Project Summary: The Research, Advancement, Careers and Education (RACE)for Success in STEM at Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Ponce Campus (PCUPR) is a five years interdisciplinary research project with a holistic approach. The proposed project will address Priority area 1 of the Track 1 of the HSI Program. The proposed project will work with four research questions that will compare students in the program with students that are not in the program (control group): (1) How the strategies implemented in this research project help students improve their academic performance in Math and Language (Spanish and English) and retention? (2) How early intervention strategies in education (e.g. Boot camp in MATH, Interactive Tutorials in Language, Peer-mentoring and Research) differ with respect to academic performance and retention? (3) Can early intervention in research experiences improve student retention and persistence in STEM fields? and (4) How do Social-Family interactions affect decision-making, self-confidence, and retention in the STEM field?

The project envisions to improve students' transition and engagement with their field, thus increasing retention and performance in science courses. The proposed project consists of pilot groups that will be sponsored and mentored for at least two years. The investigators will study the effectiveness of the project by analyzing students' GPA, attrition rate, social family interaction, self identity, emotional intelligence (EQ), research performance and career interest in comparison to a control group of students in the same school year. It is expected that the outcomes will show improvements in retention and student's performance in STEM. This research project could be institutionalized and implemented by other institutions using this multi-project empirical study where communication, evaluation and constant feedback help students to face challenges with confidence. It is expected to be an effective moderate-low cost program to implement. The main challenge that this program might face is the parental goodwill to participate in the program (the participation will be remote through Zoom or a similar platform).