STRATEGIES FROM THE AKAMAI INTERNSHIP PROGRAM COMMUNITY OF MENTORS
Mentoring By DesignOur community has provided ~600 Hawaiʻi college students with mentoring that has launched their STEM careers, through intentionally designed project experiences.
Recipient of a PAESMEM award, the highest U.S. award for STEM mentoring
Guiding Principles
Our work starts with principles of curriculum design, which we use to enhance an intern’s experience as they do an authentic STEM project, and increase their likelihood of staying in STEM.
Follow the process our community uses to “design” a project for an intern.
Authentic Projects
We begin with a goal of providing authentic projects that will be valuable for interns and mentors
Themes
We orient our process around four themes that are based on research related to student persistence in STEM: Ownership & Agency, STEM Practices, Recognition, and Belonging.
Leverage Points
We organize our design work around leverage points; places within an intern’s project where a small shift in mentoring can have a big impact on their experience.
INTERNSHIPS CAN GO BEYOND DOING A PROJECT
Our themes apply to other aspects of internship programs
PROGRAM STRATEGIES, TOOLS, AND PEOPLE
We share what we have learned that makes the Akamai Program successful
Learn more about our programs
Akamai Workforce Initiative
Building Hawai‘i’s scientific and technical workforce
Institute for Science & Engineer Educators
Providing innovative programs that advance current and future STEM professionals
Leaders and Funding
This website is based on the work for the Akamai Workforce Initiative led by the Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators at University of California, Santa Cruz.
Development of this website was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the National Science Foundation (AST#1743117 & AST#2034962), and the Hawaii Community Foundation.
Address
Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators
Mailstop: UCO/Lick Obs ISEE
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Email: isee@ucsc.edu