Bridging the STEM Gap in Appalachia: Engaging with students to iteratively improve faculty practices in support of student success

该项目将通过支持西弗吉尼亚州费尔蒙特州立大学（Fairmont State University）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。该项目将通过财政援助和课程及课外支持相结合的方式来支持学生。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为该校STEM学科中18个独特的高成就低收入本科专业提供奖学金。额外的支持将包括针对新生的STEM训练营，第一年的STEM研讨会课程，研究经验的机会，STEM生活和学习社区的可用性，以及与教师和同伴导师的定期互动。将纳入职业安置倡议，并将包括与当地和区域工业建立联系的研讨会。将为教师和同行导师制定一个专业发展计划。招生工作将重点放在阿巴拉契亚地区的15个县，并将伴随着创新和灵活的两级选拔过程，以识别低收入、高天赋的STEM学生，这些学生可能没有达到与高中成功相关的传统指标。为了提高有经济需求的低收入、成绩优异的本科生的保留率和STEM学位的完成率，该项目将实现几个目标。首先是适应和实施基于证据的课程和课外策略，系统地支持学生的学业和职业成功之路。第二是通过项目评估实施、测试和研究一种创新模式，用于招募和选择高水平的STEM学生，否则这些学生可能会被传统的高中成功指标所忽视。第三是建立知识库，帮助指导其他学院成功实施类似的项目。四是将项目与当地产业相结合，改善职业准备和就业安置，直接满足该地区的需求。第五是与行业、高中和其他大学建立联系，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学生的机构传播。混合方法评估的见解和结果将产生新的知识，了解项目支持干预措施或干预措施组合的哪些方面对学生的保留、参与、学习成绩和整体成功最有效。调查线将解决文献中的空白，并为其他寻求通过课程和课外干预相结合的方式支持学生的高等教育专业人员提供信息，特别是为来自农村地区、在STEM领域代表性不足的学生提供支持。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 Fairmont State University (FSU) in West Virginia. The project will support students through a combination of financial assistance and curricular and co-curricular support. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to eighteen (18) unique high-achieving, low-income undergraduate majors in the STEM disciplines at the University. Additional support will include a STEM bootcamp for incoming students, a first-year STEM seminar course, opportunities for research experiences, STEM living and learning community availability, and regular interactions with faculty and peer mentors. Career placement initiatives will be incorporated and will include networking seminars with local and regional industries. A professional development program will be put in place for faculty and peer mentors. Recruiting efforts will include a focus on a 15-county region in Appalachia that will be accompanied by an innovative and flexible two-tier selection process to allow for the identification of low-income, highly-talented STEM students who might not have met traditional metrics related to high school success. To increase retention and STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue several goals. First is to adapt and implement evidence-based curricular and co-curricular strategies for systematically supporting student academic and career pathways to success. Second is to implement, test, and study through project evaluation an innovative model for recruiting and selecting highly-talented STEM students who might otherwise go unnoticed based on traditional metrics for high school success. Third is to contribute to the knowledge base to help guide other colleges to implement similar programs successfully. Fourth is to integrate the project with local industries to improve career preparation and job placement, directly filling needs in the region. And fifth is to incorporate a networking process with industry, high schools, and other colleges to disseminate outcomes and findings related to project challenges and successes, in particular to other institutions working to support low-income STEM students. Insights and outcomes from a mixed methods evaluation will generate new knowledge on which aspects of the project's support interventions, or combination of interventions, are most effective for retention, engagement, academic performance, and overall success of students. The lines of investigation will address gaps in the literature and inform other higher-education professionals seeking to support students with a combination of curricular and co-curricular interventions, especially for students from rural regions who are underrepresented in STEM. 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.