Preparing Students for Careers in Computer Science and Math

为学生从事计算机科学和数学职业做好准备

• 批准号: 1742110
• 负责人: David Hartenstine
• 金额: $ 99.99万
• 依托单位: Western Washington University
• 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: 2017-12-01 至 2023-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1742110&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Preparing; Students; Careers; Computer; Science

The state of Washington has a very high concentration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs and a large skills mismatch as about 45,000 STEM jobs go unfilled each year due to the lack of qualified candidates. These high-paying jobs are vital to the economy of the United States and provide great opportunities for upward economic mobility for low-income students. To address the problem, this Scholarships in STEM (S-STEM) Track 2 project at Western Washington University (WWU), a public masters granting university, is designed to (a) increase retention of low-income academically-talented students in computer science or math (CS/M); (b) support them through graduation, thus preparing them for employment; (c) improve educational opportunities for all students studying CS/M at WWU; (d) study the impact of program activities; and (e) contribute to the development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce. The program will broaden participation by women and minorities in STEM by incorporating program features that research shows increase the retention of underrepresented groups in STEM. Partnerships between industry and WWU will be enhanced by regular participation of industry professionals and the creation of a network of recent WWU CS/M alumni who will mentor scholars. Guidance will be provided to these mentors and experience with the program will make these mentors better future managers and more aware of obstacles to success for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, further improving and diversifying the STEM workforce. Regular formative and summative evaluations will be provided by an external evaluator leading to continuous program improvement. Results will be widely disseminated through conference presentations, publications, and a regional event for current and future S-STEM project teams.Over the life of the project, at least 50 unique students will be selected for the scholarships based on academic potential and leadership qualities. The project expects to retain 85% of the Scholars after the first year and at least 75% through graduation in CS/M at WWU. The objectives will be achieved by several evidence-based strategies including early advising; a first-year program that builds a learning community; faculty, peer and professional mentoring; and regular events designed to preserve this community and prepare students for CS/M careers. Small teams that include students from all cohorts will enhance vertical connections in the community of scholars and enable students to develop leadership skills. This project builds on an earlier award that had similar activities and was successful in that talented, low-income students were recruited and retained, and most graduates are working in CS/M fields. However, the reasons for that success were not formally investigated. This project will seek to understand how all aspects of this program affect important psychological factors that contribute to retention and success in STEM. Specifically the question is: "how, and to what extent, do the program features contribute to the development of self-efficacy, CS/M identity, and sense of belonging?" Further, the project will investigate the effect of early CS exposure (coursework and career awareness in freshman year) on CS/M majors. Because many incoming freshmen have limited knowledge of CS, early CS exposure may attract such students to CS. Evidence from the previous S-STEM grant indicates that early CS exposure also positively impacted math majors as many minored in CS or took more CS courses than required and many opted for a BS in Applied Math or chose upper-division electives with a computational or applied focus. The hypothesis is that early CS exposure will improve the experience of math majors by expanding their awareness of career options and by developing skills that enhance their conceptual understanding and problem-solving capabilities. The knowledge generated by this project will lead to better understanding of the effects of program activities and may inform changes in practice to better support low-income students in CS/M.

华盛顿州的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)工作非常集中，技能错配很大，由于缺乏合格的候选人，每年约有4.5万个STEM职位空缺。这些高薪工作对美国经济至关重要，并为低收入学生提供了向上流动的巨大机会。为了解决这个问题，西华盛顿大学(一所授予公共硕士学位的大学)在STEM(S-STEM)Track 2项目中的这个项目旨在：(A)留住低收入的计算机科学或数学(CS/M)学业优秀生；(B)支持他们毕业，从而为他们就业做好准备；(C)改善在西华盛顿大学攻读CS/M的所有学生的教育机会；(D)研究计划活动的影响；以及(E)促进发展一支多样化的、具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力队伍。该计划将扩大妇女和少数族裔在STEM的参与，纳入研究表明增加STEM中代表性不足群体的保留的计划特点。工业界和世界大学之间的伙伴关系将通过行业专业人员的定期参与和建立一个将指导学者的最近世界大学计算机科学/管理校友网络而得到加强。将为这些导师提供指导，该计划的经验将使这些导师成为更好的未来管理者，并更多地意识到来自弱势背景的人成功的障碍，进一步改善和多样化STEM员工队伍。定期的形成性和总结性评价将由外部评估员提供，从而导致方案的持续改进。研究结果将通过会议报告、出版物和针对当前和未来S-STEM项目团队的地区性活动广泛传播。在该项目的整个生命周期中，将根据学术潜力和领导才能选出至少50名独特的学生获得奖学金。该项目预计在第一年后留住85%的学者，并在WWU计算机科学/M专业毕业时至少保留75%的学者。这些目标将通过几种基于证据的战略来实现，包括早期建议；建立学习社区的第一年计划；教师、同行和专业指导；以及旨在保护这个社区并为学生从事CS/M职业做准备的定期活动。由来自所有群体的学生组成的小团队将加强学者社区中的垂直联系，并使学生能够发展领导技能。该项目建立在早先的一个奖项的基础上，该奖项开展了类似的活动，并取得了成功，招聘和留住了有才华的低收入学生，大多数毕业生都在CS/M领域工作。然而，这一成功的原因并未得到正式调查。这个项目将试图了解这个项目的各个方面如何影响重要的心理因素，这些因素有助于STEM的留住和成功。具体的问题是：“项目特点如何以及在多大程度上有助于发展自我效能感、CS/M认同感和归属感？”此外，该项目将调查早期CS暴露(一年级的课程学习和职业意识)对CS/M专业学生的影响。由于许多新生对CS的了解有限，早期接触CS可能会吸引这些学生进入CS。之前S-STEM助学金的证据表明，早期接触CS也对数学专业的学生产生了积极影响，许多人辅修CS，或者选修了比要求更多的CS课程，许多人选择了应用数学学士学位，或者选择了专注于计算或应用的高级选修课。该假设认为，早期接触CS将通过扩大他们对职业选择的认识，并通过发展技能来增强他们的概念理解和解决问题的能力，从而改善数学专业学生的体验。该项目所产生的知识将有助于更好地理解方案活动的影响，并可能为实践中的变化提供信息，以便更好地支持CS/M的低收入学生。