The AugSTEM Program: Informing Institutional Collaboration and Change to Prepare Juniors and Seniors for Careers in STEM

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The AugSTEM Program: Informing Institutional Collaboration and Change to Prepare Juniors and Seniors for Careers in STEM project at Augsburg College will extend the successes of the AugSTEM Scholars program, which developed a cross-disciplinary STEM cohort of upper-level students with targeted outreach to community college transfers. The current S-STEM project extends the lessons learned to institutional supports for all STEM students at Augsburg. This project will support low-income students with a cohort of 20 scholars and will provide 10 smaller scholarships to new transfer students or students who are building their academic eligibility for AugSTEM through other college access programs. Community college transfers and alumni of college access programs are groups with high potential for participating in STEM, but may not be optimally supported by institutional environments. This project will contribute to understanding better ways to connect these groups with high-impact practices such as undergraduate research and internships in ways that could be adapted to other institutions. Collaboration between 2-year institutions, a 4-year institution, and a work force preparedness program to support STEM retention, student success and preparedness for the STEM work force are features of the plan.Because community college transfers and college access program alumni are groups with high STEM potential who may not be optimally supported by institutional environments, the project has goals to explore institutionally transferrable ways to connect these groups with high-impact practices such as undergraduate research and internships. This project will develop qualitative and quantitative evidence grounded in the Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development to inform institutional support for STEM students, particularly those who have financial need, including transfer students or those who participated in a college access program.