Developing STEM Professionals through Peer Mentoring/Tutoring and Career Coaching

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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 Marywood University (MU) in Scranton, PA. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund four years of scholarships to 12 unique, full-time undergraduate students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, biotechnology, environmental science, mathematics, computer science, or information security. Project elements include recruitment of low-income and minority students through high school connections, peer mentoring and tutoring to help students overcome barriers to success, faculty mentoring, alumni mentoring, cohort development through common coursework, and a four-year career development plan. Scholars will pursue STEM careers and/or graduate studies, filling a state and national need for more and better-qualified STEM workers. The project team will test a new strategy for addressing the pervasive issue of students not making use of tutoring services. The project will also strengthen partnerships with local industries for scholar support and with high schools for recruitment. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Additional project goals include implementing a new peer mentor/tutor model to help students succeed through the challenging first two years; bringing the scholars together in a learning community designed to increase connections within the cohort; and improving career awareness and preparation to enter the STEM workforce. The objectives are that (1) 12 low-income, academically talented students enroll in one of MU’s STEM majors; (2) scholars benefit from academic supports, collaborative learning with peers, and connections to faculty and alumni; (3) at least 10 of the original 12 scholars (83%) are retained for one year and nine (75%) are retained until graduation (scholars who are not retained will be replaced); (4) scholars enter the STEM workforce or STEM graduate programs; and (4) the effectiveness of the peer mentor/tutor model, cohort-based learning, and career awareness programming is demonstrated. The project will expand upon the current knowledge base for student support by evaluating a new peer mentor/tutor model for meeting low-income students’ academic and social needs and a learning community for increasing peer collaborations and scholar feelings of connection with their academic program, their peers, and the university. Evaluation questions to be examined are (1) How effective is the peer mentor/tutor model in improving grades in first- and second-year STEM courses and increasing retention until junior year? How frequently do low-income students access support by the peer mentor/tutor? (2) How effective are the first-year seminar and common course enrollment in encouraging the scholars to form peer study groups? What is the impact on the ability of commuter students to form meaningful relationships with peers? The project team will disseminate evaluation findings to share results with outside institutions. The peer mentoring/tutoring, faculty mentoring, first-year seminar, and learning communities will continue to benefit other students at MU after the end of the project. 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.