Achieving Engagement and Success for Commuter Students in Engineering

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，ACCESS：实现通勤参与和成功计划正在为低收入学生提供支持，这些学生表现出经济需求和学术承诺，以在韦恩州立大学的STEM学科取得成功。该项目在5年内为攻读工程学士学位的学生提供84个奖学金。 ACCESS计划将专注于解决通勤学生的独特需求，并寻求了解影响通勤者与校园社区互动的因素。 计划元素，如夏季工程靴子营地，同行和教师指导，通过实习和合作社的体验式学习将实施，以支持学生的成功。 ACCESS方案的目标是提高低收入社会经济地位的通勤学生的保留率和六年毕业率。韦恩州立大学（WSU）位于密歇根州底特律市中心，为通勤到校园的低收入学生提供服务。 这些通勤者有很大的风险退出和不良的学术进步，因为他们需要平衡学术与许多校外承诺，最显着的工作。通过研究和教育活动，这项工作将解决以下问题：1）通勤学生参与参与和学术支持活动的障碍是什么，2）与面对面活动相比，虚拟活动如何促进参与和学生成功，3）社会经济地位低的学生参与虚拟活动是否存在障碍，（4）这些参与障碍在不同族裔群体之间是否有所不同？ 该项目将通过调查、成功标志课程的学习成绩、保留率以及四年和六年的毕业率进行评估。 这项工作的成果将通过同行审查的出版物和在国家会议上的口头介绍，向校园社区和更广泛的全球受众传播。 这项工作的结果将用于通知新方案的开发，以提高促进通勤学生的参与和学术成功的有效性。

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, the ACCESS: Achieving Commuter Engagement and Success program is providing support to low-income students with demonstrated financial need and academic promise to succeed in STEM disciplines at Wayne State University. The project is funding 84 scholarships over 5 years for students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Engineering. The ACCESS program will focus on addressing the unique needs of students who commute, and seeks to generate knowledge on the factors that affect the engagement of commuters with the campus community. Program elements such as a summer engineering boot camp, peer and faculty mentoring, experiential learning through internships and co-ops will be implemented to support student success. The goals of the ACCESS program are to increase the retention and six year graduation rates of commuter students with low-income socioeconomic status. Wayne State University (WSU) is located in downtown Detroit, Michigan, and serves a population of low-income students who commute to campus. These commuters are at great risk for withdrawal and poor academic progress due to their need to balance academics with many off-campus commitments, most notably work. Through combined research and educational activities, this work will address the following questions: 1) what are the barriers to commuter student participation in engagement and academic support activities, 2) how well do virtual activities promote the engagement and student success compared to in-person activities, 3) are there barriers to participation in virtual activities for students of low socioeconomic status, and 4) are these barriers to participation different among different ethnic groups? The project will be evaluated through surveys, academic performance in success marker courses, retention rates, and four- and six-year graduation rates. The results of this work will be disseminated to the campus community and to the wider global audience through peer reviewed publications and oral presentations at national meetings. The results of this work will be used to inform the development of new programs with increased effectiveness in promoting the engagement and academic success of students who commute.