Mentoring, Development, and Engagement of Diverse STEM Students at a Large, Public, Urban University

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，低收入学生的保留和毕业，证明经济需要在自然科学和数学学院（NSM）在休斯敦大学（UH）。UH被指定为西班牙裔和亚裔美国人，美国原住民和太平洋岛民服务机构，并在美国新闻和世界报道中排名前十，为学生的种族多样性。该项目为期五年，将为24名在地球和大气科学、数学和物理系攻读学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。新入学的一年级学生将从第一年到毕业获得奖学金支持。此外，学者将与高素质的教师导师，并参加课程和课外活动的一部分，以发展归属感。该奖学金计划将覆盖许多在科学领域代表性不足的学生，并有助于促进他们的学术成功。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生的STEM学位完成与证明经济需要。在未来十年中，STEM专业的需求将非常迫切，因为德克萨斯州（包括休斯顿地区）与STEM相关的就业岗位预计将在未来十年增长24%。该项目将让学生参与高质量的教师指导互动，研究，专业发展以及推广和社交活动，以支持他们的学术成功。预计这一成功将提高毕业率，从而增加劳动力和研究生院的多样性，从而促进低收入家庭的经济流动性。此外，该项目将有助于了解奖学金支持和参与计划活动在多大程度上影响学者在STEM和UH的感知体验，重点关注哪些活动对他们的成功至关重要。这些结果将补充现有的知识基础上的学生参与课程和课外活动的保留和毕业的影响，并有助于对STEM学生成功所需的支持系统的文献。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 in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) at the University of Houston (UH). UH is designated a Hispanic and Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander Serving institution and ranks in the top ten by US News and World Report for student ethnic diversity. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships for 24 unique full-time students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in the Departments of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Mathematics, and Physics. Incoming first-year students will receive scholarship support from their first year through graduation. In addition, scholars will engage with high quality faculty mentors and take part in curricular and extra-curricular activities to develop a sense of belonging. The scholarship program will reach many students underrepresented in the sciences and help promote their academic success.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There will be a critical need for STEM majors over the next decade as the projected growth of STEM-related jobs in Texas, including the Houston region, is expected to grow by 24% over the next decade. This project will engage students in high quality faculty mentoring interactions, research, professional development, and outreach and social activities to support their academic success. That success is expected to increase graduation rates, and hence increase diversity in the workforce and in graduate school, leading to the promotion of economic mobility for low-income families. In addition, this project will contribute to understanding to what extent scholarship support and engagement in program activities affect scholars’ perceived experience in STEM and at UH, focusing on which activities were critical to their success. These results will supplement the existing knowledge base on the impact of student engagement in curricular and co-curricular activities on retention and graduation and contribute to the literature on support systems needed for STEM student success. 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.