Cohort Development: Growing a Community of Scientists

该项目提供奖学金和支持服务，特别是针对服务不足的人口，主要是在科学的速度远远低于其他学生人口的计划。 该项目强调队列形成，信任和社区。这个由教师驱动的队列计划专注于在STEM领域取得成功的学生。在一个成功的试点项目的基础上，该项目有一个双重结构的队列支持：第一个包括在他们的第一年和第二年的学年学生（焦点），其次是面向研究的夏季科学研究员（SSF）。这些学生获得协调的学术支持，咨询，指导和职业探索机会。每个FOCUS队列包括多达16名学生，每个人都获得S-STEM奖学金和贷款减免。每年4至6名学生的SSF队列还从其他来源获得S-STEM学年奖学金和两年的夏季研究资金。在四年的时间里，该计划支持了84名独特的FOCUS和18名SSF学生，假设这些学生之间有一些重叠。关于更广泛的影响，该项目的影响，特别是通过评估和传播学院的科学教育资源中心，学院的HHMI链接的联盟和区域和国家组织通过NSF资助的LSAMP MN北星星联盟。该项目的智力价值源于科学计划的力量和在对成功计划进行系统的全国调查后适应学院环境的总体战略。随着学生群体变得越来越多样化，学院未来在科学方面的成功取决于传统上服务不足的学生的参与度。

This project is providing scholarships and support services in a program that especially targets under-served populations that major in the sciences at a rate far below the rest of the student population. The project emphasizes cohort formation, trust, and community. This faculty-driven Cohorts program focuses on talented students on the threshold of success in STEM areas. Building on a successful pilot project, the project has a dual structure of cohort support: the first comprises academic-year students in their first and second years (FOCUS), followed by the research-oriented Summer Science Fellows (SSF). The cohorts receive coordinated academic support, advising, mentoring, and career exploration opportunities. Each FOCUS cohort includes up to sixteen students, each of whom is receiving S-STEM scholarships and loan reduction. The SSF cohorts of four to six students each year also receive S-STEM academic-year scholarships and two years of summer-research funding from other sources. Over four years the initiative is supporting up to eighty-four unique FOCUS and eighteen SSF students, assuming some overlap between the cohorts. Regarding broader impact, this project affects, especially through assessment and dissemination by the college's Science Education Resource Center, the college's HHMI-linked alliances and regional and national organizations via NSF-funded LSAMP MN North Star Alliance. The project's intellectual merit stems from the strength of the science programs and an overall strategy adapted to the college's environment after a systematic national investigation of successful programs. As the student population becomes increasingly diverse, the college's future success in the sciences hinges on increased engagement of traditionally under-served students.