The RADSS Program (Rural and Diverse Student Scholars)

乔治梅森大学的农村和多元化学生学者（RADSS）计划将为具有学术天赋并证明有经济需求的农村和多元化本科生提供奖学金和研究经历。学生将在乔治梅森大学主修天文学、生物学、化学、环境科学、数学、地质学和物理学等科学学位。RADSS的具体目标是：(1)战略性地吸引有才华的农村和多元化学生到理学院攻读学位；(2)促进有才华的农村和多元化学生留在理学院攻读学位；(3)直接支持这些未被充分代表的学生在理学院的本科学术活动。RADSS计划将招募并瞄准弗吉尼亚州农村地区对STEM感兴趣的高中生，并将与目标学校合作，提高对科学、技术和/或数学学位选择的认识。RADSS将在梅森大学建立与地区实验室和行业建立伙伴关系的能力，使学生获得研究经验和指导经验。农村学生获得研究机会有可能成为他们攻读科学、技术或数学学位的门户。学习助理将本科生研究和S-STEM学者支持纳入其中，是双队列模型的创新设计。本科生研究部分已被证明对支持学生的科学身份形成有效，并激励学生完成STEM课程和学位。这些组成部分的协同效应和跨学科教师团队的有效性将被调查。对RADSS S-STEM项目的评估将有助于我们理解如何招收和支持农村科学、技术和数学本科生。该项目将得到理学院（COS）的STEM加速器项目、COS院长办公室、招生办公室和梅森大学教务长办公室的学生学者项目的支持。通过努力增加梅森大学STEM专业的农村和多元化学生的数量，RADSS项目将有利于国家科学基金会的使命，即增加那些在科学和技术领域代表性不足的人的参与。

The Rural and Diverse Student Scholars (RADSS) Program at George Mason University will offer scholarships and research experiences to rural and diverse undergraduates, who are academically talented and have demonstrated financial need. Students will major in science degrees such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, environmental science, mathematics, geology, and physics at George Mason University. The specific objectives of RADSS are to: (1) strategically attract talented rural and diverse students to major in College of Science (COS) degrees, (2) promote retention of talented rural and diverse students in COS majors, and (3) directly support undergraduate scholarly activity by these underrepresented students in the College of Science. The RADSS Program will recruit and target high school students from rural parts of Virginia who express interest in STEM, and will work with target schools to increase awareness of science, technology, and/or math degree options. RADSS will build capacity at Mason to form partnerships with regional laboratories and industry, for students to gain research experiences and mentorship experiences. Rural student access to research opportunities has the potential to be a gateway for them to pursue a science, technology, or math degree. The inclusion of undergraduate research and S-STEM Scholar support by Learning Assistants is an innovative design for a two-cohort model. The undergraduate research component has been shown to be effective for supporting student scientific identity formation and motivates students to complete STEM courses and degrees. The synergistic effects of these components and the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary faculty team will be investigated. The evaluation of the RADSS S-STEM program will benefit our understanding of how to recruit and support rural undergraduates in science, technology, and math. This program will be supported by the STEM Accelerator Program in the College of Science (COS), the COS Dean's Office, the Admissions Office, and the Students as Scholars Program in the Provost's Office at Mason. By working to increase the number of rural and diverse students in STEM at Mason, the RADSS program will benefit NSF's mission to increase participation of those typically underrepresented in science and technology.