S-STEM: Scholars and Leaders Program

该项目由美国国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金（S-STEM）项目资助，支持伊利诺伊州乔利埃特圣弗朗西斯大学（USF）表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业。在五年的时间里，该项目将向两组攻读生物学和生物化学学士学位的学生提供12个奖学金，每组6人。USF学者和领导者计划（SLP）将解决大芝加哥地区对高素质生物和生物化学专业人员的劳动力需求。SLP的学生将来自当地的高中，其中63%的学生来自低收入家庭，超过70%的学生来自代表性不足的少数民族，对他们来说，大学的负担能力和赚取收入的需要是入学的重大障碍。该项目将以校园资源为基础，如学术支持服务、入门课程的补充指导、完善的领导力培训计划和夏季研究机会。将为奖学金获得者制定的新支持措施和计划包括通过体验和社区参与发展领导技能，同伴指导以帮助社会过渡到校园生活，参与以stem为重点的服务项目，以及将学生家庭纳入校园和计划活动。这些活动将加强该大学的自然科学课程，因此将使所有当前和未来的生物学和生物化学专业受益。SLP学生和许多在资助期后到达的学生都将受益于领导力部分、通过该项目扩展的当地实习网络以及家庭参与部分，这对第一代学生来说至关重要。让低收入家庭的学生为在地方和国家需要的领域获得高薪就业做好准备，将有利于学生个人、他们的家庭以及地方和国家经济。从这个项目中获得的最佳实践和经验教训将被记录下来，并与具有类似特点的其他机构分享。SLP计划的主要目标是增加来自当地高中的有学术天赋的低收入学生的数量，这些学生注册了南加州大学的生物或生物化学学位课程，支持他们在四年内毕业，并在这些领域从事职业或研究生学习，并维持和制度化SLP实践，这些实践对这些学生的招聘、保留和毕业有积极的影响。该项目建立在USF现有的学生支持服务、奖学金项目、第一年体验课程、同伴指导和领导力项目的基础上。新的组成部分将包括具体的项目导向、教师指导、与当地高中的体验式领导活动、实习、研究等、家庭参与活动以及以职业建设为重点的群体活动。该项目希望实现四个目标：(1)从当地高中招收12名有学术天赋的一年级学生攻读生物学和生物化学学位；(2)通过加强对学者的学术和学生支持服务，将12名SLP参与者中的11名保留到毕业，并分析这些服务如何影响学者的成功；(3)加强领导力项目元素，为学者的职业生涯或研究生水平的学习做好准备；(4)通过对项目活动的研究和评估，将课程和支持实践制度化。该项目将包括通过(1)研究领导力项目如何影响学生的STEM领导力自我效能感，(2)定义哪些项目元素影响学生对他们坚持STEM教育和在STEM职业中取得成功的能力的信念，以及(3)确定哪些项目元素对西班牙裔学生特别有影响力，来深入研究刻意领导力对这些学生成功的影响。这项调查的结果将有助于更深入地了解影响STEM中有才华的低收入学生的招聘、保留、毕业和研究生成功的因素。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project funded by the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program supports the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at the University of St. Francis (USF) in Joliet, Illinois. Throughout its five years, this project will provide 12 scholarships to two groups of six students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Biology and Biochemistry. The USF Scholars and Leaders Program (SLP) will address the workforce needs in the greater Chicago area for highly qualified biology and biochemistry professionals. SLP students will be drawn from local high schools, where 63% of students are from low-income households and over 70% are underrepresented minorities, for whom college affordability and the need to earn an income are significant barriers to matriculation. The project will build on campus resources such as academic support services, availability of supplemental instruction for introductory classes, a well-developed leadership training program, and summer research opportunities. New support measures and programs that will be developed for the scholarship recipients include development of leadership skills through experiential and community involvement, peer mentoring to assist with the social transition to campus life, participation in a STEM-focused service project, and inclusion of students' families in campus and program activities. These activities will strengthen the university's natural science programs and, as a result, will benefit all current and future biology and biochemistry majors. Both SLP students and the many students who arrive after the grant period will benefit from the leadership component, from local internship networks expanded via the project, and from the family involvement component, which can be critical for first-generation students. Preparing low-income students for rewarding high-wage employment in areas of local and national need will benefit individual students, their families, and the local and national economies. Best practices and lessons learned from this project will be documented and shared with other institutions with similar characteristics.The main goals of the SLP program are to increase the number of academically talented, low-income students from local high schools who enroll in USF biology or biochemistry degree programs, to support them to graduate in four years and to pursue careers or graduate study in these fields, and to sustain and institutionalize SLP practices that have a documented positive effect on recruitment, retention, and graduation of these students. The program builds on USF's existing student support services, scholarship programs, first-year experience course, peer mentoring, and leadership program. New components will include a specific program orientation, faculty mentoring, experiential leadership activities with local high schools, internships, research, and others, family engagement activities, and cohort activities focused on career building. The project hopes to accomplish four objectives: (1) to recruit and enroll 12 academically talented first-year students from local high schools into biology and biochemistry degree programs; (2) to retain 11 out of 12 SLP participants to graduation by enhancing the academic and student support services for Scholars and to analyze how these services affect the success of the Scholars; (3) to enhance the leadership program elements to better prepare Scholars for careers or graduate-level study; and (4) to institutionalize the curricular and support practices deemed most effective by research and evaluation of program activities. The project will include an in-depth examination of the impact of deliberate leadership building on the success of these students by (1) examining how the leadership program impacts students' STEM leadership self-efficacy, (2) defining which program elements influence students' beliefs about their ability to persist in STEM education and to succeed in STEM careers, and (3) determining which program elements are particularly influential for Hispanic students. The results of this inquiry will help develop a deeper understanding of the factors that affect the recruitment, retention, graduation, and postgraduate success of talented low-income students in STEM.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.