Building a sense of belonging in STEM students through research, networking, and community engagement

该项目将通过支持学业优异、低收入且有经济需要的学生在迪比克大学留校并毕业，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6年的时间里，该项目将资助奖学金（通过4组，每组6名学生）给该校24名成绩优异、收入较低的生物、化学和环境科学本科专业学生。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。学者将在他们的第一学年被选中，并将在剩余的三年本科教育中获得经济支持。额外的支持将包括让学生有机会在教师的指导下开展以团队为基础的、学生驱动的研究项目。学生还将通过参与服务学习项目的规划和执行，直接参与工作体验。这些组成部分的结合将使学生在STEM领域建立自我效能感，并在同龄人、教师、社区和行业之间建立有意义的关系和网络。为了提高有经济需求的低收入、优秀本科生的保留率、STEM学位完成率和劳动力安置，该项目将实现几个目标。首先是实施循证、高影响力的教学技术和创新的职业成分，以支持学生的个人成长、协同团队建设以及学术和职业成功之路。二是通过混合方法研究项目评价组合策略的有效性。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。第四是整合学生研究、服务学习和社区伙伴关系，以改善职业准备和就业安置，直接满足该地区的需求。为了实现项目目标，研究人员将接受这样的理论基础：无论种族、性别或收入状况如何，学生都需要有归属感，才能在STEM领域取得学术和职业上的成功。与此相关，该项目将为学生在科学领域的学术成长和归属感提供一个支持性的环境，为学生在STEM职业生涯中取得成功做好准备。在科学协作社区内，这种独特的研究和职业技能发展相结合的智力价值将提供更强大的STEM人口和劳动力，并将进一步在更广泛的社区中增加基于STEM的关系。该项目将通过多种混合方法进行评估，这些方法将在项目期间的不同时间点进行整合。学生的研究和服务学习项目将通过各种会议和出版物传播。从项目评估中产生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来支持学生的高等教育专业人员提供信息。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 University of Dubuque. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships (through 4 cohorts of 6 students each) to twenty-four (24) unique high-achieving, low-income undergraduate majors in biology, chemistry, and environmental science at the University. The project will support students through a combination of financial assistance and curricular and co-curricular support. Scholars will be selected during their first academic year and will be financially supported throughout the three remaining years of their undergraduate education. Additional support will include opportunities for students to carry out team-based, student-driven research projects under the mentorship of faculty. The students also will participate in direct workforce experiences by engaging in the planning and execution of a service-learning project. The combination of these components will enable students to build self-efficacy in the STEM arena and to develop meaningful relationships and networks among peers, faculty, the community, and industry. To increase retention, STEM degree completion, and workforce placement of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue several goals. First is to implement evidence-based, high impact pedagogical techniques and innovative vocational components for supporting student personal growth, synergistic team building, and academic and career pathways to success. Second is to study through mixed-methods project evaluation the effectiveness of the combination of strategies. Third is to contribute to the knowledge base to help guide other colleges to implement similar programs successfully. Fourth is to integrate student research, service learning, and community partnerships to improve career preparation and job placement, directly filling needs in the region. To reach project goals, the investigators will embrace the theoretical basis that, regardless of race, gender, or income status, students need to feel a sense of belonging to have academic and career success within the STEM arena. In connection to this, the project will provide a supportive environment for scholarly growth and sense of belonging in the sciences to prepare students for success in their STEM careers. The intellectual merit of this unique combination of research and vocational skill development within a collaborative community in the sciences will provide a stronger STEM population and workforce, and will further increase STEM-based relationships throughout the broader community. This project will be evaluated through multiple mixed-methods measures that will be integrated at different points during the duration of this project. Student’s research and service-learning projects will be disseminated at various conferences and through publications. Insights and outcomes from emanating from project 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. 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.