Scholarships, Service Learning, and Community Engagement to Improve Student Success in Engineering and Computer Science

该项目将通过支持新墨西哥大学（一所服务于西班牙裔和少数族裔的大学）保留和毕业表现出经济需要的成绩优异的低收入家庭学生，从而满足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。该项目为期五年，将为72名攻读计算机科学或工程（民用、化学、核、电气和计算机）学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。奖学金获得者将是来自两年制学院的转校生和目前工程学院高年级的学生。他们将分三批被录取，并每年获得可续期的一年期奖学金。学者将有机会获得一套学生支持，职业和劳动力发展活动。此外，他们将参加为期一年的教师指导学习社区，并参与服务学习和社区参与活动。事实证明，这些活动通过与当地组织建立关系使学生受益，因为他们致力于解决社区面临的技术问题。鉴于该大学的学生人数，该项目有可能扩大工程和计算机科学劳动力的参与。它还可以通过服务学习项目直接使当地社区受益。该项目将通过研究服务学习和社区参与经验如何影响学生对公益事业的态度和信念，以及学习社区和其他有组织的学术活动是否有助于形成积极的学术成果，来推进工程教育领域的知识。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。具体目标是：1)通过工程学院指导的学习社区发展学者群体，以支持坚持和学业成功；2)提供一套职业和劳动力发展活动，重点是为高薪工作做准备；3)创造一种促进社会责任发展的学术文化；4)产生关于如何在教育实践中培养社区以及如何在工程/计算机科学课程中整合社会相关性的新知识。本研究将解决三个研究问题：1)付费服务学习/社区参与经历如何影响学者的态度和信念，以及学者的兴趣是否会随着毕业而改变？2)这些态度和信念与那些从事无报酬的荣誉论文服务学习/社区参与经验以获得学分的学者相比如何？3)综合项目活动在多大程度上、以何种方式影响学者的沟通技巧？该项目将通过混合方法进行评估，使用收集的关于学者表现的数据以及学者和教师导师通过调查和访谈获得的观察和反馈。该项目的结果将通过年度校园演讲向大学社区公布，通过当地媒体向公众公布，并通过会议演讲和项目网站向STEM教育界公布。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 University of New Mexico, a Hispanic-Serving and Minority-Serving Institution. Over its five-year duration, the project will provide scholarships to 72 unique, full time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in computer science or engineering (civil, chemical, nuclear, and electrical and computer). Scholars will be transfer students from two-year colleges and current upper division students in the School of Engineering. They will be admitted in three cohorts and receive annually renewable, one-year scholarships. Scholars will have access to a suite of student support, career, and workforce development activities. In addition, they will participate in a year-long faculty-mentored learning community and engage in service learning and community engagement activities. Such activities have been shown to benefit students through relationship-building with local organizations as they work on technical problems faced by communities. Given the University’s student population, this project has the potential to broaden participation in the engineering and computer science workforce. It also can directly benefit the local community through service-learning projects. This project will advance knowledge in the field of engineering education by studying how service learning and community engagement experiences influence students’ attitudes and beliefs toward public welfare, and whether learning communities and other organized academic activities help shape positive academic outcomes.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific aims are to: 1) develop Scholar cohorts through engineering faculty-mentored learning communities, known to support persistence and academic success; 2) provide a suite of career and workforce-development activities focused on preparation for high paying jobs; 3) create an academic culture that fosters the development of societal responsibility; and 4) generate new knowledge regarding how to nurture community in educational practices and how to integrate social relevance in engineering/computer science curricula. This study will address three research questions: 1) How do paid service learning/community engagement experiences influence Scholars’ attitudes and beliefs and does Scholar interest change as they approach graduation? 2) How do these attitudes and beliefs compare to Scholars who undertake unpaid Honors Thesis service learning/community engagement experiences for academic credit? 3) To what extent and in what ways do integrated project activities affect Scholars’ communication skills? The project will be evaluated through a mixed-methods approach using data collected about Scholar performance as well as observations and feedback from Scholars and faculty mentors from surveys and interviews. Results of this project will be made available to the university community through annual campus presentations, to the public through local media outlets, and to the STEM education community through conference presentations and a project website. 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.