VP of Engagement sheds light on how to increase student success rate in STEM fields

Nicole Montero/Staff Writer

Liana Apolis, a senior biology major, said that female mentors have helped her reach her potential in some fields where women tend to be a minority–science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“It is very inspiring and humbling to see women who are able to fight against the odds to get where they are today and succeed in their careers,” said Apolis. “But it is true that there are very few.”

Student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields have increased by over 20 percent since 2004, says a study by STEMconnector.

The increase has opened up a higher demand for jobs in STEM-related fields. With this, come many other obstacles in helping students succeed, like minority gaps, success rates in courses and internship opportunities.

Arguably, the most concerning trend with students interested in STEM fields is the increasing gender-gap.

Interest in STEM has been declining among female students, who show a 14.5 percent interest, as opposed to the 39.6 percent interest their male counterparts show for these fields, according to STEMconnector.

Irma Becerra-Fernandez, vice president for Engagement and professor of Management Information System at the College of Business Administration, is part of that female percentage.

She was the first female to receive a PhD in engineering at the University and believes that minorities are ruefully underrepresented in these careers.

“Women, Hispanics and African Americans are underrepresented in STEM careers,” she said. “FIU, as a minority-majority university, has an even more important responsibility in that the nation is going to be looking at us to see what we’re doing to get minorities interested in successfully completing STEM careers.”

As a female engineer, Becerra has frequently given talks about women in STEM fields – particularly in computer science. In recent years, she has observed that the percentage of women in computer science and information technology fields has declined.

“It’s hard to believe that, when I went to school, there were more women in these fields than there are now,” she said. “This is a really alarming issue because we have observed that whenever you have diversity in a field, the field is strengthened.”

As prior vice provost of Academic Affairs, Becerra was involved in interventions to help students succeed in STEM fields. One such accomplishment was co-leading a task force that looked at how to improve the success rate of students taking college algebra.

“We observed that the passing rate was about 30 percent, so two of every three students would fail the class,” she said.

According to Becerra, the findings of the task force was to make an initiative to teach college algebra using a new pedagogical intervention, which involved the math lab — where students go every week and do an online component of the class.

After the task force, Becerra and her team noted that the intervention was a success – with an increased passing rate of over 50 percent.

Nevertheless, the initiatives undertaken by Becerra are not solely for college students. As vice president for engagement, she is also leading an initiative called the “Education Effect,” whose goal is to create a college-going culture at two high schools.

One of these high schools was Miami Northwestern, which traditionally had been ranked as a D and F school. Now, with the education initiative, the school earned its first A-ranking last December.

“We received a gift from JP Morgan with the goal of partnering with Miami Northwestern High School to create a college-going culture at the school.  Part of the funding was used to build an Aquaponics lab for students to learn science hands-on,” she said. “It’s had a huge impact in terms of students entering STEM careers, most specifically Agroecology.”

Due to the success in Miami Northwestern, Becerra and her team started the Education Effect initiative in another high school: Booker T. Washington–with a focus on Astronomy and Engineering.

“Each of these Education Effect partnerships have a STEM-personalized focus capitalizing on the assets that the school already has: Agroecology at Miami Northwestern and Astronomy and Engineering at Booker T. Washington,” Becerra said.

She believes that there is a greater need to prepare students for the careers of the future — careers that incorporate science and technology — and that these partnerships are essential to getting more students interested in STEM careers.

In addition to the initiatives, the office of engagement is directly involved in increasing internship opportunities for all students at the University.

Becerra’s role is to serve as a portal for the community and to put partnerships together – both for potential student careers and internships.  She believes that students can take advantage of the resources at FIU and that, with STEM fields, they can get great foundational degree.

“I want to send a message of encouragement to all our students,” she said. “Everybody can do it…you can be successful.”

 

-news@fiusm.com

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