The impact of undergraduate research experiences on students' academic development and retention in STEM fields is significant. Students' success in STEM fields is based on developing strong research and critical thinking skills that make it essential for students to engage in research activities throughout their academic programs. This work evaluates the effectiveness of undergraduate research experiences with respect to its influence on student retention and academic development. The cases presented are based on years of experience implementing undergraduate research programs in various STEM fields at Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) funded by HSI STEM Grants. The study seeks to establish a correlation between students' retention rates and academic development and students' involvement in undergraduate research experiences and programs during their academic journey. The work also delves into different mentoring approaches, including group-based and mentoring by individual faculty. This study provides the engineering and STEM education community with a deeper understanding of the advantages of undergraduate research experiences in enriching STEM and mentoring practices that can increase students' participation and mold their academic and professional character.
Polycrystalline Cadmium Oxide (CdO) thin films were prepared using pulsed laser deposition onto glass substrates at room temperature with different thicknesses of (300, 350 and 400)nm, these films were irradiated with cesium-137(Cs-137) radiation. The thickness and irradiation effects on structural and optical properties were studied. It is observed by XRD results that films are polycrystalline before and after irradiation, with cubic structure and show preferential growth along (111) and (200) directions. The crystallite sizes increases with increasing of thickness, and decreases with gamma radiation, which are found to be within the range (23.84-4.52) nm and (41.44-4.974)nm before and after irradiation for thickness 350nm and 4
... Show MoreThe effect of gamma radiation at the doses (0 , 5 , 10 or 15 ) Gray on the callus of four Triticum aestivum immature embryos genotypes (AL-Hashmiya , AL-Noor AL-Zahraa and AL-Mellad ) were studied . The fresh and dry weight for callus and shoot tips beside numbers and lengths of the shoots were used as indicators after 8 weeks . Results revealed that (AL-Noor and AL-Zahraa ) was superior by giving highest fresh and dry weight reached 274.2 and 269.2 mg and 26 and 24.3 mg respectively as compared with AL-Hashmiya and AL-Mellad. Moreover, the control treatment and the dose 10 Gray gave highest fresh weight reached 277.4 and 259.1 mg while the dry weight was highest in the control treatment and the dose 5 Gray. addition 10 Gra
... Show MoreBackground: acrylic resin denture base consider a common denture base material for its acceptable cost, aesthetic and easy processing but still has disadvantages including easy of fracture and low impact strength. Material and method: The experimental group was prepared by addition of 15% phosphoric acid 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate ester (PA2HEME) with polymethyl methacrylate monomer; the experimental groups was compared with the control one. The specimens were prepared according to ADA specification No. 12 with dimension 65 mm x 10 mm x2.5 mm (length x width x thickness respectively). The prepared specimens were tested by three-point flexural strength utilizing Instron Universal Testing Machine (WDW, Layree Technology Co.), Shore D hard
... Show MoreIn the present study, activated carbon supported metal oxides was prepared for thiophene removal from model fuel (Thiophene in n-hexane) using adsorptive desulfurization technique. Commercial activated carbon was loaded individually with copper oxide in the form of Cu2O/AC. A comparison of the kinetic and isotherm models of the sorption of thiophene from model fuel was made at different operating conditions including adsorbent dose, initial thiophene concentration and contact time. Various adsorption rate constants and isotherm parameters were calculated. Results indicated that the desulfurization was enhanced when copper was loaded onto activated carbon surface. The highest desulfurization percent for Cu2O/AC and o
... Show MoreThe enhancement of ZnSe/Si Heterojunction by adding some elements (V, In and Cu) as impurities is the main goal because they contribute to the manufacturing of renewable energy equipment, such as solar cells. This paper describes the preparation of thin films ZnSe with V, In and Cu doped using thermal evaporation method with a vacuum of 10–5 Torr. The thin film was obtained from this work could be applied in heterojunction solar cell because of several advantages including high absorption coefficient value and direct band gap. The samples prepared on a glass and n-type Si wafer substrate. These films have been annealed for 1 h in 450 K. X-ray diffraction XRD results indicated that ZnSe thin film possesses poly-crystalline structure after
... Show MoreStudies were conducted to screen eight sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) genotypes for their allelopathic potential against weeds and wheat crop, which customarily follows sunflower in Iraq. All sunflower genotypes significantly inhibited the total number and biomass of companion weeds and the magnitude of inhibition was genotype dependent. Among the eight genotypes tested, Sin-Altheeb and Coupon were the most weed-suppressing cultivars, and Euroflor and Shumoos were the least. A subsequent field experiment indicated that sunflower residues incorporated into the field soil significantly inhibited the total number and biomass of weeds growing in the wheat field. Sunflower genotypes Sin-Altheeb and Coupon appeared to inhibit total weed number
... Show MoreEffect of nano and micro SiO2 particles with different weight percent (2,4,6,8 and 10) %wt on the Interlaminar fracture toughness (GIc) of 16-plies of woven roving glass fiber /epoxy composites prepared by hand lay – up technique were investigated. The specimens were tested using DCB test (mode I).
Area method was used to compute the interlaminar fracture toughness. The results show that, GIc would increase with the increasing in the filler content, the main failure in microcomposites and nanocomposites was delamination in the layers, the delamination reduced with increasing in the filler content.