagener, 1991). 1

The second prong is to improve the retention of minorities who enter SMET graduate programs through the provision of social support, financial aid, and mentoring. Researchers have found that the most successful programmatic efforts aimed at minority graduates generally include: (1) reliable financial support for participants, with fellowships being the most common means of support but teaching and research assistantships being the most successful at integrating recipients into their departments; (2) opportunities for minority graduate students to do research with and be mentored by faculty, particularly minority faculty where available; (3) opportunities for minority graduate students to participate in a student community and to serve as mentors to minority undergraduates; (4) summer courses or seminars that allow students with weaker academic backgrounds to gain necessary content knowledge and skills; and (5) providing orientation and professional development training for incoming students (McDavis, Molden, & Wilson, 1989; Olson, 1988; Phillip, 1993). One program that has developed a successful approach to addressing both the recruitment and retention of minorities in SMET graduate education is the Spend a Summer with a Scientist (SaS) program at Rice University. Dr. Richard Tapia, the Noah Harding Professor of Computational and Applied Mathematics at Rice, established the SaS program in 1989 with the help of the Center for Research on Parallel Computation to increase the number of ethnic minority and female researchers in science, math, engineering, and technology. The SaS program, the summer component of the recruitment and retention model that Dr. Tapia developed at Rice University, draws undergraduates from around the country and graduate students from Rice. Participants are given financial support to gather on campus during the summer and participate in a research project under a mentor/advisor who is either a faculty member or graduate student at Rice. The topic, degree of difficulty, and amount of structure associated with this project are adjusted to suit each student’s needs, whether they are a graduate student completing dissertation research or an underclassman from a small college who has never done research before. Students who need to catch up on their requirements or prepare for upcoming courses have programs tailored to meet that need. At the end of the summer, SaS participants write a report or give a presentation on their activities. There is a strong community aspect to the Summer with a Scientist program. Undergraduate and graduate students gather formally and informally throughout the summer to support each other and to provide ideas and assistance, with the graduate students already enrolled at Rice acting as mentors to the undergraduates. The entire group of SaS participants attend a weekly seminar with Dr. Tapia to discuss issues of research and professional development, race and gender, and problems or issues that have come up during the week. This weekly get-together is an opportunity to get to know and respect the other participants and to learn important lessons about what it means to be an academic, a researcher, and a minority in one’s field. The program also includes an outreach component: Participants serve as mentors to two groups of high school students for two weeks during the summer and have give presentations of their research to K-12 teachers who attended a CRPC-sponsored summer workshop. In the summer of 1997, the (Learning through Evaluation, Adaptation, and Dissemination (LEAD) Center was commissioned by the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) to evaluate the Summer with a Scientist program to determine program impacts and the feasibility of expanding the program to other departments or institutions. 2

LEAD’s year-long qualitative and quantitative evaluation also sought to uncover the program’s key strategies for successfully recruiting and retaining minority graduate students. This evaluation included in-depth interviews with program administrators; focus groups, interviews, and surveys with current and former student participants; and the analysis of longitudinal tracking data from previous participants in the program to see what they had done in the years since leaving the program. (The complete evaluation findings are reported in Alexander, Daffinrud, and Foertsch, 1998). In 1999, the SaS program was expanded through an NSF Minority Graduate Education (MGE) grant received by Rice into what is now called the Diversity Graduate Program in Science and Engineering (DGPSE, http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~dgpse/). The expanded DGPSE program builds on the successful SaS model, which Dr. Tapia developed within Rice’s Department of Computational and Applied Mathematics, and extends it to 15 other departments across Rice and 8 departments in the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This article reports on the SaS evaluation findings that were instrumental in the program’s expansion and dissemination to other sites.

Outcomes from the Tracking Data for Undergraduates and Graduates Overall, 68 students had participated in the Summer with a Scientist program between 1991 and 1997, the vast majority of whom majored in mathematics, computational science, and engineering. These participants have included minority undergraduates from around the country and female and minority graduate students from Rice University. Outcome information was available for 52 of these participants: 22 whose only participation had been as undergraduates, and 30 who had participated as graduate students. For the undergraduate participants, the main goal of the program is to encourage as many as possible to complete their baccalaureates and advance to graduate school. Figure 1 shows the outcomes for the 21 undergraduate participants who had already graduated and had the opportunity to make a choice about graduate school. As one can see, almost two-thirds of these participants enrolled in graduate school, while another one-third gained employment in the sciences, math, engineering, or technology (SMET). Figure 1: Outcomes for 21 undergraduate participants 1 not who have graduated employed 5% 13 enrolled in grad school 62%

7 employed in SMETrelated field

For the graduate student participants, the main goal of the SaS program is to retain them in graduate school until they receive an advanced degree, preferably a Ph.D. Figure 1 shows the 3

outcomes for the 30 graduate student participants who have participated in the program and have been tracked. The rate of retention so far is an impressive 97%, with just one student having left graduate school without a degree. A total of 17 (57%) of these participants are still in graduate school making steady progress toward their degrees, and of those 12 who have already graduated with advanced degrees, two-thirds have received Ph.D.s. Clearly, SaS program participants are enrolled and retained in graduate school at much higher rates than is the case with the typical minority (or non-minority) student in mathematics, computational science, or technology. Figure 2: Outcomes for 30 graduate student participants 1 left with no degree 3% 12 still enrolled 40%

8 left with PhD 27%

5 obtained Masters (still enrolled) 17%

4 left with Masters 13%

Essential Elements for Success: How and Why the Summer with a Scientist Program Works Although tracking the graduate school enrollment and advanced degree attainment of past and current participants in the SaS program allowed us to determine the extent to which the program’s ultimate goal was being met, it is unclear from these numbers alone what the impact of the program itself was on participants’ decisions to attend or remain in graduate school. Interviews and surveys of past and current participants were used to determine the perceived impact of the program on participants’ readiness for, decisions about, feelings about, and success in pursuing graduate degrees. These two data sources were consistent in demonstrating that the Summer with a Scientist program had a significant and powerful influence on the choice to attend or remain in graduate school for the vast majority of students who participated in it. Almost 90% of the participants who returned surveys said that the program increased their desire to attend or remain in graduate school. Similarly, many of the 17 program participants we interviewed said the SaS program had been a major factor in convincing them to enroll in or remain in graduate school. Several of the interviewees had never even thought of themselves as having the potential to enroll in graduate school until they participated in the program and were convinced by Dr. Tapia and their experiences in the program that they had what it takes to succeed as a graduate student. The program also had a powerful influence in convincing a number of graduate student 4

interviewees to remain in graduate school at times when their motivation for continuing was otherwise low. When participants were asked more specifically about which parts of the program influenced their decisions to attend or remain in graduate school, the three most influential activities in increasing participants’ desire to attend or remain in graduate school were: interactions with the program director, being in the company of other minority students, and the interactions with the other students in the program. For both survey respondents and interviewees, these three factors were given about equal importance, followed by interactions with their mentor, seminar discussions about professional development, and seminar discussions about race and minority status. The SaS program has other impacts beyond encouraging participants to attend or remain in graduate school. According to interviewees and survey respondents alike, participation in the SaS program created the feeling of belonging to a community, increased their feelings of preparedness for graduate school, and increased their feelings of preparedness for a career. Furthermore, the program increased most participants’ confidence in everything from doing research, giving presentations, discussing controversial topics in a constructive way, and mentoring other students to handling graduate level work, completing their degree, and succeeding in their careers. Decreases in confidence due to some activities (most notably, doing research) were seen for only a few of the participants. In the sections that follow, evidence from both the interviews and the surveys will be brought to bear on the question of how the SaS program produced these desirable effects. By performing an integrated analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data, we were able to derive hypotheses about the essential elements of each of the three critical structures in the Summer with a Scientist program: the program director that administers and sustains the program, the community of fellow minorities that surrounds students in the program, and the research project that is the focus of the participants’ summer training. In the three sections that follow, we will briefly discuss what factors critically define each of these structures and how each of these structures contributes to the success of the program overall.

The role of the program director Our analyses clearly demonstrated that the role of the program director in the success of the SaS program was an important one. Because it was the program director’s and NPACI’s desire to see this program replicated elsewhere—and with directors other than Dr. Tapia at the helm—it was necessary to determine which of the program director’s personal, situational, and background characteristics and which of his program-related activities contributed to the remarkable success of the program at Rice. Our analyses determined that there several characteristics of the SaS program director that were integral. In brief, the program director helps to make this program a success because the program director: • functions as a role model for the students as a successful and respected researcher from a similar background who has maintained his ethnic identity • is esteemed by his colleagues yet still approachable • supports and encourages students through individual mentoring relationships and builds their confidence to pursue and persist in graduate degrees 5

• • •

serves as a guide to the academic world by providing professional development information and opportunities to participants has a position of power and leverage within the university so that he can actively support the students’ academic and financial interests creates and actively sustains the SaS community

Student interviewees discussed how important it was to have a role model showing them it was possible for minority students like them to achieve their academic and career goals. They needed to see an academic who had encountered struggles similar to their own—someone for whom climbing the academic ladder had not come easily—in order to believe that they, too, could succeed. It was also important that this person be approachable so that the minority students felt comfortable and confident enough to go to him for support and advice. The SaS program provided participants with an ideal faculty role model in the person of its director, Dr. Tapia, and as a result, many came to feel less alienated and less anomalous in the predominantly-white academic culture they faced at Rice University and elsewhere. The program director’s role as a mentor is also important. All of the interviewees discussed how he supports and encourages students through individual mentoring relationships and builds their confidence to pursue and persist in graduate degrees by believing in them even when others—including themselves—do not. His belief in the students’ abilities is essential for their development of confidence either in their pursuit of a career in the sciences or in their persistence in graduate school. Minority recruitment and retention programs which have an administrator or group of administrators that share similar characteristics to the ones listed above greatly improve their chances of replicating the success of the SaS program. The role of the SaS student community The role of the SaS student community in the success of the program is also critical. Because both undergraduate and graduate students participate in the community, the program provides undergraduates with role models at various stages in the graduate process and inside knowledge regarding this particular career trajectory. Gaining this knowledge and a clear vision of a career path is important for increasing the representation of minority students in graduate school (Clark & Garza, 1994; Grandy, 1998). Research on graduate school success and retention has found that interactions with peers—as well as interactions with faculty—were a more important determinant of success in graduate school than were undergraduate background and personal characteristics (Blackwell, 1987; Girves and Wemmerus, 1986; Hartnett, 1976; Nettles, 1990). Minority students often feel outside the mainstream of their departments and often have problems interacting with faculty members (Carrington & Sedlacek, 1976; Allen et al, 1984; Clewell, 1987; Nettles, 1990; Smith & Davidson, 1992; and Turner & Thompson, 1993). Hence, for minority students in particular, interactions with graduate student peers can provide an otherwise difficult-to-obtain connection to their department and to other researchers. Within the CAAM department at Rice University, the SaS student community provides a vibrant and ongoing forum for such interactions to occur. For some 90% of the SaS participants we interviewed and surveyed, interactions with other minority students in the Summer with a 6

Scientist program significantly increased their desire to attend or remain in graduate school. While the program director played the role of faculty mentor and guide for many of the students in the program, the size and cohesiveness of the SaS student community allowed advice and support to come from multiple individuals rather than a single mentoring relationship. As a result, students within the SaS community could “fill in” for the program director in circumstances where he was not available and learned how to become mentors themselves in the process. Our analyses of survey and interview data determined that the SaS student community is essential to the demonstrated success of the SaS program because it: • surrounds participants with students from similar backgrounds who understand their experiences firsthand • provides undergraduate participants with numerous graduate student role models • provides a pyramid of mentoring relationships between students at different levels so that each student can both be a mentor and be mentored • allows support and advice to come from many individuals rather than having students rely on a single mentoring relationship • has continuity and is sustained through having students participate for multiple years • is fully integrated into the life of the department and receives legitimacy through its connections to a respected research center • provides an open forum for discussions about race and ethnicity • provides instruction, practice and encouragement in professional development Having a student community with these characteristics increases the likelihood that the program will succeed in recruiting and retaining minority students. Multiple-year participation is a particularly important element of the SaS Program because it provides continuity that few other summer programs have. Our analyses of participant interviews made it clear that the very reason that the SaS community has become so strong and influential is that it is sustained through multiple-year participation. As a result, the social infrastructure that is in place is permanent and self-perpetuating, and the community and its culture can be maintained. SaS repeaters are the bearers of the community and student research culture; it need not be created anew every summer. The role of the research project Since participants in the SaS program spend the majority of their time working on their summer research project, the project is, for most, the focal point of the program. For the undergraduate interviewees in particular, the research component of the program was key to the program’s impact on them and their decisions regarding graduate school. It gave many of them their first experience with original research, taught them how to deal with the open-ended nature of the research process, and was essential in giving them the self-confidence to see themselves not just as students, but as actual researchers. The research projects allowed undergraduates and firstyear graduates to increase their knowledge of their discipline and gave them a more concrete understanding of how the things they had learned in classes could be applied to real world problems. This, in turn, made it easier for them to make informed choices about enrolling in graduate school or what they might want to study once they were there.

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Participants had only to observe and ask questions of those around them to get an accurate picture of the life of an academician and researcher and to get a clear view of the path that lay ahead if they chose to enroll in graduate school. Finally, working on a research project with a faculty mentor provided participants with a forum for collegial interaction with a faculty member. This gave them the confidence to approach professors and discuss research topics even after the summer had ended. Our interview and survey analyses determined that there are several characteristics of the summer research project that significantly contribute to the demonstrated success of the SaS program. The research project is integral because it: • allows students to experience and learn about the research process through working on an unsolved, open-ended research problem; • increases participants’ disciplinary knowledge and their understanding of how that knowledge may be applied; • assists students in defining and refining their research and career interests; • provides students with an introduction to the world of academia and graduate school; and • provides a forum for collegial interaction with a faculty member. Similar characteristics can be found in the research projects of most successful undergraduate research programs. What is essential to the success of the SaS Program is the interaction of these research based components with a community and a program director like those described earlier. Conclusion The Summer with a Scientist program succeeds in recruiting minority undergraduates into graduate school and in retaining minority graduate students at Rice University. The LEAD Center’s interviews and surveys with student participants and tracking of their academic outcomes demonstrated not only that SaS participants are enrolling in graduate school and obtaining graduate degrees at an unusually high rate, but that most of these participants feel the program has had a powerful impact on their decisions about and success in pursuing advanced degrees. A number of them asserted that they would not have completed their degrees—or thought to enroll in graduate school at all—had it not been for their participation in the Summer with a Scientist program. Because of the interest in replicating this program at other sites, we have provided guidelines for replicating this program in a department that is not CAAM, a university that is not Rice, and a program director that is not Dr. Tapia. Those wishing to replicate the success of the SaS program should keep in mind that the essential elements of the SaS program delineated here do not work in isolation, but rather interact with each other to produce the desired outcomes. Also, the listed elements should be seen as a guideline for what to aim for in constructing a successful program in another departmental or institutional context, not as an unalterable blueprint. Failing to incorporate one or more of these elements may weaken the new program’s chances for success, but not necessarily, and contexts very different from those at Rice may require that some elements not included on this list be added in order to achieve success. Until similar programs incorporating most or all of these essential elements are instituted in other departments or at other

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universities, our knowledge of the adaptability of the SaS program and the weight to be given to each of its “essential” elements remains incomplete. Finally, although the results of this evaluation have shown the Summer with a Scientist program to be remarkably successful at achieving its stated objectives, readers should note that such favorable outcomes have taken many years to achieve. It is rare for a program to show successful outcomes in its first year or two, especially when the program is one that is being adapted for use in a new context. The process of determining the unique benefits and constraints of a new context and adapting to those constraints takes time. Those wishing to achieve success in the shortest time-frame are advised to incorporate formative evaluation and tracking of program participants into their program from the very start. The program administrators must then be willing to use this formative feedback to make whatever refinements and adjustments are necessary. In the end, programs whose administrators are both patient and flexible will achieve the greatest success.

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Smith, E. P. & Davidson, W. S., II. (1992). Mentoring and the development of African-American graduate students. Journal of College Student Development, 33, November 1992, 531-539. Trent, W., Owen-Nicholson, D., Eatman, T. K., Burke, M., Daugherty, J., & Norman, K. (in press). Justice, Equality of Educational Opportunity, and Affirmative Action in Higher Education. In M. Chang, D. Witt, J. Jones, & K. Hakuta (Eds.), Compelling Interest: Examining the Evidence on Racial Dynamics in Higher Education. Turner, C. S. V. & Thompson, J. R. (1993). Socializing women doctoral students: Minority and majority experiences. The Review of Higher Education, 16, Spring 1993, 355-370. Wagener, U. (1991). How to increase the number of minority Ph.D.s. Planning for Higher Education, 19, 1-13.

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