Group
This research area studies how mentorship, peer support, and community programs help engineering students transition into and succeed within their academic and professional pathways — from freshman-year peer mentoring to reverse-mentoring models that connect students and faculty.
RSRC 4033 Research Course
Many of the student projects in this area began in RSRC 4033, UTEP CREATE’s undergraduate research course. The course materials are open to all students and walk through how to find a research pathway, work with data, and build a literature review — the same steps behind the mentorship and outreach studies featured below.
Publications & Projects
Transforming the Freshman Engineering Experience through Peer-Mentorship and Professional Competency Workshops
Tristan Hernandez & Dr. Diane Golding (Department of Education) paired teaching-assistant peer mentors with professional competency workshops for first-year engineering students, reporting sizable gains in students' confidence in communication, resume writing, and time management.
Enhancing Engineering Education Through Mentorship
Peter Golding, Diane Golding, and a team of student co-authors introduce a "dual-form" mentoring model — combining near-peer and reverse mentoring — aimed at building belonging and supporting Hispanic representation in STEM at UTEP's E-Lead 1301 course.
Faculty & Researchers
Where This Research Is Headed
Next steps for this area build directly on the projects above: extending the peer-mentorship and professional competency workshop model to more first-year engineering cohorts, continuing to evaluate the dual-form (near-peer and reverse) mentoring model in E-Lead 1301, and measuring how these programs strengthen belonging and Hispanic representation in STEM at UTEP.
