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

该项目将通过支持南伊利诺伊大学卡本代尔分校(SIUC)有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，来促进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。SIUC是一所乡村大学，也是伊利诺伊州南部的主要研究机构，伊利诺伊州是美国经济最困难的地区之一。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为40名正在攻读地理学和环境资源与地质学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。转校生将获得两年的奖学金。拟议的项目是一个跨学科的STEM项目，地球可持续发展奖学金(ESS)，面向有学术天赋的学生，这些学生证明有经济需求攻读环境和地球科学本科学位。一支具有可持续发展意识的STEM劳动力对于国家从战略上开发自然资源、体验经济增长以及在快速变化的世界中做出明智的决策至关重要。该项目将开发从学生入学和培训到毕业和专业发展的教育渠道，并促进对提高低收入学生学术和专业成功的主导因素的了解。将建立一个指导系统和一个网络支持社区，整合校园资源和可持续发展活动，以改善课程和共同课程的体验。该项目预计将通过减少经济压力、增加学习机会和成果以及弥合整体职业成功来扩大低收入学生对环境和地球科学的参与。它还将推动美国高等教育机构在可持续环境和地球科学方面培养多元化和具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力的使命。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位毕业率。具体目标包括：(1)增加有经济需要的学业优秀学生的教育机会，(2)改善SIUC的教育支持计划，(3)提高SIUC地球系统和可持续发展学院学生的留存率，以及(4)提高未来STEM劳动力的地球科学和可持续发展技能。为了解决可持续发展与地球科学培训之间的历史性脱节，至关重要的是将可持续发展纳入高等教育机构的地球科学教育。加深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，特别是对转学学生来说，也是至关重要的。该项目将建立一个教育原型，成功地支持有学术天赋的低收入转学学生成为专注于可持续发展的地球科学学位毕业生。根据计划行为理论，旨在增强态度、主观规范和感知行为控制的支持性服务和活动将被框架为三个关键结构，预计将推动学生积极的毕业意向。该项目希望创建一个包容和多样化的学习社区和基础设施，以推进项目的目标和使命。预计每年将有40名低收入的学业天才转校生获得10,000美元的奖学金，总体保留率和毕业率将达到85%和80%。该项目将采用以管理为导向的形成性和终结性评价方法。结果将在内部传播给教务长办公室和SIUC的教职员工，并通过STEM中心、社交媒体、专业会议和STEM教育期刊上的出版物向外部STEM社区共享。该项目由NSF的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入学术天才学生的数量。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业成功、留住、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优势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 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.