READY! SET! TRANSFER! 2.0 (RST 2.0)

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This National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) project involves three community colleges of the Seattle Community Colleges District VI. The Ready! Set! Transfer! 2.0 (RST 2.0) project conducted by North Seattle College, South Seattle College, and Seattle Central College will provide scholarships and other support for talented, low-income students pursuing careers and transfer associate degrees in astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, mathematics, nanotechnology, oceanography, and physics. In addition to scholarships, support activities include faculty mentoring, advising and transfer workshops, and a STEM speaker series of research and industry representatives. A particular emphasis will be placed on studying the unique challenges facing STEM students who begin their studies in developmental mathematics. Scholarships and support for low-income and academically talented students, who may not otherwise be able to obtain STEM degrees, will help to produce a well-trained workforce that will contribute to the economic well being of the nation.The Ready! Set! Transfer! 2.0 (RST 2.0) project is based on the results from a prior NSF-supported STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP)project to the Seattle Colleges District VI. The colleges will utilize resources and the momentum from this prior STEP award to build community among scholars and provide a rich collection of evidence-based co-curricular supports to foster retention and completion. This team of three community colleges will work in collaboration with educational researchers from Seattle University to better understand the unique challenges facing STEM students who begin their studies in developmental mathematics. This collaboration will contribute to the knowledge base of STEM education by investigating how mechanisms of structural inequality related to social class stratify the experiences and opportunities of STEM students who begin their studies in developmental mathematics. The findings from the program will be disseminated widely to the STEM education community. The project team will communicate with local and national audiences to share insights developed from the qualitative and quantitative investigation of the impacts of co-curricular supports on talented low-income students.