Supporting Low-Income Students Studying Biology, Chemistry, and Biochemistry from First Year to Graduation in Rural Wisconsin

该项目将通过支持优秀、低收入、主要是第一代大学生的保留和毕业，满足国家对受过良好教育的科学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。该项目将在威斯康星大学史蒂文斯点分校（University of Wisconsin- stevens Point）进行，这是威斯康星州中部农村的一所地区性公共机构。在六年的时间里，该项目将为30名攻读生物学、生物化学或化学本科学位的独特全日制学生提供奖学金。该项目将以多种方式支持学者群体，包括早期、结构化的点对点互动、STEM课程的补充指导、职业发展规划、增加建议，以及多年的本科生有偿研究机会。教师是STEM学生成功的关键，他们将在循证教学、有效的研究指导和学术建议方面从事专业发展。该项目有可能扩大STEM领域的参与，特别是对农村地区的学生，并产生有关如何支持这些学生群体保留和毕业STEM的知识。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。为了实现这一目标，本项目将追求四个目标。第一个目标是提高第一代和第二代攻读生物、化学或生物化学学位的低收入和第一代学生的留校率和学位获得率。第二个目标是实施和研究教师指导的本科生研究经历对学者的影响。第三个目标是增加区域STEM劳动力中第一代和低收入学生的数量，目标是让大多数学者从事以STEM为重点的职业。最终目标是创造更具包容性、支持性的学习环境，为低收入、第一代大学STEM学生营造一种成功的文化。评估将由外部评估人员进行，该评估人员将通过调查和焦点小组收集学生和教师的持续证据，并跟踪学生的成功指标，如成绩、GPA、保留数据和毕业率。从该项目中获得的见解将在大学系统、地区和全国范围内传播，以促进对最佳实践的集体理解，以留住和毕业STEM领域的低收入、成绩优异的学生，特别是来自农村地区的学生。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, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income, primarily first-generation college students. The project will take place at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, which is a regional public institution in rural, central Wisconsin. Over six years, the project will fund scholarships to 30 unique, full-time students pursuing undergraduate degrees in biology, biochemistry, or chemistry. The project will support scholars as cohorts in multiple ways including early, structured peer-to-peer interactions, supplemental instruction in STEM courses, career development planning, increased advising, and paid multi-year undergraduate research opportunities. Faculty are key in STEM students’ success and will be engaged in professional development on evidence-based teaching, effective research mentoring, and academic advising. This project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM fields, especially for students from rural regions, and generate knowledge about how to support retention and graduation in STEM for these student populations.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. To achieve this goal, this project will pursue four objectives. The first objective is to increase retention and degree attainment of low-income and first-generation students pursuing degrees in biology, chemistry, or biochemistry between the first and second. The second objective is to implement and study the impact of a faculty-mentored undergraduate research experience for scholars. The third objective is to increase the number of first-generation and low-income students in the regional STEM workforce with the goal of having the majority of scholars pursue a STEM-focused career. The final objective is to create more inclusive, supportive learning environments that result in a culture of success for low-income, first-generation college STEM students on the campus. Evaluation will be conducted by an external evaluator who will collect on-going evidence from students and faculty through surveys and focus groups, as well as tracking of student success measures such as grades, GPA, retention data, and graduation rates. Insights gained from this project will be disseminated in the university system, regionally, and nationally to contribute to the collective understanding of best practices to retain and graduate low-income, high-achieving students in STEM, especially those students from rural areas. 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.