Pitzer College Mentors Enable, Connect, Help, Advocate, Nurture, Intervene, Sustain, and Motivate (MECHANISM) for Success in the Molecular Sciences

通过导师使能、连接、帮助、倡导、培育、干预、支持和激励(机制)项目，匹泽学院的一个教职员工和管理人员团队正在增加获得化学、生物化学或分子生物学学士学位的有经济需求的学术天赋学生的数量。该项目正在招收16名一年级学生，目标是通过强调利用学术资源的价值的综合学生发展计划，在选定的STEM领域留住他们直到毕业。通过提供更多进入这些专业的机会，该项目正在促进STEM劳动力的扩大，这有助于满足地区和国家的需求。此外，为了扩大参与，正在积极招募来自科学领域代表性不足的群体--非洲裔美国人、拉丁裔美国人(A)美国人、亚裔美国人/太平洋岛民和美洲原住民(阿拉纳)--的学生。项目实施的技术特点包括学生有一系列机会，包括(A)向同行导师学习(辅导和补充指导)，(B)提高书面交流技能(写作中心)，(C)体验其他文化(出国留学)，(D)建立同行网络和练习高级推理技能(Howard Hughes医学院暑期沉浸计划)，(D)促进前沿研究；(E)参加实习。通过评估和评估产生的数据预计将支持这样一种理论，即通过培养“文化资本”(例如，与学生在整个学术生涯中的学业成功有关的性格、态度和信念)，可以在STEM领域实现学生的高保留率。项目评估的重点是学生的学术参与和对支持服务、学生内容知识和教师反馈的使用。此外，该项目预计将在毕业后跟踪学生，并就该项目的持续影响采访他们。该项目成果的传播预计将提供一个模式，说明如何将帮助STEM学生发展文化资本作为一种在毕业后留住他们的手段。该项目小组计划通过克莱蒙特学院联盟的教学中心以及美国化学学会的全国会议介绍其工作。

Through the Mentors Enable, Connect, Help, Advocate, Nurture, Intervene, Sustain, and Motivate (MECHANISM) project a team of faculty and administrators at Pitzer College is increasing the number of academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn baccalaureate degrees in chemistry, biochemistry, or molecular biology. The project is recruiting sixteen first-year students with the goal of retaining them to graduation in the selected STEM fields through a comprehensive program of student development that emphasizes the value of utilizing academic resources. In providing increased access to these majors, the project is contributing to the enlargement of the STEM workforce that can help meet regional and national needs. In addition, to broaden participation, students from groups that are under-represented in the sciences - African American, Latino(a) American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and Native American (ALANA) - are actively being recruited.Technical features of the project implementation involve students in an array of opportunities including (a) learning from peer mentors (tutoring and supplemental instruction), (b) improving written communication skills (Writing Center), (c) experiencing other cultures (Study Abroad), (d) creating peer networks and practicing high-level reasoning skills (Howard Hughes Medical Institute Summer Immersion Program), (d) contributing to cutting-edge research, and (e) participating in internships. Data generated through assessment and evaluation is expected to support the rationale that high retention of students in STEM fields is achievable through cultivation of "cultural capital," (e.g. dispositions, attitudes, and beliefs related to students' academic success throughout their academic careers). Project evaluation focuses on student academic engagement and use of support services, student content knowledge, and faculty feedback. Moreover, the project expects to track its students after graduation and interview them about the project's ongoing impact. Dissemination of the project results is expected to provide a model for how helping STEM students develop cultural capital can be used as a means of retaining them through graduation. The project team plans to present its work through Teaching and Learning Centers in the Claremont Colleges Consortium as well as through national meetings of the American Chemical Society.