Leveraging Data Science to Promote the Successful Participation of Talented, Low–Income, Undergraduate Students from Rural Alabama in STEM Fields

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This project will contribute to the national need for well–educated scientists, technicians, engineers, and mathematicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high–achieving, low–income undergraduate students with demonstrated unmet financial need at Jacksonville State University, a comprehensive, regional four–year university in rural, northeast Alabama. Over a six–year duration, the project will provide scholarships to 20 selected undergraduate students each year who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Computer Information Sciences or Mathematics. Selected student applicants who are First Year, Sophomores, Juniors or Seniors will receive an annual scholarship to cover two semesters. At least 10, $10,000 scholarships will be awarded each year together with 10 or more $5,000 scholarships. An estimated 120 scholarships will be awarded overall. The project aims to increase student persistence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields by linking scholarships with proven and effective supporting activities, including faculty advising, faculty mentoring, faculty support, faculty–guided undergraduate research experiences, graduate school preparation, travel to research universities and high–tech organizations and STEM private businesses and appropriate science–focused summer internships. Project staff, together with faculty mentors, will assist scholarship recipients in developing Individual Development Plans outlining the scholarship recipient’s career goals and progression to achieving such goals. The project will also engage in improving student retention in STEM majors and programs. By establishing a system to support scholarship recipients, the project will test new approaches to prepare and provide STEM career-ready professionals for the STEM industry. Project findings will also generate new knowledge for actionable integration to impact rural institutions targeting high–achieving, low–income undergraduate students for enrollment into NSF approved STEM majors.The project's primary outcome is that within six years, each scholarship recipient will graduate with a JSU data science minor or data science concentration and a STEM bachelor’s degree and enter the STEM workforce within an occupation of regional, statewide, or national need for STEM professionals or pursue a graduate program in STEM. The specific aim of the project is to positively address several gaps reported by STEM industry which are affecting the STEM workforce. (1) A fundamental skills gap is the ability to adapt, critically think, and conduct complex creative problem-solving. (2) The belief gap is the incorrect beliefs regarding what traits are needed to be successful in STEM. (3) The postsecondary education gap occurs because colleges are producing fewer STEM graduates than are needed in the workforce. This project is designed to address each of these gaps through the provision of scholarships and intervention services to support the STEM degree pursuits of diverse students. In addition, the project will also investigate the role of psycho-social factors and the efficacy of targeted intervention for addressing the identified critical gaps in skills and beliefs among scholarship recipients. The project will explore if positively addressing critical gaps in access, participation, skill development, and beliefs will result in scholarship recipients' successful completion of a program of study in data science and STEM, and in being fully prepared for postgraduate STEM study and/or entry into the STEM workforce. The project will advance knowledge and understanding about the effectiveness of recruiting and supporting undergraduate students with academic ability, talent, or potential, who are low–income and with a demonstrated unmet financial need to complete a data science minor or data science concentration and pursue an NSF approved STEM discipline. The project will be evaluated internally, by a project staff member with a lens on identifying generalizable knowledge, and formatively and summatively by an external evaluation team. Results of the project will be shared by the project team and external evaluation team at regional conferences, in journal articles, in local and regional newspapers, through social media, and via a project website. The 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 unmet 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.