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

该项目将通过支持成绩优异、经济状况良好的低收入家庭学生的保留和毕业，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。在五年的时间里，该项目将为32名主修土木、建筑、计算机、电气、环境、机械、机电一体化或工业与系统工程的学生提供最多四年的奖学金。该项目将突出工程的公共利益，学者们将在他们还是本科生的时候就开始为社会做出贡献。该项目的目的是通过利用现有的学生支助结构和实施新的活动来实现其目标，这些活动被认为可以增加工程专业学生，特别是女工程专业学生的留校率。这些活动包括本科生研究经历、生活学习社区、STEM外展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、顾问和教员研究人员将担任导师。预计学者们将更加了解工程领域多样性的重要性，包括女性的参与。该项目有可能在工程学科中创造更多的女性专业人士。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。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，以减轻阻碍学业成功的经济挑战；2)让学生与工程学院导师和行业合作伙伴导师进行交流；3)创建一个学生社区，让他们参与以服务或拓展为重点的活动；4)促进学生参与解决社会问题的本科研究项目。虽然肯尼索州立大学所有低收入、成绩优异的工程本科生都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，肯尼索州立大学的女性本科入学率和工科学位都低于全国平均水平。研究表明，在STEM教育中，有利于男性的性别差异的一个重要前兆是归属感，或者是融入社区的感觉，感觉自己是社区的合法成员。该项目将考察项目活动的实施是否会带来一个更具包容性的学术环境，并提高学者之间的归属感。该计划旨在回答与项目目标一致的三个研究问题：1)师徒关系是否对学者的知识归属感产生积极影响？2)社区建设是否正向影响学者对连通性和社会归属感的主观体验？3)参与与社会相关的研究活动是否会积极影响学者坚持工程的意愿？该项目将使用纵向，混合方法，并发三角测量设计进行评估。项目成果将在当地通过大学网站和当地讲习班进行传播，在全国范围内通过美国工程教育学会等会议和专业出版物进行传播。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 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.