Promoting Excellence, Retention, Scholarship in STEM (PERSIST)

该项目将通过支持塔斯基吉大学--一所历史上的黑人学院和大学(HBCU)--留住和毕业有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生，来促进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。在为期6年的时间里，该项目将为23名正在攻读生物、化学、物理和数学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得长达4年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与有效的支持活动联系起来，包括指导、本科生研究经验、服务学习、推广项目和参加特定学科的会议，来提高学生在STEM领域的坚持性。在导师的帮助下，这些学者将制定个人发展计划(IDP)，概述他们的职业目标和实现这些目标的步骤。该项目还将支持旨在提高STEM一年级学生保留率的课程改进。由于塔斯基吉大学拥有大量来自STEM中代表性不足的群体的学生，该项目有可能扩大STEM领域的参与，并了解指导和个人发展计划如何支持这一学生群体的留住和毕业。该项目的总体目标是为低收入、有学术天赋、有经济需求的本科生增加STEM学位的完成率。该项目有三个具体目标：(1)提高生物、化学、数学、物理和数学的一年级保留率，(2)使参与该项目的80%以上的学者毕业，(3)调查促进低收入学生坚持STEM学科的因素。这个项目的研究将集中在STEM学科的低收入学生的大学坚持性上。更具体地说，研究问题将集中在(1)被录取的低收入学生继续坚持并毕业于STEM学位的程度；(2)从塔斯基吉项目毕业的低收入学生在坚持大学所需的关键技能方面与其他低收入学生的不同程度，包括学习效能、学习技能、时间管理、动机、社交网络、学位和机构承诺；(3)学生特征、学生经历和性格、校园环境、参与辅导与低收入学生在STEM学位项目中坚持的关系。这个项目有可能促进HBCU的低收入学生对STEM学科的持续性的理解。该项目将使用混合方法进行评估，信息来自调查、焦点小组、访谈和人口统计数据。将根据项目目标和活动制定评估问题。该项目的成果将通过国家科学基金会的进度报告、在专业会议上的陈述和期刊出版物来公布。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。

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 Tuskegee University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 23 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. First year students will receive up to 4 years of scholarship support. The project aims to increase student persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with effective support activities, including mentoring, undergraduate research experiences, service learning, outreach projects, and participation in discipline-specific conferences. With the help of mentors, the scholars will create Individual Development Plans (IDP) outlining their career goals and steps toward achieving those goals. The project will also support curriculum improvements aimed at improving first-year student retention in STEM. Because Tuskegee University has a high population of students from groups underrepresented in STEM, this project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM fields and to learn how mentoring and individual development plans support retention and graduation of this student population. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion for low-income, academically talented undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There are three specific aims: (1) increase first year retention rates in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics and mathematics, (2) graduate over 80% of scholars who participate in this project, and (3) investigate factors that promote persistence in STEM disciplines among low-income students. The research for this project will be focused on college persistence for low-income students in STEM disciplines. More specifically, research questions will focus on (1) the extent to which recruited low-income students continue to persist in and graduate from STEM degrees, (2) the extent to which low-income students graduating from the Tuskegee PERSIST program differ from other low-income students in terms of critical skills required to persist in college, including academic efficacy, study skills, time management, motivation, social networking, and degree and institutional commitment, and (3) the relationship between student characteristics, student experiences and dispositions, campus environment, and engagement in mentoring with the persistence of low-income students in STEM degree programs. This project has the potential to advance understanding of persistence in STEM disciplines among low-income students at HBCU’s. This project will be evaluated using a mixed methods approach with information from surveys, focus-groups, interviews, and demographic data. Evaluation questions will be developed based on the project goals and activities. Results of this project will be made available through NSF progress reports, presentations at professional conferences, and journal 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.