Bass Connections Program Evaluation

Each year, Bass Connections conducts an annual program evaluation to learn more about the near-term impacts of the program. These efforts are complemented by periodic efforts to evaluate the longer-term impacts on alumni and faculty scholarship. Prior evaluation reports can be found at the bottom of this page; highlights from the 2021-2022 Evaluation Report are summarized below.  

In addition, the wide range of work produced by these teams can be viewed by browsing our Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Virtual Showcase and catalog of selected outputs, which includes exhibits, apps, datasets, grants and publications.

Undergraduate Student Benefits

When asked to report on the extent to which Bass Connections helped them build relationships and develop academically, undergraduate students reported that the program helped them “gain deeper insight into a societal challenge,” “learn how to conduct applied research” and “feel more engaged academically.”

Undergraduate Student Benefits chart.

I was able to work with real data, apply skills I had learned in statistics and public policy classes, work with software such as R and ArcGis, and conduct logistic modeling outside of a classroom setting. The application of these to a project outside of school was super interesting and made me a more engaged student. 

Learning to work on a team in a research setting was very meaningful; I learned a lot from my teammates themselves, and also how to collaborate and understand others' perspectives.  

Graduate and Professional Student Benefits 

When graduate/professional students were asked to rank up to three skills that they believed they most improved upon as a result of their participation in Bass Connections, the top three skills selected were “organizing and managing projects,” “communicating with a team,” and “working with team members from diverse areas of knowledge.”

Graduate Student Benefits chart.

My Bass Connections project re-injected an enthusiasm for science at a time during my Ph.D. when I was otherwise stalling. It helped me reconnect with the value of my work and seeded career-changing collaborations. My team co-leaders were fantastic mentors, who made me feel valued, and were incredibly flexible as I navigated the end of my Ph.D. work. 

Team Leader Benefits 

When team leaders were asked to rank the top three ways in which they benefited from participating in Bass Connections, their responses spotlighted the opportunity to develop new relationships, followed closely by the generation of research outputs. 

Team Leader Benefits.

Seeing the students grow in their abilities and their confidence in those abilities is HIGHLY rewarding. And working together towards a permanent deliverable (a paper or other publication) is a process from which I always grow professionally in how to structure projects with diverse teams and how to mentor students. 

Evaluation Reports

To learn more, please review our program evaluation reports published in the past five years. For more information about our program evaluation efforts or earlier reports, please contact Laura Howes.