Collaborative Research: Maricopa Engineering Transition Scholars (METS)

该METS项目-马塞诸塞工程过渡奖学金-是亚利桑那州立大学（ASU）和马塞诸塞县社区学院区（MCCD）之间的一个为期两年的试点合作，以建立一个综合的学习系统，招收，保留和毕业的妇女和代表性不足的少数民族在工程学位课程。 该项目的目的是：1）在社区学院的学生中培养对工程的兴趣; 2）帮助学生从MCCD的社区学院顺利转入ASU的四年制工程学位课程; 3）帮助学生坚持获得工程本科学位。牵头机构是亚利桑那州立大学工程与应用科学学院。社区发展部的10个机构中有4个参加了该方案：麦克勒-吉尔伯特、埃斯特雷拉山、格伦代尔和梅萨。 目标人群是大约10 000名学生参加MCCD微积分/微积分前、生物、化学、物理和地质课程。该项目旨在将转入CEAS工程课程的妇女和代表性不足的少数民族人数增加30%，并在第一年和毕业时保留75%的学生。 这些以研究为基础的项目活动是根据对社区发展部和亚利桑那州立大学多年来试行的最佳做法的分析设计的。 METS的三个特别创新的特点是：1）研究，以确定哪些干预和支持计划是最有效的学生从社区学院过渡到大学工程计划2）策略，以加强和制度化之间的新合作MCCD和ASU和3）网络访问的模块，以问题为中心的学习活动，旨在感兴趣的社区学院学生在工程这一方案旨在帮助学生（特别是妇女和代表性不足的少数民族学生）学习工程学，并填补两年制工程学实践课程中存在的课程空白。 METS的智力价值在于，它将产生数据，以扩大对以下问题的研究理解：1）哪些干预措施在招聘和留住工程专业的女性和少数民族学生方面最有效; 2）学院/大学合作对这些努力的影响程度。 METS的更广泛影响将发生在1）开发社区学院和大学之间的STEM招聘/保留合作模式，该模式可以由教育机构在全国范围内复制和调整;以及2）传播网络访问，以问题为中心的工程模块，这些模块适合女性和代表性不足的少数民族的文化需求和学习风格。

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.