Outreach Activities

With establishing a full circle of attraction and recruitment in STEM fields and providing the mentoring and support required to ensure the retention and training of female and underrepresented minority (URM) students, the professional and academic communities are believed to move toward a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment.

Dr. Alipour’s research group is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion with contributions to three thrusts targeted to close the loop of growth and prosperity for the current and next generations of students:


Attraction and Recruitment from K-12

Our research group has been actively involved in various outreach activities for the attraction and recruitment of female and URM students from K-12.

Dr. Alipour serves as a faculty advisor for Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE), Science Bound Program, and EERI Student Chapter.

High school students designing a wood bridge as part of WiSE University
ISU EERI Student Chapter’s outreach event in Edwards Elementary School’s Science Night

Retention of students by fixing the leaky pipeline

Our research group provides research opportunities and continuous mentoring and support to a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students, especially those from URM groups.

Dr. Alipour serves as an advisor for Academic Program for Excellence in Engineering (APEX-E). She has also been mentoring several students through NSF-sponsored Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program and ISU’s First-Year Honors Program.

Tiaunna Little (left) and Shantal Rincon (right) presenting their APEX-E project at 2019 Summer Research Symposium
Michael Huntley (left), Paul Iman (middle), and Abigail Van Rheenen (right) presenting their honors project at 2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Mentoring students and junior professionals

Dr. Alipour understands the role and importance of mentors in the career development of students and junior professionals. She is driven to provide uninterrupted mentoring to her undergraduate and graduate students not only during their tenure on campus and her research group but also during their careers as junior professionals/academicians.

Dr. Laura Micheli (now Assistant Professor at CUA) (left) and Ning Zhang (now Ph.D. Candidate at ISU) (right) in 2018 ASCE Structures Congress