Collaborative Research: Institutional Collaboration to Recruit, Retain and Graduate Low-Income Students in Biology

科克学院、圣伊丽莎白学院、费勒姆学院、库卡学院、仁慈学院和托马斯大学将与是的，我们必须联盟合作，实施一系列精心规划和评估的活动，目的是提高这六所院校生物学专业的一大批多样化低收入学生的持久性。国家科学基金科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金(S-STEM)Track 3项目将为知识库提供有关影响低收入学生留校率和STEM学位获得的因素的新信息。通过在生物学学生、教师、项目协调员和外部科学家之间建立跨机构的伙伴关系，它将为STEM学者创建更强大的支持网络和科学认同。这一合作项目将有助于提高STEM学者的录取率、持久度和毕业率，并增加STEM相关研究生课程或就业领域的入学人数。这个S-STEM项目建立在六个合作机构各自开发的活动和最佳实践的基础上，同时实施和评估新的活动，包括：(1)CATALYST，一个特别侧重于帮助学生培养社区意识和归属感的“JumpStart”项目；(2)综合的一年级体验，包括基于STEM的一年级研讨会、建议和针对入门科学课程的同伴辅助学习课程；(3)侵入性建议和教师/同行导师计划，其中每个学生都将与一名专门的STEM教员和同行STEM导师相匹配；(4)在教师指导下继续实践研究或基于项目的学习；(5)由科学家举办的系列研讨会，在研讨会期间，学生将会见STEM领域的专业人士；(6)通过密集的一系列讲习班和队列活动，为学生提供关于STEM职业和研究生院机会的教育；以及(7)年度学院，将来自六个合作机构的学生和团队聚集在一起，由是，我们必须联盟组织。这最后一个部分将以STEM学者进行的研究为特色，此外还将举办旨在提高学生成功的研讨会。所有这些活动对参与院校的升学率、留校率、毕业率和研究生就业率的影响将被审查。形成性和终结性项目评估将采用混合方法，包括收集学生数据、调查、访谈和焦点小组。通过解决该项目的核心研究问题，哪些因素有助于低收入学生在生物学方面取得成功，将在专门针对低收入学生的研究文献中添加新的信息。这项研究将通过比较STEM学者和目前非佩尔合格的STEM学生的队列，以及参与合作研究项目的机构的历史数据，来控制种族、民族和第一代地位的中介影响。该项目的另一个特点是，它将提供一个地理上遥远的、多机构的S-STEM合作项目的可扩展模型。

Coker College, College of Saint Elizabeth, Ferrum College, Keuka College, Mercy College, and Thomas University will partner with the Yes We Must Coalition to implement a carefully planned and assessed series of activities with the intention of increasing the persistence of a large and diverse cohort of low-income students majoring in Biology across these six institutions. This NSF Scholarship in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) Track 3 project will contribute new information to the knowledge base regarding factors that affect retention and STEM degree attainment of low-income students. By creating cross-institutional partnerships between Biology students, faculty, project coordinators and external scientists, it will create a stronger network of support and scientific identity for the STEM scholars. This collaborative project will help increase the recruitment, persistence and graduation rate of STEM scholars and increase matriculation into a STEM-related graduate program or field of employment. This S-STEM project builds on activities and best practices developed by each of the six collaborating institutions while implementing and assessing new activities including: (1) CATALYST, a "Jumpstart"-inspired program with a particular focus on helping students develop a sense of community and belonging; (2) an integrated first-year experience including a STEM-based first-year seminar, advising, and peer-assisted study sessions for gateway science classes; (3) intrusive advising and a faculty/peer mentors program where each student will be matched with a dedicated STEM faculty member and peer STEM mentor; (4) continuing hands-on research or project-based learning under faculty mentorship; (5) seminar series by scientists during which students will meet working professionals in STEM fields; (6) graduate school and career preparation through an intensive series of workshops and cohort activities to educate students about STEM career and graduate school opportunities; and (7) an annual institute that will bring the cohort of students and teams from the six collaborating institutions together organized by the Yes We Must Coalition. This last component will feature research conducted by the STEM Scholars, in addition to workshops designed to increase student success. The impact of all these activities on enrollment, retention, graduation, and post-graduate placement rates at the participating institutions will be examined. Formative and summative project evaluation and assessment will employ mixed methods including collection of student data, surveys, interviews, and focus groups. By addressing the project's central research question, what factors contribute to success of low-income students in Biology, new information will be added to the research literature specific to low-income students. The study will control for mediating effects of race, ethnicity and first-generation status by comparing the cohort of STEM scholars to current non-Pell eligible STEM students, in addition to historical data across the institutions participating in the collaborative research project. An additional feature of this project is that it will provide a scalable model of a geographically far-flung, multi-institutional S-STEM collaborative project.