The Impact of Undergraduate Research Experiences on Participants' Career Decisions

Abstract

The benefits of undergraduate research include gains in research and communication skills, increased interest in graduate studies, and improvement in student persistence. Several studies have shown that undergraduate research can help promote career pathways into engineering by increasing enrollment and retention rates. The REU program described and evaluated in this paper aims to achieve similar goals, including providing students with basic research and professional skills to succeed in graduate school and beyond, increasing students’ awareness of career opportunities in science and engineering fields and promoting graduate study as a future educational goal. These goals are achieved by engaging undergraduate science and engineering majors in cutting-edge nanotechnology and engineering research projects, allowing them to experience graduate level research. Moreover, the program offers research opportunities to students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in STEM (women and minorities), and students who might not otherwise have similar research opportunities.

Program evaluation has been performed by analyzing responses from pre- and post-surveys of the 2016 to 2019 cohorts. The main focus of this analysis is investigating the impact of the program in increasing participants’ self-confidence and awareness of opportunities in STEM career and graduate studies. The analysis of qualitative and quantitative data shows gains in scientific self-reported skills and a positive impact of the experience in promoting graduate school and STEM careers. This study represents an example of REU programs in the field of nanotechnologies designed for undergraduate students.