Skip to content

Interdisciplinary Exchange for Utah Science

Main Navigation

Publications, Presentations, & Program Evaluation

Publications Co-Authored by HAPPIEST Undergraduate Student Trainees

*HAPPIEST faculty mentor

**HAPPIEST graduate student mentor

***HAPPIEST undergraduate student trainee

Publications Co-Authored by HAPPIEST Undergraduate Student Trainees

*HAPPIEST faculty mentor

**HAPPIEST graduate student mentor

***HAPPIEST undergraduate student trainee

 

Presentations by HAPPIEST Undergraduate Student Trainees
at Regional and National Conferences

*HAPPIEST faculty mentor

**HAPPIEST graduate student mentor

***HAPPIEST undergraduate student trainee

2022

  • *Grineski, SE, *Collins, TW, Chakraborty, J, Goodwin, E, Aun, J, ***Ramos, K. 2022. Winter Storm Uri as a Cascading Disaster: Inequities in power and piped water outages among metro-Texans. Environmental Sociology Roundtables. American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Los Angeles, CA. ***Ramos presented the paper.

 

2023

  • ***Gomez, J., Renteria, **R., Grineski, *S., Ramos, ***K., and Collins, *T. 2024. Associations between prenatal PM2.5 exposure and intellectual disability: Are there differential impacts based on severity of impairment or comorbidity with autism spectrum disorder? Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA.
  • ***Ramos, K., Grineski, *S., *Collins , T., Gomez, ***J., and Renteria, **R. 2024. US EPA Superfund Sites in Utah: Applications for Environmental Health Research. Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA.
  • ***Gomez, J., Renteria, **R., Grineski, *S., ***Ramos, K., and Collins, *T. 2024. Associations between prenatal PM2.5 exposure and intellectual disability: Are there differential impacts based on severity of impairment or comorbidity with autism spectrum disorder? Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA.
  • ***Ramos, K., Grineski, *S., *Collins , T., Gomez, ***J., and Renteria, **R. 2024. US EPA Superfund Sites in Utah: Applications for Environmental Health Research. Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA.
  • ***Clothier, A.,** Scott, M., *Bakian, A., Lamichhane, D., and **Clark, A. 2024. Long Term PM2.5 Exposure and Violent Suicide. Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA.
  • ***Batar, L.,*Bakian, A., Lamichhane, D., **Scott, M., Chen, D., and **Clark, A. 2024. The Effects of PM2.5 Exposure on Depressive Symptoms Among Marginalized Identities. Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA.
  • ***Plascencia-Maciel, J., *Rubio, R., *Collins, T.,, *Grineski, S., and *Clark, A. 2024.  Food Access for Racial and Ethnic Minorites in Metropolitan Communities. Southwestern Social Science Association annual meeting. New Orleans, LA.
  • **Mullen, CJ., *Grineski, S., ***Naranjo Herrera, M., Christian, L., and ***Cuello, J. 2024. "'If You Had a Sensor, You Would Know:' Unequal Exposures and Behavioral Responses to Indoor Air Pollution." American Sociological Association Annual Meeting. Montreal, Canada.

 

2025

  • ***Rico, Valeria, **Taylor, R., and *Benney, T. 2025. Bridging the Gap: Improving STEM Outcomes with Place-Based Education in Wind River. Perceptions of Environmental Disparities in Salt Lake County.   Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, NV.
  • ***Hall, M., **Taylor, R., and *Benney, T. 2025.  An Autoethnographic Exploration of Minority Inclusion in STEM Curriculum Development. Perceptions of Environmental Disparities in Salt Lake County.  Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, NV.
  • ***Marquez, I., ***Lopez, N., **Clark, A., Araos, M. *Grineski, S., and *Collins, T. 2025. Perceptions of Environmental Disparities in Salt Lake County. Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, NV.
  • ***Lopez, N, *** Marquez, I, **Clark, A., *Grineski, S., *Collins, T, and Araos, M. 2025.  Examining differences in opinions on environmental policy in Salt Lake County (Utah). Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, NV.
  • ***Plascencia-Maciel, J, *Collins, Timothy, **Rubio, R, and *Grineski, S. 2025. Big Microdata Link Racial Disadvantage to Grocery Market Deprivation in U.S. Cities. Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, NV.
  • ***Takano Okubo, M., ***Rodriguez Vega, B.,* Curtis, D.S., **Lee Walker, S., and Cheung, E. 2025. Air Pollution and Respiratory Diseases: Differences by Occupational Group. Social Science Association Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, NV.

 

Summary of HAPPIEST Program Evaluation (2021-2024)

Evaluation Methods: Due to small numbers of participants (8 undergraduates, 4 graduate students, and 4 faculty per summer), the HAPPIEST evaluation relies mostly on a qualitative data collection approach along with some post-program surveys. The HAPPIEST evaluator collects observational data at mentee training sessions, mentor training sessions, and at each annual Undergraduate Summer Symposiums. The HAPPIEST evaluator conducted interviews with some trainees, graduate student mentors, faculty mentors, and the PIs.

Evaluation Results

Results from the post-survey given to undergraduate student trainees in 2023 (n=8) and 2024 (n=6) reveals that they are highly satisfied with the program (see Figurebelow). The average on all items is above 4 (“satisfied”). Trainees are most satisfied with the “community of practice” model, which pairs undergraduate trainees with a peer trainee, a graduate student mentor and a faculty mentor on the same research team. Their preference for this model is reflected in the mean satisfaction score for “the pairing of two undergraduates on the same team”, which was 4.94 (out of 5). All but one student marked 5/5 for this item. The next highest mean is for their graduate mentor (4.71 out of 5), which is another key aspect of the “community of practice” model.

Evaluation Results

 

The value of HAPPIEST in trainees’ educational journeys is captured by quotes collected by the evaluator during in-depth interviews with the trainees

"I firmly believe that HAPPIEST is doing amazing work. Through this experience, my framing of academia and my professional journey has completely changed. I feel empowered to reach my aspirations of graduate school and eventually my career goals."

"I was able to realize that the academic path I was planning to pursue to get to my professional goal was one that I did not really like and was only following it because of peer pressure. The encouragement from our graduate mentors really helped me to challenge myself and my fears (i.e. going out of my comfort zone)."

"The program taught me responsibility, organization, communication and also things that were specific to my major."

"HAPPIEST was truly a necessary experience for me. I don't think I would have been as prepared for my junior year and upper division courses without it."

"The aspects I appreciated the most from HAPPIEST were the allowed and encouraged space for mistakes, to then learn from them, and also how we were ‘invited’ to consider our higher education further."

"[I valued] the representation of ethnic minorities. We have different cultures but we share almost similar stories, traditional values, or even some dreams for the future. The similarities and differences we owned, it makes us get a very unique experience. Diversity is the aspect that helps me, different hands offer different helps."

 

Below we summarize constructive feedback from the evaluator from the years 2021-2024

Evaluator’s Conclusions

Cohort/Year

Teams of two undergraduate student trainees working together is a strength

2021, 2022, 203, 2024

Wide-breadth of mentor expertise is a strength as it creates varied opportunities for students

2022

Trainees valued having a graduate student mentor

2023, 2024

Trainees reported some delays on mentors getting students going on the research right away

2021

Entering Research [research mentee training] sessions were valuable for trainees

2021, 2024

The Entering Research sessions could be taught more effectively

2022

Short duration of summer research experience made it challenging to finish a project

2021, 2022

Graduate students reported wanting more training to work with underrepresented students

2023

Doing field trips late in the summer causes stress for students due to poster deadlines

2023

Trainees would like more opportunity to interact socially

2023, 2024

Trainees would like to be involved in designing the field trips

2024


While it is beyond the scope of this short summary to provide detailed evidence for each evaluator conclusion, excerpts from trainee interviews support these conclusions. With respect to the graduate student mentor, one trainee reported, “I really appreciated having a graduate student mentor. [He] acted as a translator for whatever the PI stated. He also helped me develop professional and research skills and plans to continue aiding me in professional development”. In terms of the Entering Research (research mentee training) meetings, another said: “I also liked having the weekly “Entering Research” meetings. They introduced me to research topics that I had not thought of before such as labeling and archiving computer files, which has greatly improved my administrative task experience.”

Last Updated: 2/10/25