Undergraduate Scholarships for Education Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Management (USE4WRM)

环境工程和水资源管理（USE4WRM）项目的本科生奖学金将为中央州立大学（CSU）的学术人才和低收入水资源管理（WRM）和环境工程（ENE）本科生提供奖学金。 USE4WRM项目将有针对性地招收有学术准备的学生，以提高保留率和毕业率。该项目旨在解决低收入和代表性不足的社区与普通民众之间在STEM领域高中毕业生进入大学的巨大差距。 传统上，CSU吸引了大量代表性不足的少数民族，该计划将导致更多样化的环境科学毕业生入学。USE4WRM计划将分两批招收14名高中生参加ENE和WRM计划。学者将获得奖学金，指导，咨询，辅导和个人发展服务四年。 在教师的指导下，每个队列将形成一个学习社区，通过实习分享课程和实验学习经验。在课程评估中将使用同期和学者调查的学术表现指标。一个外部评估小组将评估该计划的成功，并将利用数据挖掘技术来分析学生和教师导师调查的队列和响应的学业成绩指标。 研究小组将使用这些数据来回答研究问题，“支持系统是否计划好了，对计划中学生的平均情况完全有效？以及“在使用基于学生性别的支持系统方面是否存在差异？“这项研究的结果将为现有的招聘和保留技术的有效性提供证据。 在ENE和WRM计划中获得的知识将扩展并适用于其他STEM领域。

The Undergraduate Scholarships for Education Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Management (USE4WRM) project will provide scholarships to the academically talented and low-income Water Resources Management (WRM) and Environmental Engineering (ENE) undergraduate students at Central State University (CSU). The USE4WRM project will utilize targeted enrollment of academically prepared students to improve retention and graduation rates. The project aims to address the wide gap in enrollment of high school graduates into college in the STEM fields between low-income and underrepresented communities and the general population. Traditionally CSU has attracted large numbers of underrepresented minorities and the program will lead to the matriculation of a more diversified set of graduates in environmental sciences.The USE4WRM program will recruit 14 high school students into the ENE and WRM programs in two cohorts. Scholars will receive scholarships, mentoring, advising, tutoring and personal development services for four years. Under the guidance of faculty, each cohort will form a learning community in which curricular and experimental learning experiences through internships are shared. Academic performance indicators of the cohorts and the scholar surveys will be used in program assessment. An external evaluator team will evaluate the success of the program and will utilize data mining techniques to analyze academic performance indicators of the cohorts and responses from the surveys by students and faculty mentors. The research team will use this data to answer the research questions, "Are the support systems planned, fully effective for the average profile of the student in the program?" and "Are there differences in the use of support systems based on the gender of the student?" Results from this research will generate evidence regarding the efficacy of existing recruitment and retention techniques. Knowledge gained within the ENE and WRM programs will be extended and applicable to other STEM fields.