Pathways to STEM Degrees through Integrated Academic Support, Career Enhancement, and Personal Development

通过综合学术支持、职业提升和个人发展获得 STEM 学位的途径

• 批准号: 2221149
• 负责人: Sundeep Rayat
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: Ball State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-15 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221149&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Pathways; STEM; Degrees; through; Integrated

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 Ball State University. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 16 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and biology. First year students will receive four-years of scholarship support. The project aims to increase student retention and graduation rates by combining scholarships with evidence-based practices targeting students’ academic preparation, career development and personal awareness. With the assistance of faculty and peer mentors, scholars will cultivate effective study habits. Interactive industry seminars by top Indiana employers and career coaches will create pathways for the professional preparation of the scholars. Tailored workshops will promote scholars’ mental health, personal wellness, and self-awareness. The project will facilitate cohort-building through Photovoice (reflection through storytelling using photographs) activities. By producing well-qualified physical and life scientists, this project will expand the STEM labor pool. Scholars will be able to transform their socioeconomic landscape by obtaining high-paying jobs upon degree completion. The project will advance knowledge on the extent to which the interventions for student success affect academic performance, career readiness, personal growth, and mental health.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project will incorporate integrated interventions involving multiple partners across campus that focus on scholars’ academic, personal, professional, and career development. Specifically, this project will employ the following high-impact practices: living learning communities, a Bridge program, First-year Seminar, undergraduate research, faculty/peer mentoring, internships, and interactive industry seminars. A needs-analysis survey conducted in chemistry and biology gateway courses revealed that students struggle with time-management, lack of motivation and focus, lack of effective study skills, test anxiety, mental stress, absence of adequate support systems, and finances. This project addresses student needs and suggestions identified in that survey. Investigating the impact of these measures on scholars’ academic performance, time management, self-confidence, wellness/career readiness, and mental health will provide knowledge on the effectiveness of the proposed interventions. The project will also generate evidence of whether Photovoice aids cohort building. The anticipated outcomes include scholars’ (a) increased retention and graduation rates; (b) development of professional skills and knowledge of workforce expectations; (c) personal/mental awareness and increased sense of belonging. The project will be evaluated by a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to provide formative and summative assessment data. Results of the project will be widely disseminated to university administrators and internal partners, high-school counselors, and corporate partners. They will also be shared with the STEM community via website postings, social media, publications, and conference presentations. 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.

该项目将为国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献，支持鲍尔州立大学留住并毕业有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为16名正在攻读化学和生物学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得为期四年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与针对学生的学业准备、职业发展和个人意识的循证实践相结合，来提高学生的留校率和毕业率。在教师和同行导师的帮助下，学者们将培养有效的学习习惯。印第安纳州顶尖雇主和职业教练举办的互动式行业研讨会将为学者的专业准备创造途径。量身定制的工作坊将促进学者的心理健康、个人健康和自我意识。该项目将通过PhotoVoice(通过使用照片讲故事进行反思)活动促进队列建设。通过培养高素质的物理和生命科学家，该项目将扩大STEM的劳动力池。学者将能够通过在完成学位后获得高薪工作来改变他们的社会经济格局。该项目将促进对学生成功干预措施对学业成绩、职业准备、个人成长和心理健康影响程度的了解。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。该项目将包括涉及校园内多个合作伙伴的综合干预措施，重点放在学者的学术、个人、职业和职业发展上。具体地说，该项目将采用以下高影响力的实践：生活学习社区、桥梁计划、第一年研讨会、本科生研究、教师/同行指导、实习和互动行业研讨会。在化学和生物入门课程中进行的一项需求分析调查显示，学生在时间管理、缺乏动力和注意力、缺乏有效的学习技能、考试焦虑、精神压力、缺乏足够的支持系统和经济方面存在困难。这个项目解决了学生的需求和调查中提出的建议。调查这些措施对学者的学业成绩、时间管理、自信、健康/职业准备和心理健康的影响，将提供有关拟议干预措施的有效性的知识。该项目还将产生证据，证明PhotoVoice是否有助于队列建设。预期的结果包括：(A)留校率和毕业率的提高；(B)专业技能的发展和对劳动力期望的了解；(C)个人/心理意识和归属感的增强。将采用定性和定量相结合的方法对该项目进行评估，以提供形成性和总结性评估数据。该项目的结果将广泛传播给大学管理人员和内部合作伙伴、高中辅导员和企业合作伙伴。它们还将通过网站帖子、社交媒体、出版物和会议演示与STEM社区共享。该项目由NSF的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入学术天才学生的数量。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业成功、留住、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优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。