Building Capacity: Enhancing Undergraduate STEM Education by Enhancing Transfer Success

改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构计划（HSI计划）旨在加强本科STEM教育并建立HSI的能力。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。 该项目将通过增加从社区学院转入四年制STEM课程的学生人数，并通过加快他们的学士学位完成来推进HSI计划的目标。 该项目是纽约市技术学院（City Tech）和六所纽约（CUNY）社区学院之间的合作，其中五所也是HSI。 合作伙伴包括曼哈顿自治市社区学院、布朗克斯社区学院、古特曼社区学院、霍芬社区学院、金斯伯勒社区学院和拉瓜迪亚社区学院。 该项目旨在增加从合作社区学院转入City Tech STEM课程的学生人数，并加速副学士学位毕业生完成学士学位。 为了实现这些目标，该项目计划加强城市技术和社区学院合作伙伴之间的转移途径，并增加对城市技术转移学生的支持。该项目有可能增加来自代表性不足群体的STEM学生的数量，这些学生通常开始在社区大学接受高等教育。此外，由于纽约市立大学是美国最大的城市公立大学系统，纽约市立大学的创新可以为全国提供一个创造性方法来提高学生成绩的范例。该项目的目标是减少阻碍学生从社区学院转入城市技术学院的障碍，并最大限度地支持成功转学的学生。为了实现这些目标，该项目将创建两个程序。 首先，利用现有的CUNY Pathways衔接倡议作为模型，该项目将开发STEM转移协作，以加强城市技术和合作社区学院之间的转移途径。 第二，以纽约市立大学副学士课程加速学习计划为模式，该项目将开发一个学士学位计划的动力，以支持初级和高级转学生。 该项目包括对转学生成功的影响的研究（1）2年制和4年制大学之间的合作，包括课程和教学调整;（2）采用从副学士学位支持计划到高级学士学位学生的支持;和（3）在社区学院与学士学位机构的初始预科。 在这项研究中的研究方法和途径是由当前和测试的定性，定量和混合方法在工程教育研究中使用。这个项目可能会增加学生的数量，包括那些来自代表性不足的群体，在以职业为重点的高需求专业获得学士学位。此外，它有可能创造关于如何扩大机会和获得STEM学士学位课程的关键国家问题的新知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project will advance the aims of the HSI Program by increasing the number of students from community colleges who transfer to four-year STEM programs and by accelerating their baccalaureate degree completion. This project is a collaboration between New York City College of Technology (City Tech) and six City University of New York (CUNY) community colleges, five of which are also HSIs. The partners include the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Bronx Community College, Guttman Community College, Hostos Community College, Kingsborough Community College, and LaGuardia Community College. The project aims to increase the number of students from the partnering community colleges who transfer into City Tech STEM programs and to accelerate baccalaureate degree completion by associate degree graduates. To accomplish these aims, the project plans to strengthen transfer pathways between City Tech and the community college partners and to increase support for transfer students at City Tech. This project has the potential to increase the number of STEM students from underrepresented groups, which often begin pursuit of higher education at a community college. In addition, because CUNY is the largest urban public university system in the nation, innovations at CUNY can provide an example to the nation of creative approaches to improve student outcomes.The goals of the project are to reduce barriers that inhibit transfer of students from community colleges to City Tech, and to maximize support for students who successfully transfer. To accomplish these goals, the project will create two programs. First, using the existing CUNY Pathways articulation initiative as a model, the project will develop a STEM Transfer Collaborative to strengthen transfer pathways between City Tech and the collaborating community colleges. Second, using the CUNY Accelerated Study in Associate Programs initiative as a model, the project will develop a Momentum to the Baccalaureate program to support junior and senior-level transfer students. The project includes research on the impact on transfer student success of (1) collaboration between 2-year and 4-year colleges, including curricular and pedagogical alignment; (2) adoption of supports from an associate-degree support program to upper-level baccalaureate students; and (3) initial matriculation at a community college versus a baccalaureate institution. The research methodologies and approaches in this study are informed by current and tested qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods used in engineering education research. This project may increase the number of students, including those from underrepresented groups, earning baccalaureate degrees in career-focused, high-demand majors. In addition, it has the potential to create new knowledge on the critical national issue of how to expand opportunity and access to STEM baccalaureate programs.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.