HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Improving Professional Preparedness in STEM

在改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，这一轨道2：IEP旨在增加加州州立大学多明格斯山庄(CSUDH)毕业后进入STEM领域的学生数量。多个群体，包括那些认为自己是拉丁裔的人，在STEM职业生涯中的代表性不足；尽管拉丁裔个人占工作人口的17%，但他们只占STEM工人的8%。CSUDH准备帮助缩小这一差距，因为CSUDH服务的学生人口中约有70%是拉丁裔。许多STEM教育举措侧重于提高STEM学生的毕业率，特别是那些来自历史上被边缘化群体的学生。然而，拥有STEM学位的毕业生并不一定意味着学生将进入STEM领域从事他们的职业。例如，目前，南加州大学生物系只有11%的学生毕业时获得了研究生或专业学校的工作机会或录取。为了增加这一数字，该项目将增加对实习的平等机会和参与，将以职业为重点的内容纳入整个课程，并将职业发展对话添加到针对学科的咨询中。通过这些活动，学生将在其学术生涯的早期形成职业认同感，并加强毕业后进入STEM职业生涯所需的技能。最终，该项目将增加来自代表性不足群体的学生进入STEM领域的人数。近期目标是加强这些学生的职业准备，以增加他们在大学的投资回报，并使地区STEM劳动力多样化。该项目将使用多方面的方法来帮助学生更好地实现他们的职业目标，确保更多的学生深入参与实习和/或研究机会，将更多的职业和专业技能发展纳入课程，实施包容性建议，并增加对学生俱乐部的参与。人们假设，学生如何看待自己的职业道路，将影响他们毕业时是否有具体的职业计划，学生保留率，以及毕业时间。为了验证这些假设，该项目将利用混合模式评估和扎根理论来分析学生在整个学术生涯中收集的数据，以了解学生如何形成他们的职业计划。这个项目将扩展学生成功的衡量标准，不仅包括对学位的坚持性或进入研究生院的过渡，而且还包括“职业道路”。通过这样做，该项目将就STEM中代表性不足的少数群体一个研究不足的方面提供亟需的研究：学生如何概念化他们的职业道路。更广泛地说，生物系将作为培养STEM职业认同感的最佳实践的孵化器。一旦更好地了解了学生如何构思自己的职业道路，以及哪些干预措施对以职业为重点的结果产生了积极影响，项目成果将通过校园论坛、同行评议的期刊文章和会议演示文稿进行传播。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育和HSI的能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to increase the number of students from California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) who enter the STEM field after graduating. Multiple groups, including those who identify as Latinx, are underrepresented in STEM careers; while Latinx individuals comprise 17% of the working population, they are only 8% of STEM workers. CSUDH is poised to help close this gap because CSUDH serves a student population that is approximately 70% Latinx. Many STEM education initiatives have focused on increasing the graduation rates of STEM students, particularly those from historically marginalized groups. However, graduating with a STEM degree does not necessarily mean students will enter STEM fields for their careers. For example, currently, only 11% of students in the CSUDH Biology department graduate with a job offer or acceptance to graduate or professional school. To increase this number, the project will increase equitable access to and participation in internships, integrate career-focused content throughout the curriculum and add career development conversations to disciplinary-specific advising. Through these initiatives, students will develop a professional identity earlier in their academic careers and strengthen the skills needed to enter a STEM career after graduation. Ultimately, the project will increase the number of students from underrepresented groups entering STEM fields.The immediate objective is to increase the professional preparedness of these students in order to increase their return on investment in college and to diversify the regional STEM workforce. The project will use a multi-faceted approach to help students better realize their professional goals by ensuring that more students engage deeply in internships and/or research opportunities, include more career and professional skill development in courses, implement inclusive advising, and increase participation in student clubs. It is hypothesized that how students think about their career pathways will affect whether they have concrete career plans when they graduate, student retention, and time to graduation. To test these hypotheses, the project will utilize mixed-model assessments and grounded theory to analyze data collected throughout students’ academic careers to understand how students form their career plans. This project will expand the metrics of student success to not only include persistence to a degree or transition to graduate school, but also to “path to career.” In doing so, the project will provide much-needed research on one understudied aspect of underrepresented minority groups in STEM: how students conceptualize their pathway to a career. More generally, the biology department will serve as an incubator for best practices in developing STEM career identity. Once it is better understood how students conceptualize their career pathways, and which interventions positively affect career-focused outcomes, the project results will be disseminated through on-campus forums and peer-reviewed journal articles, and conference presentations. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.