Scholarships for Talented Underprivileged STEM Student Success

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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 Alabama A&M University (AAMU), a historically Black (HBCU) land-grant and EPSCoR institution. Over its 6-year duration, this project will provide scholarships to 36 unique full time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management Technology. The project aims to increase student persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with effective supporting activities, including mentoring, undergraduate research experiences, career counseling, internships, graduate school preparation, and participation in discipline-specific conferences. With the help of mentors, the scholars will create Individual Development Plans outlining their career goals and steps toward achieving those goals. The project will also support curriculum improvements aimed at improving student retention and success in STEM. Because Alabama A&M University has a high population of underrepresented students, this project has the potential to broaden participation of minorities in STEM fields and to learn how mentoring and individual development plans support retention and graduation of this student population. To increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will facilitate the adaptation of evidence-based engaged learning pedagogies in STEM courses to enhance student learning outcomes, success, and retention. Faculty development workshops on evidence-based pedagogies will be provided. Supplemental Instruction (SI) will help the students with gateway mathematics and science courses where most attrition occurs. Based on their extensive experience, the PIs of the project and active faculty members in the STEM disciplines will provide mentoring to the students and guide them from entry to successful graduation. The project will also provide undergraduate research opportunities for the students. The AAMU Career Development Services will arrange various professional development activities and career counseling to prepare students to attend graduate school or join the STEM workforce after graduation. A research study will investigate and document the effect of these interventions on students learning outcomes in STEM courses, as well as on retention, persistence, and graduation rates. The project will be guided by an Advisory Committee and evaluated by an external evaluator. Results obtained from this project will be disseminated through web pages and STEM related professional conferences targeting similar institutes, including ASEE, NSF PI Symposium, HBCU-UP & AAAS-ERN conference. 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.