We have developed a peer-mentorship program, introductory math for chemists course, fresman seminar course for majors, as a part of our NSF STEP grant program, to increase the retention STEM. Curriculum for the peer mentorship program weas developed by surveying freshman chemistry students' interest and expectations. The peer mentorship was embeded into general chemistry laboratories, and therefore provided to all STEM students taking general chemistry courses. In its third year, peer mentorship the program attracted great interest from junior and senior chemistry students who would like to be peer-mentors by taking one credit course. Both freshman students and peer-mentors are surveyed at the beginning and the end of the semester. More than 86 % of the students (n=756) who attend one of the sections with peer-mentors taught that it was helpful for them to understand the chemistry concepts in the lab. Students also indicate that peer-mentorship program made them aware about research possibilities on campus, how to reach out to the faculty members, etc. Peer mentorship within introductory labs resolves the problems of scheduling peer mentor/mentee meetings. It allows each student in the lab meets weekly for 3 hours with a mentor, which provides ample time to talk while reactions take place. It is easy to implement at no cost by using current structure in place. It allows setting up the curriculum for the peer-mentorship based on the freshman interest. It is helpful in developing teaching and networking skills in peer-mentors before they graduate. retention rates of the cohorts with and without peermentrhisp will be discussed. In addition, introductory math course for chemist to help student at pre-calculuas level with their chemistry courses was developed. The curriculum of the courses and lessons learned will be discussed. Also, the curriculum and survey results from feshman chemistry seminar course will be discussed.

Increasing STEM retention through multiple programs within chemistry program

252nd National Meeting (2016)

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