A Theme-Based Seminar on Environmental Sustainability Improves Participant Satisfaction in an Undergraduate Summer Research Program

Journal of Engineering Education, Jan 2008 by Grimberg, Stefan J, Langen, Tom A, Compeau, Larry D, Powers, Susan E

In a highly-selective program such as ours, most participants arrive with a strong intention to eventually acquire a graduate degree. It would be worthwhile to evaluate whether summer research programs such as ours increase the likelihood that participants are accepted into high-quality graduate and professional school programs. We suspect that the added value for most participants of a summer research program such as the Clarkson REU Site Program is in developing the experience, skills, knowledge-base, and mentoring network that facilitates acceptance and success in higher-quality graduate programs, and hence contributes to eventual success in a career of science and engineering research or teaching (as shown in Bauer and Bennett, 2003).

VI. CONCLUSIONS

The addition of an interdisciplinary seminar program on environmental sustainability to our summer research program increased participants' satisfaction apparently because it made them aware of the value and greater context of their own and other participants' research. The benefits of the seminar series appear to be considerably greater than the cost in lost research time. Our REU Site Program increased participants' interest in pursuing graduate studies but it also shifted some participants' career track away from research. Overall, our results have demonstrated that this type of seminar, focused on reinforcing the relevance and importance of student research in a broader context, can have a very positive impact on student response in an REU program. In addition, a stated outcome of this NSF education program, to encourage undergraduates to pursue higher degrees in science and engineering research and education, appears to be met, with the caveat that we have not established that the increase in intention to attend graduate school is for programs in science and engineering.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was made possible by grants from the National Science Foundation (EEC-9732294, EEC-0138970, EEC-0452789). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We acknowledge George Gilchrist for his contributions to preparing the second grant proposal for this program. We thank Bill Vitek for providing a consistendy provocative and rewarding seminar program for the REU participants. This is Clarkson Center for the Environment Publication No. 3332.

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