Project Synergy: Developing Connections at the Interface of Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, and Data Science

项目协同：发展化学、物理、工程和数据科学交叉领域的联系

• 批准号: 2130429
• 负责人: Joseph Kozminski
• 金额: $ 149.09万
• 依托单位: Lewis University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-15 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2130429&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Project; Synergy; Developing; Connections; Interface

This project will address 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 Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. Lewis University is a Catholic, comprehensive, emergent Hispanic-serving, commuter-majority university with a high proportion of first-generation students. Over its five-year duration, Project Synergy will provide four years of scholarship support to 23 unique full-time undergraduate students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in five science and engineering majors: physics, chemistry, biochemistry, computer engineering, and data science. Students will be prepared for modern careers in science and engineering by activities in research methods, collaborative work, and interdisciplinary approaches. Cohort-building strategies include: a two-week boot camp for incoming scholars, living-learning communities for residential students, shared course experiences, immersion in interdisciplinary collaborative research projects, career preparation through sustained faculty mentoring, interaction with visiting speakers, internships, and career workshops. Scholarship students will be recruited from areas whose students are minoritized in STEM, including school districts in inner-city Chicago and in rural Illinois. By monitoring the progress of its scholars, Project Synergy will study the effectiveness of its interventions on persistence, retention, and the development of STEM identity. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific objectives include: (1) provide four years of scholarship support for 23 undergraduate students in five STEM majors; (2) achieve first-to-second year retention rates of at least 83% and four-year graduation rates of at least 74% among Synergy Scholars; (3) place 94% of graduated scholars in STEM employment or graduate programs; and (4) prepare students for contemporary careers in science and engineering. It is well known that development of interdisciplinary perspectives and collaborative skills are most effectively realized in the context of sustained mentorship and shared scientific experiences. For this reason, mentorship, undergraduate research, internships, and cohort-building are priorities of Project Synergy’s planned interventions. The expected representation of commuter, first-generation, and demographically minoritized students among the Synergy Scholars provides a unique opportunity to advance understanding of the impact specific interventions have on the these demographic groups. In addition to retention and career-trajectory data to evaluate project outcomes, the team plans to interview scholars to monitor development of STEM identity, attitudes toward science, and a professional mindset. These data will be disaggregated to determine any differential impact on residential versus commuter students and will be compared with parallel surveys of non-scholars in the same majors. Project outcomes will be disseminated widely to the STEM education community using social media, formal presentations at local and national meetings, and publication of journal articles. 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.

该项目将解决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，通过支持在伊利诺伊州伊洛维尔的刘易斯大学有经济需求的高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业。刘易斯大学是一所天主教，综合性，新兴的西班牙裔服务，通勤者占多数的大学，第一代学生的比例很高。在为期五年的时间里，Project Synergy将为23名攻读五个科学和工程专业学士学位的全日制本科生提供四年的奖学金支持：物理，化学，生物化学，计算机工程和数据科学。学生将通过研究方法，协作工作和跨学科方法的活动为科学和工程的现代职业做好准备。队列建设战略包括：为期两周的靴子营的传入学者，生活学习社区的住宿学生，共享课程经验，沉浸在跨学科的合作研究项目，通过持续的教师指导职业准备，与来访的演讲者，实习和职业研讨会的互动。奖学金学生将从学生在STEM中处于少数地位的地区招募，包括芝加哥市中心和伊利诺伊州农村的学区。通过监测其学者的进展，协同项目将研究其干预措施对STEM身份的持久性，保留和发展的有效性。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生与证明财政需要完成STEM学位。具体目标包括：（1）为五个STEM专业的23名本科生提供四年的奖学金支持;（2）在协同学者中实现至少83%的第一至第二年保留率和至少74%的四年毕业率;（3）将94%的毕业学者安置在STEM就业或研究生课程中;（4）为学生在科学和工程领域的当代职业生涯做好准备。众所周知，在持续的指导和分享科学经验的情况下，最有效地实现跨学科观点和协作技能的发展。出于这个原因，导师制，本科生研究，实习和队列建设是项目协同的计划干预的优先事项。协同学者中通勤者，第一代和人口统计学上的少数民族学生的预期代表性提供了一个独特的机会，以促进对这些人口群体的具体干预措施的影响的理解。除了保留和职业轨迹数据来评估项目成果外，该团队还计划采访学者，以监测STEM身份，对科学的态度和专业心态的发展。将对这些数据进行分类，以确定对住校学生和通勤学生的任何不同影响，并将其与对相同专业的非学者的平行调查进行比较。项目成果将通过社交媒体、在地方和国家会议上的正式介绍以及期刊文章的出版，向STEM教育界广泛传播。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，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。