Effects of the Pion Program on Undergraduate Students

The Pion Program is an intervention designed to help prepare undergraduate physics majors that are members of Sigma Pi Sigma, the national physics honors society, to choose and pursue their post-baccalaureate plans. This intervention can address the issue of students being unprepared to choose their post-baccalaureate plans and provide them with the resources to confidently be able to do so. The Pion Program has three modules: professional development, peer mentorship, and faculty mentorship. An expected result of this intervention is undergraduate physics students being able to identify and pursue their post-baccalaureate plans. These students typically have two options---enter graduate school or the workforce upon the completion of their undergraduate degree. The future implications of this intervention would be for comparable programs to be applied to other STEM majors in order help those students develop the skills needed to pursue their post-baccalaureate plans. Further details of the program including methods of obtaining student feedback, changes made, and challenges that need to be overcome will be shared.