STEM Scholarship Program with Promotion and Retention of STEM Education through Networking Team (PARENT) Support

休斯顿大学（UH）的S-STEM项目“通过网络团队（PARENT）促进和保留STEM教育的STEM奖学金计划”将招募和支持自然科学与数学学院（NSM）主修生物学、生物化学、化学、计算机科学、地球与大气科学、数学或物理的学生，包括那些也参加了Teach Houston计划的课外活动的学生。除了奖学金，该项目还将提供社区建设、指导和研究安置援助，所有这些都是促进本科生成功的循证策略。此外，该项目将建立一个父母学院，研究父母/家庭的影响和支持对STEM专业的保留和毕业的影响。家长学院将建立和加强家庭知识，帮助学生利用最佳实践来帮助学生成功，导航和克服障碍，并在他们的学术生涯中建立信心。UH是一个为西班牙裔/亚裔服务的机构，是实施这个项目的理想地点，它将向STEM社区通报新颖的、基于证据的支持活动的影响，这些活动可以提高不同人口群体的STEM专业学生的保留率和毕业率。最终，PARENT将为NSM各学科的学生提供多样化的培训，帮助他们进入STEM职业和研究生课程。一些受影响的STEM毕业生可能也会考虑教年轻学生的机会，然后鼓励他们攻读STEM专业。该项目的总体目标是提供财政支持以及学术和家庭学习社区，以提高STEM学生群体的保留率和毕业率。指导潜在调查的问题包括：(1)父母参与是影响学生学业成功和教育成就的核心因素吗？(2)父母/监护人的影响是否塑造了学生的身份并建立了对他/她的信心？(3)家长学院是否有助于为不同人口统计（种族/民族、经济背景、第一代大学生）的学者建立更强大的支持网络？(4)家庭对STEM领域的理解、认知和态度是否会导致更多学生在STEM学科中得到提升和保留？多种形式的基于现场的证据将被用来辨别家长学院和所有课程和课外活动对学者成果的影响。结果有望显示父母/家庭学习社区对改善本科STEM学生成绩的功效。这将是对STEM教育知识库的新贡献，因为这些类型社区的实施和研究通常仅限于PK-12教育。

The S-STEM project "STEM Scholarship Program with Promotion And Retention of STEM Education through Networking Team (PARENT)" at the University of Houston (UH) will recruit and support students in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) who are majoring in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, earth and atmospheric sciences, mathematics, or physics, including those who are also participating in co-curricular activities in the Teach Houston program. In addition to scholarships, the project will provide community building, mentoring, and research placement assistance, all of which are evidence-based strategies for fostering undergraduate student success. Further, the project will institute a Parental Academy to study the impact of parental/family influence and support on retention and graduation of STEM majors. The Parental Academy will build and strengthen the families' knowledge to help the scholars utilize best practices for student success, navigate and overcome obstacles, and build confidence throughout their academic careers. UH, a Hispanic-Serving/Asian-Serving Institution, is an ideal location for implementation of this project, which will inform the STEM community of the impacts of novel and evidence-based support activities that can lead to improved retention and graduation of STEM majors across diverse demographic groups. Ultimately, PARENT will provide a diversified pool of students trained across the NSM disciplines for advancement into STEM careers, graduate programs. Some of the STEM graduates impacted may also consider opportunities to teach younger students whom they can then encourage to pursue STEM majors. The overarching goal of the project is to provide financial support and an academic and family learning community to improve retention and graduation rates among cohorts of STEM students. Questions that will guide the underlying investigation include: (1) Is parental engagement a central factor impacting student academic success and educational attainment? (2) Does the influence of parents/caretakers shape the identity of the student and build confidence in him/her? (3) Does the Parent Academy help create a stronger support network for scholars across different demographics (race/ethnicity, economic background, first generation college students)? (4) Do the family's understanding, perceptions, and attitudes towards STEM fields lead to promotion and retention of more students in the STEM disciplines? Multiple forms of field-based evidence will be used to discern the impacts of the parental academy and all curricular and co-curricular activities on the outcomes of the scholars. Results are expected to show the efficacy of a parental/family learning community for improving undergraduate STEM student outcomes. This will be a novel contribution to the STEM education knowledge base, as the implementation and study of these types of communities is often limited to PK-12 education.