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

本项目将通过支持本杰明·富兰克林理工学院（BFIT）（位于马萨诸塞州波士顿的一所少数族裔服务机构）保留和毕业有经济需要的优秀低收入家庭学生，从而满足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。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为34名攻读电气工程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开始年份；对于大一新生，期限为四年；二年级，三年；三年级学生，两年。波士顿免学费学生，由波士顿免学费项目资助三年，将获得为期一年的奖学金。学者社区将得到以下支持：入学前在缅因州过夜，了解电力能源、可持续性和缅因州独特的生态；关于电力的实践研讨会；辅导波士顿当地中学生和高中生的机会；并参与电气和电子工程师协会（IEEE）电力和能源协会的活动和其他专业活动。这些学者将一起上课，参加每周一次的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。该项目的意义在于增加电气工程师的数量，特别是在电力行业，这是一个正在经历短缺的行业，包括在工程领域代表性不足的少数民族。它将成为中学、高中、社区学院、大学和行业的潜在模式，表明这些选区之间的合作鼓励学生——尤其是少数族裔——学习工程，从而增加美国工程师中少数族裔的代表性，以及整体上更多合格的工程师。该项目旨在进一步了解旨在提供学术和社会支持、进步反馈、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。其结果可以应用于类似的环境和项目，希望提高学生的记忆力和持久性。为了提高低收入、成绩优异、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位结业率，该项目旨在提高EE毕业生的保留率，并为经济能力有限、学业合格的波士顿公立高中学生进入STEM劳动力市场，特别是电力行业。特别是，BFIT将与几个实体合作，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)达到90%的第二年留校率和90%的五年毕业率；2)至少有一半的学者在电力行业实习，并在该行业工作。除了满足学生的经济需求外，实现这些目标还需要多种因素。研究表明，学术和非学术因素会影响STEM学科的成功程度，尽管经济支持很重要，但单靠经济支持并不能提高留校率和毕业率。因此，该项目探讨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，并回答了以下问题：“旨在提供学术和社会支持、进步反馈、提高自我效能感和项目参与的活动在多大程度上影响了S-STEM学者的自我认同和坚持EE学位的动机？”Tinto的制度行为模型将作为一个理论视角来探索项目活动如何影响S-STEM学者坚持EE的动机。我们将利用调查和学院数据系统等定量措施，以及访谈、观察和退场票等定性措施，对该项目进行综合评估。该项目的研究结果将通过讲习班、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 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.