Retaining Students in STEM on a Commuter Campus with Efficient High Impact Practices

该项目将通过支持密歇根大学迪尔伯恩分校招收、留住和毕业有经济需求的高成就低收入学生，来促进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。该项目旨在调整已被证明有利于寄宿校园学生的高影响力做法和支持服务，以适应底特律大都会区由不同学生群体组成的100%通勤人口。在整个项目期间，该项目将为56名攻读生物科学、生物化学、计算机和信息科学、工程、电气工程、工业和系统工程、机械工程、计算机工程、数学、环境科学、生物工程和化学(ACS认证)学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。被选中的一年级学生将获得为期四年的奖学金，以及学术和社会支持、研究机会和专业发展。这些干预措施是专门为适应通勤学生的时间表而设计的，这些学生通常住在家里，承诺阻止他们参与高影响力的实践。在第一年，这些学者将被安排在2-3个公共班级，以建立一个队列社区，在他们的数学和化学课堂上接受直接和有意的同伴支持。将提供由教员提供的专门指导和由训练有素的项目协调员提供的专业建议，而远程或在方便的时间提供的支持服务将在学者在校园的四年中提供。一个新的、付费的本科生研究体验被称为“研究轮换”，旨在扩大对各种科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域的研究的接触，并培养一种归属感，将允许学生有机会在兼职的基础上与教师密切合作，研究多个研究项目。该项目的总体目标是为低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生增加STEM学科的学位完成率。具体目标包括：将一年级到二年级的保留率保持在85%，达到50%的四年毕业率，并为因外部责任而时间有限的通勤学生调整现有的、经过验证的干预措施。在传统的寄宿校园，队列建设、同行指导、积极学习和研究经验都被证明是提高留校率和毕业率的有效策略。对于通勤的学生，特别是那些低收入的学生，由于经济、工作或家庭义务的限制，这些干预措施中的许多都无法获得。本项目旨在调整这些支持结构，引入更灵活的时间承诺或远程访问，并将研究这些适应在STEM中对持久性、学生学习、保留率和毕业率的有效性。外部评估员将衡量项目的成功程度，确定哪些干预措施和参与频率与实现目标有关。该项目有可能促进对包括社区大学在内的通勤校园学生有效和高效的留住战略的理解。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工作者的教育经验，并产生关于低收入学生的学业成功、留住、转移、毕业和学术/职业道路的最佳实践的知识。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。

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the recruitment, retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at University of Michigan-Dearborn. The project aims to adapt high impact practices and support services, that have been proven to benefit students on residential campuses, to a 100% commuter population composed of a diverse group of students in metro-Detroit. Over its duration, this project will fund scholarships to 56 unique first year, full time students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in the Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Computer and Information Science, Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Environmental Science, Bioengineering, and Chemistry (ACS Certified). Selected first year students will receive four-year scholarships along with academic and social support, research opportunities, and professional development. These interventions are specifically designed to accommodate the schedules of commuter students, who typically live at home and have commitments that prevent them from participating in high impact practices. The scholars will be placed in 2-3 common classes during their first year to build a cohort community, receiving direct and intentional peer support in their math and chemistry classes. Dedicated mentoring by faculty and professional advising by a trained project coordinator will be provided, while support services that are delivered either remotely or at convenient times, will be available to the scholars throughout their four years on campus. A new, paid undergraduate research experience called “Research Rotations” intended to broaden exposure to research in various science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and to foster a sense of belonging will allow students the opportunity to work closely with faculty on a part-time basis, investigating multiple research projects. The overall goal of this project is to increase degree completion in STEM disciplines for low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific objectives include: maintaining a first to second year retention rate of 85%, attaining a 50% four-year graduation rate, and adapting existing, proven interventions for commuter students who have limited time due to outside responsibilities. Cohort building, peer mentoring, active learning, and research experiences have all proven to be effective strategies for increasing retention and graduation rates on traditional, residential campuses. For commuter students, especially those with low income, many of these interventions are inaccessible because of constraints on their time due to financial, work, or family obligations. This project aims to adapt these support structures, introducing more flexible time commitments or remote access, and will study the effectiveness of these adaptations on persistence, student learning, and retention and graduation rates in STEM. An external evaluator will measure the success of the project, determining which interventions and what frequency of participation is correlated with meeting the objectives. The project has the potential to advance understanding of effective and efficient retention strategies for students on commuter campuses, including community colleges. 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 educational experiences of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about best practices for 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.