Partnering with Rural and Low-income Students for Academic Success in the Biological Sciences

与农村和低收入学生合作，在生物科学领域取得学业成功

• 批准号: 2221637
• 负责人: Angela Hodgson
• 金额: $ 146.92万
• 依托单位: North Dakota State University Fargo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-01 至 2028-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221637&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Partnering; Rural; Low; income; Students

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 North Dakota State University (NDSU), a Rural-Serving Institution. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 28 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology. First-year students will receive up to 4-year scholarships, and transfer students will receive up to 3-year scholarships. Students receiving scholarships will have the opportunity to participate in the Herd Scholars academic and career support project. This project aims to increase student persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with effective supporting activities, including establishment of learning communities, mentoring, undergraduate research and internship experiences, and preparation for graduate school and employment. Because NDSU has a high population of rural students, this project has the potential to broaden their participation in STEM fields and contribute to our understanding of how social and academic integration in STEM is achieved. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, and broaden the diversity of students entering graduate research programs and/or the STEM workforce. To achieve this goal, the project will first use a network of high school guidance counselors, NDSU alumni teachers and Native American partner organizations to enhance recruitment of high-achieving low-income students from rural areas. It will establish a learning community of Herd Scholars through a 2-year cohort curriculum that engages students in career exploration and development of STEM skills, while ensuring interaction with peers and faculty mentors on a weekly basis. To ensure that the curricular and co-curricular activities are meeting Herd Scholars’ academic needs and promoting their science identity, the project will use a Students as Partners framework in which the student’s perspective is deliberately incorporated into the design of curricular and co-curricular activities in order to promote students’ sense of belonging and self-efficacy. Students will receive supported opportunities to participate in undergraduate research. The project aims to build a network of regional industry and governmental agency partners, including representation from those providing employment opportunities in rural areas, who will share their knowledge of STEM career opportunities and provide internship opportunities. This project aims to advance understanding of curricular and co-curricular structures that promote academic and social integration of underrepresented groups, such as rural, low-income students. Evaluation will be conducted using mixed-methods to gather both quantitative and qualitative information about each component of the project. The results will be used to continuously make improvements throughout the project duration and identify those components most valuable for replication of in other settings with high rural student enrollment. The outcomes of this project will be disseminated through internal seminars, journal publications, and conference presentations. 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.

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，低收入的学生在北达科他州州立大学（NDSU），一个农村服务机构证明经济需要的保留和毕业。在6年的时间里，该项目将为28名攻读生物学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。第一年的学生将获得长达4年的奖学金，转学生将获得长达3年的奖学金。 获得奖学金的学生将有机会参加牧群学者学术和职业支持项目。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与有效的支持活动联系起来，提高学生在STEM领域的坚持性，包括建立学习社区、指导、本科研究和实习经验，以及为研究生院和就业做准备。由于NDSU拥有大量农村学生，该项目有可能扩大他们在STEM领域的参与，并有助于我们了解STEM如何实现社会和学术融合。 该项目的总体目标是增加低收入，高成就的本科生与证明财务需要的STEM学位完成，并扩大学生进入研究生研究项目和/或STEM劳动力的多样性。为了实现这一目标，该项目将首先利用高中指导顾问、NDSU校友教师和美洲原住民伙伴组织网络，加强从农村地区招收成绩优异的低收入学生。它将通过为期2年的队列课程建立一个牧群学者的学习社区，让学生参与职业探索和STEM技能的发展，同时确保每周与同行和教师导师互动。为了确保课程和课外活动满足羊群学者的学术需求，并促进他们的科学身份，该项目将使用学生作为合作伙伴框架，其中学生的观点被故意纳入课程和课外活动的设计，以促进学生的归属感和自我效能感。 学生将获得参与本科研究的支持机会。 该项目旨在建立一个区域工业和政府机构合作伙伴网络，包括农村地区提供就业机会的代表，他们将分享他们对STEM职业机会的了解，并提供实习机会。该项目旨在促进对课程和课外结构的理解，以促进代表性不足的群体，如农村，低收入学生的学术和社会融合。将采用混合方法进行评价，以收集关于项目每个组成部分的定量和定性信息。研究结果将用于在整个项目期间不断改进，并确定那些最有价值的组成部分，以便在农村学生入学率高的其他环境中推广。 这一项目的成果将通过内部研讨会、期刊出版物和会议介绍加以传播。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，并提供有关低收入学生的学术成功、保留、转学、毕业和学术/职业途径的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响力审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。