Often prevalent in the sciences, undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are highly beneficial engaged learning experiences in higher education. Though the benefits of UREs are well established, there is little information about which students participate in these experiences and the pathways they take to become engaged in them. This study…

Doctoral programs experience low attrition rates and with keeping this in mind, it is important to address the challenges and barriers preventing students from reaching their academic goals. The purpose of this study is to investigate knowledge sharing behaviors and types of knowledge being shared among doctoral students and whether this process…

The implementation of course-based STEM research experiences in high school would greatly expand access to high-level research, thus providing more students with the type of integrated learning recommended by organizations such as the National Science Board and the National Academy of Science. While there is ample literature on the success of…

The primary purpose of this qualitative narrative study was to explore the lived experiences of international PhD students who used academic English literacy during their research for their theses/dissertations. The second purpose of this study was to identify ways international PhD students mitigated academic language challenges for their…

Education Abroad is often billed as a wonderful opportunity for international collaboration and enhanced intercultural understanding for students and community members alike. Unfortunately, the local individuals in contact with these programs often have little ability to share their perspectives and have their voices heard. Each year over 300,000…

There is growing interest to develop programs and pedagogies focused on increasing representation of underrepresented minority (URM) students within the scientific community. URM students face many pedagogical, societal, and institutional barriers that lead to disproportionately lower levels of entering and higher levels of attrition from Science,…

Innovations in undergraduate education have increased the prevalence of active learning courses, online education, and student engagement in the high-impact practice of undergraduate research, however it is unknown whether students with disabilities are able to engage in these innovative learning environments to the same extent that they are able…

This qualitative study analyzed the attitudes and perceptions of Latino migrant students who were enrolled in the Project Based Research course, towards post-secondary STEM degrees. This study centered around ten Latino migrant students, 18-21 years of age who attended a Title I high school in South Texas. All participants took the Project Based…

Three studies were conducted for this dissertation around the broader topic of improving undergraduate health research training programs for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Peoples (NHOPP), and increasing the likelihood of NHOPP pursuing health science research careers. The first study systematically examined existing published literature on…