Supporting Talent for Academic Recruitment in STEM (STARS)

在国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金(S-STEM)计划的资助下，STEM学术招聘支持人才(STAR)正在为有经济需求和学术前景的低收入学生提供支持，他们将在特拉华县社区学院(DCCC)的STEM学科取得成功。由于专注于信息技术、生物技术、制药、金融服务、先进制造、工程和研究的公司在地区集中，宾夕法尼亚州东南部对接受过STEM领域培训的高素质员工的需求正在增加。为了帮助满足这一需求，DCCC将在其对STEM教育的投资的基础上，通过其新STAR计划，在STEM专业招收、留住和毕业/转移40名低收入、学业有前途的学生。学院在服务低收入、第一代、非传统和残疾学生方面的良好经验将为支持学生在STEM专业取得成功提供基础。该项目将利用面向该学院STEM专业目前代表性不足的学生的招生活动，对STEM项目的多样性产生积极和变革性的影响。这将丰富和扩大所有学生的学术经验，并为包括女性、有色人种学生和经济困难学生在内的不同学生提供更多获得教育和专业途径的机会，从而使STEM劳动力多样化。一个合格的研究团队将确定STEM主题课程和教员指导结合社区大学的早期研究是否会影响学生的学术和职业目标以及STEM专业的留存。传播从这个项目中学到的经验教训将使其他社区学院了解扩大贫困学生参与STEM学科的有效策略。除了提供奖学金支持，这个S-STEM项目还将创建学习队列，这些学生将接受指导、辅导支持、获得专门服务和个性化援助，以便转到四年制院校继续他们的学业准备。STAR奖学金获得者还将通过一门新的研讨会式课程、客座演讲、参与实习和合作以及在第二年介绍一项研究经验，参与探索STEM职业生涯的活动。参与该项目的教职员工代表着不同的种族，在各种学术、企业和研究环境中都有经验，他们将与其他大学人员合作，通过指导和其他活动来提高留校率。该项目将加强STEM学生与地区雇主之间的联系，同时使他们获得职业选择和机会。此外，该项目将把现有的大学资源与新开发的活动结合起来，通过为学生提供充分解释的职业选择来加强双重招生计划。学院对学生成功的承诺体现在它在国家实现梦想计划中被认可为领军学院。通过积极关注如何在各个层次提高学生的成功，该学院在留住和完成学业方面取得了重要进展，特别是在学术成就、收入水平和社会支持方面往往表现出最大差距的人群中。该项目将提供一个可复制的、全面的和支持性的活动和服务网络，以加强传统上面临重大学业成功障碍的学生的学业成就、留住、完成、转学和就业。预计学院将与其他未被纳入STAR计划的学生复制经过验证的策略，以改善许多其他学生在STEM领域的机会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, the Supporting Talent for Academic Recruitment in STEM (STARS) is providing support to low-income students with demonstrated financial need and academic promise to succeed in STEM disciplines at Delaware County Community College (DCCC). Southeastern Pennsylvania is experiencing an increased demand for highly qualified employees trained in STEM fields due to the regional concentration of companies that focus on information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, financial services, advanced manufacturing, engineering and research. To help address this need, DCCC will build on its investments in STEM education to recruit, retain, and graduate/transfer 40 low-income, academically promising students in STEM majors through its new STARS initiative. The well-established experience of the college with serving students who are low income, first generation, nontraditional, and challenged by disabilities will provide the foundation for supporting students to be successful in STEM majors. Using recruitment activities that target students who are currently underrepresented in STEM majors at the college, the project will provide a positive and transformative impact on the diversity of STEM programs. This will enrich and expand the academic experience for all students and increase access to educational and professional pathways for diverse students, including women, students of color and economically disadvantaged students, thereby diversifying the STEM workforce. A qualified research team will determine if a STEM Topics course and faculty mentoring combined with early exposure to research at a community college influence student academic and careers goals and retention in STEM majors. Dissemination of lessons learned from this project will inform other community colleges of effective strategies for broadening the participation of underserved and underprivileged students in STEM disciplines.In addition to providing scholarship support, this S-STEM project will create learning cohorts of students who receive mentoring, tutoring support, access to specialized services, and individualized assistance to transfer to four-year institutions to continue their academic preparation. The STARS scholars will also engage in activities to explore STEM careers through a new seminar-style course, guest speakers, participation in internships and co-ops, and an introduction to a research experience in their second year. Faculty members involved in the project represent diverse ethnicities and have experience in various academic, corporate and research settings, and they will collaborate with other college personnel to improve retention through mentoring and other activities. The project will strengthen the connection between the STEM students with regional employers while exposing them to career options and opportunities. In addition, the project will incorporate existing college resources with newly developed activities to enhance dual enrollment programs by providing students with well-explained career options. The commitment of the college to student success is demonstrated by its recognition as a Leader College in the national Achieving the Dream initiative. By pro-actively focusing on ways to increase student success at every level, the college has achieved important gains in retention and completion, particularly among populations that often exhibit the greatest deficits in academic accomplishment, income levels, and societal supports. The project will provide a replicable, holistic, and supportive network of activities and services to strengthen academic achievement, retention, completion, transfer and employment of students who traditionally face significant barriers to academic success. It is expected that the college will replicate proven strategies with other students not included in the STARS program to improve opportunities in STEM fields for many additional students.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.