An Analysis of NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate Site Programs from 2009 through 2014

Abstract:

The Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Program at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) supports U.S. institutions so that they can provide undergraduate students from any college or university the opportunity to conduct research at many different institutions. Participants also gain a better understanding of pathways for research careers. In 2013 a new system for annual report data collection was implemented by the National Science Foundation for all awards, including REU Sites. As a result, REU Site Directors must ask students to self-report data using the NSF Fastlane system. NSF has been collecting this data for several years and information is now available about the effectiveness of this new data collection system. Information on the GEO REU Site student demographics from 2014 will be presented and compared to data from previous years. Results show low participation rates by REU students in the data submission process. Many students who do participate skip questions or chose not to provide answers to the questions. Methods for increasing student participation in the data collection process will be discussed and suggestions for other ways to improve data collection as a community will be presented. Accurate information on student demographics for GEO REU Site programs are important because these students often go on to graduate programs and are the future role models for a diverse workforce.