2021 Understanding Interventions Conference

Plan to attend the
13th Conference on Understanding Interventions that Broaden Participation in Science Careers

July 8-10, 2021

UI is excited to announce the rescheduled 13th Annual Conference on Understanding Interventions July 8-10, 2021!

Annual Understanding Interventions Conference. The annual UI conferences facilitate the dissemination of research and serve as a venue for training related to STEM interventions. Communities of practitioners, researchers and evaluators interact, network, and exchange experiences and solutions. There are also opportunities for learning from experts outside one’s professional domain about innovations in many forms—theories, methods, tools—that could inform interventions with students, faculty, decision makers, and policymakers. These conferences and the UI organization evolved from a 2007 workshop to address the need to mutually inform practice and scholarship, provide venues for training and dissemination of interventions research, and development of a collaborative community of research, evaluation, and practice. Additionally, the conference on Understanding Interventions provides a forum for the distillation of translational interventions research resulting from competitive grants awarded by funding agencies such as the NSF and NlH.

The annual UI conference has grown from a meeting to a community of more than 6,000 researchers, program officers, evaluators, program directors, training faculty, and others within STEM, and now operates with a mission to mutually inform scholarship and practice, develop and enhance the community interested in educational interventions, and provide professional development for all STEM persons. UI held its first Virtual conference in December of 2020 in response to Covid-19 restrictions that forced the cancellation of the original March 2020 in person meeting. Born out of necessity, the virtual conference introduced a format that provided pre conference availability of symposia, Deeper Dives and Poster presentations. The 13th Annual Understanding Interventions Conference will continue with that design and we foresee future conferences adopting aspects of that format in reaching a virtual audience as well as those who attend the conferences in-person.

Attendees will experience plenaries, workshops, symposia, and poster presentations on hypothesis-based research on interventions and initiatives that broaden participation in STEM careers. The conference will continue to facilitate the dialogue among education, behavioral, and social science researchers, evaluators, and faculty in STEM fields who participate in intervention programs. Graduate students in these fields are strongly encouraged to attend. Workshops, sessions, and posters will communicate effective strategies from successful STEM intervention programs, present results from empirical research studies, and synthesize the translation of research findings into practice on STEM learning, undergraduate research, graduate education, and student retention.

The cost to attend the conference is $150. There are special rates for post-doctoral fellows and graduate students, as well as conference grants that can be provided for those with need. Registration for the conference is open, with additional information to come.

Conference Schedule

The conference schedule is tentative and subject to change!
(all times in Eastern Time)

Call for Abstracts

Abstract Submission Deadline: April 27, 2021

Notification of Acceptance: May 31, 2021

Here are links to download the UI Conference Abstract Submission Guidelines and Abstract Template.

Understanding Interventions Proposals are invited for presentation on research projects and best practices highlighting pathways to STEM careers. Abstracts can be submitted to present as a workshop, symposium, deeper dive, or poster. Abstracts are to be submitted online through the submission portal. We encourage you to use the template that can be downloaded here in preparing your abstract. For final submission, please complete all relevant fields and upload your abstract as a word document. All abstracts will be published in an annual special issue of the UI Journal.

Presentation Formats

Workshops will provide attendees with models, methods, and hands-on tools that can be adapted to other campuses, programs, and populations. Two types of workshops are available: a. Hands-on interactive sessions (1.5 or 3 hours), and b. Focused Seminar (1.5 hours) on a single topic. Although not a requirement, Workshop presenters are encouraged to prepare a related poster and present in the poster session.

Symposia. Concurrent symposia feature 20-minute presentations, each followed by a 10-minute open question and answer period. Symposia presenters are encouraged to prepare a related poster and present in the poster session.

Deeper Dives. Concurrent Deeper Dive sessions feature 15-minute presentations, after which members of the audience adjourn to one of three 30-minute breakout discussions of their choice, each led by a speaker (and his/her coauthors). Symposia presenters are encouraged to prepare a related poster and present in the poster session.

Posters. Poster presentations will highlight the following components:
1) Focus of the intervention—what is studied and why
2) Study population—describe it and any comparison or control group
3) Contextual factors—what was measured and how what limits generalization
4) Outcomes of the intervention—what was found in what time frame
5) Relevance to the UI community—how does the study advance theory and/or practice as described in the literature; what is adaptable and possible next steps

Submit your abstract today!

We look forward to seeing you!

13th UI Virtual Conference Agenda At A Glance