RII-BEC: Bridging Collaboration Across South Carolina Academic Institutions to Support Underserved and Underrepresented Community Needs

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This project aims to serve the national interest by addressing acute needs in academia and industry resulting from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In both academic preparation and workforce development, individuals from underserved or underrepresented communities who are pursuing STEM related education have had to alter or end their professional pursuits for a variety of reasons. The importance of supporting the needs of these individuals for restarting their studies and revising their plans for their professional preparation is addressed by providing financial support and personalized guidance to students in the continuation of their education. This project is a collaboration across South Carolina with Clemson University, two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Claflin University and South Carolina State University), a technical college (Trident College), and a military college (The Citadel). The project will focus on the recruitment, mentoring, retention, and graduation of students from underserved and underrepresented communities who have been most impacted by the pandemic. Providing academic and financial support would help address current issues that forced students to change their plans and return them to academic achievement and career success pathways, especially in the engineering discipline. The overall goal of the project is to broaden participation in STEM by incorporating individual, institutional, and geographic diversity. Given the growth of automotive and advanced materials manufacturing in South Carolina, especially in the region where Trident and Citadel are located, the investigators will be able to address workforce development needs by better-connecting students, institutions, and industries with professional learning, workforce development, and employment opportunities across the state. The project scope involves increasing and improving access to education through online certificate courses that provide facilitated entry points to industry and graduate study. Clemson University will offer the Automotive and Mechanical Engineering certificate program and create new opportunities with the Composites certificate to support students and help them progress toward their intended professional goals. Intentional institutional partnerships and connections to industry will also support student advancement. Project interventions will be assessed for their immediate impact on students, as well as evaluated over long-term metrics with a focus to address enrollment and STEM retention and create new connections to local industries. Outcomes from periodic evaluations will be essential to determine the impact across all stakeholders, in order to better assess the needs of students impacted by disruptive events, which inhibit progress in their academic and professional careers.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.