Scholarships and Communities to Support STEM Undergraduate Student Persistence and Graduation

该项目将通过支持在德保罗大学有经济需要的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。在为期四年的时间里，该项目将为16名攻读天体物理学、生物化学、生物科学、化学、数据科学、环境科学、环境研究、数学、数学与计算机科学或物理学STEM学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。奖学金获得者将分成两组，每组8名学生，并参加一个以学习小组、辅导和指导为特色的学习社区。他们还将受益于大学和职业道路项目，包括写作研讨会、职业探索、研讨会、研究经历和实习。该项目希望这些支持和资源将有助于学者们坚持毕业，并确保他们为进入STEM劳动力或研究生院做好充分准备。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、优秀本科生的STEM学位完成率。有三个具体目标：(1)增加低收入学术人才进入研究生项目或STEM劳动力的数量；(2)适应、实施和研究循证实践，从而有助于理解如何提高STEM领域低收入学术人才的招聘和成功；(3)实施针对低收入学业优生的循证课程和课外活动。该项目将开展研究，以增加对学习社区对通常与学生的学业坚持和成绩有关的非认知因素的影响的认识。具体而言，该项目将调查两个研究问题：(1)学习社区的参与如何影响低收入学术天才学生的社会化经历、大学适应、保留和坚持STEM学位的获得？(2)参与学院和职业路径模式提供的规划将如何影响学生的学业投入、学业表现、完成STEM实习、研究项目和毕业时间？项目评估将根据学生的学习成绩、调查和焦点小组回答、访谈、参加课外研讨会以及参加实习和研究进行。该项目的结果将在专业会议上发表，如美国学院和大学协会的年会上。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 well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at DePaul University. Over its four-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to sixteen unique full-time students who are pursuing STEM bachelor's degrees in Astrophysics, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Data Science, Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, Mathematics, Mathematics and Computer Science, or Physics. The Scholars will enter in two cohorts of eight students and participate in a Learning Community featuring study groups, tutoring, and mentoring. They will also benefit from a College and Career Pathway program that includes a writing seminar, career exploration, workshops, research experiences, and internships. The project expects that these supports and resources will contribute to Scholars’ persistence to graduation, as well as ensure that they are well-prepared to enter the STEM workforce or graduate school.The overall goal of the project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There are three specific aims: (1) increase the number of low-income academically talented students entering graduate programs or the STEM workforce; (2) adapt, implement, and study evidence-based practices, thus contributing to understanding how to improve recruitment and success of low-income academically talented students in STEM; and (3) implement evidence-based curricular and co-curricular activities for low-income academically talented students. The project will conduct research to increase knowledge about the effects of learning communities on non-cognitive factors generally associated with students' academic persistence and outcomes. Specifically, the project will investigate two research questions: (1) How will participation in a learning community affect the socialization experiences, college adjustment, retention and persistence to STEM degree attainment of low-income academically talented students? (2) How will participation in programming offered in the College and Career Pathway Model affect students' academic engagement, academic performance, completion of STEM internships, research projects, and their time to graduation? Project evaluation will be conducted using students' academic records, survey and focus group responses, interviews, attendance at co-curricular workshops, and participation in internships and research. Results from this project will be presented at professional conferences, such as the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. 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.