Increasing Retention of Veterans in Engineering and Science Through Student Engagement

项目服务(工程和科学退伍军人的成功、参与和留住)旨在为参与项目的退伍军人提供在科学、技术、工程和数学领域取得成功所需的技能。近一半的本科生退伍军人在退役后进入社区大学就读。然而，退伍军人在STEM中的代表性严重不足。在这个项目中，东洛杉矶学院(一所HSI社区学院)和加州大学洛杉矶分校(一所研究型大学)将合作提供一系列协调一致的课堂表现干预、实习和咨询，重点是了解和满足退伍军人的需求。通过评估增加退伍军人学生参与度和留住退伍军人的有效做法，该项目有可能为其他中学后机构提供一种方式，以满足退伍军人学生的需求，并使他们过渡到平民STEM职业。项目服务旨在扩大退伍军人在STEM职业生涯中的参与。该项目将使用社区大学学生参与中心开发的三项评估来跟踪学生参与的多个基准。许多退伍军人作为潜在的大学生拥有独特的优势，包括敬业精神、强烈的职业道德、纪律、责任感和团队合作。退伍军人还可能在军事职业专业中接受过高度专业化的技术培训。然而，退伍军人面临的挑战可能会在他们遇到传统的STEM教育时变得更加复杂。研究表明，信心水平、课程负担过重、STEM教师教学风格以及咨询/咨询不足是导致STEM学生(包括退伍军人)留住不佳的原因。SERVES将试点和传播他们的研究结果，这将评估STEM学生参与战略的有效性。这一计划可能会为社区学院提供一个可复制的模式，以增加社区学院的成功-S在招募和留住STEM学科的学生退伍军人方面。该奖项反映了国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Project SERVES (Success, Engagement & Retention of Veterans in Engineering and Science) aims to provide participating student veterans with the skills needed for successful careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Almost half of undergraduate student veterans enroll in a community college after separation from service. However, veterans are considerably under-represented in STEM. In this project, East Los Angeles College (an HSI community college) and the University of California Los Angeles (a research university) will collaborate to offer a coordinated series of classroom performance interventions, internships, and counseling that focus on understanding and meeting veterans' needs. By evaluating effective practices to increase engagement and retention of student veterans, this project has the potential to model a way for other postsecondary institutions to meet the needs of student veterans and their transition into civilian STEM careers. Project SERVES is designed to broaden participation of veterans in STEM careers. The project will use three assessments, developed by the Center for Community College Student Engagement, to track multiple benchmarks of student engagement. Many veterans possess unique strengths as potential college students, including commitment, strong work ethic, discipline, accountability, and teamwork. Veterans may also have undergone highly specialized technical training in a Military Occupational Specialty. However, veterans face challenges that may be compounded when they encounter traditional STEM education. Research indicates that confidence levels, curriculum overload, STEM faculty teaching styles, and inadequate advising/counseling are responsible for poor retention of STEM students, including veterans. SERVES will pilot and disseminate results of their research, which will assess the effectiveness of STEM student engagement strategies. This program may provide a replicable model for increasing the success of community college?s in recruiting and retaining student veterans in STEM disciplines.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.