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

该项目将通过支持高成就，低收入，主要是第一代大学生的保留和毕业，促进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，这是一个地区性的公共机构在农村，中央威斯康星州。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全日制学生提供奖学金。该项目将以多种方式支持学者作为群体，包括早期的结构化点对点互动，STEM课程的补充教学，职业发展规划，增加咨询以及带薪多年本科研究机会。教师是STEM学生成功的关键，他们将参与循证教学，有效的研究指导和学术咨询的专业发展。该项目有可能扩大对STEM领域的参与，特别是对来自农村地区的学生，并产生关于如何支持这些学生群体在STEM领域的保留和毕业的知识。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成率。 为实现这一目标，该项目将追求四个目标。第一个目标是提高低收入和第一代学生在第一和第二阶段之间攻读生物学、化学或生物化学学位的保留率和学位获得率。第二个目标是实施和研究教师指导的本科研究经验的学者的影响。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追求以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，为校园内的低收入，第一代大学STEM学生带来成功的文化。评估将由外部评估人员进行，他们将通过调查和焦点小组收集学生和教师的持续证据，以及跟踪学生的成功措施，如成绩，GPA，保留数据和毕业率。从该项目中获得的见解将在区域和国家的大学系统中传播，以促进对最佳做法的集体理解，以留住低收入，高成就的STEM学生，特别是来自农村地区的学生。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划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。

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.