The objective of this proposal is to conduct a multi-phased evaluation of an experimental,multi-disciplinary coordinated program (WISER) that pairs first-year female students with faculty in research environments. First-year students are mentored and given duties and instruction in an on-going research project over two semesters. The program is united through its common objectives and a common recruitment process that leads to freely chosen, interdisciplinary parings. Faculty and staff at Penn State will construct an evaluation instrument which will allow them to refine the program to better retain or support three groups of participants: WISER interns themselves, graduate students who supervise them, and faculty who have accepted first year students into their research labs and who provide essential training, mentoring and role modeling. The project will demonstrate how this program can be disseminated to two-year institutions that are crucial in the SEM pipeline for women. A two-year urban campus on Penn State at Abington-Ogontz will begin a WISER program to test the model. They will use the faculty-student matching which is a key attribute of this program. Participating at both institutions are faculty and graduate students from the colleges of earth and mineral sciences, engineering, agricultural sciences and health science, a majority of whom are female. Based on the results of the evaluation, the proposers will present the WISER program (modified by the result of the evaluation) to 400 affiliated colleges and universities that form the 52 NASA Space Grant Consortia in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The final goal is to impact communities by sponsoring WISERs to present descriptions of their experiences with research in the sciences and engineering to the K- 12 students at their former middle or high schools.
