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

该项目将通过支持休斯顿大学自然科学与数学学院（NSM）中表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。UH被指定为西班牙裔和亚裔美国人，美洲原住民和太平洋岛民服务机构，在学生种族多样性方面排名前十。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为24名在地球与大气科学、数学和物理学系攻读学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。入学的一年级学生将从第一年到毕业期间获得奖学金支持。此外，学者将与高质量的教师导师接触，并参加课程和课外活动，以培养归属感。该奖学金项目将惠及许多在科学领域未被充分代表的学生，并帮助促进他们的学业成功。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。未来十年，德克萨斯州（包括休斯顿地区）的STEM相关工作预计将增长24%，因此对STEM专业的需求将非常迫切。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、外展和社会活动，以支持他们的学术成功。这一成功有望提高毕业率，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项目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关于学生参与课程和课外活动对保留和毕业的影响的知识基础，并为STEM学生成功所需的支持系统的文献做出贡献。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、留校、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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.