Promoting Retention by Fostering Identity and Belongingness in Low Income Students Majoring in Scientific Disciplines and Mathematics

该项目旨在通过提高阿卡迪亚大学（一所小型文科学校）有学术天赋的低收入学生的保留率、毕业率和就业机会，满足国家对受过良好教育的科学家和数学家的需求。尽管有许多与STEM相关的职业机会，但阿卡迪亚的STEM专业，包括那些经济需求未得到满足的学生和来自STEM学科代表性不足的群体的学生，其保留率和毕业率往往低于其他本科生。为了满足国家对这些学者的需求，将创建一个跨学科计划，整合我们的STEM部门（生物学，化学和物理学，数学和计算机科学），为21个本科STEM专业（“STEM学者”）提供学术和财政支持超过六年。STEM学者将参加跨学科的队列体验，以促进他们的STEM身份和归属感的STEM社区的发展，这两者都与STEM学科的学生保留率增加相关。作为队列体验的一部分，学生将有机会与STEM教师接触，与其他STEM专业人员建立联系，并将跨学科的问题解决技能用于基于社区的研究项目和其他高影响力的活动。这些经验将促进STEM学者和STEM教师之间的关系，同时也帮助学者发展技术技能和专业信心，从而提高STEM学位毕业率和继续STEM职业。阿卡迪亚大学的这个项目将为三个队列的七名低收入，学术才华的学者（21）提供四年的奖学金，这些学者主修生物学，化学，计算机科学，数学和精算学，他们有未满足的经济需求。该项目是由机构数据表明，STEM学者将受益于有针对性的干预措施，旨在促进增加（a）第一年保留到80%或更高，（B）毕业率到60%，或更高，（c）在我们的STEM计划中，代表性不足的学生保留到80%或更高。（四）职业生涯规划。与该战略对学生体验和学生成功的关注相一致，STEM学者将参与现有的以及基于证据的但新的阿卡迪亚课程和课外活动和机会，以（1）培养STEM身份，（2）促进STEM社区的归属感，以及（3）利用STEM技能解决社区内的不平等问题，促进更广泛的非STEM社区的归属感。学者将参与跨学科的方法来解决问题和基于社区的研究项目，以进一步加深他们在STEM和非STEM社区的归属感，并加强他们的STEM身份。阿卡迪亚将研究高影响力的活动对我们的STEM学者中STEM身份和归属感在STEM和非STEM社区发展的影响，以及这些活动对第一年和整体保留的影响，以及为劳动力做准备。提高STEM领域的保留率和毕业率以及成功追求STEM相关职业或研究生院将进一步加强国家的STEM劳动力，并有助于其组成多样化。项目的方法、结果和结论将通过出版的文献和其他渠道广泛传播，使其他类似机构能够从这项工作中受益。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金（STEM）计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术天才学生的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。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术成功，保留，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 aims to serve the national need for well-educated scientists and mathematicians by improving the retention rates, graduation rates, and career opportunities of academically talented, low-income students with unmet financial need at Arcadia University, a small liberal arts school. Despite the availability of many STEM-related career opportunities, STEM majors at Arcadia, including those with unmet financial need and from groups underrepresented in the STEM disciplines, often have lower retention and graduation rates than other undergraduates. To address the national need for these scholars, an interdisciplinary program will be created that integrates our STEM departments (Biology, Chemistry and Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science) to provide academic and financial support for 21 undergraduate STEM majors ("STEM Scholars") over six years. STEM Scholars will participate in an interdisciplinary cohort experience to foster the development of their STEM identity and sense of belonging to the STEM community, both of which are correlated with increased student retention in the STEM disciplines. As part of the cohort experience, students will have opportunities to engage with STEM faculty, network with other STEM professionals, and use interdisciplinary problem-solving skills for community-based research projects and other high-impact activities. These experiences will foster relationships among the STEM Scholars and STEM faculty, while also helping Scholars develop technical skills and professional confidence, and so result in increased STEM-degree graduation rates and continuation to STEM careers. This project at Arcadia University will provide four-year scholarships to three cohorts of seven low-income, academically talented scholars (21) majoring in biology, chemistry, computer science, math, and actuarial science who have unmet financial need. This project is informed by institutional data suggesting that STEM Scholars would benefit from targeted interventions designed to promote increases in (a) first-year retention to 80% or higher, (b) graduation rates to 60%, or higher, (c) the retention of underrepresented students in our STEM programs to 80% or higher. and (d) STEM career placement. Consistent with the strategy's focus on the student experience and student success, STEM Scholars will engage in existing as well as evidence-based but new-to-Arcadia curricular and co-curricular activities and opportunities selected to (1) foster STEM identity, (2) promote a sense of belonging in the STEM community, and (3) promote a sense of belonging in the wider non-STEM community using STEM skills to address inequities within the community. Scholars will be engaged in interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving and community-based research projects to further deepen their sense of belonging in STEM- and non-STEM communities and strengthen their STEM identity. Arcadia will study the effects of high-impact activities on the development of STEM identity and sense of belonging in STEM and non-STEM communities among our STEM Scholars, and the effects of these activities on first-year and overall retention, as well as preparation for the workforce. Improved retention and graduation in STEM fields and successful pursuit of STEM-related careers or graduate school will further strengthen the nation's STEM workforce and help diversify its composition. The project approaches, results, and conclusions will be broadly disseminated through the published literature and other channels, allowing other similar institutions to benefit from this work. This project is funded by NSF's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) 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.