Recognizing Science Scholars' Potential through Access and Engagement

该项目将通过支持圣保罗学院保留和毕业表现出经济需求的高成就、低收入学生，从而满足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。圣保罗学院是一所城市社区和技术学院，有大量学生来自传统上在STEM中代表性不足的人群。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为大约80名攻读科学和工程技术副学士学位的全日制和非全日制学生提供奖学金。包括夏季在内的8个学期，学生将获得最高16000美元的奖励。“科学学者”学生参加建立关系的课外活动：教师和同伴指导，与科学相关的校园活动和服务学习活动，以及一个学期的本科研究项目。科学与工程技术A.S.课程鼓励转学或进入劳动力市场，这样学生就可以在继续攻读学士学位的同时工作。关于该项目对学生成功、经验和职业选择影响的教育研究将有助于为许多拥有不同学生群体的两年制学校的科学教育和课外参与提供信息。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。第一个主要目标是通过内部招聘策略和与地区高中的合作，为这些学生招聘和颁发奖学金。由于潜在学生群体的多样性，该项目还将增加来自STEM中代表性不足群体的学生的参与。在合作高中举办的招聘活动将让高中生接触到STEM职业机会，并巩固进入这所两年制大学的学生储备。奖学金的金额大约是全日制学生的学杂费，所以第一个预期的结果是奖学金将增加完成文科学士学位的学生人数。第二个目标是在奖学金项目中增加人际关系建设、课外合作、高影响力实践（HIPs）。此前主要在大学进行的研究表明，奖学金与支持服务相结合，可以提高学生的成功程度，并促进入学机会。因此，预期的第二个结果是留校率和学生成绩的提高。第三个目标是执行和传播关于奖学金/HIPs对学生成功（课程成功、留校、毕业/转学）、科学态度和职业选择的有效性的教育研究。一种混合方法将把调查结果与学生记录联系起来，焦点小组将为定量数据提供背景。此外，来自两年制院校的应用科学教育研究也存在明显的差距。项目结果的传播，即项目的第三个成果，将在缩小这一差距方面发挥很小的作用。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 Saint Paul College, an urban community and technical college with a large population of students from populations traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to approximately 80 unique full and part time students who are pursuing associates degrees primarily in Science and Engineering Technology. Students will be awarded up to $16,000 over up to eight semesters, including summer. The “Science Scholar” students participate in relationship-building co-curricular activities: faculty and peer mentoring, science-related campus events and service-learning activities, and a semester long undergraduate research project. The Science and Engineering Technology A.S. program encourages transfer or entrance to the workforce, so students can work while continuing towards their B.S, degree. The educational research on the effect of the project on student success, experience, and career choice will help inform science education and co-curricular engagement at many two-year schools with a diverse student pool.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The first major objective is to recruit and award scholarships to these students, using internal recruitment strategies and partnerships with area high schools. The project will also increase participation of students from groups underrepresented in STEM due to the diversity in the pool of potential students. The recruitment events at partner high schools will expose high school students to STEM career opportunities and solidify a pipeline of students coming to the two-year institution. The scholarship amount is approximately the cost of tuition and fees for a full-time student, so the first expected outcome is the scholarships will increase the number of students completing an A.S. degree. The second objective is to add the relationship-building, co-curricular, high impact practices (HIPs) to the scholarship program. Previous research, mainly performed at universities, suggests scholarships combined with support services increased student success and promote access. Hence, an expected second outcome is an increase in retention and student success. The third objective is to perform and disseminate educational research on the effectiveness of the scholarship/HIPs on student success (course success, retention, and graduation/transfer), science attitudes, and career choice. A mixed- methods approach will link survey responses to student records, and the focus groups will give context to the quantitative data. Further, there is a notable gap of applied science education research coming from two-year institutions. The dissemination of the project findings, the third project outcome, will play a small role in closing this gap. 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.