Designing Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Experiences to Increase Diversity in STEM

The recruitment of undergraduate students, especially minorities, into STEM career paths and in particular into majors in physics continues to be a challenge. One approach for addressing this issue provides an interdisciplinary research opportunity that has societal relevance and uses basic concepts in physics. The program design involves year-round research combined with summer or short visits to major university, national lab, or private research facilities. Other program components include (1) cohort-building activities and effective mentoring; (2) short-course professional development modules focused on research ethics, literature survey, writing, and data management; and (3) student engagement in the creation of personalized professional development plans