Providing Aid to Support STEM Success for Talented, Low-Income Students

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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 California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB). CSUB carries designations as both a Minority-Serving Institution and Hispanic-Serving Institution. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships of up to $15,000 per year to 54 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, engineering, engineering sciences, geology, mathematics, and/or physics. Lower-division students will receive up to five years of scholarships and upper-division students will receive up to three years of scholarships. This project aims to improve retention and persistence rates, improve graduation rates, and support student success. Supports for scholars include mentoring, career development activities, internship opportunities, undergraduate research opportunities, graduate school preparation, networking events, and workshops on academic success, and mental health and wellness. CSUB serves communities with low academic engagement and high poverty rates, so this project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM fields. This project will further CSUB’s mission of providing high-quality and impactful degree programs, laying the foundation for scholars to engage in STEM careers or graduate school after they obtain their degree.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There are two specific goals for the project. Goal 1: Increase the retention and persistence rates of supported scholars and eliminate achievement gaps for low-income students. Goal 2: Increase scholars' graduation rates and facilitate their post-graduation entry into either STEM careers or a STEM graduate program. The project will be evaluated using result-based accountability based on each scholar’s academic progress, surveys and interviews with scholars, and feedback from the faculty mentors. This project has the potential to advance understanding of models for retention, success, mentorship, and enrichment of STEM undergraduate students and project outcomes will be widely disseminated through a project website at CSUB, conference presentations, and journal articles. 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.