Diversifying the West Texas civil and mechanical engineering workforce

该项目将通过支持安杰洛州立大学（ASU）的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，从而满足全国对受过良好教育的工程师的需求。安杰洛州立大学是位于德克萨斯州西部的西班牙裔服务教学（HSI）。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为36名攻读土木和机械工程学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。该项目将支持直接被亚利桑那州立大学录取的一年级学生和从两年制院校转学的学生。一年级学生将获得最多四年的奖学金，转学生将获得最多两年和一年半的奖学金。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与学生群体联系起来，指导同龄人、教师和行业导师的“家庭”，以及经过验证的学生成功计划，提高学生在工程方面的成功。将行业成员纳入辅导家庭的目的是为学生提供专业网络机会，并使他们轻松过渡到专业实践。由于亚利桑那州立大学和地区两年制院校的第一代低收入学生人数众多，该项目不仅有可能扩大这一群体对工程的参与，而且还可能增加有关行业指导在将学生毕业后转变为高薪工程工作方面的有效性的知识。该项目的总体目标是提高STEM领域低收入、高成就本科生的学位完成率。该项目旨在通过增加亚利桑那州立大学低收入学生的入学率、保留率和毕业率，使西德克萨斯州的工程劳动力多样化，并为从两年制院校转学的学生提供途径。团队和指导的使用已经被证明可以提高工程中的持久性。然而，关于行业指导如何影响学生成功的数据有限，关于行业、同行和教师导师联合项目的影响的信息就更少了。本项目所收集的数据将大大增加工程教育研究的知识体系，并支持进一步的研究。项目数据将发表在工程教育会议和期刊论文上。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、留校、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 engineers by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students at Angelo State University (ASU), a Hispanic Serving Instruction (HSI) located in West Texas. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 36 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in civil and mechanical engineering. The program will support both first-year students admitted directly to ASU and students transferring from 2-year institutions. First year students will receive up to four-year scholarships and transfer students will receive up to two- and one-half-year scholarships. The project aims to increase student success in engineering by linking scholarships with student cohorts, mentoring "familias" of peer, faculty and industry mentors, and proven student success programs. The inclusion of industry members in the mentoring familias is designed to provide professional networking opportunities to students and ease their transition to professional practice. With the large population of first-generation, low-income students at ASU and regional 2-year institutions, the project has the potential not only to broaden the participation of this population in engineering but also to increase knowledge regarding the effectiveness of industry mentorship in transitioning students into well-paying engineering jobs after graduation.The overall goal of the project is to increase degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates in STEM fields. The project aims to diversify the West Texas engineering workforce by increasing the enrollment, retention, and graduation of low-income underrepresented students at ASU as well as to provide a pathway for students transferring from 2-year institutions. The use of cohorts and mentoring has been demonstrated to improve persistence in engineering. However, limited data exists on how industry mentoring affects student success and even less information is available on the effects of a combined industry, peer, and faculty mentor program. The data collected under this project should significantly add to the body of knowledge in engineering education research and support further research. Program data will be published in engineering education conference and journal papers. 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.