Scholarships for Advancing Careers in the Life Sciences

促进生命科学职业发展的奖学金

• 批准号: 1644034
• 负责人: Suazette Mooring
• 金额: $ 99.9万
• 依托单位: Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-03-01 至 2024-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1644034&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Scholarships; Advancing; Careers; Life; Sciences

This project will provide scholarship support for academically talented, low-income students majoring in Biology, Chemistry or Neuroscience at Georgia State University. 60 upper-division undergraduate students and 18 Masters students will be supported. Half of the undergraduate students will be drawn from enrolled students at Georgia State, with the remainder of the students recruited from transfer students from Perimeter College, a 2-year institution within Georgia State University. The focus of the program is to prepare students to enter graduate school or the STEM workforce. One unique feature of the program is the intent to support students beyond their undergraduate education into a 5th year Masters; completion of a Masters degree has been shown to substantially increase earning potential in the workforce. The program will provide a comprehensive set of activities and opportunities for development of academic and research skills, with the goal of increasing student self-efficacy. Students will engage in cohort-building activities such as a separate orientation specifically for them and text-based communication within the cohort. They will also participate in faculty mentoring, career planning through creation of Individual Development Plans, enhanced research opportunities, seminar courses and workshops, and facilitation of industry connections. Outside of the program, Georgia State provides additional services including career services, financial counseling, and academic advising to ensure student success on campus and after graduation. Students will be assessed for participation and completion of program activities, as well as for academic achievement and progress both within the program and following graduation. The objectives of the project are to: 1) retain and graduate upper-division undergraduates and Masters scholars in the Life Sciences, 2) develop the essential skills to be competitive in the workplace or graduate school, 3) build a sense of community through structured faculty mentorship and peer engagement, 4) study and report the impact of the implemented support structures on student self-efficacy, graduation and retention rates, and 5) strengthen institutional practices for the retention and graduation of talented, low-income students. This S-STEM program builds on four support structures currently available on the Georgia State University campus and six support structures developed specifically for this program. These support structures include cohort building, faculty mentoring, career planning, enhanced research, seminar courses and workshops, and industry connections. These support elements are designed to develop six targeted skills in program students - metacognitive skills, data analysis, problem solving, technical/lab skills, presentation skills, and scientific writing. These support structures and the enhanced skill sets of the students are hypothesized to improve their self-efficacy and eventual persistence in STEM careers. The program design and research study will be guided by Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) that predicts how variables such as support structures, self-efficacy, career outcome expectation, and goals affect students' career choices. This program will use a mixed-methods approach to examine how the proposed support structures affect these SCCT variables, graduation, and persistence in STEM-related careers. Given the diversity and unique demographic profile of Georgia State University, this study will advance knowledge about how certain supports affect the career choices for low-income students, underrepresented minorities, and first-generation students.

该项目将为格鲁吉亚州立大学生物学、化学或神经科学专业的学术人才、低收入家庭的学生提供奖学金支持。 将支持60名高年级本科生和18名硕士生。 一半的本科生将从格鲁吉亚州立大学的注册学生中选拔，其余的学生将从格鲁吉亚州立大学的2年制学院周长学院的转学生中选拔。该计划的重点是准备学生进入研究生院或STEM劳动力。该计划的一个独特之处是旨在支持学生超越本科教育进入第五年硕士;硕士学位的完成已被证明可以大幅增加劳动力的收入潜力。 该计划将提供一套全面的活动和学术和研究技能的发展机会，以提高学生的自我效能感。 学生将参与队列建设活动，如专门为他们和队列内基于文本的通信单独的方向。 他们还将参与教师指导，通过创建个人发展计划，增强研究机会，研讨会课程和研讨会，以及促进行业联系的职业规划。 在该计划之外，格鲁吉亚国家提供额外的服务，包括职业服务，财务咨询和学术咨询，以确保学生在校园和毕业后的成功。 学生将被评估参与和完成计划活动，以及在计划内和毕业后的学术成就和进步。该项目的目标是：1）保留和研究生高年级本科生和硕士学者在生命科学，2）发展基本技能，在工作场所或研究生院具有竞争力，3）通过结构化的教师指导和同行参与建立社区意识，4）研究和报告实施的支持结构对学生自我效能，毕业和保留率的影响，以及5）加强机构做法，以留住有才华的低收入学生并使其毕业。 这个S-STEM计划建立在格鲁吉亚州立大学校园现有的四个支持结构和六个专门为这个计划开发的支持结构上。 这些支持结构包括队列建设、教师指导、职业规划、加强研究、研讨会课程和研讨会以及行业联系。 这些支持要素旨在培养计划学生的六种目标技能-元认知技能，数据分析，解决问题，技术/实验室技能，演示技能和科学写作。 假设这些支持结构和学生的增强技能组合可以提高他们的自我效能感，并最终坚持STEM职业。 课程设计和研究将以社会认知职业理论（SCCT）为指导，该理论预测支持结构，自我效能，职业结果期望和目标等变量如何影响学生的职业选择。 该计划将使用混合方法来研究拟议的支持结构如何影响这些SCCT变量，毕业和STEM相关职业的持久性。 鉴于格鲁吉亚州立大学的多样性和独特的人口概况，这项研究将推进有关某些支持如何影响低收入学生，代表性不足的少数民族和第一代学生的职业选择的知识。