Survey Says: DIMACS REU Informs Students about
Graduate School
[February, 2014] A recent
report
by the Center for Evaluating the
Research Pipeline (CERP)
finds that the DIMACS Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
program is doing a good job informing and inspiring students about
graduate school.
DIMACS has hosted undergraduates for summer research experiences
since its early years as a center. Over time, the DIMACS REU program
has grown and evolved – in 2013 there were nearly 40 students
immersed in our unique multidisciplinary environment. If it’s summer
at DIMACS, you can bet that office space will be in short supply,
but the corridors (and offices) will be brimming with creative
energy.
Our REU program is comprised of a DIMACS NSF REU Site that joins
with other REU programs all running concurrently at DIMACS. The
other programs include those from CCICADA
(the DHS Center of Excellence based at DIMACS), the Mathematical
Association of America’s National Research Experiences for
Undergraduates Program (MAA NREUP), and the Rutgers Department of
Mathematics, as well as a group of students from DIMATIA (the Center for
Discrete Mathematics, Theoretical Informatics, and Applications) at
Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
The goal of our REU program is to provide participants with a
research experience that will inform future education and career
choices and give students the confidence to pursue and succeed in
these choices. We aim to create an environment that enriches
students by exposing them to the varied perspectives offered by
different cultures, different fields, by theory and application, and
by industry and academia. In addition to research projects, the
program includes discussions about future careers, information
sessions on graduate school, and visits to DIMACS industry partners
that offer a broadened view of career possibilities in the
computational and mathematical sciences.
To gauge our success, we routinely survey students during the summer
of their REU and periodically thereafter. While these surveys
provide valuable feedback for updating and improving our program,
they do not provide any insight on how we are performing relative to
our peers or whether research experience ultimately leads to
better-prepared students. A new report prepared by the Computing
Research Association’s Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline
sheds light on these broader comparisons.
The CERP report compares student outcomes from participants in the
DIMACS REU program with those of other students in computing, both
with and without similar research experiences. The report summarizes
findings on “career preparation” based on data collected from 12
participants in the 2012 DIMACS REU immediately after having
completed the program. The report also provides findings on “career
progression” based on data collected in fall 2013 from a second
group of 34 students (from earlier DIMACS REU programs) who had
graduated in 2011 and 2012. With respect to career preparation, the
report says, “Results suggest that the DIMACS REU program may fare
better than other formal research experiences in terms of preparing
students for research careers and for applying to graduate programs
in computing and mathematics.”
Other key findings noted in the report are: “Compared to students
with other formal research experience, DIMACS participants reported:
• More overall knowledge about graduate school
• Greater impact of research experience on
knowledge about graduate school
• Greater impact of research experience on plans
to attend graduate school (but no difference in actual enrollment
1-2 years after undergrad)
• More motivation to attain a PhD in computing or
math (but no difference in actual enrollment in PhD computing
program)
• Greater interest in becoming a college or
university professor
• Less interest in a non-research job (and less
likely to be working in a non-research job 1-2 years after
undergrad)
• Greater usefulness of faculty relationships for
current career
• Similar levels of job satisfaction, professional
network strength, satisfaction with undergraduate preparedness and
usefulness to current career”
Some of these findings are summarized in
the “infographic” at left, which appears in the
January 2014 issue
of Computing Research News. It shows DIMACS REU students gaining
more knowledge about graduate school and showing more interest in
attaining a PhD and pursuing a career in research. Given the small
sample size, any findings on career preparation must be viewed with
a certain amount of caution, but they are nonetheless encouraging.
CERP was created by the Committee on the Status of Women in
Computing Research (CRA-W)/Coalition to Diversity Computing (CDC)
Alliance to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention programs
(such as REU) designed to increase retention of students from
underrepresented groups in computing. It strives to inform the
computing community about patterns of entry, experience, progress,
and success among individuals involved in academic programs and
research careers related to computing. CERP is funded by the
National Science Foundation (NSF).
The full report is available here.
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