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Carnegie Science Fall 20158 Sue White My role model was... My 8th Grade Teacher I have always been interested in and had a talent for mathematics. I also recall that I had such great and memorable mathematics teachers from junior high through high school . . . Teachers who made mathematics interesting and relevant . . . who seemed to love mathematics and infected me with their enthusiasm. The single event however that gave me the confidence that I could pursue mathematics as a possible career occurred in junior high school. My eighth grade mathematics teacher took me to a mathematicsscience contest at a nearby college Virginia State College. I competed and won first place in the eighth-grade competition which was truly an amazing experience for me. It helped build my confidence and ultimately set me on the course for selecting mathematics as a major in college which ultimately led to a career in mathematics education. Additionally in my family I was always engaged using puzzles and games that stimulated my ability to problem solve. Steve Shirey Carnegie Geochemist I was always a very curious person and I loved the natural world. One of my dads friends gave me a hand lens when I was around 10 or so. I knew by the time I was in high school that I was headed for a career in science. The Power of Role Models For his Harvard dissertation Karl Reid chose to explore the factors that contribute to how certain students are successful in college particularly African American males. One powerful factor is a high level of so-called self-efficacy. That is the confidence one has to be successful at a task or more broadly in a domain like academia. It turns out that one of the components of self-efficacy is something called the vicarious experiencethe power of role models. When a person sees someone to whom they can relate having success it gives that person the confidence to succeed. Researcher Albert Bandura discovered this factor in the 1970s and 1980s. He made the argument that students with a high degree of self-efficacy are much more persistent and more resilient they put in more effort and they are much more successful in numerous areas including academics. Reid emphasizes that the role of mentors advisors and others of influence is key to building up that sense of confidence. Another component of self-efficacy is subjective judgements. Reid calls it the Home Depot approach You can do it we can help.When a person hears someone they value tell him or her that he or she can be successful in a particular task it builds confidence. He gave an example from his own life. When he was a freshman at MIT he took multivariable calculus. The professor pulled him aside and asked him if he would consider majoring in mathematics because he was having success in that class.I do not think that I touched the ground for another week after hearing from this notable lecturer about my possibilities Reid remarked. Ultimately Reid did not choose math but hearing that he had possibilities from that teacher built his confidence.And I got an A in that course he said with a laugh. Reid believes that role modeling and mentoring is the role that STEM professionals should play. He urges them to speak to young people and encourage them. NTSB has self-efficacy built throughout its entire network. NTSBs summer engineering experiences for kids from third to fifth grade are taught by college students many of whom are majoring in engineering. These young people look up to the collegiates and thinkThis is what I will look like in 10 or 15 years. The societys professionals serve as advisors and mentors to the precollegiates collegiates and even young professionals.I think we need to do this at a much larger scale across the country and institutionalize this process he concluded.