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

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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.