Using Mentored Research Relationships to Empower Underserved Students and Improve Early Retention in STEM Majors

利用指导性研究关系为服务不足的学生提供支持并提高 STEM 专业的早期保留率

• 批准号: 2225837
• 负责人: Kristi Montooth
• 金额: $ 99.91万
• 依托单位: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2027-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225837&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Using; Mentored; Research; Relationships; Empower

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 establishing and disseminating best practices for using mentored research experiences and relationships to improve retention rates of underserved and underrepresented students in the first two years of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. A diverse STEM workforce that brings multiple perspectives and experiences is urgently needed to tackle grand societal challenges. The project aims to empower and encourage students from underserved and underrepresented groups to stay in STEM fields. The project will build a research community and provide paid mentored research experiences for students from underserved and underrepresented groups, including first-generation, low-income, and ethnic/racial minorities that have been historically marginalized in STEM. A research internship in the summer before matriculation will embed scholars in a community on campus, jumpstart them into their major, and provide them with mentored experiences that support their transition from incoming student to upper-division student and researcher. The project’s innovative research experiences for students in the first two years of their majors are anticipated to significantly improve the students' experiences and encourage them as they develop their STEM identities. The expected outcome is an evaluated model that can be implemented at other universities with the goal of decreasing significant equity gaps that exist in first- and second-year retention rates between represented and underrepresented students in STEM. Novel research outcomes are expected to improve the understanding of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on students from underrepresented groups and inform effective interventions for increased STEM-major retention. The anticipated long-term outcomes are broadened participation in the STEM workforce and more inclusive and equitable science. The overall goal of this project is to empower scholars from groups historically marginalized in STEM by using mentored research experiences as both entry point to campus life and purposeful progression through the foundational level STEM curriculum. The program will create an intentional, continuous research path for students from first-generation, low-income, or racial/ethnic minority groups. The project will support over 36 student scholars to participate in activities that include team-based mentoring, engagement in research relationships and experiential learning, community building, professional and academic development workshops, reflection and scientific presentations, and travel to conferences. Participants will be recruited using existing partnerships with university offices that support high school and college preparatory programming for students from underserved and underrepresented groups who are interested in life sciences and related STEM majors. The two project components will be assessed through partnership with an external evaluator using frequent surveys and interviews to ensure that the components meet overall objectives. The project will also conduct social science research using in-depth interviews that follow students through their first two years in STEM majors to study the effectiveness of project interventions. In doing so, the project will investigate how students develop an understanding of the research process, science self-efficacy, science identity, and a sense of belonging. In particular, the project will study the extent to which students tie their research experiences to a sense of social agency and whether that contributes to future career trajectories. Results and developed framework on project activities will be disseminated at numerous conferences and journals to ensure broader STEM outreach.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.

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。该项目旨在通过建立和传播使用指导研究经验和关系的最佳实践来服务于国家利益，以提高科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）专业前两年服务不足和代表性不足的学生的保留率。我们迫切需要一支能够带来多种观点和经验的多元化STEM员工队伍，以应对重大的社会挑战。该项目旨在增强和鼓励来自服务不足和代表性不足群体的学生留在STEM领域。该项目将建立一个研究社区，并为来自服务不足和代表性不足群体的学生提供有偿指导研究经验，包括第一代，低收入和少数民族/种族，这些群体在STEM中一直被边缘化。在入学前的夏季研究实习将嵌入校园社区的学者，启动他们进入自己的专业，并为他们提供指导的经验，支持他们从新生到高年级学生和研究人员的过渡。该项目为学生在其专业的前两年提供的创新研究经验预计将显着改善学生的体验，并鼓励他们发展自己的STEM身份。预期成果是一个评估模型，可以在其他大学实施，目标是减少STEM中代表性和代表性不足的学生之间在第一年和第二年保留率方面存在的重大公平差距。新的研究成果预计将提高对COVID-19对代表性不足群体的学生的不成比例影响的理解，并为提高STEM专业保留率提供有效干预措施。预期的长期成果是扩大STEM劳动力的参与，以及更具包容性和公平的科学。该项目的总体目标是通过使用指导研究经验作为校园生活的切入点和通过基础级STEM课程有目的的进展，使来自STEM历史上边缘化群体的学者获得权力。该计划将为来自第一代，低收入或种族/少数民族群体的学生创造一个有意的，持续的研究路径。该项目将支持超过36名学生学者参加各种活动，包括基于团队的指导，参与研究关系和体验式学习，社区建设，专业和学术发展研讨会，反思和科学演示以及参加会议。参与者将利用与大学办公室的现有合作伙伴关系招募，这些办公室支持来自服务不足和代表性不足的群体的学生的高中和大学预备课程，这些学生对生命科学和相关的STEM专业感兴趣。将通过与外部评价人员的伙伴关系，经常进行调查和访谈，对项目的两个组成部分进行评估，以确保这两个组成部分实现总体目标。该项目还将利用深度访谈进行社会科学研究，跟踪学生在STEM专业的前两年，以研究项目干预的有效性。在这样做的过程中，该项目将调查学生如何发展的研究过程，科学自我效能，科学身份和归属感的理解。特别是，该项目将研究学生在多大程度上将他们的研究经验与社会代理感联系起来，以及这是否有助于未来的职业轨迹。该奖项反映了NSF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。