Building Resilience and Engaging in Achievement through Collaborative, Holistic Programming in STEM

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This project aims to answer 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. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 21 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, neuroscience, and applied mathematical science. First-year students, particularly students who attend rural high schools in the region, will receive scholarships for four years. Scholarships will begin at $6,500 in Year 1 and incrementally increase to $8,000 in Year 4 based on financial need. Additionally, students will receive summer scholarships of $2,000 during Years 2-4 for those scholars who opt to take six credits of summer courses for academic advancement or recovery. Informed by the research literature, institutional data, and student survey data, the curricular and co-curricular supports include implementation of mathematics support in early gateway STEM courses through co-requisite pre-calculus courses; a summer bridge program; development and support of mindfulness practices by scholars that include self-visualization; robust faculty mentoring; peer tutoring; micro-credentials; networking; undergraduate research experiences and internships; and placement into student cohorts. Recognizing the importance of financial support and a robust system of academic and co-curricular support and cohorts, the design of project activities and strategies respond to the impact of COVID-19 on secondary and post-secondary education. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need at Wesleyan College, a small liberal arts college for women. Four objectives provide a framework for the project to achieve its goal. First is the recruitment and enrollment of 21 low-income academically talented female undergraduate scholars in biology, neuroscience, and applied mathematical science. Second is the retention of 71% of the scholars in their STEM majors from their first to second year. Third is meeting a graduation target of 67% of scholars in STEM and ensuring that 79% of the graduating scholars enter into the STEM workforce or graduate studies in STEM. Fourth, and finally, is investigation into the efficacy of the proposed strategies and activities to influence student success and the influence of mindfulness practices in reducing stress overall and specifically in gateway mathematics courses. To support and inform project implementation and contribute to a deep understanding of psychosocial factors influencing student success, a mixed methods evaluation and research study will be conducted using quantitative and qualitative research methods for project improvement (formative evaluation), accountability (summative evaluation), and knowledge generation. Findings resulting from this project will be disseminated throughout the Wesleyan College community; statewide conferences for mathematics teachers; local, regional, state, and national conferences focused on curricular and co-curricular innovation (e.g., First Year Experience, undergraduate research experiences, education of women students); and research conferences on education. 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.