Increasing Enrollment, Retention, Graduation, and Job Placement by Supporting the Connections of Commuter STEM Undergraduates to Faculty, Peers, and Industry

这个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。为此，它将支持18名考德威尔大学表现出经济需求的优秀低收入本科生的保留和毕业。该项目的重点是支持住在校外和通勤到大学的STEM学生的需求。该项目将为两组9名主修生物、化学或数学的本科生提供为期两年的奖学金。除奖学金外，该项目还将为奖学金获得者提供更多的学术支持，并增加与教师和同行以及实践STEM专业人士互动的机会。项目团队将研究这些机会如何帮助通勤学生与住校学生和教师建立有意义的关系。该项目将产生关于补充教学对通勤学生的科学认同、保留、学位获得和职业选择的影响的新知识。这些发现可能有助于全国其他学院和大学更好地支持通勤到校园的STEM本科生的成功。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。该项目有三个目标：1)增加生物、化学或数学专业的学生人数，共招收18名学者；2)为学者提供额外的学术支持，增加和加强教师与学者之间的互动；3) 78%的学者在四年内毕业，90%的学者在毕业后六个月内被STEM研究生项目或专业职位录取。该项目将以考德威尔大学目前的招聘、推广和暑期项目以及现有的行业联系为基础。教师将通过指导关系和每周虚拟办公时间来支持学者。工业界将通过延长每周一次的第一年研讨会和实习来支持学者。同行将通过每周补充指导、同行指导和协作学习空间来支持学者，旨在帮助通勤学生与其他志同道合的学生见面。该计划将通过检查学生出勤率、学生反思和与补充教学负责人的半结构化访谈来调查补充教学如何增强学生科学身份的发展。该项目的结果将广泛传播，从而有助于了解如何支持STEM本科通勤学生的成功。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 highly skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians. To do so, it will support the retention and graduation of eighteen high-achieving, low-income undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need at Caldwell University. The project focuses on supporting the needs of STEM students who live off campus and commute to college. The project will provide two-year scholarships to two cohorts of nine undergraduates who major in biology, chemistry, or mathematics. In addition to scholarships, the project will provide the Scholars with enhanced academic supports and increased opportunities to interact with faculty and peers, as well as with practicing STEM professionals. The project team will study how well these opportunities help commuter students develop meaningful relationships with resident students and with faculty. The project will generate new knowledge about the impact of supplemental instruction on commuter students' science identity, retention, degree attainment, and career choices. These findings may help other colleges and universities across the country better support the success of STEM undergraduates who commute to campus. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project has three objectives: 1) increase the number of students enrolled in biology, chemistry, or mathematics by enrolling a total of eighteen Scholars; 2) provide additional academic student support for Scholars, and increase and enhance interactions between faculty and Scholars; and 3) graduate 78% of Scholars in four years and have 90% of Scholars accepted into STEM graduate programs or professional positions within six months of graduation. The project will build on Caldwell University's current recruitment, outreach, and summer programs, as well as on existing industry connections. Faculty will support Scholars through mentoring relationships and weekly virtual office hours. Industry will support Scholars through an extended weekly first-year seminar and internships. Peers will support Scholars through weekly supplemental instruction, peer mentoring, and a collaborative learning space designed to help commuter students meet other like-minded students. The program will investigate how supplemental instruction enhances the development of students' science identity by examining student attendance, student reflections, and semi-structured interviews with supplemental instruction leaders. Results of the project will be broadly disseminated, thus contributing to current knowledge about how to support the success of undergraduate STEM commuter 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.