Becoming Engaged Engineering Scholars: Success Programs for Recruitment and Retention in Engineering

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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 in STEM fields. This S-STEM project at Western Washington University aims to recruit and retain undergraduates in engineering. Over its five years of funding, this project will fund 48 scholarships to first-year undergraduate students, providing them with an average of $6,250 of financial support in their first and second years. The Scholars will be recruited in four groups, in the first four years of the project. Students in the new Western Washington University engineering program have not been retained at high levels. This project will provide a systematic sequence of academic, social, and career support services specifically designed to enhance the success of engineering students during these first two years of undergraduate study. The primary project goal is to ensure the engineering programs offer an equitable pathway into engineering careers, particularly for low-income students in the State of Washington. In addition to providing financial support for participants, the project will adapt existing support structures to offer a one-week bridge program prior to the start of their first year, implement a multi-level mentoring system that includes internal and external mentors, engage Scholars in multiple curricular and co-curricular activities including an engaged engineering project experience, create a first-year seminar focused on engineering and society, and employ an education researcher and an external evaluator throughout the project to study its impact.The primary goals of this project are to: (1) Provide S-STEM Scholars with inclusive, evidence-based structured support that is responsive to their academic, social, and career development needs as they progress through the first and second years in the engineering programs; and (2) Generate empirical knowledge about the impact of the sequence of evidence-based interventions, and how they alter the self-efficacy, identity, and retention of S-STEM Scholars within the engineering programs. The project will use evidence-based approaches that have been shown to improve recruitment and retention of traditionally underrepresented groups in engineering. To assess the impact, the project will include a mixed methods quasi-experimental study design with a matched comparison group. The project has the potential to contribute to the development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce by preparing students for careers in engineering. Moreover, the findings and knowledge generated from this project can benefit other institutions looking to implement similar programs, and will be especially useful for engineering technology departments contemplating a transition to engineering.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.