STEM Scholarships for Community College Students

霍华德社区学院的这个项目将提供奖学金支持，为社区学院学生在四年制学院或大学继续学习学士学位课程奠定基础，随后进入研究生院和/或在物理科学、生命科学、工程、信息技术、计算机科学、环境科学、生物技术、生物信息学或数学领域工作。总体目标是扩大招生，减少经济障碍，增加学生留校和转学。重点将放在确定和招收妇女和少数民族，提供指导和支持以留住学生，并建立一个本科研究项目，以确保学生受到良好的教育，并为进一步的教育、研究和就业做好准备。毕业生将有助于缓解马里兰州中部高科技产业所需的训练有素的人才短缺。这个以学生为中心的项目的成功不仅取决于奖学金，还取决于为学生提供的学术和个人支持。通过这一举措，学院将利用其在招生和留住学生方面的专业知识，为学生在这些关键的学习领域取得成功提供一个支持结构的模型。对学生的支持将包括来自同龄人、项目顾问和教师导师的学习社区支持。学者们将获得正式的、全面的指导，并参加全年的活动，旨在提高他们在大学的成功，增加他们对相关职业选择的知识。学生将受益于小班授课，加上教师在各自领域的专业知识和对学者成功的承诺。科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）系列研讨会由四门一学分课程组成，旨在磨练学生的研究、沟通、团队合作和其他方面的技能。一个新的研究序列将被纳入该系列研讨会，使学生在两年的课程中，在教师导师的监督下，创造、进行、展示或发表原创研究。综合评估将通过衡量学生对研究的理解、他们在团队中协作的能力以及项目对学生参与、成功和完成的影响来衡量本科研究项目的有效性和影响。这些发现将有助于增加关于此类奖学金项目成功属性的知识库。此外，学者将被跟踪至少四年，以确定完成STEM领域四年制学位所需的时间。

This project at Howard Community College will provide scholarship support to lay the foundation for the continued study of community college students in baccalaureate degree programs at four-year colleges or universities followed by graduate school and/or careers in physical sciences, life sciences, engineering, information technology, computer science, environmental science, biotechnology, bioinformatics or mathematics. The overall goals are to expand enrollment, reduce economic barriers, and increase student retention and transfer. Emphasis will be placed on identifying and recruiting women and minorities, providing mentoring and support to retain students, and establishing an undergraduate research program to ensure students are well educated and prepared for further education, research, and employment. Graduates will help to alleviate the shortage of trained personnel needed by the high technology industries located in central Maryland.The success of this student focused program will depend not just on the scholarship, but on the academic and personal support provided to the students. With this initiative the college will build on its prior expertise in recruitment and retention of students to provide a model for a support structure that leads to student success in these critical fields of study. Support for students will include learning community support from peers, a program advisor, and faculty mentors. Scholars will receive formal, comprehensive mentoring and participate in activities throughout the year designed to improve their success in college and increase their knowledge about related career choices. Students will benefit from small class size plus faculty with expertise in their fields and commitment to the success of the scholars. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Seminar series, a sequence of four one-credit courses, will be designed to hone student skills in research, communication, teamwork and other topics. A new research sequence will be incorporated into this seminar series, enabling students to create, conduct, and present or publish original research under the supervision of a faculty mentor over their two years in this program. A comprehensive evaluation will measure the effectiveness and impact of the undergraduate research program by measuring students understanding of research, their ability to work collaboratively in teams and the impact of the program on student engagement, success and completion. These findings will help contribute to the growing knowledge base about successful attributes of such scholarship programs. In addition the scholars will be tracked for a minimum of four years to determine the time required for the completion of the four-year degree in a STEM field.