Supporting Retention and Graduation in STEM by Building Undergraduate Student's STEM Identity and Cultural Capital

该项目将通过支持表现出经济需要的成绩优异的低收入家庭学生的保留和毕业，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。具体来说，它将支持玛丽维尔学院STEM本科生的教育，使他们为满足田纳西州技术走廊对STEM员工的高需求做好准备。超过一半的玛丽维尔学生来自低收入家庭，与富裕的同龄人相比，这一群体的STEM保留率要低得多。因此，该项目预计将对玛丽维尔学院的STEM保留率和毕业率产生广泛的积极影响。该项目为期五年，将为18名攻读生物学、生物化学、化学、数学和/或计算机科学学士学位的学生提供四年奖学金。该项目旨在提高学者和其他低收入STEM专业的STEM保留率，提高低收入STEM专业的STEM身份和文化资本，并为STEM学生进入劳动力市场或研究生课程做好准备。项目活动包括暑期体验，第一年的STEM组合课程，以及综合支持，如指导，辅导，领导机会和职业准备。以群体为基础的活动将旨在培养学生的STEM身份，并促进一种可见和有效的STEM成功校园文化。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。项目活动将在学者四年的学术生涯中提供更多的准备和集中的学术、专业和社会支持。尽管对于代表性不足的STEM学生来说，身份与STEM和文化资本的重要性已经得到了证明，但文献并没有涉及集中和协调STEM支持对本科文理学院低收入学生的有效性。一项研究将考察学者和其他STEM学生与STEM相关的个人身份的发展，项目活动如何支持STEM参与和学习，以及计算机编程在多大程度上成为学院的文化资本。评估将确定项目要素对学者和其他STEM学生的保留、毕业和职业安置的影响，并将产生可用于支持持续规划和可转移到类似机构的证据。传播将通过在线平台、出版物和与类似文理学院的会议进行。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STEM工作者的教育，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 project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need. Specifically, it will support the education of STEM undergraduates at Maryville College, preparing them to meet the high demand for STEM employees in the Tennessee Technology Corridor. More than half of Maryville students are from low-income families, a population with significantly lower rates of STEM retention than their more affluent peers. As a result, the project is anticipated to have broad positive impact on STEM retention and graduation rates at Maryville College. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund four-year scholarships to 18 students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, math, and/or computer science. The project aims to increase retention in STEM for both Scholars and other low-income STEM majors, improve STEM identity and cultural capital in low-income STEM majors, and prepare STEM students for the workforce or graduate programs. Project activities include a summer experience, first-year STEM portfolio course, and integrated supports such as mentoring, tutoring, leadership opportunities, and career preparation. Cohort-based activities will be designed to develop students' STEM identity and promote a visible and effective campus-wide culture of STEM success.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Project activities will support increased preparation and centralized academic, professional, and social supports throughout Scholars' four-year academic career. Although the importance of identity in relation to STEM and cultural capital has been documented for underrepresented STEM students, the literature does not address the efficacy of centralized and coordinated STEM supports for low-income students at an undergraduate liberal arts college. A research study will examine the development of Scholars' and other STEM students' personal identities related to STEM, how the project activities support STEM engagement and learning, and the extent that computer programming becomes cultural capital at the College. The evaluation will determine the impact of program elements on the retention, graduation, and career placement of both Scholars and other STEM students and will generate evidence that can be used to support sustained programming and transferability to similar institutions. Dissemination will occur through online platforms, publications, and meetings with similar liberal arts colleges. 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 STEM workers 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.