Collaborative Research: Student Pathways in Engineering and Computing for Transfer Success

合作研究：工程和计算领域学生成功转学的途径

• 批准号: 1833967
• 负责人: Joseph Santaniello
• 金额: $ 26.55万
• 依托单位: Spartanburg Community College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-04-01 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1833967&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Student; Pathways; Engineering

With funding from the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, this project will support high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Spartanburg Community College, Trident Community College, and Clemson University. This project aims to increase the recruitment, retention, academic success, and graduation rates of these students who begin their academic path at community colleges and transfer into engineering and computing degree programs at four-year institutions.Over a five-year period, this project will provide scholarships to 316 transfer students to pursue bachelor's degrees in engineering or computing. A national challenge in STEM education is the low graduation rate of engineering students who transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions. One driver of this low success rate is the insufficient preparation of community college students for the cultural differences they will face at the four-year institution. In addition, the four-year institution often lacks social and academic support to help bridge this gap. The project components include: 1) a scholarship program to financially support low-income, high-achieving transfer students; 2) an evidence-based mentorship and cohort building program that supports transfer success; and 3) a Ph.D. student traineeship program that includes training in teaching, mentoring, and education research. It is expected that the program will contribute to the quality and diversity of the national STEM workforce and increase understanding of what works to support success of transfer students.In addition to providing scholarships to low-income, academically high-achieving transfer students, this project addresses the well-known hurdles for transfer students by implementing and assessing a cohort mentoring model based on evidence-based strategies including communities of practice and cognitive mentorship. The program elements are designed to support transfer student enculturation in the university, as well as degree completion and placement in the industrial workforce. The program will recruit and train ten Clemson STEM PhD students for careers in academia by engaging them in immersive experiences in teaching, mentoring, and applied educational research. This training will include a residency at the community college sites where they will: 1) co-teach engineering courses with community college faculty; 2) develop and lead a cohort of low-income community college students in a project-based Creative Inquiry course that will be a focus of applied educational research; and 3) return to Clemson with the developed cohort, thus helping to bridge the institutional gap. The program will conduct rigorous internal and external educational assessment and program evaluation to identify key indicators of student success and to provide information that can be used to improve STEM education at other institutions. Results from this work will be broadly disseminated through digital outlets (e.g., e-newsletters; listservs), presentations at national conferences, and publications in peer-reviewed and trade journals to reach audiences ranging from higher education to low-income students with aspirations of excellence.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.

在NSF科学、技术、工程和数学项目奖学金的资助下，该项目将支持斯帕坦堡社区学院、三叉戟社区学院和克莱姆森大学表现出经济需求的高成就、低收入学生。该项目旨在提高这些从社区大学开始学业道路并转到四年制院校的工程和计算机学位课程的学生的招生率、保留率、学业成就率和毕业率。该项目将在五年内为316名转学学生提供奖学金，以攻读工程或计算机学士学位。STEM教育的一个全国性挑战是，从社区大学转到四年制院校的工科学生毕业率很低。这种低成功率的一个驱动因素是社区学院的学生对他们在四年制院校将面临的文化差异没有做好充分的准备。此外，这所四年制院校往往缺乏社会和学术支持，无法帮助弥合这一差距。该项目的组成部分包括：1)奖学金计划，为低收入、高成就的转学学生提供经济支持；2)基于证据的指导和队列建设计划，支持转学成功；以及3)博士生实习计划，包括教学、指导和教育研究方面的培训。预计该项目将有助于提高国家STEM劳动力的质量和多样性，并增加对支持转学学生成功的工作的了解。除了为低收入、学业成绩优异的转学学生提供奖学金外，该项目还通过实施和评估基于循证策略的队列指导模式，解决了转学学生的众所周知的障碍，该模式包括实践社区和认知指导。该计划的内容旨在支持转校生在大学里的文化培养，以及完成学位和在工业劳动力中的安置。该计划将招募和培训10名克莱姆森STEM博士生，通过让他们参与教学、指导和应用教育研究的身临其境的体验，在学术界从事职业生涯。这项培训将包括在社区学院现场实习，他们将：1)与社区学院教员共同教授工程学课程；2)开发和领导一批低收入社区学院学生参加基于项目的创造性探究课程，该课程将成为应用教育研究的重点；以及3)与已开发的队列一起返回克莱姆森，从而帮助弥合机构差距。该计划将进行严格的内部和外部教育评估和项目评估，以确定学生成功的关键指标，并提供可用于改善其他机构STEM教育的信息。这项工作的成果将通过数字渠道广泛传播(例如，电子通讯；名单服务)，在国家会议上的演讲，以及同行评议和行业期刊上的出版物，以接触到从高等教育到有卓越抱负的低收入学生的受众。该奖项反映了NSF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。