Sociocultural and Place-Aware Civil and Environmental Engineering Scholars

该项目将通过支持威斯康星大学普拉特维尔分校（University of Wisconsin-Platteville）保留和毕业表现出经济需求的成绩优异的低收入学生，从而满足全国对受过良好教育的工程师的需求。威斯康星大学普拉特维尔分校是一所以地区服务为主的公立大学，拥有强大的工程专业传统。该项目为期5年，将为24名攻读土木及/或环境工程学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得长达四年的奖学金支持。为了支持S-STEM项目的总体目标，即使具有学术能力的低收入学生能够在STEM领域追求成功的职业生涯，该项目旨在支持学生成长为具有社区意识、对社会负责的土木和环境工程师。该项目采用三管齐下、基于地点的方法，包括研讨会和通识教育课程、当地实地考察和扩展的区域实地考察。该项目的重点是增加低经济背景的专业人员参与土木和环境工程行业的重要性，培养具有整体社区和基于地方的视角的工程师，并影响未来的土木和环境工程劳动力，以产生适当解决正义，公平和包容问题的解决方案。该项目将通过帮助确定和推进具有社会文化意识的基于地点的工程教育的最佳实践，为知识体系做出贡献。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。对基础设施工程师的需求超出了技术熟练的毕业土木和环境工程师。随着社会进入一个需要更多公平和问责制的时代，工程师们必须越来越多地为现在和未来的人们考虑，他们的基础设施将为谁而存在，将在哪里存在。因此，该项目有两个具体目标：1)扩大学者对自己作为土木和环境工程师的认同感和信心；2)培养学者的社区和基于地方的视角。该项目有可能确定并促进对社会文化意识的基于地方的工程教育的最佳实践的理解。本研究将探讨在地工程教育对土木与环境工程专业学生职业认同发展的影响。此外，该项目将研究高影响力实践在促进学生留校和成功方面的效果。本项目将探讨学者是否有可能通过参与基于地点的工程教育活动，培养更强的认同感和自信心，以及以社区为基础的观点。该项目将使用学习成绩指标、保留率和毕业率、毕业后安置数据、调查和焦点小组、ABET学生学习成果分析以及学者顶点反思分析来评估。该项目的结果将在定期UW-Platteville工程咨询委员会会议上提供，通过会议演讲，并通过提交给期刊。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 engineers by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, a regional-serving predominately undergraduate public institution with a tradition for strong engineering programs. Over its 5-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 24 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in civil and/or environmental engineering. First-year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support. In support of the overall S-STEM program goal of enabling low-income students with academic ability to pursue successful careers in STEM fields, this project aims to support student growth into community-minded, socially responsible civil and environmental engineers. The project features a three-pronged, place-based approach including a seminar and general education course, local field trips, and an extended regional field trip. The project centers on the importance of increasing participation of professionals from a low economic background in the civil and environmental engineering industry, developing engineers who have a holistic community and place-based perspective, and influencing the future civil and environmental engineering workforce to produce solutions that appropriately address justice, equity, and inclusion. The project will contribute to the body of knowledge by helping to identify and advance best practices for socio-culturally aware place-based engineering education. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The need for infrastructure engineers goes beyond graduating civil and environmental engineers who are technically proficient. As society moves forward into an age in need of increased equity and accountability, engineers must increasingly account for the current and future people for whom and the places in which their infrastructure will exist. Thus, this project has two specific aims: 1) Expand scholars’ sense of identity and confidence in themselves as civil and environmental engineers and 2) Cultivate a community and place-based perspective in the scholars. The project has the potential to identify and advance understanding of best practices for socio-culturally aware place-based engineering education. This project will investigate the effects of place-based engineering education on students’ professional identity development in civil and environmental engineering. In addition, this project will look at the effect of high-impact practices in promoting student retention and success. This project will investigate the possibility that scholars develop a stronger sense of identity and confidence as well as a community-based perspective from participating in place-based engineering education activities. This project will be evaluated using academic performance metrics, retention and graduation rates, post-graduation placement data, surveys and focus groups, analysis of ABET student learning outcomes, and analysis of scholar capstone reflections. Results of this project will be made available at regular UW-Platteville Engineering Advisory Board meetings, via conference presentations, and through submission to journals. 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.