A Flexible Approach to STEM Scholar Recruitment, Retention, and Preparation in Computer Science and Computer Information Systems

该项目将有助于对受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员的国家需求，通过支持达文波特大学表现出经济需求的高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，达文波特大学为大量非传统和通勤学生提供服务。在五年的时间里，该项目将为20名攻读计算机科学或计算机信息系统学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。十二名学者将作为一年级学生进入，并获得长达四年的奖学金支持;八名转学生将作为大三学生进入，并获得长达两年的奖学金支持。学者将进入四个年度的四至六名学生的队列。 该项目旨在解决非传统学生和通勤学生面临的一个长期存在的问题，这一问题不能仅靠奖学金来解决：对于那些必须工作以履行经济或家庭义务的学生来说，不可避免地会出现时间安排冲突。事实上，报告已经将这种冲突列为第二大最常被引用的大学持续性障碍。该项目的一个独特之处在于，它位于一所大学，提供灵活的课程，辅导，支持服务和课外活动。灵活的交付方法允许学生选择，根据需要，他们如何能够最好地参与，无论是在人，在线直播上课时间，或异步通过现场课程的录音。 该项目旨在将这种灵活性纳入学者支助和充实活动。 因此，该项目的结果可能会引起高等教育机构的兴趣，这些机构试图招收，保留，毕业，并将更多的非传统学生纳入STEM劳动力队伍。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入，高成就的本科生的STEM学位完成率。 为此，该项目将通过与高中，社区大学和达文波特大学的学生建立社区的共享活动来招募学者。 除了奖学金，它还将为学者提供更好的学术支持和教师指导，帮助建立归属感的课外活动，以及与行业导师的实习。 该项目将调查灵活提供课程，支持系统和支持活动对学者保留和STEM归属感的影响。将采用混合方法收集有关学者参与度、归属感、项目活动参与度和保留率的定性和定量数据。该项目的结果将通过国家学术卓越中心社区，密歇根州立大学协会和相关期刊出版物提供。 该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金（S-STEM）计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。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术成功，保留，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 Davenport University, which serves a large population of non-traditional and commuter students. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to twenty unique full-time students pursuing bachelor's degrees in computer science or computer information systems. Twelve Scholars will enter as first year students and receive scholarship support of up to four years; eight transfer students will enter as juniors and receive scholarship support for up to two years. The Scholars will enter in four annual cohorts of four to six students. The project aims to address a persistent issue faced by non-traditional and commuter students that cannot be overcome with scholarships alone: the scheduling conflicts that inevitably arise for those who must work to meet financial or family obligations. In fact, reports have ranked such conflicts as the second most frequently cited barrier to college persistence. A unique feature of this project is that it is situated in a University that offers flexible delivery of courses, mentoring, support services, and co-curricular activities. The flexible delivery method allows students to choose, as needed, how they can best participate, either in person, online live during class time, or asynchronously via a recording of the live class session. The project aims to embed that level of flexibility into the Scholar support and enrichment activities. Thus, the results of this project will likely be of interest to institutions of higher education trying to enroll, retain, graduate, and place more non-traditional students into 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. To this end, the project will recruit Scholars through shared activities that build community with high school, community college, and Davenport University students. In addition to scholarships, it will provide the Scholars with enhanced academic support and faculty mentoring, cohorted extracurricular activities that help build a sense of belonging, and internships with industry mentors. The project will investigate the impact of the flexible delivery of courses, support systems, and supporting activities on Scholars’ retention and sense of STEM belonging. A mixed-methods approach will be used to collect qualitative and quantitative data on Scholars' engagement, sense of belonging, participation in project activities, and retention. Results of the project will be made available through the National Centers of Academic Excellence community, the Michigan Association of State Universities, and relevant journal publications. This project is funded by NSF's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) 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.