Scholarships to Support Retention, Academic Success, and Career Pathways in Mechanical Engineering

该项目将通过支持密尔沃基工程学院（Milwaukee School of Engineering，一所城市私立非营利性大学）中表现出经济需求的优秀低收入家庭学生的保留和毕业，为全国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。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为15名攻读机械工程学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。学者将从两组一年级机械工程专业的学生中选出。奖学金获得者将被保留，并通过完成学位和安置到劳动力或研究生院获得帮助。除了奖学金，该项目还将为学者们提供一整套强大的支持结构，包括社交活动、同伴辅导、影子体验、师生互动、职业指导，以及为研究、研究生院和/或工程劳动力做准备。由于学校的地理环境和学生人数，该项目可能会扩大工程学的参与范围。密尔沃基是美国大城市中贫困程度第三高的城市，人口中有27%的非洲裔美国人和16%的西班牙裔美国人。此外，由于该项目与密尔沃基公立学校和K-12社区有着紧密的联系，该项目可以有助于加强工程人才的输送。同样值得注意的是，强大的行业成分将促进学者实习和职业指导，以帮助培养工程师身份，并增加学者进入工程职业的潜力。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。在智力方面，该项目将通过调查支持结构的有效性来提高学生毕业的坚持性，从而产生新的知识。这些知识的价值被相对独特的机构设置所提升，它的特点是一个独立的、完全认可的、非盈利的大学，主要是一所工程学院。该项目有可能增加对课程和课外干预对认知和非认知学生特征、个人发展、保留和毕业的影响的理解。对于经济条件合格，学术上有天赋的机械工程专业学生，提出了三个研究问题：(1)该项目是否对学者的保留产生显着差异？(2)哪些干预措施对学生的保留率和学业成功更有效？(3)该项目是否有效地为学者们提供了通往成功、满意的职业道路？通过收集和分析来自调查、面对面访谈和焦点小组的定量和定性数据来寻求答案。项目管理团队拥有所需的专业知识，并包括一名社会科学研究员，他将领导教育研究活动。有一个非常合格的外部评估人员负责项目执行过程的评估和对项目管理计划遵守程度的监控。广泛分发调查结果的传播计划是健全和全面的，包括校园演讲、海报、专业工程会议、社会网络、行业和K-12外展。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 need at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, an urban private, non-profit university. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to fifteen unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Scholars will be selected in two cohorts of first year mechanical engineering students. The Scholars will be retained and assisted through degree completion and placement into the workforce or graduate school. In addition to scholarships, the program will provide Scholars with a robust suite of support structures that include social activities, peer tutoring, shadowing experiences, student-faculty interaction, career guidance, and preparation for research, graduate school and/or the engineering workforce. Because of institution’s geographical context and student population, the project is likely to broaden participation in engineering. Milwaukee has the third-highest level of poverty among large cities in the United States and the population includes about 27% African Americans and 16% Hispanic Americans. In addition, because the project has strong linkages with the Milwaukee Public Schools and the K-12 community, the project can contribute to strengthening the engineering talent pipeline. Also notable is the strong industry component that will facilitate Scholar internships and career mentoring to help nurture engineering identity and increasing the potential for the Scholars to enter engineering careers.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. With regard to intellectual merit, the project will generate new knowledge by investigating the effectiveness of the support structures employed to enhance student persistence to graduation. The value of this knowledge is elevated by the relatively unique institutional setting, which features a standalone, fully accredited, non-profit university that is primarily an engineering school. The project has the potential to increase understanding about the impact of curricula and co-curricular interventions on cognitive and non-cognitive student characteristics, personal development, retention, and graduation. For the cohorts of financially eligible, academically talented mechanical engineering students, three research questions are posited: (1) Does the project produce significant differences in retention of the Scholars? (2) Which interventions are more effective in retention and academic success of Scholars? (3) Does the project effectively provide a pathway to a successful, satisfying career for the Scholars? Answers are to be sought through collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from surveys, in-person interviews, and focus groups. The project management team has the needed expertise and includes a social science researcher who will lead the educational research activities. There is a well-qualified external evaluator charged with evaluation of the process of project execution and the monitoring of the extent of adherence to the project management plan. The dissemination plan for widescale distribution of findings is robust and comprehensive, including on-campus presentations, posters, professional engineering conferences, social networks, industry, and K-12 outreach. 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.