Psychology Pathways

About

This 5-year project, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Award #2237924), will build a framework for understanding psychological and behavioral processes that support long-term persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and for developing a tailored AI-based intervention to facilitate career exploration and mentoring in STEM.  This work will be conducted with Psychology students at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), a large Hispanic-Serving (HSI) and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving (AANAPISI) Institution, to create the initial, discipline-specific model of STEM persistence and intervention.

Key outreach goals for the project include:

• Increase college students' interest and persistence in STEM-based career paths, with a special focus on Psychology majors and those from first-generation and other backgrounds with potentially limited access to mentors or resources;

• Facilitate connections between Psychology students (especially those at minority-serving institutions) and STEM professionals/mentors;

• Develop a customized AI-based virtual mentoring platform to facilitate STEM career exploration among Psychology students.

links

• CAREER: Improving Persistence of Underserved Students in Psychological Science Using an AI-Based, Personalized Career Exploration Platform (NSF Award # 2237924)

• CSUF Press Release: CSUF Professor Awarded Grant for AI-Powered Platform to Help Underserved Students in STEM Subjects 

• OC Register: CSUF professor’s AI-powered platform helps students pursuing STEM-related careers

• Mentoring resources for students

Principal Investigator

Yuko Okado
Associate Professor, Psychology
California State University, Fullerton

Accepting Applications for VOLUNTEER mentors

Volunteer mentors must have a degree or other formalized training in Psychology and actively work in a STEM industry.  

We currently have an especially strong need for mentors from demographic backgrounds that match our student population's and
those from non-clinical subfields.