STEM TRansfer Students Opportunity for Nurtured Growth (STRONG)

STEM 转学生提供培育成长的机会（强）

• 批准号: 1742424
• 负责人: Mubarak Shah
• 金额: $ 100万
• 依托单位: The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-03-01 至 2023-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1742424&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STEM; TRansfer; Students; Opportunity; Nurtured

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, the STEM TRansfer Students Opportunity for Nurtured Growth (STRONG) is providing support to low-income students with demonstrated financial need and academic promise to succeed in STEM disciplines at the University of Central Florida (UCF). This S-STEM Track 2 project is funding up to 36 scholarships over 5 years for transfer students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in STEM. Compared to first time in college (FTIC) students who begin their academic careers at a four-year institution, transfer students generally find the path to obtaining a bachelor's degree more challenging, and they are significantly less likely to graduate than their FTIC counterparts. Finding ways to improve the educational experiences of these students is an urgent national priority. The aim of UCF's STRONG project is to substantially increase retention, graduation rates, and career success of STEM transfer students. This goal is achieved in part by giving each student a role in various STEM activities within a community of high-achieving scholars, who are majoring in similar fields. Providing financial support, mentorship, and opportunities for academic engagement outside the classroom promises to reduce the obstacles students face, keep them interested in their field of study, and motivate them to excel academically. A thorough study of how the program affects its participants will maximize the impact of the intervention and informs future efforts to improve the educational experiences of STEM transfer students.The UCF STRONG project consists of three components, which are all essential for reaching the program goal of increasing retention, graduation rates, and career success of STEM transfers. The first component is to design, implement, and improve a high-accuracy prediction model for identifying high-risk STEM transfers. Using known information about transfers, along with statistical analysis and machine learning, it will establish a means of predicting which students are least likely to complete a STEM degree, thereby helping UCF to know which students will benefit most from STRONG. The second component is to increase retention of transfers in STEM fields. STRONG scholars will be selected from financially needy incoming transfers who have been predicted to be unlikely to graduate, with the purpose of retaining them through graduation due to their participation in STRONG. This outcome is an expected result of increased student success through stimulation of academic integration and a cultivation of proficiency in their chosen fields. More specifically, each student is given a role within a community of like-minded students from closely related fields; they also meet regularly with mentors and participate in STEM activities that promote their success. The third component is to learn how the interventions influence STEM transfer students' ability to become active participants in their own learning. The project team will study the effects of the intervention on metacognition, motivation, and behavior, which are the three pillars of Self-Regulated Learning and are essential for student success.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.

在国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金(S-STEM)项目的资助下，STEM转学学生培育成长机会(STRONG)正在为有经济需求和学术承诺能够在中佛罗里达大学(UCF)STEM学科取得成功的低收入学生提供支持。S-STEM Track 2项目将在5年内为正在攻读STEM学士学位的转校生提供多达36个奖学金。与在四年制院校开始学业生涯的第一次上大学(FTIC)学生相比，转学学生通常发现获得学士学位的道路更具挑战性，他们毕业的可能性明显低于FTIC同龄人。寻找改善这些学生的教育体验的方法是国家的当务之急。UCF STRONG项目的目标是大幅提高STEM转校生的保留率、毕业率和职业成就率。这一目标的实现部分是通过让每个学生在类似领域的高成就学者社区内的各种STEM活动中发挥作用。为学生提供经济支持、辅导和课外参与的机会，可以减少学生面临的障碍，保持他们对学习领域的兴趣，并激励他们在学业上出类拔萃。深入研究该计划如何影响其参与者，将最大限度地发挥干预措施的影响，并为未来改善STEM转学学生的教育体验提供信息。UCF Strong项目由三个组成部分组成，这三个部分对于实现提高STEM转学的保留率、毕业率和职业成功都是必不可少的。第一个组成部分是设计、实施和改进用于识别高风险STEM转移的高精度预测模型。使用有关转学的已知信息，以及统计分析和机器学习，它将建立一种方法来预测哪些学生最不可能完成STEM学位，从而帮助UCF了解哪些学生将从Strong中受益最大。第二个组成部分是增加STEM领域的转让保留率。优秀的学者将从经济上有需求的转学人员中挑选出来，这些人预计不太可能毕业，目的是因为他们参与了STRONG项目，所以可以留住他们直到毕业。这一结果是通过促进学术融合和培养他们所选择的领域的熟练程度来提高学生成功的预期结果。更具体地说，每个学生都被分配到一个由来自密切相关领域的志同道合的学生组成的社区中的一个角色；他们还定期与导师会面，并参加STEM活动，以促进他们的成功。第三个部分是了解干预措施如何影响STEM转学学生成为自己学习的积极参与者的能力。该项目团队将研究干预对元认知、动机和行为的影响，这三大支柱是自主学习的三大支柱，对学生的成功至关重要。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。