Work-in-progress — Investigating best practices in the research mentoring of underrepresented minority students in engineering

Few empirical investigations are available on the effectiveness of best practices in mentoring underrepresented minority undergraduate and graduate students in engineering research. We are collecting and analyzing narratives from 200 underrepresented minority participants on their personal experiences with research mentoring in engineering. Participants describe a specific, powerful, and memorable interaction with a research mentor that they found to influence their academic choices or career decisions. Interactions may be positive or negative. Findings will be used to develop resources for research mentors to improve mentoring.