Improving Persistence in Undergraduate Engineering and Computer 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 Christian Brothers University (CBU). Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 15 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in computer science and chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering. Each eligible student will receive funding for up to four years. The project aims to increase student persistence by linking scholarships with effective supporting activities, including faculty and industry professional mentoring, undergraduate research experiences, graduate school preparation, and participation in discipline-specific student competitions and conferences, plus the provision of technological resources (i.e. laptop computers). Project findings will be used to inform both project and curriculum improvements aimed at improving first-year student retention in STEM. The project will lead to students' economic mobility and will serve to broaden the socioeconomic diversity of professionals in the targeted STEM disciplines. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Towards this end the project seeks to enhance the retention of low-income students in introductory STEM courses and lead them to academic success. Four objectives guide the project team. First is to recruit 15 academically talented, low-income students in computer science and chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical across three cohorts. Second is to retain 87% (13 of 15) of scholars from their respective Year 1 to Year 2 and graduate 15 S-STEM scholars (factoring in replacements) in their chosen STEM major in four years. Third is to place 100% of S-STEM graduates in a STEM-related graduate program or in the workforce in a STEM-related field within six months of graduation. Finally, the fourth objective is to identify the factors that influence the success of low-income students in introductory STEM courses that are key to later success. To help achieve these objectives, the PI team and faculty mentors will utilize early intervention practices such as student-centered advising networks, faculty and professional mentors, extracurricular activity involvement, paid research opportunities and internships, cohort-building through block scheduling, and the provision of technological resources. This project will provide a better understanding on how these individual activities and their combined effects influence the students’ persistence. Evaluation of the project will utilize formative and summative assessment activities to study the effectiveness of the project activities. Information about the project will be shared locally with other faculty and staff at CBU and will be disseminated to the broader STEM education communities to advance the understanding of improvement of student learning of low-income, academically talented students. 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.