Developing an Inclusive National Model to Support the Success of Low-Income Graduate Students in STEM

制定包容性国家模式，支持低收入研究生在 STEM 领域取得成功

• 批准号: 2130512
• 负责人: Timothy Huber
• 金额: $ 149.99万
• 依托单位: The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-01 至 2026-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2130512&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Developing; Inclusive; National; Model; Support

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 the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, which is a Hispanic Serving Institution. Over the 5-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 60 unique full-time students who are pursuing graduate degrees in Mathematics or Physics. Incoming graduate students will receive up to two years of scholarship support. This project will provide pathways to graduate study in mathematics or physics to a broad set of students, including those with strong quantitative skills in STEM from other disciplines that may not have majored in mathematics or physics. To build a level playing field for all project scholars independent of their prior access or support, a bridge program from an undergraduate to a doctoral degree will be established. This will build student skills through suggested course sequences and intensive mentoring, bridging the gap in preparation, confidence, and resilience, without increasing time to graduation. This project will support Masters’ students, who are interested in doctoral studies and who will be among the top of their class in terms of academic preparation. Because the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has a very high proportion of Hispanic students, this project has the potential to significantly broaden participation in STEM fields and to learn how amalgamated evidence-based student support and mentoring techniques support progression through graduate school and graduation with advanced mathematics or physics degrees in this student population. Another important broader impact is the project's strong potential to increase the number of domestic low-income students in doctoral programs, who in turn could become the faculty of the future in Physics and Mathematics - an urgent national need.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. This project will provide a strong foundation in mathematics and physics for students that includes positive culture, resources, and preparation needed for graduate study in mathematics or physics. This project will emphasize best practices in mentoring, including both high expectations and academic support, integrated with holistic, non-dyadic mentoring, a strong psychosocial component, community-building activities, and career preparation. The project will study the effectiveness of these approaches in a cohort that will involve the current population of students at the institution. This project will investigate the impact that the academic programs and the resulting learning communities have on student retention, timely progression through graduate programs, self-efficacy and confidence, positive perception of their mentorship partnerships, and confidence in their own mentoring abilities. Overall, this project will advance the understanding of best mentoring practices in a geographic area serving a Hispanic majority. Results of this project will be disseminated via presentations at local and national conferences as well as publications in math and physics education journals and a website and newsletters featuring cohort activities and student research. 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.

该项目将有助于对受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员的国家需要，通过支持高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，证明在德克萨斯州格兰德河谷，这是一个西班牙裔服务机构的大学的经济需要。在5年的时间里，该项目将为60名攻读数学或物理学研究生学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。即将入学的研究生将获得长达两年的奖学金支持。该项目将为广大学生提供数学或物理学研究生学习的途径，包括那些在其他可能没有主修数学或物理的学科中具有较强的STEM定量技能的学生。为了为所有项目学者建立一个公平的竞争环境，独立于他们之前的访问或支持，将建立一个从本科到博士学位的桥梁课程。这将通过建议的课程顺序和密集的指导来培养学生的技能，弥合准备，信心和弹性方面的差距，而不会增加毕业时间。该项目将支持硕士生，他们对博士研究感兴趣，并将在学术准备方面名列前茅。由于得克萨斯大学格兰德河谷分校的西班牙裔学生比例很高，因此该项目有可能显著扩大STEM领域的参与，并了解合并的循证学生支持和指导技术如何支持研究生院的进展，并在这一学生群体中获得高等数学或物理学位。该项目的另一个重要影响是，它有很大的潜力增加国内低收入学生攻读博士学位的人数，而这些学生又有可能成为未来物理和数学专业的教师--这是国家迫切需要的。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生完成STEM学位的人数。 该项目将为学生提供坚实的数学和物理基础，包括积极的文化，资源和数学或物理研究生学习所需的准备。该项目将强调辅导方面的最佳做法，包括高期望和学术支持，并结合整体、非二元辅导、强有力的心理社会组成部分、社区建设活动和职业准备。该项目将研究这些方法在一个涉及该机构现有学生群体的队列中的有效性。该项目将调查学术课程和由此产生的学习社区对学生保留的影响，通过研究生课程，自我效能和信心，他们的导师伙伴关系的积极看法，以及对自己的指导能力的信心。总的来说，这个项目将促进在一个地理区域服务于西班牙裔占多数的最佳指导实践的理解。该项目的成果将通过在地方和国家会议上的演讲以及在数学和物理教育期刊上的出版物和一个网站以及介绍队列活动和学生研究的通讯来传播。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，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。