STEM Core in Central Maryland for Cybersecurity Education

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Community college students, especially those from underrepresented groups, face many barriers in their efforts to earn degrees in STEM fields. To reduce these barriers, institutions can implement creative innovations, moving away from isolated programs and toward cooperative action involving employers, high schools, non-profits, and others in the regional community. This project will implement such a strategy that was developed by Growth Sector, a non-profit devoted to opening STEM careers to students from low-income backgrounds and from groups that are currently underrepresented in STEM fields. Growth Sector's STEM Core curriculum includes accelerated mathematics and immediate immersion in technical subjects for first-year students. Student Support Specialists provide comprehensive assistance to enhance student achievement. During the summer after their STEM Core Year, students are placed into paid internships with organizations planning to hire employees who have the skills the students are developing. The Community College of Baltimore County and Anne Arundel Community College will adapt and implement the STEM Core Year for cybersecurity students at both campuses. Both institutions will provide wraparound support through Student Support Specialists. In addition, the Fort Meade Alliance, a consortium of 200 members (including companies and individuals), will support the summer internships for cybersecurity students who successfully complete the STEM Core Year of course work. Both institutions have significant populations of underrepresented students in STEM and recruitment efforts will aim to bring these populations into the cybersecurity programs. Fourteen community colleges in California have achieved promising results after adopting Growth Sector's STEM Core Year model. For example, a majority of STEM Core students who began in algebra, had completed calculus by the end of one academic year. This project will provide additional insight into the possibility that the STEM Core model may be a transferable approach for increasing student success and diversity in the skilled technical workforce.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.