A Holistic Approach to Build Up A Diverse Community of Rising Engineers

该项目将通过支持北弗吉尼亚社区学院（NOVA）表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为全国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。NOVA拥有一个非常多元化的学生群体，其中超过63%的少数民族学生。该项目为期六年，将为85名攻读工程副学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得最多两年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在增加来自代表性不足群体的学生转到四年制大学，并最终加入工程队伍。这将通过集中在招聘、财政和学术支持以及社区建设方面的协同努力来实现。增加STEM领域的参与，特别是在代表性不足的群体中，对美国在科学和工程创新方面继续保持领导地位至关重要。该项目有可能扩大工程领域的参与，并学习如何采用整体方法支持STEM劳动力满足国家和地区需求。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。该项目的目标是支持学生的经济需求，缩小公平和成绩差距，并提供集中的学术和机构支持。该项目团队计划专门跟踪关键成果，包括GPA、参与实习和体验式学习以及成功完成学位。这项工作有可能成为一种模式，通过招聘、保留和培训人口多样化的工程劳动力，使所有美国人更容易接受STEM教育，以满足国家对STEM人才的需求。将通过收集定量和定性数据来评估该项目，并使用历史数据作为比较来跟踪结果。该项目的成果将通过在会议上的演讲、向期刊投稿、为附近学院的工程教师和学生举办区域STEM研讨会等方式进行分享。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，该项目旨在增加低收入、有学术天赋、有经济需求的学生在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 scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). NOVA has a very diverse student body with more than 63% ethnic minority students. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships for 85 unique full-time students who are pursuing associate degrees in engineering. First-year students will receive up to two years of scholarship support. The project intends to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who transfer to four-year institutions and ultimately join the engineering workforce. This will be achieved through synergistic efforts focused on recruitment, financial and academic support, and community building. Increased participation in STEM fields, particularly among underrepresented groups, is critical to the United States’ continued leadership in science and engineering innovation. This project has the potential to broaden participation in engineering and learn how a holistic approach will support the STEM workforce to meet the national and regional needs. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The goals of this project are supporting students’ financial needs, closing the equity and achievement gap, and providing centralized academic and institutional support. This project team plans to specifically track key outcomes including GPA, participation in internships and experiential learning, and successful degree completion. This work has the potential to serve as a model for making STEM education more accessible for all Americans by recruiting, retaining, and training a demographically diverse engineering workforce that meets the nation’s demand for STEM talents. The project will be evaluated through the collection of quantitative and qualitative data, using historical data as a comparison to track results. Results of this project will be shared through presentations at conferences, submissions to journals, and hosting a regional STEM workshop for engineering faculty and students from nearby colleges. 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 earning degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about the academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and 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.