Converging Earth Science and Sustainability Education and Experience to Prepare Next-Generation Geoscientists

融合地球科学和可持续发展教育和经验，培养下一代地球科学家

• 批准号: 2225490
• 负责人: Ruopu Li
• 金额: $ 133.33万
• 依托单位: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225490&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Converging; Earth; Science; Sustainability; Education

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 Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC). SIUC is a rural university and the major research institution in Southern Illinois, one of America’s most economically distressed regions. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 40 unique full-time transfer students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Geography & Environmental Resources and Geology. Transfer students will receive two-year scholarships. The proposed project is an interdisciplinary STEM program, Earth-Sustainability Scholarship (ESS), for academically talented students who demonstrate financial need to pursue undergraduate environmental and earth science degrees. A sustainability-minded STEM workforce is vital for the nation to strategically develop natural resources, experience economic growth, and make informed decisions in a rapidly changing world. The project will develop an educational pipeline from student admission and training to graduation and professional development and advance the understanding of the dominant factors that increase the academic and professional success of low-income students. A mentoring system and a networked supporting community that integrate campus resources and sustainability activities will be established for improved curricular and co-curricular experiences. The project is expected to broaden the participation of low-income students in environmental and earth science by reducing financial pressure, increasing learning opportunities and outcomes, and bridging overall career success. It will also advance the mission of U.S. institutions of higher education that train a diverse and globally competitive STEM workforce in sustainable environmental and earth science. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific objectives include: (1) increasing educational opportunities for academically talented students with financial need, (2) improving educational support programs at SIUC, (3) improving the retention of students in the SIUC School of Earth Systems and Sustainability, and (4) enhancing the future STEM workforce with skills in earth science and sustainability. To address the historic disconnect between sustainability and earth science training, it is vital to integrate sustainability into earth science education in institutes of higher education. Advancing understanding of how supporting services and programs drive academic success in geoscience majors, especially for transfer students, is also critical. This project will establish an educational prototype that successfully supports academically talented and low-income transfer students to become sustainability-focused earth science degree graduates. Following the Theory of Planned Behaviors, the supporting service and activities to enhance attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control will be framed as three critical constructs that are expected to drive students’ positive intentions for graduation. The project hopes to create an inclusive and diverse learning community and infrastructure to advance the project goals and missions. It is expected that 40 low-income academically talented transfer students will be awarded $10,000 scholarships each year and that an overall 85% retention rate and 80% graduation rate will be achieved. The project will utilize a management-oriented formative and summative evaluation approach. Results will be disseminated internally to the Office of the Provost and faculty members at SIUC and shared externally to the STEM community through STEM Central, social media, professional conferences, and publications in STEM education journals. 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，低收入的学生在南伊利诺伊大学卡本代尔（SIUC）表现出经济需要的保留和毕业。SIUC是一所农村大学，也是美国经济最贫困地区之一伊利诺伊州南部的主要研究机构。在五年期间，该项目将为40名攻读地理环境资源和地质学学士学位的全日制转学生提供奖学金。转学生将获得两年的奖学金。拟议的项目是一个跨学科的STEM计划，地球可持续发展奖学金（ESS），为学术才华的学生谁证明财政需要追求本科环境和地球科学学位。具有可持续发展意识的STEM劳动力对于国家战略性地开发自然资源，体验经济增长并在快速变化的世界中做出明智的决策至关重要。该项目将开发一个从学生入学和培训到毕业和专业发展的教育管道，并促进对提高低收入学生学业和专业成功率的主要因素的理解。将建立一个整合校园资源和可持续发展活动的指导系统和网络支持社区，以改善课程和课外活动。该项目预计将通过减少财政压力、增加学习机会和成果以及实现总体职业成功，扩大低收入学生对环境和地球科学的参与。它还将推进美国高等教育机构的使命，即在可持续环境和地球科学方面培养多样化和具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生与证明财政需要完成STEM学位。具体目标包括：（1）增加有经济需要的学术人才的教育机会，（2）改善SIUC的教育支持计划，（3）提高学生在SIUC地球系统和可持续发展学院的保留率，以及（4）提高未来STEM劳动力在地球科学和可持续发展方面的技能。为了解决可持续发展与地球科学培训之间的历史脱节，将可持续发展纳入高等教育机构的地球科学教育至关重要。推进对支持服务和项目如何推动地球科学专业学生取得学术成功的理解，特别是对转学生来说，也至关重要。该项目将建立一个教育原型，成功地支持学术人才和低收入转学生成为以可持续发展为重点的地球科学学位毕业生。 根据计划行为理论，支持服务和活动，以提高态度，主观规范和感知行为控制将被框定为三个关键结构，预计将驱动学生的积极意图毕业。该项目希望创建一个包容性和多样性的学习社区和基础设施，以推进项目的目标和使命。预计每年将向40名低收入的学术天才转学生颁发10，000美元的奖学金，并实现总体留存率和80%的毕业率。该项目将采用面向管理的形成性和总结性评价方法。结果将在内部传播到教务长和教师在SIUC的办公室和外部共享到干社区通过干中心，社交媒体，专业会议，并在干教育期刊出版物。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。