Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math: Strengthening Belongingness through Targeted Academic and Professional Mentoring

该项目将支持有经济需求的成绩优异、低收入的学生在宾夕法尼亚州米德维尔的四年制文理学院阿勒格尼学院的保留和毕业，从而满足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。该项目为期六年，将为攻读生物化学、生物学、化学、计算机科学、地质学、数学、神经科学和/或物理学理学学士学位的 24 名全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得最多八个学期、四个学年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在提高保留率、提高学术成绩和对 STEM 入门课程的参与度，并通过以学术指导、早期研究整合和专业发展为中心的强有力的活动来增强职业准备。项目团队和导师将定制活动、计划和机会，以满足每个项目参与者的学术、社交和职业目标。这些定制组件将战略性地开发一个可持续的支持网络，学生可以在整个 STEM 教育和职业生涯中获得该网络。根据最终获得 STEM 领域博士学位的毕业生数量，阿勒格尼学院跻身顶尖学院和大学之列；因此，该项目有可能增加各个领域高能力和多样化的未来科学家的数量，并加深我们对交叉身份的持续支持如何在日益全球化和包容性的工作环境中培养 STEM 领导者的理解。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、成绩优异的本科生完成 STEM 学位的机会。有两个具体目标：第一，提高 STEM 入门课程第一年到第二年的保留率；第二，提高影响个人、专业和学术身份的 STEM 能力。 STEM 同行领导和教师的指导可以增强学生的归属感，促进学业成绩和参与度的提高，最终提高学生的坚持率。尽管有几项研究探讨了 STEM 身份相关性，但仍缺乏了解整体学术和职业指导与可持续和长期支持网络如何影响低收入、高成就的文科毕业生的信息。因此，我们的项目针对的是入学前和入学后两年的时间跨度，以促进住宿文理学院的 STEM 身份发展。该项目有潜力加深人们对可持续支持网络对 STEM 身份和包容性劳动力的长期影响的理解。该项目的结果将提供给地区学院和五大湖学院协会以及全国教育会议。该项目由 NSF 科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加具有经济需求的低收入学术才华学生获得 STEM 领域学位的数量。它还旨在改善未来 STEM 工作者的教育，并产生有关低收入学生的学业成功、保留、转学、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 Allegheny College, a four-year liberal arts college in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 24 full-time students pursuing a Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics, Neuroscience, and/or Physics. First-year students will receive up to eight semesters, four academic years, of scholarship support. The project aims to improve retention rates, enhance academic performance and engagement in STEM gateway courses, and bolster career readiness with robust activities centered on academic mentoring, early research integration, and professional development. Project teams and mentors will customize activities, plans, and opportunities to address each project participant’s academic, social, and career goals. These customized components will strategically develop a sustainable support network that students can access throughout their STEM education and career. Allegheny College is ranked among the top colleges and universities based on the number of its graduates who eventually earn Ph.D.s in STEM fields; thus, this project has the potential to increase the number of highly capable and diverse future scientists in a wide range of fields as well as to advance our understanding of how sustained support of intersecting identities can develop STEM leaders in an increasingly global and inclusive working environment. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There are two specific aims: first, to improve first-to-second-year retention rates within STEM gateway courses, and second, to increase STEM capacities that affect personal, professional, and academic identities. Mentorship by STEM peer leaders and faculty increases students’ sense of belonging, facilitating improvements in academic performance and engagement, which ultimately leads to higher persistence rates. Although several studies address STEM identity correlations, understanding how holistic academic and career mentoring paired with a sustainable and long-term support network affects low-income, high-achieving liberal arts graduates is still lacking. Thus, our project targets the time span before matriculation and two years after to foster STEM identity development at a residential liberal arts college. This project has the potential to advance understanding of the long-term effects of sustainable support networks on STEM identities and an inclusive workforce. Results of this project will be made available to regional colleges and the Great Lakes Colleges Association as well as at national educational conferences. 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.