AERO-STEM Scholars: Access to Early Research Opportunities in STEM

这个为期五年的项目将支持16名低收入、成绩优异的STEM本科学生在伊利诺斯学院（一所私立文理学院）取得成功。实现这一目标将有助于满足国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。该项目将为攻读生物学、生物化学、化学和物理学学士学位的学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得四年奖学金。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与有效的支持活动联系起来，提高学生在STEM领域的坚持度。计划中的活动包括为期两周的暑期项目，为第一年的学者提供一门名为“STEM研究伦理和专业精神”的一学分补充课程，重点指导，可选的暑期研究机会，协助寻找和申请外部研究机会或实习机会，参观当地企业以拓宽他们对STEM潜在职业道路的看法，以及参观附近的大学以探索研究生机会。该项目的实施将加强伊利诺伊大学招收有学术天赋的低收入STEM学生的能力，促进这些学生的学业成功和专业准备，并评估可用于改善全国高等教育STEM课程交付的支持策略的有效性。因此，该项目有可能扩大STEM领域的参与。该项目的总体目标是提高STEM专业中低收入、有学术天赋的学生的成功率，并将这些学生安置在STEM研究生院项目和STEM劳动力中。认知和行为干预已经在青少年和青春期前儿童中进行了研究，但尚未在大学生中进行调查。该计划将在学生的本科生涯早期提供大量的研究机会，以建立技能，信心和对科学探究的承诺。学生还将接受训练，运用学习策略，如正念、学习技巧、目标设定以及学习和记忆心理学。该项目将通过研究直接认知训练的有效性来提高大学的成功，从而产生新的知识。该项目有可能推动STEM领域对直接训练对改善大学生认知控制的影响的有限理解。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。它还旨在改善未来科学家、工程师和技术人员的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、留校、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。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 five-year project will support the success of sixteen low-income, high-achieving STEM undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need at Illinois College, a private, liberal arts college. Achieving this goal will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians. The project will provide scholarships to students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry and Physics. First-year students will receive four-year scholarships. The project aims to increase student persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with effective supporting activities. Planned activities include a two-week summer program, a supplemental one-credit course entitled "Research Ethics and Professionalism in STEM" for Scholars in their first year, focused mentorship, an optional summer research opportunity, assistance in finding and applying for outside research opportunities or internships, tours of local businesses to broaden their view of potential career avenues in STEM, and tours of nearby universities to explore graduate opportunities. Implementation of this project will strengthen the ability of Illinois College to recruit academically-talented, low-income STEM students, facilitate the academic success and professional preparation of these students, and assess the effectiveness of support strategies that may be utilized to improve delivery of higher education STEM programs across the nation. Thus, this project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM fields.The overall goal of the project is to increase the success rates of low-income, academically-talented students in STEM majors as well as placement of such students in STEM graduate school programs and the STEM workforce. Cognitive and behavioral interventions have been studied in adolescent and pre-adolescent children but have yet to be investigated in college-aged students. The program will provide substantial research opportunities early in students' undergraduate careers to build skills, confidence, and commitment to scientific inquiry. Students will also be trained to apply learning strategies such as mindfulness, study skills, goal setting, and the psychology of learning and memory. The project will generate new knowledge by studying the effectiveness of direct cognitive training to improve collegiate success. This project has the potential to advance the STEM field's limited understanding of the impact of direct training to improve cognitive control in collegiate students. This project is funded by NSF's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future scientists, engineers, and technicians, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.