Bolstering the Advancement of Mathematics Master's Students to Prepare for Doctoral Mathematics Programs

支持数学硕士生的进步，为数学博士课程做好准备

• 批准号: 1930373
• 负责人: Kimberly Seashore
• 金额: $ 36.8万
• 依托单位: San Francisco State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1930373&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Bolstering; Advancement; Mathematics; Master; Students

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 California State University-Fresno (CSU-Fresno), San Francisco State University, and California State Polytechnic University-Pomona. All of these universities are in the California State University (CSU) system and are Hispanic-Serving Institutions. CSU-Fresno and San Francisco State University are also Asian-American, Native-American, Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI). Over its five-year duration, this project will fund two-year scholarships to 30 students who are pursuing master's degrees in mathematics. The goal is to support the retention and graduation of students with demonstrated financial need and academic promise in master's programs at the three universities who plan to pursue a Ph.D. in the mathematical sciences, including mathematics education. The five components of the project are: 1) strengthened academic preparation; 2) robust mentorship; 3) structured trajectories with interim benchmarks; 4) support for students' applications to Ph.D. programs and graduate fellowships; and 5) travel support for student presentations of research and networking. Additionally, scholars will benefit from the collaboration among the three CSUs as they will have access to resources from all three departments. The project aims to recruit and support Master's students to matriculate and then thrive in doctoral programs in the mathematical sciences. It builds on two prior NSF projects that supported undergraduate students in mathematics through intensive summer programs. The project will incorporate those earlier findings into intensive 2-year Master's programs to provide for more extensive advanced coursework, extended research experiences and a broad range of mentorship and community building opportunities. The project will be based on two theories of action. The first is that providing scholarships will allow students to work fewer hours and allocate sufficient time to dedicate to academic preparation. The second is that structured mentorship and frequent strategic benchmarking will help students to use their time to develop the knowledge base and academic credentials to matriculate to a Ph.D. program. The project will document its impact by measuring the effects of the interventions. In order to do this, research will be conducted in two ways. First, to collecting and analyze student surveys and short reflections on their program, questions and challenges that they are encountering, and strategies they are using to address these challenges. Second, to compare program and population differences among the three project sites to study how local variation to the project may affect outcomes. A three-pronged, mixed methods approach will be used to externally evaluate project effectiveness: 1) monitor project implementation, 2) assess the efficacy of project activities in moving participants towards project goals, and 3) report on the summative effects of the project. Project members will present their findings at conferences such as the "Field of Dreams," the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, and others organized by the Mathematical Association of America, the American Mathematical Society, or the Pacific Math Alliance and publish the results in mathematics/mathematics education journals, including student participants as co-authors when possible. The project will also have a website in which materials will be accessible. 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.

该项目将通过支持加州州立大学弗雷斯诺分校（CSU-Fresno）、旧金山州立大学和加州州立理工大学波莫纳分校中表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为全国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做出贡献。所有这些大学都在加州州立大学（CSU）系统中，是为西班牙裔服务的机构。加州州立大学弗雷斯诺分校和旧金山州立大学也是亚裔美国人、美国原住民、太平洋岛民服务机构（AANAPISI）。该项目为期五年，将为30名攻读数学硕士学位的学生提供为期两年的奖学金。其目标是支持在这三所大学攻读数学科学（包括数学教育）博士学位的硕士项目中表现出经济需求和学术前景的学生保留和毕业。项目的五个组成部分是：1)加强学术准备；2)健全的师徒关系；3)有临时基准的结构化轨迹；4)支持学生申请博士课程和研究生奖学金；5)为学生的研究报告和交流提供旅行支持。此外，学者将受益于三个csu之间的合作，因为他们将获得三个部门的资源。该项目旨在招收和支持硕士生入学，然后在数学科学博士课程中茁壮成长。它建立在先前的两个NSF项目的基础上，这两个项目通过密集的夏季课程支持本科生学习数学。该项目将把这些早期的发现纳入两年制硕士课程，以提供更广泛的高级课程，扩展的研究经验和广泛的指导和社区建设机会。这个项目将以两种行动理论为基础。首先，提供奖学金将允许学生工作更少的时间，并分配足够的时间致力于学术准备。其次，结构化的指导和频繁的战略基准测试将帮助学生利用他们的时间来发展知识基础和学术证书，以进入博士课程。该项目将通过衡量干预措施的效果来记录其影响。为了做到这一点，研究将以两种方式进行。首先，收集和分析学生的调查和对他们的课程的简短反思，他们遇到的问题和挑战，以及他们用来解决这些挑战的策略。其次，比较三个项目点之间的项目和人口差异，研究项目的地方差异如何影响结果。一种三管齐下的混合方法将用于项目有效性的外部评估：1)监督项目实施；2)评估项目活动在推动参与者实现项目目标方面的有效性；3)报告项目的总体效果。项目成员将在诸如“梦想的领域”、奇卡诺人/西班牙裔美国人和美国原住民科学促进会以及其他由美国数学协会、美国数学协会或太平洋数学联盟组织的会议上展示他们的发现，并在数学/数学教育期刊上发表结果，尽可能包括学生作为共同作者参与。该项目还将有一个网站，其中的材料将被访问。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。