STEM Scholars: Supporting Graduation of Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics Majors by Developing Their STEM Ethical Knowledge and Identity as Scientists

该项目将通过支持玛丽安大学的优秀低收入学生的保留和毕业，为国家对高技能科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。这所大学是位于印第安纳州印第安纳波利斯的一所天主教和方济会大学。该项目为期五年，旨在为至少15名攻读生物学、化学或数学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。奖学金获得者将从两组一年级学生中招募，并获得长达四年的奖学金支持。该项目将为学者提供创新的支持服务，重点是加强他们对道德在STEM中的作用的理解，并建立他们作为STEM专业人士的身份。该项目旨在促进对道德指导和身份建设活动在留住和毕业STEM学生方面的价值的理解。它还计划使当地的STEM劳动力多样化，并帮助满足STEM劳动力的需求。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。一个众所周知的促进STEM学生留存的因素是学生作为STEM专业人士的自我认同的发展。然而，道德指导对职业认同的有效性和影响在STEM教育中很少得到研究。玛丽安大学将从当地天主教学校、公立学校和社区学院招收学生，研究旨在建立科学家身份的早期职业道德课程和STEM活动的有效性。该项目将以两个研究问题为指导：1)引入负责任的研究行为原则和随后的案例研究评估如何影响学生认识和将这些原则应用于各种研究场景的能力，并对他们自己的研究项目做出合乎道德的决策？2)在整个本科生涯中，围绕STEM专业的身份问题的有意讨论在多大程度上影响了他们作为“科学家”的自我认同？这些学生在多大程度上引用了身份发展的具体方面来促进他们坚持STEM？预计项目成果包括，至少80%的学者将在第三学期继续学习STEM专业，至少70%的学者将以STEM专业毕业，所有毕业的学者将被安置在STEM就业或研究生教育中。该项目将由外部评估人员根据学生的学术和职业成果，学生对自己的看法以及参与项目的价值进行评估。它还将把这些结果综合成经验教训，用于复制和扩展项目。研究人员和参与的学生将通过同行评议的出版物和区域研究场所传播项目结果。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 highly skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students at Marian University. This University is a Catholic and Franciscan university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Over its five-year duration, the project aims to fund scholarships to at least 15 full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, or mathematics. The Scholars will be recruited in two cohorts of first-year students and receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project will provide Scholars with innovative support services focused on strengthening their understanding of the role of ethics in STEM and building their identities as STEM professionals. The project aims to advance understanding of the value of ethics instruction and identity-building activities in retaining and graduating STEM students. It also plans to diversify the local STEM workforce and help to meet STEM workforce needs.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. A known contributor to retention in STEM is the development of students’ self-identity as STEM professionals. However, the efficacy and impacts of ethics instruction on professional identify are scarcely researched aspects of STEM education. Marian University will recruit students from local Catholic schools, public schools, and community colleges to study the effectiveness of early-career ethics coursework and STEM activities designed to build identity as a scientist. The project will be guided by two research questions: 1) How does the introduction of Responsible Conduct of Research principles and subsequent evaluation of case-studies impact a student’s ability to recognize and apply these principles to various research scenarios and make ethically sound decisions regarding their own research projects? 2) To what extent does the intentional discussion of identity issues surrounding STEM majors affect their self-identification as “scientists” throughout their undergraduate career and to what extent do these students cite specific aspects of identity development as contributing to their persistence in STEM? Expected project outcomes include that at least 80% of the Scholars will remain in STEM majors into their third semester, at least 70% will graduate with a STEM major, and all graduating Scholar will be placed into STEM employment or graduate education. The project will be evaluated by an external evaluator based on student academic and career outcomes, student perceptions of themselves, and the value of participation in the project. It will also synthesize these results into lessons learned for replicating and scaling the project. Project findings will be disseminated by investigators and participating students through peer-reviewed publications and regional research venues. 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.