Affinity Research Group (ARG)
Events
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Networks
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Description
The Affinity Research Group Model is a set of practices built on a cooperative team framework to support the creation and maintenance of dynamic and inclusive research groups. Students learn and apply the knowledge and skills required for research and cooperative work in an ARG. Members share a core purpose, and the research group is designed to emphasize the conscious and explicit development of students’ disciplinary knowledge, research abilities, and team skills. An ARG deliberately designs activities aimed toward developing students’ disciplinary knowledge, research abilities, and team skills. This model has been adopted across the country and in various disciplines.
Keywords
- Cooperative Learning
- Undergraduate Research
- Sense of Belonging
- Professional Skills Development
Community Members
- Scott King - Scott A. King is a professor of computer science at Texas A&M University -Corpus Christi. He is the director for iCORE and Pixel Island. He is a Co-Lead for the […]
- Santosh Chandrasekhar - Santosh Chandrasekhar is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Computer Science at University of California (UC) Merced. Before joining as an Assistant Teaching Professor, he held positions at UC Merced as […]
- Salam Daher - Dr. Salam Daher is an assistant professor in informatics and computer science at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). She is a courtesy faculty at University of Central Florida (UCF). […]
- Patricia Morreale - Patricia Morreale is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Kean University. Her prior research on machine learning and network systems led to advances in […]
- Juan Li - Some researchers suggest that Deep Learning (DL) has become alchemy because of its lack of theoretical foundation. In our view, more and more people will be using DL, as long […]
- Elsa Q. Villa - ARG Advocate
- Ann Quiroz Gates - ARG Advocate
Related Efforts
Research Mentoring
Effective Practice
Resource Link
Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison dedicated to provide resources to improve research mentoring relationships. It provides curricula, assessment tools and resources relevant for mentors and mentees, as well as those who would like to implement mentor training.
Related Communities
None specified to date
Resources
A Handbook of Effective Practices for Promoting Diversity and Involving Undergraduates in Research Groups
Document
Resource Link (link to Amazon book)
The ARG handbook can be used as a step-by-step guide for newly formed research groups or as a reference manual for more established ones. Because groups differ in purpose and personality, the structure and activities presented can be adapted as needed to accommodate various environments, research areas, and audiences.
Affinity Research Group Workshops
Professional Development
Contact: Ann Gates
The ARG model facilitates workshops and structured activities that develop student members’ technical, communication, research, and cooperative group skills. Students develop research skills throughout the semester by working with the faculty mentor and through their pairing with more experienced student researchers.
Council on Undergraduate Research
Other
Resource Link
The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) is a national organization whose mission is to support and promote high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. CUR hosts an undergraduate research poster session on Capitol Hill, produces a Quarterly journal, and organizes institutes and conferences for students, faculty and program directors.
UTEP is an institutional member of CUR, along with over 900 other colleges and universities.
MentorNet
Mentoring, Student development, GMiS effort
Resource Link
MentorNet is a social network for mentoring open to any STEM student in the U.S. STEM students are mentored by professionals working in STEM fields. Pairs communicate 15-20 minutes weekly during MentorNet’s four-month mentorship cycle in which 16 prompts are presented for discussion. Following a cycle, mentees may invite their current mentor or a new one to begin a new mentorship. As the mentee advances, MentorNet provides prompts relevant to their current educational level and personal interests.
Dialog Sources
Communities have access to IBM SmartCloud, a tool that provides a Cloud Computing solution for sharing files, defining activities, creating blogs, developing wikis, and promoting ideas. To request an account and training contact ccasas@utep.edu.
This community engages in dialog as follows: TBD
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant HRD-1834620 and No. 1551221. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.