Scholars Program for Environmental Challenges

该项目将通过支持查尔斯顿大学（UC）（位于西弗吉尼亚州查尔斯顿的一所独立的男女同校的住宿大学）保留和毕业的成绩优异的低收入学生，以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。该项目为期5年，将为12名攻读数据科学、计算机科学、生物科学、化学和生物化学双学士学位课程的学生提供四年奖学金。该项目将研究吸引和留住加州大学STEM领域学生的创新方法，这些学生可以在STEM劳动力中取得成功，并确定哪些制度因素促进了学生在STEM教育中的参与和成就。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。该项目的具体目标是：(1)招收12名学术上有天赋的学生，并证明有经济需要主修STEM学科；(2)提高STEM学者的保留率和毕业率；(3)在毕业一年内将90%的毕业生安置在STEM相关的工作、实习或研究生项目中。(4)通过研究新的招聘策略的影响，并确定不断发展的教师指导方法（包括导师指导、导师指导、学生指导和学生指导的研究机会）是否有助于培养科学认同感并留住STEM领域的学生，从而在本科STEM教育领域产生新的知识。本项目解决的研究问题是：(1)非传统的招聘和选拔方法在多大程度上增加了未被充分代表的学生进入STEM专业的人数，以及(2)不断发展的教师指导方法，包括导师指导、导师学生指导和最终学生指导的研究机会，在多大程度上留住了STEM领域的学生？该研究将收集和分析机构数据，以确定该项目对STEM学生的招聘和保留有什么影响（如果有的话）。项目的形成性评价和总结性评价将采用混合方法。这项研究的结果将通过阿巴拉契亚学院协会、西弗吉尼亚科学院、校园联系以及STEM教育的存档期刊等场所在地区、州和国家层面上分享。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 at the University of Charleston (UC), an independent, co-educational, residential university located in Charleston, West Virginia. Over its 5-year duration, this project will fund four year scholarships to 12 students who are pursuing baccalaureate degrees in data science, computer science, biological sciences, chemistry, and dual biology-chemistry B.S. programs. This project will examine innovative ways to attract and retain students in STEM fields at UC who can be successful in the STEM workforce, and determine what institutional factors promote students' engagement and achievement in STEM education. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific goals of this project are to: (1) recruit 12 academically talented students who demonstrate financial need to major in STEM disciplines, (2) improve retention and graduation of the STEM scholars, (3) place 90% of graduating scholars in a STEM-related job, internship, or graduate program within one year of graduation, and (4) generate new knowledge in the field of undergraduate STEM education by examining the effects of novel recruitment strategies and determining whether an evolving faculty mentoring approach featuring mentor-guided, mentor-student-guided and finally student-guided research opportunities helps to develop science identity and retain students in STEM. Research questions addressed in this project are: (1) to what extent does a non-traditional recruitment and selection method increase the number of underrepresented students entering STEM majors, and (2) to what extent does an evolving faculty mentoring approach featuring mentor-guided, mentor-student-guided, and finally student-guided research opportunities retain students in STEM? The study will collect and analyze institutional data to determine what effects (if any) this project has on recruitment and retention of STEM students. A mixed methods approach will be used for both the formative and summative evaluations of the project. The results of the study will be shared at the regional, state and national levels through venues such as the Appalachian College Association, West Virginia Academy of Sciences, Campus Contact, as well as archived journals in STEM education. 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.