Awards to Increase Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Diversity

该项目将有助于国家需要受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员通过支持高成就，低收入的学生在德雷克塞尔大学（DU）证明经济需要的保留和毕业。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为多达23名正在攻读机械（ME）和电气/计算机工程（ECE）学士学位的独特本科生提供奖学金。本科生将获得长达四年的奖学金支持。增加ME和ECE多样性奖（AIME）项目旨在通过将奖学金与有效的环绕式服务联系起来，并解决使ME和ECE不太容易被代表性不足的少数民族（URM）和妇女获得的文化障碍，来增加STEM领域的学生入学率和持久性。通过采用Thrive Mosaic（TM）框架，资源和教练的生态系统将支持AIME学者群体在他们的学科中培养归属感，并加强他们作为工程师的身份。AIME学者还将受益于各种活动，包括研讨会，研讨会和特邀演讲者，以加深他们的学科和AIME项目的联系。AIME学者将通过制作播客系列“工程师创造！”来反思他们学习工程的经验。此外，通过结构化的指导和建议，AIME学者将建立自己的职业目标，然后通过参加18个月的行业合作学习经验和探索本科研究为他们选择的职业做准备。AIME项目还将为TM合作伙伴和教师举办研讨会，旨在提高对工程学科学生（特别是URM和女性）成功障碍的认识，并引入鼓励包容性的教学方法。AIME项目具有相当大的潜力，可以改变工程界从历史上服务不足的社区招募和留住ME和ECE学生的方法，并提供一个编程框架，以支持在努力吸引和留住有才华的URM和妇女的学科中更多样化的学生群体。AIME项目旨在提高低收入学术人才的入学率，保留率，学习成绩和毕业率，重点关注那些在ME和ECE部门攻读学士学位的学生。该项目将特别努力吸引女性和URM学生申请奖学金。该项目将寻求回答以下研究问题：（一）向城市资源管理/妇女提供结构化的支助服务是否扩大了学生对STEM的参与？(ii)如何采用蓬勃发展马赛克（TM）框架帮助URM/女学生浏览最适合他们的资源，并为他们的智力成长创造一个公平的环境？和（iii）故意设计的培训和研讨会交付给该项目的TM合作伙伴和教师在文化敏感性转换STEM部门的政策，实践和教室到空间，欢迎所有学生？AIME项目将与STEM教育的当地利益相关者合作，从URM和费城学区的女性人口中招募有才华、资源不足的学生。AIME计划将通过奖学金，导师，辅导，本科生研究机会和合作社就业为工程职业做准备提供财务和学术支持。该项目将产生关于影响URMs和STEM中妇女的招聘和成功的因素和活动的有效性的知识。从这项研究的预期结果包括识别的设计原则，将通知未来的方法，设计工程项目内的学生支持活动。评估工作将使用定量和定性数据来衡量该计划的总体和持续有效性。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。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术成功，保留，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 Drexel University (DU). Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships for up to 23 unique undergraduate students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical (ME) and Electrical/Computer Engineering (ECE). Undergraduate students will receive up to four years of scholarship support. The Awards to Increase ME and ECE diversity (AIME) project seeks to increase student enrollment and persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with effective wrap-around services and addressing cultural barriers that have made ME and ECE less accessible to underrepresented minorities (URMs) and women. By employing the Thrive Mosaic (TM) Framework, an ecosystem of resources and coaches will support the cohort of AIME scholars in developing a sense of belonging in their discipline and strengthening their identities as engineers. AIME scholars will also benefit from various activities including workshops, seminars and invited speakers to deepen their connections to their discipline and the AIME project. The AIME scholars will reflect on their experiences studying engineering by producing a podcast series “Engineers Create!” Additionally, through structured mentoring and advising the AIME Scholars will establish their career goals and then prepare for their chosen career by participating in 18 months of Co-op learning experiences in industry and exploring undergraduate research. The AIME project will also host workshops for the TM partners and faculty designed to raise awareness of the barriers to success that face students in engineering disciplines (particularly URM and women) and introduce teaching approaches that encourage inclusiveness. The AIME project has considerable potential to transform the engineering community’s approach to recruiting and retaining ME and ECE students from historically underserved communities, as well as providing a framework for programming that will support a more diverse student population in disciplines that have struggled to attract and retain talented URM and women. The AIME project seeks to enhance enrollment, retention, academic performance, and graduation rates for low-income academically talented students, with a focus on those pursuing baccalaureate degrees in ME and ECE departments at DU. The project will engage in special efforts to attract female and URM students to apply to be scholarship recipients. This project will seek to answer the following research questions: (i) Does providing structured support services to URM/women broaden the participation of students in STEM? (ii) How does employing the Thrive Mosaic (TM) Framework help URM/women students navigate the resources most appropriate for them and create an equitable environment for their intellectual growth? and (iii) Do intentionally designed training and workshops delivered to the project's TM partners and faculty in cultural sensitivity transform STEM departments’ policies, practices, and classrooms into spaces that are welcoming for all students? The AIME project will partner with local stakeholders in STEM education to recruit talented, under resourced students from URM and women populations in the Philadelphia School District. The AIME Program will provide both financial and academic support through scholarships, mentorship, tutoring, undergraduate research opportunities, and Co-op employment in preparation for engineering careers. This project will generate knowledge about the effectiveness of the factors and activities influencing the recruitment and success of URMs and women in STEM. Expected findings from this research include the identification of design principles that will inform future approaches for designing student support activities within engineering programs. The evaluative work will use both quantitative and qualitative data to measure the overall and the ongoing effectiveness of the program. 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.