Do you wish your department provided more opportunities for undergraduates to participate in research, but are not sure how to make this happen? Are you looking for ideas to grow your existing efforts in undergraduate research? Do you want to see more students from marginalized groups have the opportunity to thrive in early research? If so, the Early Research Scholars Program is for you! 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 across the country. This SIGCSE’23 workshop is intended for faculty members at research-active colleges and universities who are looking for ways to provide high-quality research opportunities to more early undergraduates from diverse backgrounds without overwhelming their faculty.

This workshop will train participants in launching ERSP (or any part of it) at their university to increase and diversify the number of undergraduates participating in research. After the workshop participants can expect to know: (1) What resources are required to launch ERSP and ideas for securing these resources, (2) How to select students to ensure a diverse and supportive cohort, (3) How to create and run a research methods course to support early researchers, (4) How to implement ERSP’s unique dual mentoring structure that allows the program to scale while providing early undergraduates the support that they need. Participants will engage in hands-on activities that provide training in the above topics. For example, participants will apply the scoring rubric to sample applications, and they will participate in the literature-searching exercise that students experience in the research methods class. Only a laptop (with no special software) is needed to participate. Participants who attend the workshop and commit to implementing some part of the ERSP structure will have their workshop registration fee refunded.

Contact email: diba@ucsb.edu