Collaborative Research: ECSEL Scholarship Program (Electrical, Computer, and Software Engineers as Leaders)

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Recognizing that engineering and computer science are making concerted efforts to increase the diversity of students in their academic programs and in the workforce, this multi-institutional research team proposes a two-pronged approach: (1) To provide scholarships to a diverse population of low-income academically talented students with financial need; and (2) to adapt, implement, and test a student experience model designed to increase the success of students in those fields. The primary disciplinary foci are Electrical, Computer, and Software Engineering (ECSE) with the inclusion of cyber-security at Iowa State University (ISU); Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) and Kirkwood Community College (KCC). The project plans to award scholarships to 272 students (100 unique scholars at Iowa State University; 90 unique scholars at Des Moines Area Community College; and 82 unique scholars at Kirkwood Community College. The student experience model includes a set of well-established evidence-based practices that form an ecosystem of academic and co-curricular supports for students and is designed to foster retention, transfer, and graduation in STEM. The research team will conduct two research studies of this ecosystem of supports. The qualitative phenomenological study is designed to investigate and understand the development and maintenance of professional/career identity. The quantitative comparison study is designed to investigate the influence of individual motivation and the characteristics of the academic and social environments of ECSE on student success, retention, transfer, and degree attainment.