The Early Research Experience in E-Term (EREE) Program: Goals and Impact

The goal of the WPI Early Research Experience in E-Term (EREE) program is to create a pathway into a research career for students who may not have the same opportunity provided to them. As a result, the EREE program creates a diverse community of students in first-time paid summer research positions at WPI. Additionally, EREE has been the method to support students on NSF grants where assistance in being placed in a summer position is offered, such as the NSF S-STEM grants: PASS-CS, CoMPASS, and ROSE-HUB I/UCRC; and for supporting a summer research fellowship for the Strauss and Charles O. Thompson Awards. Additionally, the professional development programming (SPuDS) through EREE is open and offered to all students in summer research at WPI. Currently, SPuDS hosts a combined: 4 REU sites; the EREE students; and these STAR Fellowships: Manning/Leser, Spencer, LaPre, STAR, and Neuroscience; as well as other volunteer research students working independently with other WPI faculty.

The program:

The EREE program funds and supports first- and second-year WPI undergraduate students through embedment in an authentic summer research experience, beyond lecture or laboratory courses. The research activities are diverse, since students work in groups representing all academic departments at WPI. Through immersion in STEM-based labs across WPI, these research experiences are mentored, in-person projects lasting 10-weeks. Students learn a variety of skills in their groups, including hands-on research techniques, data analysis, and presentation of results (oral, written) that align with their respective research areas. EREE creates authentic research experiences for WPI undergraduate students who are in the early stages of their academic career with technical, hands-on research and professional development activities. Students present their work via the poster symposium at the Undergraduate Summer Research Showcase.

Supplemental professional development training:

Student participants work full-time in their respective research groups and receive professional development training through the Summer Professional Undergraduate Development Series (SPuDS), which are organized and presented to equip participants with toolkits to build confidence in preparation for new opportunities and that is widely applicable in their academic and professional careers. Collectively, this project provides training and opportunities to increase learning and retention in STEM training, build self-confidence, and enhance students’ perceptions of their abilities. These sessions positively promoted life skills learning outside of conducting research and formation of a network. The SPuDS training sessions are facilitated by current WPI faculty and staff:

• Teaching, mentoring, volunteering, life fulfilment, and career planning
• What’s my story? Navigating LinkedIn and online profiles
• A practical guide to research ethics
• Reproducibility and rigor
• Broader impacts/community/communicating research
• How to write a conference abstract
• Socially relevant STEM research
• Poster making
• Alternate career paths
• All about graduate school

The research projects:

Undergraduate research is a high impact practice benefitting students by providing additional opportunities in STEM fields beyond classroom training. Early involvement in faculty mentored, formalized, and sustained research is particularly impactful on student’s careers. Projects are chosen from faculty proposals designed for early researchers. Research groups from almost all academic departments are represented, covering a variety of project areas and training experiences. Student participants are selected based on their applications and project interests, and preference was given to students with limited-to-no research experience. Faculty and graduate student mentors attend pre-program training for how to mentor members of underrepresented groups.

EREE is a high demand summer research opportunity. Many faculty proposed projects; yet less than half are chosen. Even fewer percentages of students are selected from the applicant pool. The supply of paid research positions at WPI is low due to a limited number of research groups with openings and funding. EREE reaches a variety of students on the WPI campus, including those from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM, students who may not otherwise afford to take an unpaid position, and international students who may not be eligible for research positions with citizenship restrictions. Since inception in 2019, the number of student and faculty applications received for EREE has far exceeded the actual number of students that we were able to support through current funding. EREE provides housing as needed. One of our goals is to reach students who may not be able to take an unpaid volunteer research experience due to financial need. An emphasis of EREE is to help students build a foundation to be successful for future research programs, scholarships, and graduate school applications. Past EREE cohort participants express interest in continuing research either with their EREE research group or elsewhere on or off campus.