At the Confluence: Supporting Critical Transitions for Graduate Students in Sustainable Watersheds Research

该项目将通过支持在南伊利诺伊大学爱德华兹维尔分校（SIUE）表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为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做出贡献。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为45名攻读环境科学、土木工程、生物或化学研究生学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。研究生将获得为期两年的奖学金，以支持完成理学硕士学位。学者们的研究将利用当地和区域雇主经常寻求的各种跨学科方法和跨领域技能，促进对可持续流域的科学理解。毕业生将准备好应对人类活动和流域变化带来的重大环境挑战，包括气候变化带来的影响。学者们将获得一套为学生过渡到研究生院和成为科学界成员而设计的课外支持，包括定向和专业研讨会、同伴和教师指导、职业小组和强化课程。此外，这个研究生水平的项目是一个重要的扩展，建立了本科模式的持久性和保留。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。该项目的目标是：1)为有学术天赋但经济需求未得到满足的学生提供奖学金支持，使其能够在SIUE攻读硕士学位并进行流域科学研究；2)提供一套完整的课程和课外活动，基于机构和科学社区整合的理论，以支持学生过渡到硕士水平的教育；3)评估分水岭学者的课程和课外活动模式，以确定帮助研究生在高等教育中实现关键转变的关键因素。一项初步研究表明，SIUE研究生的经历与研究人员为本科教育提出的坚持和成功模式相一致。为了加深对模型有效性的理解，本项目将适应和研究学术和社会整合，通过财务，课程和课外支持，在硕士水平。同时，该项目将为STEM教师提供全面招聘、指导和支持硕士生的技能。项目评估将确定流域学者的定量收益，以及他们与未参与的班级成员之间的差异，以及实施质量和保真度的定性证据。该项目模型和科学研究将引起STEM教育界和流域科学家的兴趣。因此，传播将包括各种专业会议、教育和科学期刊以及一个机构主办的网站。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，该项目旨在增加低收入、有学术天赋、有经济需求的学生在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 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 45 unique full-time students who are pursuing a graduate degree in Environmental Sciences, Civil Engineering, Biology, or Chemistry. Graduate students will receive two-year scholarships to support completion of a Master of Science degree. Scholars’ research will contribute to the scientific understanding of sustainable watersheds using a variety of interdisciplinary approaches and cross-cutting skills frequently sought by local and regional employers. Graduates will be prepared to address the significant environmental challenges posed by human modifications and alterations to watersheds, including impacts resulting from climate change. Scholars will receive a suite of co-curricular supports designed for students transitioning to graduate school and emerging as a member of the scientific community, including orientation and professional workshops, peer and faculty mentoring, career panels, and enhanced coursework. In addition, this graduate-level project is significant as an extension of an established undergraduate model of persistence and retention.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project's goals are: 1) Provide scholarship support to academically talented students with unmet financial need to pursue their master’s degree at SIUE and conduct watershed science research; 2) Provide an integrated set of curricular and co-curricular activities, based on theories of institutional and scientific community integration, to support student transition to master’s-level education; and 3) Evaluate the Watershed Scholars model of curricular and co-curricular activities to identify key elements that help graduate students make critical transitions in higher education. A pilot study showed that SIUE graduate students’ experiences align with a persistence and success model proposed by researchers for undergraduate education. To advance understanding of the model’s validity, this project will adapt and study academic and social integration, through financial, curricular, and co-curricular supports, at the master’s level. Concurrently, the project will provide STEM faculty with skills to holistically recruit, mentor, and support masters’ students. Project evaluation will determine quantitative gains for Watershed Scholars and differences between them and non-participant members of their entering class along with qualitative evidence of implementation quality and fidelity. The project model and scientific research will be of interest to the STEM education community and watershed scientists. Thus, dissemination will include a variety of professional conferences, education and scientific journals, and an institution-hosted website. 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.