Southwest Ohio Scholars: (Re)defining Academic Belonging for Computer Science Students and Families

该项目将有助于对受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员的国家需求，通过支持高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，证明经济需要在辛辛那提大学（UC）。在六年的时间里，该项目将为36名攻读计算机科学（CS）学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。第一年的学生将获得四年的奖学金。西南俄亥俄州学者计划（SOSP）的目标是吸引，留住和支持低收入的本科生在CS在加州大学，高等教育在辛辛那提最古老的机构，超过44，000名学生的招生。与该大学为CS学生提供的强制性合作项目相结合，预计这些学者将有足够的财力完成他们的学术生涯。预计共有36名独特的奖学金获得者将在CS领域共同服务。该计划将涉及夏季定向和桥梁计划的家庭，以更好地了解如何支持他们的学生的成功。该计划旨在重点提供学术，财务和社会支持，以帮助这些学生在学业上取得成功，并最终进入劳动力市场，成为下一代计算机科学领导者。最终目标是为CS学生营造一个支持性和包容性的环境，增强CS劳动力管道，并在更广泛的STEM社区中产生积极影响。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生与证明财政需要完成STEM学位。该计划的三个主要目标是：（1）在UC的CS专业招收36名学者，（2）提高SOSP学者的第一年保留率，以及（3）提高SOSP学者的6年毕业率。该项目旨在加强部门的文化，加强归属感，并将家庭作为大学社区的一部分。该项目侧重于兴趣培养过程的主要驱动因素：自我效能、结果预期和愿望目标。数据收集将遵循短期和长期的时间表，以提供一个纵向记录如何建议的干预措施对SOSP学者的表现，从他们的第一年到毕业的影响。该项目有可能为STEM领域的教育研究做出贡献。项目团队计划进行三项研究，探讨来自低收入家庭的学生如何发展和维持他们对计算机的兴趣，以及什么情况和背景促使这些学生坚持并在计算机领域取得成功。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。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术成功，保留，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价值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 University of Cincinnati (UC). Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 36 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science (CS). The first-year students will receive 4-year scholarships. The goal of the Southwest Ohio Scholars Program (SOSP) is to attract, retain, and support low-income undergraduate students in CS at the UC, the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati with an enrollment of over 44,000 students. Paired with the university's mandatory co-op program for CS students, the scholars are anticipated to have the financial resources to complete their academic careers. A total of 36 unique scholarship recipients are anticipated to be served all together in the field of CS. The program will involve families in the summer orientation and bridge program to better understand how to support their student's success. This initiative seeks to focus on providing academic, financial, and social support to help these students succeed in their studies and eventually enter the workforce as the next generation of computer science leaders. The ultimate goal is to foster a supportive and inclusive environment for CS students, enhance the CS workforce pipeline, and drive positive impacts in the broader STEM community. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The program’s three main objectives are: (1) to enroll 36 scholars in UC’s CS major, (2) to increase first-year retention rates for SOSP scholars, and (3) to increase 6-year graduation rates for SOSP scholars. The project intends to strengthen the culture of the department, bolster attitudes of belonging as well as include families as part of the university community. The project focuses on the primary drivers of an interest-building process: self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and goals of aspiration. Data collection will follow a short-term and long-term schedule to provide a longitudinal record of how the effects of the proposed interventions on SOSP scholars' performance from their first year to graduation. This project has the potential to contribute to educational research in STEM fields. The project team plans to conduct three studies to explore how students from low-income families develop and sustain their interests in CS and what circumstances and contexts motivate these students to persist and succeed in the CS field. 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.