STEM-relevant Civic Engagement and Service as a Foundation to Prepare Rural Undergraduates for STEM Careers

该项目将有助于满足国家对有技能的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。为了做到这一点，它将通过支持高成就、低收入、有经济需求的学生在晨兴学院留校和毕业来做到这一点。晨兴学院是一所私立的四年制文科院校。这项为期五年的计划将向两批12名学生提供奖学金，以支持他们获得生物、化学、计算机科学或数学的学士学位。一年级学生将获得最多四年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在提高农村STEM学生的留校率和毕业率，方法是通过以STEM为中心的公民参与活动、教师和同行指导计划、数学必修课、本科生研究经验以及与行业合作伙伴提供面向职业的外部培训机会来支持他们。由于该学院有大量农村背景的学生，该项目将探索这一群体中STEM学生在招生、坚持和成功方面的复杂性。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成情况。该项目的具体目标包括：a)提高STEM学者的一至二年级保留率和毕业率；b)加强他们在科学工作场所或研究生院的准备；c)将公民参与经验与STEM课程结合起来。研究问题将调查学生参与STEM课程中以科学为中心的公民参与活动如何有助于提高STEM学科的保留率和提高公民责任的态度，特别是在农村背景的学生中。预期的结果是提高STEM学生保留率和准备对其社区产生积极影响的STEM专业人员的毕业。在整个为期五年的项目中，一名外部评估员将通过审查纵向机构评估数据、与项目要素相一致的学生成功和进步衡量标准以及学生态度和感知数据，对项目提供反馈。将通过区域和国家会议以及参加由独立学院理事会等组织赞助的活动来分享成果。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。

This project will contribute to the national need for skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians. It will do so by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Morningside College, a private four-year liberal arts institution. This five-year project will provide scholarships to two cohorts of twelve students, to support their attainment of bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, computer science, or mathematics. First year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project seeks to increase the retention and graduation rates among rural STEM students by supporting them through STEM-centric civic engagement activities, together with faculty and peer mentoring programs, a mathematics co-requisite course, undergraduate research experiences, and career-oriented externship opportunities with industry partners. Because the College has a large population of students with rural backgrounds, this project will explore the complexity of issues with recruitment, persistence, and success of STEM students from this population.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 of this project include a) increasing the first- to second-year retention, and graduation rates of STEM scholars, b) enhancing their scientific workplace or graduate school readiness, and c) integrating civic engagement experiences with STEM courses. The research question will investigate how student involvement in science-centric civic engagement activities embedded within STEM courses might contribute to increased retention in STEM disciplines and to increased attitudes of civic responsibility, particularly among students from rural backgrounds. The expected outcomes are increased STEM student retention rates and graduation of STEM professionals who are ready to make a positive impact on their communities. Throughout the five-year project, an external evaluator will provide feedback on the project by reviewing longitudinal institutional assessment data, student success and progression measures aligned with project elements, and student attitude and perception data. The results will be shared through regional and national conferences and participation in events sponsored by organizations such as the Council of Independent Colleges. 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.