Research experiences for engineering and science majors: UMET model

In 1995, the National Science Foundation (NSF) selected Universidad Metropolitana (UMET) in the metropolitan area in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to be one of the six institutions in the United States to start the experiment of seeking excellence through the Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) program of the Foundation. UMET took this challenge and made this program one of the most important projects in its fifty-year history. The outcomes of the program activities at the pre-college and undergraduate level, with emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) research experiences, were presented in this conference. The Summer Adventure Research Training Program, along with the Saturday academy and the Pre-college Research Symposium was presented as one of the most exciting and comprehensive pre-college research programs in Puerto Rico. Similarly, the experience of transforming UMET from mainly a teaching institution into an undergraduate research organization with a wide range of scientific activities for STEM majors from UMET was examined. Emphasis was placed on the dynamics of the undergraduate research activities at UMET research laboratories, at colleges and universities in the US mainland, Puerto Rico and foreign universities and research centers around the world. The undergraduate research symposia and their impact on the MIE scholars at UMET, and on STEM majors from institutions in the US mainland and Puerto Rico, was discussed at the Sixth International conference on Information Technology based Higher Education and Training (ITHET 2005), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.