Strategies for Support of the STEP Program

STEM人才扩展计划（STEP）于2002财年启动，目标是增加STEM领域本科毕业生的数量。这个项目的目的是通过三个主要领域的活动来增强STEP的影响：1)对可能需要额外反馈或支持的项目进行实地考察；2)开发一份适合向外部受众分发的关于STEP成就的信息文件；3)每年举办三次区域研讨会，针对可能有兴趣向该计划提交提案的教师。所提议的项目的智力价值在于发展一个从事STEP项目的学者社区。通过该项目举办的专业发展研讨会，全国各地的教师和管理人员都在学习招生和留住学生的最佳实践，并将这些最佳实践应用到他们的家乡校园。参与实地考察的项目顾问能够对其项目进行调整和改进，以提高其工作的影响。STEP本质上是一个侧重于更广泛影响的项目。积极的STEP项目侧重于扩大本科生在STEM领域的参与，因此对个别项目的改进对该领域具有总体积极影响。通过该项目开发的信息文件旨在传播活跃的STEP项目的成果，促进STEM教师对招聘和留住STEM学生的最佳实践的更好理解，并向更广泛的科学界宣传招聘和留住STEM学科本科生的挑战和成功。

The STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP) was initiated in FY2002 with the goal of increasing the number of students graduating with undergraduate degrees in STEM areas. The purpose of this project is to enhance the impact of STEP through activities in three primary areas: 1) conducting site visits to projects that may be in need of additional feedback or support, 2) developing an informational document suitable for distribution to external audiences regarding achievements in STEP, and 3) conducting three regional workshops per year aimed at faculty who might be interested in submitting a proposal to the program. Intellectual Merit The intellectual merit of the proposed project lies in development of a community of scholars engaged in STEP projects. Through the professional development workshops being conducted by this project, faculty and administrators across the country are learning about best practices in student recruitment and retention and will be able to apply these best practices on their home campuses. PIs who have participated in a site visit are able to make adjustments and improvements to their project to enhance the impact of their work. Broader Impacts STEP is essentially a program focused on broader impacts. Active STEP projects are focused on broadening the participation of undergraduate students in STEM fields, so improvements to individual projects have an overall positive impact in this area. The informational document being developed through this project serves to disseminate achievements from active STEP projects, to facilitate greater understanding of best practices in recruitment and retention of STEM students among STEM faculty, and to educate the broader scientific community about the challenges and successes in recruiting and retaining undergraduate students in STEM disciplines.