Understanding how Undergraduate Research Experiences Support Physics Identities

In this talk, we analyze shifts in students’ physics identities as undergraduate physics majors participating in their first research experiences. Students in the study participated in an elective seminar in which they were paired with graduate student and faculty mentors on physics research projects and participated in a weekly discussions about research. Using video data from student interviews, classroom observations, research mentor interviews, and research observations, we study how students developed identities as physicists. We highlight how interactions with other students and research mentors contributed to this development. Finally, we discuss implications for future research and programmatic design. \\ \\In Collaboration With: Chandra Turpen, Andrew Elby; University of Maryland College Park