Improving Undergraduate Engineering Students' Degree Attainment Through Innovative Residential and Transfer Support

通过创新的住宿和转学支持提高工程本科生的学位获得率

• 批准号: 1930497
• 负责人: Ricky Castles
• 金额: $ 400.99万
• 依托单位: East Carolina University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1930497&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Improving; Undergraduate; Engineering; Students; Degree

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. Specifically, the project will support engineering students at East Carolina University, Lenoir Community College, Pitt Community College, and Wayne Community College. These institutions serve a rural region in Eastern North Carolina in which the poverty rate in many surrounding counties exceed 20%. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund four-year scholarships to 80 students who are pursuing associate's and bachelor's degrees in engineering. This project will reduce the financial burden of attending college, provide academic and social support, and guide students toward engineering careers to help develop the STEM workforce of eastern North Carolina. This region has historically had difficulty attracting and retaining engineering professionals. Project activities include a summer bridge program, a living-learning residential program, a textbook-lending program, tutoring, and career preparation activities. The activities that will be developed and implemented as part of this project are designed to be sustainable beyond the grant period. As a result, the project has the potential to support future students, thus achieving persistent increases in engineering retention and graduation rates at each partnering institution. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project will recruit two cohorts of 40 students, drawing primarily from a ten-county region in eastern North Carolina. This project will adopt the Model of Co-Curricular Support, built upon Tinto's model of institutional departure. It will conduct research to determine which elements of institutional support are most effective for attracting, retaining, and graduating low-income, high-achieving students. Specific research questions are: (1) How do community college transfer students experience academic, social, professional, and university integration at their community college, during transition between institutions, and at their transfer institution? (2) What effect does comprehensive co-curricular support have on academic, social, professional, and university integration for transfer and non-transfer students? (3) Do higher levels of academic, social, professional, and/or university integration result in improved degree progress, academic achievement, and/or career attainment than lower integration levels? The project will be evaluated by collecting both quantitative data (e.g., numbers of applicants; retention; graduation rates) and qualitative data (e.g., student perspectives of the value of support mechanisms). Results of the project will be disseminated through conferences such as the American Society for Engineering Education annual conference the National Academic Advisors Association conference. Results will be submitted for publication in education journals such as the IEEE Transactions on Education Journal, the Journal of Engineering Education, and the International Journal of Engineering Education. 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需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，为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做出贡献。具体地说，该项目将支持东卡罗来纳大学、勒诺伊尔社区学院、皮特社区学院和韦恩社区学院的工程学学生。这些机构服务于北卡罗来纳州东部的一个农村地区，那里周围许多县的贫困率超过20%。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为80名攻读工程学副学士学位的学生提供为期四年的奖学金。该项目将减轻上大学的经济负担，提供学术和社会支持，并引导学生走向工程职业生涯，以帮助发展北卡罗来纳州东部的STEM劳动力。该地区历来在吸引和留住工程专业人才方面存在困难。项目活动包括暑期桥牌计划、生活学习住宿计划、教科书出借计划、辅导和职业准备活动。将作为这一项目的一部分制定和执行的活动旨在使其在赠款期间之后具有可持续性。因此，该项目有可能支持未来的学生，从而在每个合作机构实现工程保留率和毕业率的持续增长。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。该项目将招收两批40人的学生，主要来自北卡罗来纳州东部的十个县地区。本项目将采用建立在丁托的机构分离模式基础上的共同课程支持模式。它将进行研究，以确定哪些机构支持要素对于吸引、留住和毕业低收入、高成就的学生最有效。具体的研究问题是：(1)社区学院转学学生在社区学院、院校之间的过渡期间以及在转学机构如何体验学术、社会、专业和大学的融合？(2)全面的共同课程支持对转学和未转学的学生的学术、社会、专业和大学融合有什么影响？(3)较高的学术、社会、专业和/或大学融合水平是否比较低的融合水平带来学位进步、学业成就和/或职业成就的改善？将通过收集定量数据(例如，申请者人数；留校率；毕业率)和定性数据(例如，学生对支助机制价值的看法)来评估该项目。该项目的成果将通过美国工程教育学会年会、全国学术顾问协会会议等会议传播。结果将在教育期刊上发表，如IEEE教育会刊、工程教育杂志和国际工程教育杂志。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。

项目成果

Managing the Challenges of Recruiting and Supporting SSTEM Scholars at Three Partnering Community Colleges During a Pandemic

应对大流行期间三所合作社区学院招募和支持 SSTEM 学者的挑战

• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: 2022 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition
• 作者: Castles, R.;Venters, C.;Goodman, C
• 通讯作者: Goodman, C

Board 414: Tracking the Progress Towards an Engineering Degree of Three Cohorts of Low-income Engineering Students Supported by a Track 3 Multi-Institutional S-STEM Grant

Board 414：跟踪由第 3 轨多机构 S-STEM 补助金支持的三批低收入工程学生获得工程学位的进展情况

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: American Society for Engineering Education
• 作者: Castles, Ricky;Venters, Christopher
• 通讯作者: Venters, Christopher

Recruiting and Retaining Low-Income Engineering Students Across Four Institutions During a Pandemic: Progress and Lessons Learned from a Track 3 S-STEM Grant

大流行期间四个机构招募和留住低收入工程学生：从第 3 轨 S-STEM 拨款中取得的进展和经验教训

• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: 2022 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition
• 作者: Castles, R.;Venters, C.;and Goodman, C
• 通讯作者: and Goodman, C