| NSF Org: |
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 9, 2013 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 9, 2013 |
| Award Number: | 1339335 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Fay Cobb Payton
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | December 1, 2013 |
| End Date: | November 30, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $600,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $600,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
9500 GILMAN DR LA JOLLA CA US 92093-0021 (858)534-4896 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
9500 Gilman Drive, 0934 La Jolla CA US 92093-0934 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
Special Projects - CNS, CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
The University of California San Diego (UCSD) will implement a structured early-college research program to increase retention in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE). During their first and second years in CSE, students will participate in team-based research projects. Goals of the program include increased retention, particularly of women and underrepresented minorities, in the CSE major, an exportable model for engaging first and second year students in the research community at a large university, and increased performance in first and second year computer science courses. These goals will be evaluated through formative assessments, program guidance, and directed assessment of specific educational goals as well as a comparison to similar programs nationwide.
This project will change the environment at UCSD to draw early undergraduates into the existing research culture of the CSE department, impacting not only the 40 students per year in the program but also those not directly engaged in the program. More broadly, this project will provide a model that can be replicated at large research-focused institutions for engaging and retaining early undergraduates in computer science research.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project developed and studied the Computer Science and Engineering Early Research Scholars Program (ERSP) at UC San Diego. ERSP is an academic-year team-based research apprenticeship program where teams of second-year students learn the basics of CS research by apprenticing with existing research projects. The main goal of ERSP is to increase early retention in CSE at UCSD through a structured early-college research program that increases students' confidence and engagement in the CSE community. ERSP aims broadly to retain the highest quality students, with an emphasis on retaining students from groups that are underrepresented in computer science. ERSP has been running successfully at UC San Diego since 2014, with over 40 mostly second-year students participating under the supervision of 10 or more faculty mentors each year.
A central contribution of this project was to develop a model and associated support materials to allow early undergraduate research to successfully scale. These materials are publicly available in our Start Up Guide. Key features of the model that allow for its sustainability and scalability are its explicit training, dual mentoring and group structure. Participants are explicitly trained in research in an introduction to research course developed specifically for ERSP. Participants are dual-mentored by their research mentor and a central ERSP mentor. This mentoring structure allows research advisors to focus on technical material while the ERSP mentor keeps students on track. Participants work in teams of 2-4 students to build community and provide each other with support.
ERSP has drastically increased the number of undergraduate students who participate in research at UC San Diego, particular undergraduate students from groups that are underrepresented in computing. Of the 183 students in the first five cohorts, 66% identified as women or non-binary, and 22% identified as racial or ethnic minorities in computing.
ERSP has had strong positive effects on its participants. Analyzing retention and grade data from ERSP participants and two control groups we found the following results:
- High retention in ERSP: In its most recent two cohorts, 90-100% of participants have completed the full program.
- Improved retention in the major: 93% of ERSP participants who started as CS majors were retained in the major, compared to 81% in a matched control group of students who did not participate in ERSP. ERSP major retention was also slightly (but not significantly) higher than the 91% retention rate of our more rigorous control group: students who had applied to ERSP and were finalists for admission, but were not randomly selected to participate.
- Improved overall GPA: The average overall GPA of ERSP participants (3.54) was significantly higher than both the finalists (3.39) and the matched general control group (3.26).
From a survey study that compared ERSP students' attitudes and feelings to both students who had participated in other undergraduate research experiences (Other REU students) and students who had not participated in undergraduate research (non-REU students) we found that ERSP students:
- Reported higher confidence in their ability to complete their undergraduate degree to get admitted to graduate school than both of the comparison groups.
- Reported a higher level of interest in research related career paths such as becoming a college/university professor and a computing researcher in industry/government compared to both of the comparison groups.
- Were more likely to plan on attending graduate school than Non-REU students.
- Felt more like they belong in computing than both Other REU and Non-REU students.
- Were less interested than Non-REU students in pursuing a career outside of computing.
ERSP is now institutionalized in the UC San Diego CSE department, and is the basis for a new engineering-wide undergraduate research program being launched in fall 2019. In a follow up project we are also expanding ERSP to 7 new schools beginning with UC Santa Barbara, University of Illinois-Chicago, and Stanford. Implementation at these schools is already underway.
Last Modified: 03/09/2019
Modified by: Christine J Alvarado
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