Preparing Academically Talented Students with Financial Need to be the Next Generation of Engineering Professionals by Fostering Innovation and Leadership Skills

该项目将有助于对受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员的国家需要，通过支持高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，证明在工程学院在北卡罗来纳州AT州立大学的经济需要。HBCU，NC A T是非洲裔美国本科工程师的最大生产商，在全国第五大本科女性工程毕业生的比例。在五年的时间里，该项目将为22名正在攻读工程学院九个本科工程课程之一的学生提供四年奖学金。这些包括建筑，生物（医学），生物，民用，化学，计算机，电气，工业系统，机械工程和计算机科学。 该项目将扩大目前的学生渠道，重点是农村地区。一个结构化的过程将在学生的学术生涯的早期阶段开始发展创新和领导力。基于队列的创造性学习经验将连接到国家认可的工程大挑战学者计划和领导力发展。将通过辅导和跨学科经验促进真正的体验式学习。该项目将提供创新和领导能力方面的培训，并将鼓励全球和跨文化视角。它还将通过服务学习促进社会意识的发展。一个工程领导带识别系统将正式化和扩展，以影响广泛的学生在NC A T和支持其他资助的学生发展工作。再加上工程学院的创新和创业的国家趋势，这个项目有潜力培养领导者，并广泛介绍了一个共享的核心领导能力，以学生全国。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生与证明财政需要完成STEM学位。这种创新和领导力的结合有望促进学术动机和表现。预计还将激发创业知识和对社会相关解决方案的兴趣。这一前提植根于已发表的关于服务不足的人群以及全国变化的学生角色的研究。将构建和评价一个称为“学习-实践-领导”的适应性模式。该模型将促进任何学生成长举措的执行，在我们的情况下创新，在一致的领导力发展的背景下。 该项目将努力确定最能影响创新和领导力的内容和教学方法。它还旨在了解对学生成绩，动机和创业知识的影响，以及评估可持续发展的机构整合方法。结果将通过专业会议和工程教育专业期刊以及讲习班、研讨会和其他培训机会传播。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。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术成功，保留，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 need in the College of Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University. An HBCU, NC A&T is the largest producer of African-American undergraduate engineers and fifth in the nation for the percentage of undergraduate women engineering graduates. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund four-year scholarships to 22 students who are pursuing one of nine undergraduate engineering programs in the College of Engineering. These include architectural, bio(medical), biological, civil, chemical, computer, electrical, industrial & systems, and mechanical engineering, and computer science. The project will expand the current pipeline of students with a focus on rural areas. A structured process will develop innovation and leadership in students beginning in the early stages of their academic careers. Cohort-based creative learning experiences will connect to the nationally recognized Engineering Grand Challenges Scholars Program and leadership development. Authentic experiential learning will be promoted through mentoring and interdisciplinary experiences. The project will provide training in innovation and leadership and will encourage global and cross-cultural perspectives. It will also foster the development of social consciousness through service learning. An Engineering Leadership belt recognition system will be formalized and extended to impact a broad range of students at NC A&T and support other funded student development efforts. Coupled with the national trend in engineering colleges toward innovation and entrepreneurship, this project has the potential to develop leaders and broadly introduce a shared core leadership competency to students nationally. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. This combination of innovation and leadership is expected to promote academic motivation and performance. It is also expected to stimulate entrepreneurship knowledge and interest in socially relevant solutions. This premise is rooted in published research regarding under-served populations as well as nationally changing student personas. An adaptable model termed "Learn-Do-Lead" will be structured and evaluated. The model will facilitate the execution of any student growth initiative, in our case innovation, within a consistent leadership development context. The project will strive to identify the content and pedagogy that will most impact innovation and leadership. It also seeks to understand impact on student performance, motivation, and entrepreneurial knowledge, as well as assess institutional integration methods for sustainability. Results will be disseminated through professional conferences and engineering education professional journals, as well as workshops, seminars, and other training opportunities. 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.