Rocky Mountain Scholars Program: Determining the Impact of Cohort-Based Undergraduate Research

该项目将通过支持科罗拉多州立大学留住并毕业于科罗拉多州立大学，这是一家公立的土地赠与机构，将有助于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。在五年的时间里，这个项目将为60名攻读数学和/或生物学士学位的学生提供两年的奖学金。这些学生将在教师导师的指导下参与研究体验，以解决引人入胜的现实世界问题。该项目包括一项研究，将考察不同的教师指导研究经验的方法如何影响学生的表现、毕业率和职业目标。该项目的更广泛影响包括进一步发展高能力社区大学生的渠道，他们将过渡到各自领域的领导角色。该计划的研究成果将广泛传播，使全国的大学教育工作者广泛受益。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。落基山学者项目将与社区学院联盟合作：1)招募四批15名符合经济需要、高能力标准的转学学生；2)为学者提供奖学金资金；3)让学者参与由教师指导的研究助学金；以及4)为学者提供以学生参与为中心的支持计划。项目研究计划包括一项功效研究，考察基于队列的指导研究经验是否比个人指导研究经验在学业表现、保留率、STEM持久度、进入研究生院的决定以及进入STEM职业生涯方面更有效。此外，它还将调查学生与同伴和教师导师互动的质量和数量如何影响这些结果。研究将包括混合方法方法，包括：1)使用从项目生成的变量获得的数据以及从机构研究和职业中心分析科获得的数据进行统计分析；2)调查和自我效能分析，以得出学生对项目有效性的整体看法。该项目的成果将发表在STEM教育期刊上，张贴在项目网站上，并在会议上展示。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 well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Colorado State University, a public, Land Grant Institution. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund two-year scholarships to 60 students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Mathematics and/or Biology. These students will participate in research experiences under the direction of faculty mentors to solve engaging, real-world problems. The project includes a research study that will examine how different approaches to faculty-mentored research experiences affect student performance, graduation rates, and career goals. The broader impacts of this project include further developing the pipeline of high-ability community college students who transition into leadership roles in their fields. The research findings of this program will be widely disseminated for the broad benefit of college educators throughout the nation. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The Rocky Mountain Scholars Project will work with an alliance of community colleges to: 1) Recruit four cohorts of 15 transfer students who meet the financial need, high-ability criteria; 2) Provide the Scholars with scholarship funding; 3) Engage Scholars in faculty-mentored research assistantships; and 4) Provide Scholars with a support program centered on student engagement. The project research plan includes an efficacy study examining whether cohort-based mentored research experiences are more effective than individual mentored-research experiences, with regard academic performance, retention, STEM persistence, decision to enter graduate school, and decision to enter STEM careers. Moreover, it will investigate how the quality and quantity of student interactions with cohort mates and faculty mentors influence these outcomes. The research will consist of a mixed methods approach including: 1) statistical analyses using data obtained from program-generated variables as well as data from Institutional Research and the Analytics Section of the Career Center; 2) surveys and self-efficacy analyses to elicit a holistic picture of students' perceptions of the program's efficacy. Results of this project will be published in STEM education journals, posted on the program web site, and presented at conferences. 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.