Collaborative Research: Pacific Alliance for Low-Income Inclusion in Statistics & Data Science

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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 the University of California - Santa Barbara, the University of California - Irvine, the University of Washington, California State University, East Bay, California State University, Monterey Bay, San Diego State University, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The Data Revolution is generating numerous well-paid career paths, and creating a significant workforce shortage, in Statistics & Data Science. Graduate degrees are needed for many lucrative, data-rich careers, which can represent a significant barrier for low-income students. This project will provide scholarship support to approximately 115 talented, low-income undergraduate students studying statistics and data science and provide continued scholarship support for at least 65 of them over two years of graduate studies. Scholars will benefit from faculty and peer mentoring, an annual meeting that spans all seven participating schools, and support for applying to and preparing for graduate school, including a pre-grad summer bootcamp. Additional academic supports include a small-group directed reading program, shared coursework to build community within scholar cohorts, and undergraduate research opportunities.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Additional project goals and aims include: (a) to offer a cohort-based program that supports students financially via scholarships lasting up to 3 years; (b) provide scholars with academic and co-curricular experiences designed to facilitate placement into careers in statistics and data science; and (c) offer interventions to enhance scholars’ community cultural capital. Project research will use surveys and interviews to study three main themes: (a) how counterspaces and other kinds of community develop and support scholars’ progress towards their goals; (b) how scholars’ community cultural wealth shapes and is shaped by the counterspaces and communities that develop; and (c) how students’ low-income status and other identities impact key counterspaces and communities and influence scholars’ choices and outcomes. Project evaluation will provide formative and summative feedback on all aspects of the project to support efficient progress towards goals. 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.