Recruiting, Retaining, Graduating, and Transitioning Undergraduates into Successful Engineering Careers

招聘、留住、毕业并将本科生过渡到成功的工程职业

• 批准号: 1930427
• 负责人: Loraine Lowder
• 金额: $ 99.77万
• 依托单位: Kennesaw State University Research and Service Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1930427&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Recruiting; Retaining; Graduating; Transitioning; Undergraduates

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. Over five-years, the project will provide up to four years of scholarship support to 32 students majoring in Civil, Construction, Computer, Electrical, Environmental, Mechanical, Mechatronics, or Industrial and Systems Engineering. The project will highlight the public benefits of engineering and Scholars will begin to make societal contributions while they are still undergraduates. The project aims to achieve its goals by using existing student support structures and implementing new activities that are known to increase retention of engineering students, particularly female engineering students. Such activities include undergraduate research experiences, living learning communities, STEM outreach efforts, and peer mentoring and tutoring. Industry partners, advisors, and faculty researchers who are committed to the success of this project will serve as mentors. It is expected that Scholars will gain an increased understanding of the importance of diversity in engineering, including the participation of women. The project has the potential to create a larger pool of female professionals in engineering disciplines. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Through its activities, the project aims to achieve four major objectives: 1) to provide students with scholarships to mitigate financial-challenges that impede successful academic progress; 2) to engage students with an engineering faculty mentor and industry partner mentors; 3) to create a community of students who participate in activities with a service or outreach emphasis; and 4) to facilitate student participation in undergraduate research projects that address societal concerns. Although all low-income, high-achieving engineering undergraduates at Kennesaw State University will have an equal opportunity to receive scholarships, this project emphasizes efforts to increase the participation of women. Women are underrepresented in engineering nationally, and female undergraduate enrollment and degrees awarded in engineering at Kennesaw State University are below the national average. Research has shown that one important precursor to gender disparities that favor men in STEM education is a sense of belonging, or the feeling of fitting in and feeling like a legitimate member of a community. The project will examine whether the implementation of project activities leads to a more inclusive academic environment and heightened feelings of belonging among the Scholars. The program intends to answer three research questions that are aligned with the project objectives: 1) Does mentorship positively influence Scholars' feelings of intellectual belonging? 2) Does community building positively influence the Scholars' subjective experiences of connectedness and social belonging? and 3) Does participation in socially relevant research activities positively influence the Scholars' intent to persist in engineering? The project will be evaluated using a longitudinal, mixed methods, concurrent triangulation design. Dissemination of project results will occur locally, via the University website and local workshops, and nationally, at conferences such as the American Society for Engineering Education and in professional publications. 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.

该项目将通过支持有经济能力的高成就、低收入学生的保留和毕业，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。 该项目将在五年内为 32 名土木、建筑、计算机、电气、环境、机械、机电一体化或工业和系统工程专业的学生提供长达四年的奖学金支持。 该项目将强调工程的公共利益，学者们在还是本科生的时候就开始为社会做出贡献。 该项目旨在通过利用现有的学生支持结构和实施新的活动来实现其目标，这些活动可以提高工程专业学生，特别是女性工程专业学生的保留率。 这些活动包括本科生研究经验、生活学习社区、STEM 推广工作以及同伴指导和辅导。 致力于该项目成功的行业合作伙伴、顾问和教师研究人员将担任导师。 预计学者们将进一步了解工程多样性的重要性，包括女性的参与。 该项目有潜力在工程学科领域培养更多女性专业人员。 该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、成绩优异的本科生完成 STEM 学位的机会。 通过其活动，该项目旨在实现四个主要目标：1）为学生提供奖学金，以减轻阻碍成功学业进步的财务挑战； 2) 让学生与工程学院导师和行业合作伙伴导师互动； 3) 创建一个参与以服务或外展为重点的活动的学生社区； 4）促进学生参与解决社会问题的本科研究项目。 尽管肯尼索州立大学所有低收入、成绩优异的工程本科生都将有平等的机会获得奖学金，但该项目强调努力增加女性的参与。在全国范围内，女性在工程领域的代表性不足，肯尼索州立大学工程专业的女性本科入学率和授予的学位低于全国平均水平。 研究表明，在 STEM 教育中对男性有利的性别差异的一个重要先兆是归属感，或者说融入社区的感觉以及感觉自己是社区的合法成员。 该项目将审查项目活动的实施是否会带来更具包容性的学术环境并增强学者之间的归属感。 该计划旨在回答与项目目标一致的三个研究问题：1）导师制是否对学者的知识归属感产生积极影响？ 2）社区建设是否对学者的连通性和社会归属感主观体验产生积极影响？ 3）参与与社会相关的研究活动是否会对学者们坚持从事工程学的意图产生积极影响？ 该项目将采用纵向、混合方法、并行三角测量设计进行评估。项目成果将通过大学网站和当地研讨会在当地传播，并在全国范围内通过美国工程教育协会等会议和专业出版物传播。 该项目由 NSF 的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加具有经济需求且获得 STEM 领域学位的低收入学术才华学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来 STEM 工作者的教育，并产生有关低收入学生的学业成功、保留、转学、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价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。