Leadership Experience and Advancement Program in STEM: Promoting transfer student success with leadership development

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，方法是支持高成就、低收入、有经济需求的学生在北中学院(NC)留校和毕业。北卡罗来纳大学位于芝加哥郊区，是一所以本科为主的四年制院校，该地区对STEM领域的毕业生需求很高。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为15名正在攻读生物学、计算机科学、环境研究、数学和神经科学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。转校生将获得两年的奖学金。量身定制的支持包括一项新颖的夏季桥梁计划、基于优势的领导力发展、教师和同行指导以及职业发展，包括带薪暑期研究经验和实习机会。这个项目将通过探索基于能力的领导力规划如何影响留校率、毕业率以及职业准备来产生新的知识。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位毕业率。具体的项目目标包括改善STEM转学学生的招生情况，以及以下几个方面：1)提高领导力、韧性和自我效能；2)提高留校率和毕业率；3)改善STEM职业或研究生入学准备。一种基于优势的方法，根据每个学者的准备和职业愿望而个性化，将认识到并建立在他们的认知和非认知能力上。虽然众所周知，基于优势的领导力项目可以通过促进学业、社交和心理上的繁荣来帮助第一次进入大学的学生适应变化，但很少有研究探讨基于优势的领导力发展对转校生的影响。该项目通过有目的地为转学学生提供经验，以增加他们的知识、技能和领导能力，帮助弥补这一差距。该项目将使用方案评估数据，特别是重点小组和前后调查，以加深对三个感兴趣领域的了解。首先是探索所提供的干预措施与转移学生资本的特定组成部分(例如，复原力、自我效能和领导技能)变化之间的关系。第二是调查方案编制的哪些具体方面最有效地满足不同学生身份的需要(即，学术历史、STEM专业、毕业后的愿望)。第三，考察成功结果(留任、毕业和毕业后STEM就业)与领导技能提高之间的关系。项目团队将以正式报告、同行评议论文和会议报告的形式，在全校、地方和全国范围内传播成果。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。

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 North Central College (NC). NC is a four-year primarily undergraduate institution located in suburban Chicago, a region with high need for graduates in STEM fields. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 15 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Computer Science, Environmental Studies, Mathematics, and Neuroscience. Transfer students will receive two-year scholarships. Tailored support includes a novel summer bridge program, strengths-based leadership development, faculty and peer mentorship, and career development, including paid summer research experiences and internships. This project will generate new knowledge by exploring how strengths-based leadership programming impacts retention and graduation rates as well as career readiness. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific project objectives include improving recruitment of STEM transfer students, as well as the following: 1) improving leadership, resilience, and self-efficacy; 2) improving retention and graduation rates; and 3) improving STEM career or graduate school readiness. A strengths-based approach, individualized for each scholar's preparation and career aspirations, will recognize and build upon their cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. Although strengths-based leadership programs are known to help first-time-in-college students adapt to change by fostering academic, social, and psychological thriving, few studies explore the outcomes of strengths-based leadership development on transfer students. This project helps address that gap through an intentional provision of experiences for transfer students to increase their knowledge, skills, and capacity in leadership. The project will use program evaluation data, in particular focus groups and pre/post surveys, to develop understanding about three areas of interest. First is to probe the relationship between delivered interventions and changes in specific components of transfer student capital (e.g., resilience, self-efficacy, and leadership skills). Second is to investigate which specific aspects of programming most effectively meet the needs of differing student identities (i.e., academic histories, STEM major, post-graduation aspirations). Third is to examine the relationship between success outcomes (retention, graduation, and post-graduation STEM placement) and improvement of leadership skills. The project team will disseminate outcomes college-wide, locally, and nationally in the form of formal reports, peer-reviewed papers, 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.