Workshop Overview

The challenges in recruiting and retaining a full range of American students in STEM areas are well-known. It has been recognized that the United States’ capacity to lead in the twenty-first century demands that new generations of students are educated in cultural and social realities beyond what they may have grown up with in the United States. To succeed and prosper in a global economy and interconnected world, university graduates need international knowledge, intercultural communication skills, and global perspectives. However, underrepresented students are often the least likely to have an international experience, such as studying abroad or conducting scientific research overseas.

Workshop Discussions

A workshop funded by the National Science Foundation (OISE1848137) was held in Arlington, VA on May 24-25, 2019 entitled “Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Minorities in STEM Research Abroad.” The workshop was attended by 54 U.S. and International experts involved in international academic activities ranging from public and private institutions, Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and Community Colleges. Participants included university administrators, faculty with established international research programs, student participants, and members of organizations (see page 21 for a list of contributing speakers).

The purpose of this workshop was to synthesize input from the attending experts to develop a report to the nation with recommendations, resources, and best practices that support international research experiences and exchanges for underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduate students by bringing together researchers and those actively engaged in successful international research collaborations in STEM fields.

The workshop organizing committee formulated the next set of fundamental questions related to how to increase underrepresented minority undergraduate students in international research abroad:

1. How to increase the number of institutions participating in a STEM research abroad program?
2. How to grow the number and the diversity of the students’ population that participate in a research abroad program?
3. How to expand the number of international research collaborations in Latin and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia?
4. How to build a community of practice to explore, document, and disseminate effective processes and high impact activities that can enable participation of a more diverse set of undergraduate students in international STEM research?

With these questions in mind, workshop activities were arranged in such a way that brief presentations by experts in the field of international research abroad were followed by panel discussions and break-out sessions aimed at answering these questions and gathering input and recommendations from the participants.