Collaborative Research: Maricopa Engineering Transition Scholars (METS)

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The METS project-Maricopa Engineering Transition Scholars-is a two-year pilot collaboration between Arizona State University (ASU) and Maricopa County Community College District (MCCD) to forge an integrated learning system that enrolls, retains, and graduates women and underrepresented minorities in engineering degree programs. The project is designed to 1) create an interest in engineering among students at the community colleges; 2) help students to transfer smoothly from a community college in MCCD to a four-year engineering degree program at ASU; and 3) assist the students in persisting to earn an undergraduate degree in engineering. The lead institution is the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at ASU. Four of MCCD's 10 institutions are participating: Chandler-Gilbert, Estrella Mountain, Glendale, and Mesa. The target population is approximately 10,000 students enrolled in MCCD courses in calculus/pre-calculus, biology, chemistry, physics, and geology. The project aims to increase by 30% the number of women and underrepresented minorities who transfer into CEAS engineering programs and to retain 75% of those students in the first year and to graduation. The research-grounded project activities were designed based on analysis of best practices piloted over many years at both MCCD and ASU. Three especially innovative features of METS are 1) research to determine which interventions and support programs are the most effective for students transitioning from a community college to a university engineering program 2) tactics to strengthen and institutionalize new collaborations between MCCD and ASU and 3) modules of Web-accessible problem-centered learning activities designed to interest community college students in engineering (especially women and underrepresented minority students) and fill the curricular gap that exists in hands-on engineering courses at the two-year level. The intellectual merit of METS is that it will yield data to enlarge the research understanding of 1) which interventions are most effective in recruiting and retaining women and minority students in engineering programs and 2) the extent to which college/university collaborations impact those efforts. The broader impact of METS will occur in 1) developing a model of collaboration for STEM recruitment/retention between community colleges and universities, a model that can be replicated and adapted nationwide by educational institutions; and 2) disseminating Web-accessible, problem-centered engineering modules tailored to the cultural needs and learning styles of women and underrepresented minorities.