(581c) Motivations and Practices in Undergraduate Research Mentorship

Engaging undergraduate students in original research activities is well-recognized as a high-impact educational practice, employed by many institutions to improve recruiting and retention. Documented benefits to students include deepened critical thinking, improvement of technical skills, greater communication and teamwork abilities, and enhanced awareness of career opportunities. In contrast, the faculty experience of mentoring undergraduate researchers is less studied. This investigation focuses on the perceptions and practices of chemical engineering faculty across the United States regarding the benefits of and barriers to including undergraduate students in their scholarly activities. Additionally, it explores departmental and institutional cultures related to undergraduate research.

In a survey distributed to chemical engineering faculty, most respondents indicated confidence in effectively engaging undergraduates in their research activities. While not all report useful research products from their undergraduate assistants, there is strong consensus that undergraduates can be contributors to research success. The results showed the strongest motivating factor for faculty to engage undergraduates in research was the benefit to the students, closely followed by concern for future generations of scholars, and enjoyment of working with the students. Advancing a faculty member’s research agenda was a very slight motivator.

This work will report some details of faculty perceptions of the student benefits that motivate them to mentor undergraduate researchers. The most highly rated benefit was related to student professional development: learning to deal with obstacles that arise in the research process. The next highest rating involved technical and critical thinking skills: data analysis. Since faculty time was reported to be a slight barrier to mentorship, the practices that faculty engage in and the time that they require will be discussed.

A majority of respondents strongly agreed that active undergraduate research mentorship should be considered in promotion and tenure decisions. However, they reported only slightly positive value of that work towards those decisions in their institutions. Very few faculty indicated that undergraduate research mentorship was included in their job descriptions, but most stated that their dean and administrators were supportive of it. Further, some institutions incentivized mentorship with faculty awards or funding for student stipends or supplies. Institutional promotion of undergraduate research opportunities for marketing and recruitment was widely reported, consistent with the goals of this high impact practice.

In summary, chemical engineering faculty report largely altruistic motivations for undergraduate research mentorship. Those who practice it value the student benefits and are willing to dedicate their time. However, there is a desire to see their efforts more recognized and incentivized.