Support for Electrical Engineering Students Emphasizing Pathways to the Electric Power Sector

对电气工程专业学生的支持，强调通往电力行业的途径

• 批准号: 2130159
• 负责人: Nikhil Satyala
• 金额: $ 150万
• 依托单位: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CUMMINGS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-01 至 2027-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2130159&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Support; Electrical; Engineering; Students; Emphasizing

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 the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT), a Minority-Serving Institution located in Boston, Massachusetts. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 34 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Electrical Engineering (EE). The duration of the scholarship depends on the starting year of funding; for freshmen, the duration is four years; sophomores, three years; and juniors, two years. Boston Tuition-free students, who are funded by the Boston Tuition-free program for three years, will receive a scholarship with a one-year duration. The community of scholars will be supported by: a pre-matriculation overnight stay in Maine to learn about electric energy, sustainability, and Maine's unique ecology; a hands-on seminar about electric power; mentoring opportunities with local Boston middle and high school students; and exposure to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Society events and other professional activities. The scholars will take classes together, attend weekly IEEE meetings, participate in an annual Electric Power Day event, learn together in study groups, and benefit from BFIT's extensive support services. The significance of the project would be an increase in the number of electrical engineers, particularly in electric power, an industry that is experiencing a shortage, including minorities underrepresented in engineering. It will serve as a potential model to middle schools, high schools, community colleges, universities, and industry demonstrating that partnerships among these constituencies encourages students - particularly minorities - to study engineering, resulting in an increase in both minority representation among engineers in the US, and more qualified engineers overall. The project aims to further the understanding of the extent that activities aimed at providing academic and social support, progress feedback, increased self-efficacy and project involvement impact S-STEM Scholars’ self-identity and motivations to persist in EE degrees. Its results can be applied to similar contexts and programs desirous of improving their students’ retention and persistence. To increase STEM degree completion rate of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, this project aims to improve retention to graduation in EE and entry into the STEM workforce, particularly into the electric power industry, for academically qualified Boston Public High School students with limited financial means. In particular, BFIT will partner with several entities, including eight companies that service the regional electric power grid around Boston, a middle school program, three Boston Public high schools, and one community college. Most students from these schools are underrepresented minority students with financial need. The objectives of the project are: 1) to have a 90% second-year retention rate with a 90% five-year graduation rate; and 2) to have at least half of the Scholars intern in electric power and pursue work in that industry. Achieving these objectives requires multiple factors in addition to meeting students’ financial needs. Research has demonstrated that academic and non-academic factors affect levels of success in STEM disciplines, and, while important, financial support alone cannot increase retention and graduation rates. Therefore, the project explores the effects of institutional and departmental level support to promote successful academic and social student experiences, answering the question: "To what extent do activities aimed at providing academic and social support, progress feedback, increased self-efficacy and program involvement impact S-STEM Scholars’ self-identity and motivations to persist in EE degrees?" Tinto’s model of institutional action will be used as a theoretical lens to explore how project activities impact S-STEM Scholars’ motivations to persist in EE. A comprehensive evaluation of this project, using quantitative measures such as surveys and the college’s data system, and qualitative measures such as interviews, observations, and exit tickets, will be performed. The findings of the project will be disseminated both within BFIT and to the broader public, through workshops, seminars, conferences, and publications. 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.

该项目将通过支持本杰明·富兰克林理工学院(BFIT)留住并毕业于本杰明·富兰克林理工学院(BFIT)，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。本杰明·富兰克林理工学院是一家位于马萨诸塞州波士顿的少数族裔服务机构。在六年的时间里，该项目将为34名正在攻读电气工程(EE)学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。奖学金的期限取决于资助的起始年份；一年级的奖学金期限为四年；二年级的奖学金期限为三年；三年级的奖学金期限为两年。波士顿免学费学生由波士顿免学费计划资助三年，将获得为期一年的奖学金。学者社区将得到以下方面的支持：入学前在缅因州过夜，以了解电力、可持续发展和缅因州独特的生态；关于电力的实践研讨会；与波士顿当地初中生和高中生的指导机会；以及接触电气和电子工程师协会(IEEE)的电力和能源协会活动和其他专业活动。这些学者将一起上课，每周参加IEEE会议，参加一年一度的电力日活动，在学习小组中一起学习，并受益于BFIT的广泛支持服务。该项目的意义将是增加电气工程师的数量，特别是在电力行业，这个行业正在经历短缺，包括在工程领域代表不足的少数族裔。它将成为初中、高中、社区学院、大学和工业界的潜在典范，表明这些支持者之间的合作伙伴关系鼓励学生--特别是少数族裔--学习工程学，从而增加美国工程师中少数族裔的比例，并总体上提高合格工程师的素质。该项目旨在进一步了解旨在提供学术和社会支持、进度反馈、提高自我效能感和项目参与的活动对S-STEM学者的自我认同和坚持EE学位的动机的影响程度。它的结果可以应用于类似的背景和项目，希望提高他们的学生的记忆力和坚持性。为了提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成率，该项目旨在提高经济条件有限、学历合格的波士顿公立高中学生在电子工程专业毕业和进入STEM劳动力市场，特别是进入电力行业的保留率。特别是，BFIT将与几个实体合作，其中包括为波士顿周围地区电网提供服务的八家公司、一个中学项目、三所波士顿公立高中和一所社区大学。这些学校的大多数学生都是有经济需要的少数族裔学生。该项目的目标是：1)拥有90%的第二年保留率和90%的五年毕业率；以及2)至少有一半的学者在电力行业实习并在该行业工作。要实现这些目标，除了满足学生的经济需求外，还需要多种因素。研究表明，学术和非学术因素影响STEM学科的成功程度，虽然重要的是，仅有财政支持并不能提高留校率和毕业率。因此，该项目探索了机构和部门层面的支持对促进成功的学术和社会学生体验的影响，回答了这样一个问题：“旨在提供学术和社会支持、进步反馈、提高自我效能和项目参与的活动在多大程度上影响S-STEM学者的自我认同和坚持EE学位的动机？”本文将以廷托的制度行动模型为理论视角，探讨项目活动如何影响S-STEM学者坚持环境工程的动机。将使用调查和学院数据系统等定量方法，以及访谈、观察和退场券等定性方法，对该项目进行全面评估。该项目的结果将通过讲习班、研讨会、会议和出版物在BFIT内部和更广泛的公众中传播。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，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。