Mentoring in the scientific disciplines: Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics Engineering Mentoring

This study addressed the mentoring of historically underrepresented groups (HUGs) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines by focusing on the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). The primary research question that guided this study was "How do mentors at the exemplar level practice mentoring?".;Two theories guided this research. One theory was attachment relations theory which purports that caring is essential to student intellectual development. The second theory, upward mobility theory, has two related principles: contest mobility and sponsored mobility. Contest mobility asserts that everyone has an equal chance to compete for success if the playing field is level and sponsored mobility contends that supports or "sponsorship" is important to students' success. This total population study used a mixed methods design (quantitative and qualitative paradigms). Descriptive, inferential and predictive, especially step-wise multiple regression, statistics were used to analyze survey data. Content analysis and a pattern matching logic were used to identify emerging themes from these elite interviews.;The major findings of the study were that exemplar mentors: focus on retaining HUGs in (but not recruiting them to) STEM disciplines; practice a precise definable method of mentoring; follow an unwritten curriculum that teaches non-quantifiable variables about the discipline; believe substance and quality of contact are more important than frequency. Furthermore, they consider the traditional "one on one" mentoring model as obsolete. The study also found that insufficient institutional support did not deter commitment to mentoring since exemplar mentors were internally driven to mentor HUGs in STEM. This research suggests that institutional policy should embed mentoring into the reward and support system for faculty. The research also suggests that increasing faculty/student collaborative projects is crucial for HUGS in STEM disciplines. Future research on institutional PAESMEM recipients and about mentoring at minority serving institutions is recommended.