Influence of NSF Funded Undergraduate Research Assistantships on Underrepresented Minority Students.

As the nation expects a change in the make-up of its ethnic groups, minorities will increase and play an important role in STEM fields, requiring greater support. In the last twenty years, the State of New Mexico and, particularly, New Mexico State University (NMSU) and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT) have taken major strides to increase the enrollment of minority students. As a result of these efforts to achieve the status of being Hispanic Serving Institutions, changes were made to the curriculum that would teach underserved students the skills necessary to be successful in a STEM field. Programs, such as the New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP), were brought to higher education institutions - including NMSU and NMT - to encourage collaboration between minority students and faculty on research projects, in an effort to promote the pursuit of a graduate education. The New Mexico AMP program was initiated at NMSU, intending to tie the higher education institutions together and supporting students at each of them. This paper will discuss the history of the New Mexico AMP program in detail, discuss student experiences, and provide statistical data on outcomes. This post-secondary STEM program's goal is to recruit students early in their undergraduate careers and integrate them into a working research lab. Engaging minority students in STEM research early in their academic careers proves to be an effective method for retaining interest in such fields and preparing them better for their future careers. Three case studies from Mechanical Engineering students at NMT are included which express the impact of AMP on their undergraduate studies and college careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]