Scholarships, Academic, and Social Supports to Provide Low-Income Transfers Students Opportunities for Nurtured Growth in AI

该项目将通过支持中佛罗里达大学(UCF)有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，为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做出贡献。作为美国最大的大学之一，加州大学学院是招收转校生的前三名大学之一，并被公认为拉美裔服务机构。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为50名正在攻读计算机科学、计算机视觉、计算机工程、数据分析和统计与数据科学等人工智能(AI)领域理科学士(BS)或理科硕士(MS)学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。有了理学士+理科硕士课程，这些学生中的许多人将能够在完成理科学士学位后的12个月内完成理科硕士学位的学习。所有奖学金获得者将以转校生的身份进入该项目，并将获得支持直至毕业。这些学生正处于学术生涯的关键阶段，而此时各种障碍最有可能导致学生重新考虑自己的道路，变得容易受到自然流失的影响。每个项目参与者都会得到一名教师导师和一名同行导师，前者在他/她的研究领域拥有专业知识，后者即将毕业，获得该领域的学位。当学生在一所新机构探索未知领域并开始挑战课程时，导师充当学生的个人指导。奖学金提供了专注于学习的自由，而不是寻找支付费用的额外负担。总之，奖学金、导师和志同道合的学生社区的支持，承诺减少学生面临的障碍，保持他们对自己学习领域的兴趣，并激励他们在学业上出类拔萃。学生将被简化为现有的研究小组或工业实习或REU，稍后将用于将符合条件的学生投入劳动力大军。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的学生的STEM学位完成率。该项目的具体目标是(I)确保学者在第一年后继续留任，(Ii)确保学者在高需求的人工智能领域坚持并完成学士学位，以及(Iii)大幅增加人工智能领域的硕士学位数量。为了达到项目目标，我们将(A)为转学学生提供强烈的归属感，并确立他们作为人工智能学者的身份；(B)通过辅导和高级课程工作，培养学者对人工智能的熟练程度，并具有研究和实习的潜力；以及(C)在经济支持下，为完成硕士学位提供明确的途径。预期结果是超过第一年的保留率为90%，实习或研究项目的参与率为90%，人工智能领域的MS学位项目的录取率为60%。为确保该项目继续走在实现其目标的轨道上，一名外部评估员将监测选拔和招聘过程，以及毕业率和保留率，以及学生和导师活动。计划结果将通过计划网页、会议报告和文章发布进行传播。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 the University of Central Florida (UCF). As one of the largest universities in the nation, UCF is among the top three institutions enrolling transfer students and is recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to fifty unique full-time students who are pursuing Bachelor of Science (BS) or Master of Science (MS) degrees in the artificial intelligence (AI) fields of Computer Science, Computer Vision, Computer Engineering, Data Analytics, and Statistics & Data Science. With BS+MS programs in place, many of these students will be able to complete an MS degree in just 12 months after completion of a BS degree. All scholarship recipients will enter the program as transfer students entering the university and will receive support until graduation. These students are at a critical phase in their academic careers, at a time when obstacles of many varieties have the greatest potential to cause students to reconsider their paths, becoming vulnerable to attrition. Each program participant is given a faculty mentor, who has expertise in his/her field of study, and a peer mentor, who is near graduation for a degree in that field. The mentors serve as a personal guides for the student as he/she navigates unknown territory at a new institution and begins challenging coursework. Scholarships provide freedom to focus on studies, without the additional burden of finding ways to pay for it. Altogether, the support of a scholarship, a mentor, and a community of like-minded students, promises to reduce the obstacles students face, keep them interested in their field of study, and motivate them to excel academically. Students will be streamlined into existing research groups or industrial internships or REUs, which will later be used to place qualified students into the workforce.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving students with demonstrated financial need. The specific aims of the project are to (i) ensure scholars are retained past the first year, (ii) ensure scholars persist and complete a BS degree in high-need fields of AI, and (iii) substantially increase the number of MS degrees in AI fields. To achieve the project goals, we will (a) provide transfer students a strong sense of belonging and establish their identities as AI scholars, (b) develop scholars’ proficiency in AI through mentoring and advanced coursework, with potential for research and internships, and (c) provide clear pathways to MS degree completion with financial support. The expected outcomes are 90% retention rate past the first year, 90% participation rate in internships or research projects, and 60% acceptance rate into MS degree programs in AI fields. To ensure the project remains on track for achieving its goals, an external evaluator will monitor the selection and recruitment process, along with graduation and retention rates, as well as student and mentor activities. Program results will be disseminated through the program webpage, reports at conferences and article publication. 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.