Supporting Academically Talented STEM Undergraduates with Scholarships, Interdisciplinary Explorations, Mentoring, and Research Experiences

通过奖学金、跨学科探索、指导和研究经验支持学术才华横溢的 STEM 本科生

• 批准号: 2030672
• 负责人: Jani Lewis
• 金额: $ 100万
• 依托单位: SUNY College at Geneseo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2030672&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Supporting; Academically; Talented; STEM; Undergraduates

This project contributes to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technology experts by supporting high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at the State University of New York at Geneseo. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships for an estimated 30 full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Biomathematics, Chemistry, Geochemistry, Geological Sciences, Geophysics, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Neuroscience, Physics, or Applied Physics. Scholars will be selected as first-year students and will receive scholarships for up to four years. Specific project activities include a new first-year Interdisciplinary STEM Exploratory Seminar, peer and faculty mentoring, cohort building activities, research experiences, conference attendance, alumni interactions, and presentation opportunities. The project will study the impact of the interdisciplinary seminar, mentoring programs, and faculty-led research experiences on the retention, persistence, and graduation rates of the Scholars. Project research will also study how project components prepare Scholars for the STEM workplace or graduate school. Knowledge generated by the project will inform institutional efforts to retain and graduate low-income STEM students and will be shared with institutions nationwide that serve a similar population of talented students with financial need.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion for two cohorts of approximately 15 students each. The objectives of this project are to (1) increase retention between the first and second years of study within the major for all Scholars, (2) increase the four-year graduation rate for Scholars, and (3) increase the preparation of all Scholars for post-graduation careers and graduate school. The contents of the interdisciplinary seminar will be informed by research on effective first-year experiences and will be designed to foster cohort building, STEM identity, and Scholars' engagement in interdisciplinary problem solving. The project will investigate the research question, “What is the effect of participation in the Interdisciplinary STEM Exploratory Seminar on academic success, STEM identity, and retention in a STEM major?" Investigating this question will contribute knowledge about evidence-based approaches that can support retention and graduation for high achieving, low-income STEM students. The project will be evaluated by an independent external evaluator using both formative and summative methods to study progress toward accomplishing project objectives. Outcomes will be disseminated within the University and the State Universities of New York system, and more broadly through conference presentations and publications so that other colleges and universities might learn from and build on the project’s experiences. 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.

该项目通过支持纽约州立大学Geneseo分校的高成就、低收入、有经济需求的学生，促进了全国对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术专家的需求。在五年的时间里，这个项目将为大约30名全日制学生提供奖学金，这些学生正在攻读生物、生物化学、生物物理学、生物数学、化学、地球化学、地质科学、地球物理、数学、应用数学、神经科学、物理学或应用物理学的学士学位。学者将被选为一年级学生，并将获得最长四年的奖学金。具体的项目活动包括新的第一年跨学科STEM探索性研讨会、同行和教师指导、队列建设活动、研究经验、出席会议、校友互动和演讲机会。该项目将研究跨学科研讨会、指导计划和教师主导的研究经验对学者的留存率、持久度和毕业率的影响。项目研究还将研究项目组成部分如何为STEM工作场所或研究生院的学者做准备。该项目产生的知识将为留住和毕业低收入STEM学生的机构提供信息，并将与全国范围内服务于类似有经济需求的有才华的学生的机构分享。该项目的总体目标是提高两个队列的STEM学位完成率，每个队列约15名学生。该项目的目标是：(1)提高所有奖学金获得者在该专业的第一年和第二年的留校率，(2)提高奖学金获得者的四年毕业率，(3)为所有获奖者毕业后就业和进入研究生院做好准备。跨学科研讨会的内容将以对第一年有效经验的研究为基础，旨在促进队列建设、STEM身份认同和学者参与跨学科问题解决。该项目将调查这样一个研究问题：“参加跨学科STEM探索研讨会对STEM专业的学术成功、STEM身份认同和留住有什么影响？”研究这一问题将有助于了解循证方法，以支持高成绩、低收入STEM学生的留校和毕业。该项目将由独立的外部评估员进行评估，采用形成性和总结性方法来研究实现项目目标的进展情况。成果将在纽约大学和纽约州立大学系统内传播，更广泛地通过会议发言和出版物传播，以便其他学院和大学可以学习和借鉴该项目的经验。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。