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

该项目将为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做出贡献，方法是支持高成就、低收入、有经济需求的学生留校并毕业于德克萨斯大学格兰德河谷大学，这是一所西班牙裔服务机构。在五年的时间里，这个项目将为60名正在攻读数学或物理研究生学位的独特的全日制学生提供奖学金。即将入学的研究生将获得最多两年的奖学金支持。该项目将为更广泛的学生提供数学或物理方面的研究生学习途径，包括那些在STEM方面拥有很强的量化技能的学生，这些学生来自其他可能没有主修数学或物理专业的学科。为了为所有项目学者建立一个公平的竞争环境，不受他们之前的访问或支持，将建立从本科生到博士学位的过渡课程。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，在不增加毕业时间的情况下，弥合准备、信心和韧性方面的差距。该项目将支持硕士研究生，他们对博士学习感兴趣，并将在学业准备方面名列前茅。由于德克萨斯大学里奥格兰德山谷的拉美裔学生比例非常高，该项目有可能极大地扩大STEM领域的参与，并了解基于证据的学生支持和指导技术如何支持学生在研究生阶段取得进步，并在这一学生群体中获得高等数学或物理学位。另一个更广泛的重要影响是，该项目有很强的潜力增加国内低收入家庭博士生的数量，这些学生反过来可能成为未来国家迫切需要的物理和数学专业的教师。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。这个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，以及为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，包括高期望值和学术支持，与全面、非二元辅导、强大的社会心理因素、社区建设活动和职业准备相结合。该项目将研究这些方法的有效性，该队列将涉及该机构目前的学生人口。这个项目将调查学术项目和由此产生的学习社区对学生留存、研究生项目及时进步、自我效能和自信、对他们的指导伙伴关系的积极看法以及对他们自己指导能力的信心的影响。总体而言，该项目将促进对服务于拉美裔多数的地理区域的最佳指导做法的理解。该项目的成果将通过在地方和国家会议上的发言以及在数学和物理教育期刊上发表的出版物以及以队列活动和学生研究为主要内容的网站和通讯来传播。该项目由NSF的科学、技术、工程和数学项目奖学金资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入、有经济需要的学生的数量。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业成功、留住、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优势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 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.