Speaker
Description
Undergraduate research activities, strong mentorship and peer support have been demonstrated to improve the experiences of students studying science. This is especially important for Indigenous students for whom the transition from a high school setting, where students feel comfortable and may be embedded in robust Indigenous community, to university, which can be isolating and challenging. UWinnipeg has a large population of Indigenous students, and is uniquely situated to support and encourage Indigenous students in the sciences. This presentation will describe the suite of programs at UWinnipeg, namely the Pathway to Graduate Studies (P2GS) program for junior students and the Indigenous Summer Scholars program (ISSP) for students towards the end of their degree. In 2022 UWinnipeg helped develop a pilot program UWindsor. These programs offer a rich environment for research and scholarly success and a means to form a sense of community and belonging on campus. The P2GS program provides an opportunity for first and second year undergraduate students to upgrade their basic science skills, gain research experience in a university laboratory, and to form a network of peers, graduate students and faculty. The ISSP program matches senior undergraduate students with a research mentor to work on an independent research project. Both programs are deeply connected to and supported by the UWinnipeg chapter of the Canadian Indigenous Science and Engineering Society. I will also invite discussion about how these programs may be used as a model at other post-secondary institutions.
The authors thanks funding from NSERC PromoScience.
| Keyword-1 | Indigenous |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | Undergraduate |
| Keyword-3 | Research |
