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Link to Project

The departure of undergraduate students from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors has remained a persistent problem since researchers and policymakers first took note 3 decades ago. Moreover, women and students of color majoring in STEM fields are more likely to switch to non-STEM majors, and continue to be underrepresented among those who persist to attainment in these fields. There is not only an apparent shortage of STEM majors to fill crucial jobs, but also a lack of critical diversity to spur scientific and technological innovation and expand opportunities for traditionally underrepresented groups.  

The 1997 book Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences identified numerous factors that affect STEM persistence. Although there have been widespread efforts over the past 15 years to address these factors, we don’t really know if these efforts have had any impact on students’ experiences and whether these experiences, in turn, have influenced student persistence in STEM fields.  This study explores current factors affecting students' decisions to stay in or leave their STEM majors. Comprehensive findings from this study are presented in Talking about Leaving Revisited: Persistence, Relocation and Loss in Undergraduate STEM Education, which will be published by Springer in December 2019.

Link to Project

The Creating Academic Pathways in STEM (CAPS): A Model Ecosystem for Supporting 2-Year Transfer project is part of the National Science Foundation's INCLUDES initiative to improve the preparation, increase the participation, and ensure the contributions of individuals from groups that have traditionally been underrepresented and underserved in the STEM enterprise, including women, members of racial and ethnic groups, persons with disabilities, and persons with low socio-economic status. The grand challenge of broadening participation in STEM is to transform the STEM enterprise at all levels in order to fully engage the nation’s talent for the ultimate improvement of the STEM enterprise.

The CAPS project—one of 40 launch pilot projects awarded NSF funding in late 2016—aims to create a systemwide, layered and integrated network for supportive pathways for 2-year students to transfer to CU Boulder to puruse STEM Bachelor's degrees. The overall aim of the project is to flatten the landscape of the higher education system in Colorado and create an effective, networked, holistic ecosystem, such that students who attend Colorado 2-year colleges are able to easily understand and navigate clearly specified pathways continuing and supporting their STEM education at any of Colorado's 4-year institutions.