One result of the growing concerns over the numbers of young people moving into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related careers has been the expansion of formal and informal STEM education programming for pre-college youth, from elementary school through high school. While the number of programs has grown rapidly, there is little research on their long-term impacts on participant education and career trajectories. This paper presents interim findings from a multi-year longitudinal study of three national after-school robotics programs that engage students in designing, building, and competing complex robots with the goal of inspiring long-term interest in STEM. Focusing on the subset of study participants who had enrolled in at least one year of college (approximately 480 students in 2017), this paper examines program impacts on student attitudes towards STEM and STEM careers; participation in STEM-related college courses; intention to major in STEM-related fields; and involvement in STEM-related internships and other activities. Findings include positive, statistically significant impact on multiple measures of STEM engagement in college for program participants.

For the past twenty-five years Cathy has focused on two interrelated areas: access to higher education, especially by students who are among the first in their families to attend; and the ways in which colleges and universities engage with their communities. Cathy works with colleges, universities, and community organizations to use evaluation to both "prove" and "improve" their programs. Her research and capacity-building efforts attend to both outcomes and systemic change. To that end Cathy has conducted evaluations of campus-based change initiatives including conducting a national evaluation of institutional support for civic engagement, developing indicators associated with student success, helping to set up the Corporation for National and Community Service Learn and Serve America LASSIE national data collection system, and conducting multi-site evaluations on campus-wide change initiatives. Cathy recently was co-Principal Investigator of the evaluation of the Campus Compact Connect to Complete (C2C) initiative, a pilot peer-support program for low income and first generation students at nine community colleges, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Cathy's recent work includes investigating pathways to post-secondary majors in STEM. She was an evaluation partner to Girls Who Code, and is currently the co-Principal evaluator of the longitudinal evaluation of the FIRST robotics program.

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