Annual Understanding Interventions Conference

2022 Understanding Interventions Conference

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

July 14-16, 2022

UI is excited to announce the 14th Annual Conference on Understanding Interventions July 14-16, 2022!

Click here for more details on the 2022 Conference.

What is the UI Conference?

This conference was established to facilitate dissemination and exchange of hypothesis-based research on interventions and initiatives that broaden participation in science and engineering research careers. The conference is designed to create a dialogue among behavioral/social science and education researchers, evaluators, and faculty in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) 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.

Despite the introduction of intervention programs, persons of color and women remain underrepresented in the science workforce. To encourage members of underrepresented groups to pursue careers in science and engineering, programs targeted to pre-college, undergraduate, and graduate students continue to grow. However, understanding of why some succeed and many more fail eludes us. UI seeks to analyze systematically the key factors contributing to and inhibiting success. Such analysis requires research that is carefully designed and executed over more than 1-2 years’ time. It should not be confused with “program evaluation” that produces evidences of effectiveness. Research studies of interventions look across contexts and populations to inform generalizations about causes and effects.

What should I expect to see?

A limited number of plenary sessions addressing broad and large-scale contextual issues.
Symposia and workshops organized by tracks of interest.
Workshops lasting from 1.5 to 3 hours and providing hands-on instructional interactive sessions, either in one session or split into two over the course of the conference.
Symposia feature 2-3 person panel presentations. These symposia may feature one speaker for an hour or several presenters of research on a particular topic/segment of the education pathway.
Deeper Dives are 10-minute presentation followed by 5 minutes of Q&A. A maximum of three are presented during each session. Then each speaker moves to a roundtable discussion with interested audience members for another 40+ minutes of intense interaction.