Targeted Interventions for Enhanced Retention of Chemistry Graduate Students

NSF科学、技术、工程和数学（S-STEM）奖学金项目将增加完成化学博士学位的学生数量，并为国家重要的化学事业做出贡献。该项目有四个目标(a)提高在第一年最常遇到障碍的研究生的保留率，(b)使用精心定向的干预措施来减少平均获得学位的时间，(c)增加来自化学专业代表性不足的群体的研究生人数，以及(d)通过增加技能发展的连贯性和广度，减少教学工作量，改善研究生的整体体验。并支持学生在获得博士学位后从事非研究工作。该项目的直接成果将是向至少52名研究生颁发奖学金。长期的结果将是劳动力中有更多、准备更充分、拥有更高学位的专业人士。项目目标与自我评估中确定的化学研究生课程面临的挑战相一致。因此，我们精心选择了三种新的学生支持机制（专业发展研讨会、提案写作课程和近同伴指导），以关注关键的流失点，所有这些都在第一年的学习中占主导地位。工作坊所涵盖的主题将帮助学生发展他们作为专业科学家的身份，而写作课程将帮助他们发展设计可行的研究计划的能力。基于文献，这些策略将为S-STEM学生提供强有力的学术支持，并进一步为科学研究生的招聘和保留研究提供信息。此外，所有项目组成部分都是培养研究生的可持续、可转移工具的例子。评估计划包括验证、基线和后续调查，旨在评估参与者的自我效能感（研究和学术）和STEM身份的发展。还将利用定性的焦点小组讨论对个别支助结构进行评价。这两种机制都应该产生关于研究生的态度、动机和信念的丰富信息。定性评估将扩大到一组没有接触过学生支持的学生进行比较，应以目前有关研究生院坚持挑战的研究为基础。研究结果将通过各种机制，包括PittCon会议、美国化学会年会和《化学教育杂志》，传播给大学、全国化学和更广泛的STEM社区。

This NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) project will increase the number of students who complete a Ph.D. in chemistry and contribute to the vital national chemistry enterprise. The project has four objectives (a) increase the retention rate of graduate students who most commonly encounter barriers in their first year, (b) use carefully targeted interventions to reduce the average time-to-degreee, (c) increase the number of graduate students in the department from groups that are underrepresented in Chemistry, and (d) improve the overall graduate experience by adding coherence and breadth to skills development, reducing teaching workloads, and supporting students seeking non-research careers upon Ph.D. completion. The immediate outcome of the project will be the awarding scholarships to at least 52 graduate students. The long-term outcome will be more, better prepared, advance-degreed professionals for the workforce.The project goals are aligned with challenges to the chemistry graduate program that were identified in a self-assessment. Thus, the three new student support mechanisms (Professional Develop Workshops, Proposal Writing Course, and Near Peer Mentoring) were chosen carefully to focus on key attrition points, all predominant in the first year of study. The topics covered in the workshops will help the students to develop their identities as professional scientist, while the writing course will help them to develop their abilities to design a viable research plan. Grounded in the literature, these strategies will both provide the S-STEM students with strong academic support and further inform the research on recruitment and retention of graduate students in the sciences. Moreover, all of the project components are examples of sustainable, transferrable tools for training graduate students. The Evaluation Plan includes validated, baseline and follow-up surveys meant to assess the development of participants' self-efficacy (research and academic) and STEM Identities. The individual support structures will also be evaluated using qualitative, focus group discussions. Both mechanisms should result in rich information regarding the attitudes, motivation, and beliefs of budding graduate students. The qualitative assessments, which will be expanded to a group of students who have not been exposed to the student supports for comparison, should build on current research related to challenges to persistence in graduate school. Results will be disseminated to the university, national chemistry, and broader STEM communities through a variety of mechanisms including PittCon meetings, annual American Chemical Society meetings, and the Journal of Chemical Education.