UCSB's INSPIRE Program Bridges the First-Year Gap for Engineering Students

The Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering (CoE) at UC Santa Barbara has completed the second year of its Integrated Networking, Scholarship and Peer Interaction for First-Year Engineers (INSPIRE) program, an NSF-funded initiative designed to improve retention among undergraduate engineering students during the critical first year of study.

The program was developed by the team of Computer Science Professor and Associate Dean Elizabeth Belding (lead), Computer Science Associate Teaching Professor and Vice Chair Diba Mirza, Chemical Engineering Associate Teaching Professor Joe Chada, and Assistant Professor of Technology Management Jessica Santana, who identified sophomore year as the primary inflection point for attrition in the college. National research suggests that close to fifty percent of students who begin in engineering have switched to another field before graduation. At UCSB, Belding found that students were often departing before they had meaningful exposure to their major, a supportive peer community, or a clear picture of the careers ahead.

INSPIRE addresses this through a two-quarter, one-unit seminar sequence. The fall seminar covers university navigation and study skills, with explicit attention to what the team calls the “hidden curriculum”: the informal knowledge about academic life that first-generation students and those from under-resourced high schools may not arrive with. The winter seminar brings in guest speakers, including UCSB engineering alumni, to map out the range of careers available to graduates. Students are organized into major-specific peer groups led by an undergraduate mentor from the same program, and those who complete both quarters receive a $300 stipend.

CS Associate Teaching Professor and Vice Chair Diba Mirza, who teaches many INSPIRE participants in her first-year CS course, has seen the program’s effects directly. “The biggest win is watching groups of INSPIRE students come to my office hours together,” she said. “It tells me they are not only more comfortable reaching out to faculty, but that they have found their people early on.” Several participants have since joined Mirza’s research group, contributing to work on pedagogy, student-facing tools, and the role of AI in CS education.

Retention outcomes for the inaugural cohort are notable. A comparison with three recent groups of engineering freshmen not enrolled in INSPIRE found that non-participants lost 10% of their enrollment by the second quarter of sophomore year. INSPIRE participants over the same period recorded zero attrition.

The program launched in Fall 2024 with 33 students in computer science and chemical engineering. In 2025, it expanded to include electrical engineering, with 58 students enrolled across three majors. Additionally, Professor Joe Chada and Assistant Professor Jessica Santana joined as co-leads for the expansion. All five College of Engineering majors are expected to participate when INSPIRE grows to its anticipated 75-student cohort in Fall 2026.

Several students from the first cohort have gone on to join faculty research labs, compete in entrepreneurship and data science competitions, and return as peer mentors for the next class.

For the full feature, see the College of Engineering's April 2026 article by Cameron Walker. Read more: https://www.engineering.ucsb.edu/news/INSPIRE-program