Scaling and Diversifying Undergraduate Research with the Early Research Scholars Program.

Engaging undergraduates in research has been shown to improve retention, increase students' sense of computer science identity, and increase their chances of continuing to graduate school. Yet research experiences at most universities are ad hoc, and many undergraduates-particularly those from groups underrepresented in computing-do not have the opportunity to participate. The Early Research Scholars Program (ERSP) is a structured, academic-year group-based undergraduate research program designed to help universities vastly increase participation in research for early computing undergraduates. ERSP launched at UC San Diego in 2014 where it now annually engages over 50 second-year undergraduates, 59% of whom are women, and 22% of whom are from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. The program's portable design has enabled its expansion to 7 other colleges and universities. This workshop will train participants in launching ERSP (or any part of it) at their university to increase and diversify the undergraduates participating in research. Workshop leaders are the ERSP directors at four universities. They will address how to launch and run the program in different contexts. They will provide an interactive, hands-on experience of running the program covering the following topics: developing and teaching a research methods class, student application and selection to ensure a diverse and supportive cohort, and creating a dual-mentoring structure to engage and retain early undergraduates without overburdening faculty. Workshop participants will be invited to join the ERSP virtual community to get support launching their own version of ERSP.