Bridging the Natural Sciences and Liberal Arts to Increase Retention, Graduation, and Career Preparedness

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With funding from the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, this project will support high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need in the Department of Natural Sciences at The University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVa-Wise). Throughout its five years, this project will fund 25 scholarships for students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences. The need for a well-educated STEM workforce guides the aims of the project to recruit and support two cohorts of S-STEM Scholars with a novel set of seminar courses focused on first year and transfer student success, chemistry, and writing in the natural sciences. The project aims to increase participation of first-generation students, which comprise half of the students at UVa-Wise, many of whom are from Wise County, VA where less than 15% of adults aged 25 and above have a four-year degree. This project aims to generate knowledge about best practices for increasing retention and graduation rates, and preparing students for STEM graduate programs or careers. To achieve these aims, the project will develop, implement, and evaluate the impact of three seminar courses. The General Chemistry Recitation Seminar will evaluate if participating Scholars have higher scores on national exams and retention rates in Chemistry courses compared to a control. The Seminar in Writing in the Natural Sciences is a new writing-intensive course that will be evaluated to determine if students have improved scientific writing skills and increased preparation for the writing demands of a future scientist. The Research Experience Seminar in Environmental Genomics or Environmental Chemistry will evaluate if research with faculty mentors and training in research-grade instrumentation results in further pursuit of independent research, and continuation into STEM graduate studies and careers.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.