To identify and broadly engage the next generation of computer science researchers, the Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI), an NSF INCLUDES Alliance, piloted a national virtual Research Experience for Undergraduates (vREU) during the summers of 2020 and 2021. Funded by an NSF RAPID grant, the pilot provided undergraduate research experiences to students and faculty across CAHSI colleges and universities widely distributed throughout the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico, with faculty mentoring students at other institutions in the majority of cases. The program used the Affinity Research Group (ARG) model to guide faculty mentors throughout the experience. ARG is a CAHSI signature practice with a focus on deliberate, structured faculty and student research skills development. At weekly meetings, the facilitators discussed and provided resources for specific skills that were appropriate at a specific point in time of a student’s research experience. Faculty mentors put skills development into immediate practice throughout their summer research program. The efforts allow CAHSI institutions to extend summer REUs to those students who might be excluded through alternative approaches to physical travel and residency due to year-round jobs, family obligations, lack of short-term housing options, and other insurmountable logistics. Summer REUs are vital to the national interest, as they serve as a key identification point for the next generation of graduate students and researchers. Responding to this, CAHSI’s vREU program distinctively uses the ARG model for the mentor-mentee engagement, and the vREU faculty mentors become part of a cohort community themselves. CAHSI vREU faculty mentors meet weekly to discuss best practices for working with undergraduate researchers, share ideas, and receive mentoring training and materials for use with their students in the following week. The CAHSI vREU methodology supports constructive critique and the deliberate development of research skills without requiring student relocation, enabling a larger community of students and faculty to participate and move undergraduates towards graduate study.  To learn more, please read the 2021 ASEE article.

Contact:  Dr. Patricia Morreale, regional lead of CAHSI North, pmorreal@kean.edu