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This paper presents the development of personalized job preparation and job search training and services for underrepresented STEM scholars as part of an institutional partnership model created to assist dissertators, postdoctoral researchers, and early career faculty along their path to joining and persisting in the professoriate. This work is part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) grant awarded to four university partners. The alliance's goal is to develop, implement and study a model of STEM doctoral degree completion and the transition to successful postdoctoral fellowships and faculty careers for historically underrepresented minorities. Underrepresented Ph.D. candidates in STEM fields have long lacked role-models from similar demographic representations due to the small number of underrepresented faculty in STEM fields who can serve as role models and mentors. This has created systemic challenges in recruiting underrepresented students for PhD programs and retaining them into the professoriate. Institutions have been providing job preparation and job search support for their students through general career and related services, such as resume/CV writing, oral presentation skills, mock interviews, and access to employer databases. This type or support may not be the most valuable for Ph.D. dissertators and postdocs whose needs are unique and whose schedules are packed with multiple commitments. In this paper, we discuss the approach to identifying and implementing multi-year job search and preparation activities to match the needs of underserved STEM scholars who started as Ph.D. candidates and moved towards academic positions at different rates. Sources of data informing the personalized training and services include perspectives of the project leadership, and feedback from the participating scholars collected as part of program evaluation. This feedback helped fine-tune the partnership model to provide participating scholars with the most meaningful support possible. Findings suggest three design features of successful support: 1. While general training and support such as those offered by career service centers are useful, specific support by STEM faculty with real-time efforts in applying for academic positions was more timely and valuable for URM scholars. 2. Transition support is critical as scholars' needs shift from dissertator to postdoctoral researcher to early career faculty. For example, requests to review job applications early on were joined by interest in grant writing once scholars moved into their first postdissertation academic positions. 3. Real time writing groups focused on proposal development and application portfolio development represent one of the most promising practices. Participants reported multiple academic, social, and motivational benefits resulting from the weekly meetings. Particular attention to job search and preparation will provide value to underrepresented scholars and assist them to successfully secure and persist in academic positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work-in progress study is to explore the impact of digital nudging strategies on the students' app engagement while using an educational application (i.e., CourseMIRROR). CourseMIRROR prompts students to reflect on their learning after each lecture and uses natural language processing algorithms to generate summaries of those reflections. Although, prior studies have provided evidence on the effectiveness of the educational apps on students' learning, there have been concerns about their inability to keep students engaged with the application. However, it is observed that behavioral interventions can be the way for positive reinforcements. Drawing from the "Nudge Theory" in behavioral sciences, we aim to use nudging strategies to enhance students' app engagement. In this study, we outline the process of introducing nudge interventions in application CourseMIRROR. In this paper, we describe the method to introduce the application in three sections of STEM course at Midwestern University. Furthermore, this study describe a quasiexperimental approach to understand the effectiveness of nudging strategies on students' app engagement. We suggest the methodology by dividing the sections of the course into three groups, where two groups will be nudged with two different nudge interventions, and third group is suggested to be a control group with no intervention. As the use of nudging strategies is new to educational applications and engineering education, the approach and effectiveness of nudging may help the future educators to use the educational apps in more effective ways to keep students engaged and eventually help students for their performance in large courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pursuit of deepening ones understanding of physics and its implications on biological functions, Biophysics presents itself as the forerunner in useful courses serving in this capacity. As a modern, interdisciplinary field of science weaving concepts of Physics, Biology, Math, and Chemistry, Biophysics provides the space for novel approaches and discoveries answering the questions of many scientists and engineers. Due to the broad reach of its purposes, Biophysics requires a multidisciplinary education. Students working towards degrees in any science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degree can benefit from taking a Biophysics course. In this paper, course design and types of instruction are presented and discussed, as well as student outcomes and feedback for the first iteration of this biophysics course. This course will offer undergraduate students a look into a multitude of techniques, based on physical principles and laws, which are used to explore biological functions. In addition, students will be challenged to improve their understanding of molecular structures in biological contexts and will explore the thermodynamic and kinetic regulation of biological systems as well as the bioenergetics of molecular and environmental interactions. Due to the level of coursework expected, students will have the opportunity to participate in active and passive learning activities, will be given learning assessments utilizing all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, and will be assigned a project involving Research as Inquiry. Check points will be built into the course to monitor students' progress on projects, at which time feedback and guidance will be offered. Upon completion of this course, STEM students will be able to clearly express their scientific thinking in both written and verbal form while successfully connecting concepts across their undergraduate curriculum. Students will be required to sharpen their skills as researchers as they learn how to focus their questions of inquiry and will then present their findings. Through developing an undergraduate course in Biophysics, a roadmap is presented helping STEM students to make necessary connections among their foundational undergraduate education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]