Fostering a Diverse Community of Future Chemists through Scholarship Support, Peer Instruction, Mentoring, and Professional Development

该项目将支持国家对高技能和多样化的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)劳动力的需求。它将通过增加中央阿肯色大学化学专业的留校率和毕业率来实现这一目标。在二年级开始之前，该大学宣布主修化学专业的一年级学生中，超过一半的人已经改变了专业或离开了学校。机构数据显示，一年级学生离开校园的主要原因是经济需要，对大学的严苛准备不足，以及与校园社区的联系有限。为了解决经济需求，该项目将向至少10名学业成绩优异的低收入学生提供奖学金。这些奖学金将支持学生攻读化学理科学士学位，最长可达四年。为了支持学业上的成功，该项目将为所有参加基础化学课程的学生提供同伴指导。为了支持他们与校园的联系，学者们还将获得指导和专业发展机会。这些支持预计将提高化学学生的留校率和毕业率，缩小学生群体之间的成绩差距，并为化学毕业生进入研究生院和STEM职业生涯做好准备。该项目将通过确定项目活动中最能支持来自代表性不足群体的低收入农村学生成功的方面来产生知识。从这项工作中获得的见解可以应用到其他机构和其他STEM专业，从而扩大该项目对全国STEM工作的贡献。该项目的总体目标是提高化学专业本科生的学位完成率，这些学生是低收入、高成就、经济需求未得到满足的学生。为了实现这一目标，该项目将开发和评估以证据为基础的课程和联合课程规划，其中包括补充指导、新的指导方案和改编自迈耶霍夫学者方案的要素。预计这种支持的组合将提高阿肯色大学化学专业的留校率和毕业率。阿肯色州中部大学是一所以本科为主的机构，有大量农村高中的学生。将使用混合方法分析来评估计划组成部分。数据将包括课程完成率、调查回答、焦点小组对话、领导者反思以及留校率和毕业率。项目评估将确定缩小学生群体成绩差距的具体战略。将评估项目活动的影响，包括迈耶霍夫式的元素和指导，以确定它们在培养科学社区和提高学生的科学自我效能和识字能力方面做得如何。该项目的成果有可能增加进入STEM劳动力队伍的化学毕业生的多样性。此外，项目成果可以为其他机构或其他STEM领域实践的设计、实施和评估提供信息，以提高本科生STEM学生的成功。该项目由NSF的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入学术天才学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学业成功、留住、转移、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。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。

This project will support the Nation’s need for a highly skilled and diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. It will do so by increasing retention and graduation of chemistry majors at the University of Central Arkansas. Before the start of their second year, more than half of the first-year students at the University who declare a chemistry major have changed their major or left the university. Institutional data suggest that the primary reasons that first year students leave campus are financial needs, inadequate preparation for the rigor of college, and limited connection to the campus community. To address financial needs, the project will provide scholarships to at least ten academically high-achieving, low-income students. These scholarships will support students for up to four years as they pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. To support academic success, the project will provide peer instruction to all students who are enrolled in foundational chemistry courses. To support their sense of campus connection, Scholars will also receive mentoring and opportunities for professional development. These supports are expected to increase the retention and graduation rates of chemistry students, reduce the achievement gap among student populations, and prepare chemistry graduates for graduate school and STEM careers. The project will generate knowledge by identifying aspects of the project activities that best support the success of low-income, rural students from underrepresented groups. Insights gained from this work can be applied to other institutions and to other STEM majors, thus broadening the project’s contributions to the national STEM workforce.The overall goal of the project is to increase degree completion of undergraduate chemistry majors who are low-income, high-achieving students with unmet financial need. To achieve this goal, the project will develop and evaluate evidenced-based curricular and co-curricular programming that includes supplemental instruction, a novel mentorship program, and elements adapted from the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. It is expected that this combination of supports will improve retention and graduation rates of chemistry majors at the University of Central Arkansas, a primarily undergraduate institution with a large population of students from rural high schools. A mixed-methods analysis will be used to evaluate program components. Data will include course completion rates, survey responses, focus group conversations, leader reflections, and retention and graduation rates. Project evaluation will identify specific strategies that reduce the achievement gap among student populations. The impact of project activities, including the Meyerhoff-style elements and mentorship, will be evaluated to determine how well they foster a science community and improve students' science self-efficacy and literacy. Outcomes of this project have the potential to increase the diversity of chemistry graduates entering the STEM workforce. In addition, project outcomes can inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of practices at other institutions or in other STEM fields to increase the success of undergraduate STEM 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 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.