Biology Education and Research Skills (BEARS) Scholarship Program

该项目将通过支持肯纳贝克谷社区学院（KVCC）表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为全国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。这所公立大学为大约2500名学生提供服务，是缅因州社区学院系统董事会管理的七所社区学院之一。该项目为期5年，将为34名在KVCC攻读生物科学副学士学位的全日制高成就低收入家庭学生提供为期一年的奖学金，可续期一年。项目团队将调整和实施各种以证据为基础的创新课程和课外策略，通过分别为10名、12名和12名学生的三组学生来支持S-STEM学者。支持策略将包括队伍建设，为每位学者提供专门的教师导师，将背诵部分整合到入门级生物和化学课程中，提供生物学研究机会和行业经验，将实验室技能和研究微证书整合到生物学课程中，并为暑期实习提供津贴支持。该项目将利用地区高中现有的关系来确定符合条件的学生，对他们来说，S-STEM奖学金可以显著提高他们注册并完成两年制生物学学位的能力。项目调查人员将传播与项目挑战和成功相关的成果和发现，特别是向其他致力于支持低收入STEM学生的社区学院。为了提高低收入、成绩优异且有经济需求的本科生的学位完成率，该项目将追求几个目标。首先是适应、实施和分析以证据为基础的创新课程和课外活动，以支持、留住该项目的生物科学学者，并使他们获得理学副学士学位。第二是通过为学生提供特殊的职业准备经验和学术支持，帮助他们为就业或攻读四年制学位或更高的学位做出贡献，从而增强区域STEM劳动力。第三，通过实施、测试和调查混合方法的项目评估策略，系统地支持STEM学生的学术和劳动力路径，从而为知识库做出贡献。第四是将支持、活动和这些促进学生成功的机会的结合的成果和发现传播给其他机构，特别是其他社区大学，这些机构致力于支持低收入的STEM学生。调查的方向，将包括封闭队列方法来分析参与者和比较组的结果，将解决文献中的空白，并补充对低收入，学术上有天赋的社区大学生，特别是在低人口环境中独特的有效，实用和可持续战略的知识库。为了实现项目目标，项目评估配备了定性和定量方法，以深入了解项目实践如何影响S-STEM学者的学术成功和就业，并确定有效的活动和活动组合，以供复制，特别是在类似的环境中。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 Kennebec Valley Community College (KVCC). This public institution serves approximately 2500 students and is one of seven community colleges which operates under the Maine Community College System Board of Trustees. Over its 5-year duration, this project will fund one-year scholarships, renewable for one year, to thirty-four (34) unique full-time high-achieving low-income students who are pursuing an Associate in Science degree in Biological Science at KVCC. The project team will adapt and implement a variety of evidenced-based and innovative curricular and co-curricular strategies to support S-STEM Scholars through three cohorts of 10,12, and 12 students, respectively. Support strategies will include cohort building, providing each scholar with a dedicated faculty mentor, integrating recitation components into introductory-level biology and chemistry courses, providing research opportunities and industry experiences in biology, integrating laboratory skills and research micro-credentials into the biology curriculum, and providing stipend support for summer practicums. The project will leverage existing relationships at regional high schools to identify qualified students for whom S-STEM scholarships could make a significant difference in their ability to enroll in and complete a two-year degree in Biology. Project investigators will disseminate outcomes and findings related to project challenges and successes, especially to other community colleges striving to support low-income STEM students. To increase degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue several goals. First is to adapt, implement, and analyze evidence-based and innovative curricular and co-curricular activities to support, retain, and graduate with an associate in science degree the project's Biological Science scholars. Second is to enhance the regional STEM workforce by providing special career preparation experiences and academic support for students to prepare them to contribute through employment or pursuit of four-year degrees and beyond. Third is to contribute to the knowledge base by implementing, testing, and investigating through mixed-methods project evaluation strategies for systematically supporting student academic and workforce pathways in STEM. And fourth is to disseminate outcomes and findings related to the supports, activities, and combinations of these opportunities that promote student success to other institutions, especially other community colleges, working to support low-income STEM students. The directions of investigation, which will include closed cohort methodologies to analyze participant and comparison group outcomes, will address gaps in the literature and supplement the knowledge base on impactful, practical, and sustainable strategies unique to low-income, academically talented community college students, especially in low-population settings. Designed to address project goals, project evaluation is equipped to employ qualitative and quantitative methods to provide insights into how the project's practices affect the academic success and employment of the S-STEM Scholars and to identify the effective activities and combinations of activities for replication, especially in similar settings. 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.