STEM Community Building to Support Academic Success and Retention of Low-Income Students

Ithaca学院的S-STEM轨道1项目将为14名有经济需要的学生提供奖学金支持-两个七人组-主修计算机科学，数学或物理/天文学。像伊萨卡这样的文理学院在教育低收入、农村、第一代和少数民族学生方面发挥着重要作用。伊萨卡学院的项目旨在为他们创造一个热情和包容的环境，并改善他们的学术和社会经验以及归属感。项目教师将从周边地区招募学者;通过奖学金减少他们的经济需求;并在学者群体中创造一种改善教师和同伴关系和社区的文化。活动包括生活/学习社区，同行辅导和指导，教师指导，研究和实习，以及旨在提高软技能和人际关系的研讨会。这些支持将有助于减少自然减员项目的目标;增加STEM职业目标的实现;并增加学者准备在当地，区域和国家的高需求领域为STEM劳动力做出贡献。一项研究探讨了改善学生与教师和学生与同伴的关系以及群体支持的好处，将使其他为类似农村学生群体服务的文科院校受益。实施学术和社会支持，以改善学生与教师和学生与同伴的互动，培养对学院和专业的归属感;提高专业发展和软技能（沟通，解决问题，团队合作，个人学习，动机和主动性）;并保留和研究生谁进入干劳动力或干研究生课程。基于证据的计划要素包括STEM生活/学习社区，通过同行辅导和第一年STEM研讨会提供学术支持，通过教师指导和同行成功教练提供个性化支持;软技能和职业发展研讨会;研究和实习机会;和队列活动。该项目将评估最佳实践，以改善学生与教师和学生与同行的关系，更多地利用学术支持资源，和专业发展。具体的研究问题是（1）在多大程度上增加师生互动增加低收入家庭的学生？与大学，他们的STEM专业和他们的导师的联系？(2)学生与同伴的互动在多大程度上增加了学生与大学、STEM专业和同伴的联系？(3)低收入学者在多大程度上感到教师和其他学生在课堂上的价值，并相信教师准确地认识到他们的能力？这项研究的影响与学院的机构层面的承诺，调查和实施以证据为基础的方法，以促进学生的成功和保留。项目评估将产生可用于支持持续规划以及可转移到类似机构的证据。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

This S-STEM Track 1 project at Ithaca College will provide scholarship support to fourteen students with financial need -- two cohorts of seven -- who are majoring in computer science, mathematics, or physics/astronomy. Liberal arts colleges such as Ithaca play a significant role in educating low-income, rural, first-generation, and minority students. Ithaca College's project is designed to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for them and to improve their academic and social experience and feelings of belonging. Project faculty will recruit Scholars from the surrounding area; reduce their financial need through scholarships; and create a culture of improved faculty and peer relationships and community in the scholar cohorts. Activities include a living/learning community, peer tutoring and mentoring, faculty mentoring, research and internships, and workshops designed to improve soft skills and interpersonal relationships. These supports will contribute to the project's goals of reducing attrition; increasing attainment of STEM career goals; and increasing Scholar preparedness to contribute to the STEM workforce in high-demand fields locally, regionally, and nationally. A research study that examines the benefits of improved student-faculty and student-peer relationships and cohort supports will benefit other liberal arts institutions that serve similar populations of rural students.The goals of Ithaca College's S-STEM project are to recruit low-income, academically talented computer science, mathematics, or physics/astronomy students to the college; implement academic and social supports to improve student-faculty and student-peer interactions and foster a sense of belonging to the college and major; improve professional development and soft skills (communication, problem-solving, teamwork, personal learning, motivation, and initiative); and retain and graduate students who enter the STEM workforce or STEM graduate programs. Evidence-based program elements include a STEM living/learning community, academic support through peer tutoring and a first-year STEM seminar, individualized support through faculty mentoring and a peer success coach; soft skills and career development workshops; research and internship opportunities; and cohort activities. The project will evaluate best practices leading to improved student-faculty and student-peer relationships, greater use of academic support resources, and professional development. Specific research questions are (1) To what extent do increased student-faculty interactions increase low-income students? connectedness to the college, their STEM major, and their instructors? (2) To what extent do student-peer interactions increase student connectedness to the college, their STEM major, and their peers? (3) To what extent do low-income scholars feel valued by faculty and other students in the classroom and believe that faculty accurately perceive their abilities? The impacts of this study are aligned with the college's institutional-level commitment to investigate and implement evidence-based approaches to foster student success and retention. The project evaluation will generate evidence that can be used to support sustained programming as well as transferability to similar institutions.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.