Increasing the Recruitment, Retention, and Graduation of STEM Undergraduate Student, with Emphasis on First-Generation College Students

该项目将通过支持南达科他州矿业学院的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为国家对熟练科学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。在南达科他州矿业学院注册的一年级学生中，约有三分之一是第一代大学生。平均而言，这些第一代学生的坚持率远低于那些父母在高等教育中有成功经历的学生。虽然平均而言，约50%的学院本科生在五年内获得学士学位，但只有约24%的第一代学生这样做。该项目为期五年，将为至少35名攻读工程、科学或技术学士学位的全日制或非全日制学生提供奖学金。这些学者将分两批录取，并获得最多四年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在帮助学者们从入学到毕业成功地驾驭高等教育体系。学术和社会支持将从招聘开始，包括由训练有素的导师指导。该项目预计，根据学生群体的人口统计，至少三分之一的学者将是第一代学生。该项目将检验一个假设，即第一代STEM本科生的成功不受他们的兴趣或能力的限制，而是受复杂的高等教育体系本身的限制。此外，该项目预测，支持学者的能力导航他们的大学经历将增加他们的坚持和毕业。许多第一代大学生来自低收入、背景各异。因此，该项目具有更广泛的影响，因为它有可能帮助增加STEM劳动力中人才的多样性。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。该项目有三个具体目标：1)连接现有的校园学术资源，以提高学生，特别是第一代学生的成功；2)通过建立一个由学者信任的学生、教师和工作人员组成的网络，加强学者与校园的社会联系；3)提供基于需求的奖学金，以减轻经济负担，并允许学者优先考虑他们的教育。该项目活动旨在支持学者发展更高的情商，情商将通过科学验证的工具进行评估，该工具将检查个人的社交和情感优势和劣势（EQ-i2.0）。利用基于证据的弹性研究，该项目将实施与第一代学生特别相关的支持。据预测，该项目的研究结果将证明情商的提高与保留率/毕业率之间存在正相关关系。项目结果将通过出版物、会议报告、NSF S-STEM会议和项目特定网页在全国范围内传播。其中包括由私人咨询公司进行形成性和总结性项目评估的计划。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 skilled scientists, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students at South Dakota School of Mines. About a third of first-year students enrolled in the South Dakota School of Mines are first-generation college students. On average, these first-generation students persist at a much lower rate than students whose parents have had successful experiences in higher education. Although, on average, about 50% of the School’s undergraduate students earn bachelor’s degrees within five years, only about 24% of first-generation students do so. Over its five-year duration, this project will provide scholarships to at least 35 different full- or part-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in engineering, science, or technology. The Scholars will be admitted in two cohorts and receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project intends to help the Scholars successfully navigate the higher education system from admission to graduation. Academic and social support will begin at recruitment and include mentoring by trained mentors. The project expects that, reflecting demographics of the student body, at least a third of the Scholars will be first-generation students. The project will test the hypothesis that the success of first-generation STEM undergraduates is not limited by their interests or ability, but by the complex higher education system itself. Furthermore, the project predicts that supporting Scholar’s ability to navigate their college experience will increase their persistence and graduation. Many first-generation undergraduates are from low income, diverse backgrounds. As a result, a significant broader impact of the project arises from its potential to help increase the diversity of talent in the STEM workforce. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project has three specific aims: 1) connect existing campus academic resources to enhance student success, particularly of first-generation students; 2) bolster Scholars’ social connectivity to campus by creating a network of students, faculty, and staff that Scholars trust; and 3) provide need-based scholarships to relieve financial burden and allow Scholars to prioritize their education. The project activities are designed to support Scholars’ development of greater emotional intelligence, which will be assessed by a scientifically validated instrument that examines an individual’s social and emotional strengths and weaknesses (EQ-i2.0). Using evidence-based resiliency research, the project will implement supports that are particularly relevant to first-generation students. It is predicted that the project’s research findings will demonstrate a positive correlation between increases in emotional intelligence and retention/graduation rates. Project findings will be disseminated nationally through publications, conference presentations, NSF S-STEM meetings, and a project specific webpage. A plan is included for formative and summative project evaluation by a private consulting firm. 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.