Scholarship Program to Increase Numbers and Strengthen the Workforce in Technology and Mathematics (SPIN+)

该项目旨在为有经济需要的计算机科学(CS)、计算机工程(CE)或数学专业的有才华的本科生在五年内提供约75个奖学金。这些学生通过学习得到支持，并通过利用社区帮助他们过渡到劳动力市场--既培养这些学科内的同龄人社区，以支持奖学金学生直到毕业，又帮助这些学生与大学以外的社区建立联系，以支持他们向劳动力市场转型。智力优势：该大学正在利用奖学金计划，在现有的大学基础设施内创建一种新的模式，寻找、招聘、支持、毕业并将各种在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域有才华的学生投入劳动力大军。这一模式(1)旨在识别尚未自我认同的STEM专业学生，(2)向学生强调本科教育与就业安置之间的联系，(3)在本科生中建立同伴支持系统网络。该项目正在帮助学生在毕业后通过使用在线社交媒体(如Facebook、LinkedIn)创建兴趣小组，将学生彼此联系起来，并将更广泛的商业社区联系起来，从而帮助学生保持这种网络。该项目正在与招生部门和社区合作伙伴合作，寻找经济需求未得到满足的有才华的学生，特别关注那些来自人口统计数据不足的学生，包括那些可能没有自我认定为STEM专业的人。更广泛的影响：让更多、更多样化的劳动力从计算机科学、计算机工程和数学专业毕业，有助于在这些日益关键的STEM领域更好地解决问题。此外，该大学正在利用该项目的成功，让学生毕业并进入劳动力大军，以获得当地和地区行业、教育和政府合作伙伴的长期资金承诺，以维持该项目继续下去所需的财政支持。正在开发的大学基础设施中的新途径，以招收有才华和多样化的STEM学生，并通过更有凝聚力和协调的支持来减少这些领域的人员流失，正在永久性地改变着大学。

This project is designed to offer approximately 75 scholarships over the course of five years to talented undergraduates who are in financial need and who are majoring in computer science (CS), computer engineering (CE), or mathematics. These students are being supported through their studies and assisted in their transition to the workforce by making use of communities - both the fostering of a community of peers within these disciplines to support scholarship students through to graduation, and the connection of these students with the community outside the university to support their transition to the workforce. Intellectual Merit: The university is using the scholarship program to create within the existing university infrastructure a new model for finding, recruiting, supporting, graduating and placing into the workforce a wide variety of students talented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This model (1) seeks to identify STEM majors who may not have yet self-identified as such, (2) emphasizes to students the connection between undergraduate education and workforce placement, and (3) builds a network of peer support systems among undergraduates. This project is helping students maintain this network after graduation by using online social media (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn) to create interest groups that connect students to each other and the wider business community. The project is working with the admissions department and with community partners to find talented students with unmet financial needs, with special attention to those from underrepresented demographics, including those who may not have self-identified as STEM majors.Broader Impacts: Graduating a larger and more diverse workforce in computer science, computer engineering, and mathematics is leading to better problem-solving in these increasingly critical areas of STEM. Further, the university is leveraging the success of the project in graduating and placing students into the workforce to obtain long-term funding commitments from local and regional industry, education, and government partners to maintain the financial support necessary for the continuation of this program. The new paths within the university infrastructure being developed to recruit talented and diverse STEM students and to reduce attrition in these fields through more cohesive and coordinated support are permanently changing the university.