Poster Q17 - Belonging in Biomedical Engineering through Pre-Collegiate Exposure & Engagement

Introduction: Our Immersive Summer Program for Education, Enrichment, and Distinction (ISPEED) in Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) is a residential pre-engineering summer program launched in July 2022. We emphasize project-based, hands-on learning in a three-credit college course for high-school students. All participation is fully covered providing travel, room/board, tuition and fees, and a stipend such that no financial burden is passed to the student. In line with the institution’s diversity forward efforts, which nearly doubled first generation counts for all undergraduate students between 2017 and 2024, the main objective is to provide aspiring BME students a sense of self-efficacy and belonging toward future success in BME-affiliated healthcare careers.
Apart from providing skills, the program offers an early support network of mentors, including program alumni, current BME students, and faculty, to whom the students can connect and learn more about what it entails to study Biomedical Engineering at an R1 institution. The curriculum holds specific learning outcomes related to biodesign, biology, and computational sciences utilizing the undergraduate spaces and equipment. Alongside concrete learning content, we interweave co-curricular activities to create a cohort network, a near-peer mentor match for guidance and support, introduce opportunities in research and career, advice on financial aid/college applications, and offer faculty sponsorship to each student. Early outcomes show more than half of former students applied to biomedical engineering programs at ours or other institutions.

Materials and

Methods: A descriptive case study examining how the ISPEED pre-college summer residential program affects sense of belonging, learning gains, and self-efficacy. In this exploratory study, we use data from 18 students enrolled in 2022 and 20 students in 2023. All participants aged 15 to 17 years old were enrolled based on faculty-review of applications around student: 1) belonging to or interest in supporting others in diverse backgrounds (NIH defined), 2) evidence of academic success in high school, and 3) a desire to explore a career in biomedical engineering. The IRB-approved study includes both informed assent and parent consent due to participant ages.
The data triangulation includes 1) technical knowledge assessed through pre-post questionnaires for each curricular topic, 2) an adapted Technology and Engineering Attitude Scale (TEAS) survey assessing students’ attitudes and perceptions of BME, and 3) open-ended 30-60-minute interviews conducted by a trained non-program faculty affiliate. The survey questionnaire was delivered before arrival to the program and at least one but no more than 3 months after the program. Topics covered in the survey assess perceptions around biomedical engineering as it relates to gender, society, STEM disciplines, and accessibility. The transcribed interview audio is being analyzed using an open coding to find themes.
Due to the small number of students involved in the program, statistical inferences are not possible. This exploratory qualitative study is based on the constructs examined in the TEAS and analyses looks to link the results to existing theoretical frameworks related to belonging, self-efficacy, and attitudes towards engineering.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: As of May 2024, we show data related to past cohorts, however we plan to incorporate data from the upcoming July 2024 cohort. 64% of program participants are female or non-binary gender identity, 52% of participants are from another under-represented group in STEM, and 29% report they would be first-generation college students. Intersectionality of identities in both cohorts is present. We assess technical knowledge gains in our other poster but note here students demonstrated equivalent incoming knowledge across all curricular topics, scores ranging from 52.1-57.6% on average.
This work in progress assesses attitude toward STEM from students participating in the program. Past studies showcase an impact on early exposure in selecting STEM disciplines, which our data support. Preliminary analysis of qualitative data discovered topics not necessarily present in other pre-engineering programs and likely specific to BME. Students reported intrinsic interest in healthcare not inherent to any other engineering discipline. Among our underrepresented minority or first-generation students, we find additional interest in “giving back to others.” This social intent is explored in dimensions of service learning and informs the social identity of BME students in this cohort. We also find social investment from our faculty (over half commit to some level of participation), competitive application and engagement among our undergraduate/graduate students, and a steady application increase of ~300% annually.
We find our mentoring and sponsorship of these students was impactful. Faculty sponsorship (active advocacy toward a goal) led to successful outcomes in matriculation in STEM degrees and later internships. In the larger cohort, 10/38 students requested direct sponsorship in a non-college application and 15/31 with college applications. Our data on matriculations and degrees remain incomplete as of this writing.
We offer a program connecting mentors to underserved STEM populations—known to benefit from additional support systems—a high rate of sponsorship, and learning and matriculation in STEM degrees. Overall, our results offer the model of ISPEED as an academic three credit college course in which students develop skills to join BME and leave with a persistent network for support and confidence in their own capacity to reach their goals.

Acknowledgements (Optional): JD, MZ, KK all equally contribute to program. CM conducted and analyzed interviews.