GRADUATE STUDENTS: INFLUENTIAL AGENTS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL FOR ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHERS

摘要

The STEM education community's research on undergraduate research experiences has shown that participation in a research experience has a positive influence on undergraduates. This study focuses on determining the role of graduate student mentors in the undergraduate researchers' development of availability, access, and activation of social capital resources related to research and academic/career plans. Using Lin's Network Theory of Social Capital, we surveyed and interviewed fourteen students taking part in a summer research program on a research intensive university campus. Results from the study indicate that graduate students served as unique and significant agents of social capital associated with plans to pursue academic/career plans related to research, specifically to attend graduate school.