Enhancing Retention and Graduation of Resident and Commuter Undergraduate Students in STEM Fields

该项目将有助于满足国家对高技能科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。为了支持这一目标，该项目将向24名成绩优异的低收入本科生提供奖学金和额外支持，这些学生的经济需求尚未得到满足。奖学金获得者将攻读数学、生物学、计算机和信息科学、数据科学和分析或网络安全方面的学士学位。STEM职业在美国的可获得性持续增长。不幸的是，由于缺乏合格的STEM专业人员，许多高薪职位仍然空缺。在距离诺伊曼大学25英里的费城，平均收入比全国平均水平低34%。凭借强大的STEM项目和多样化的学生群体，该大学具有强大的潜力，可以让学生进入高薪的STEM职业生涯。该项目旨在通过从不同的基础上招收有学术天赋的低收入学生，并帮助他们毕业并进入STEM劳动力或高级STEM学习，增加STEM专业人员的数量和多样性。在大一期间，Scholars将参加一年级体验课程的一个特殊部分，并将与较高级别的同行导师配对。奖学金获得者将有机会参加实习或研究经历。项目团队将调查该项目的学生支持活动，包括奖学金和同行助教，对学者留存和毕业的影响。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位毕业率。为此，该项目将从不同的基础上招收有学术天赋的低收入学生，并向他们提供奖学金，帮助他们克服经济障碍，同时解决其他成功障碍。可衡量的目标包括招聘两批12名S-STEM学者，他们主修数学、计算机和信息科学、生物学、数据科学和分析以及网络安全。此外，项目团队的目标是将学者的第一至第二年保留率提高25%，并在毕业六个月后实现75%的四年毕业率和100%的STEM工作或STEM研究生课程的就业率。该项目将通过确定经过培训的助教的影响来产生新的知识，以提高通勤STEM学生的成功。具体衡量指标包括对学生参与度的影响、对STEM专业毕业前的坚持性、对职业准备的感知以及学习者的代理机构。助教培训和其他计划支持可能有助于助教本身以及班上的学生(包括非传统成人学生和非学者的低收入学生)在学业成绩、学生参与度和在STEM中的留存方面做出贡献。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 contribute to the national need for highly skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians. To support this goal, the project will provide scholarships and additional supports to twenty-four high-achieving, low-income undergraduate students who have unmet financial need. The Scholars will pursue bachelor’s degrees in mathematics, biology, computer and information science, data science and analytics, or cybersecurity. The availability of STEM careers in the United States continues to grow. Unfortunately, many of these well-paying positions remain unfilled because of the lack of qualified STEM professionals. In Philadelphia County, twenty-five miles from Neumann University, the average income is 34% less than the national average. With strong STEM programs and a diverse student body, the University has strong potential to launch students into well-paying STEM careers. This project aims to increase the number and diversity of STEM professionals by recruiting academically talented, low-income students from a diverse base and helping them graduate and enter the STEM workforce or advanced STEM studies. During their freshman year, Scholars will be enrolled in a special section of a first-year experience course and will be paired with upper-level peer mentors. The Scholars will have opportunities to participate in an internship or research experience. The project team will investigate the impact of the project’s student support activities, including scholarships and peer teaching assistants, on Scholars’ retention and graduation. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. To this end, the project will recruit academically talented, low-income students from a diverse base and provide them with scholarships to help them overcome financial barriers, while also addressing other barriers to success. Measurable objectives include the recruitment of two cohorts of twelve S-STEM Scholars majoring in mathematics, computer and information science, biology, data science and analytics, and cybersecurity. In addition, the project team aims to increase the first-to-second year retention rate of Scholars by 25% over baseline, and to achieve a 75% four-year graduation rate and 100% placement rate in a STEM job or STEM graduate programs six months after graduation. The project will generate new knowledge by determining the impact of teaching assistants who have been trained to enhance commuter STEM student success. Specific measurements include impact on student engagement, persistence in a STEM major to graduation, perceived career readiness, and learner agency. The teaching assistant training and other program supports will likely contribute to improvements in academic performance, student engagement, and retention in STEM for the teaching assistants themselves, as well as the students in their classes, which include non-traditional adult students and low-income students who are not Scholars. 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.