Achieving Upward Socio-Economic Mobility

该项目将通过支持蒙哥马利学院保留和毕业高成就的低收入学生来促进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。蒙哥马利学院是一家服务于少数族裔和拉美裔美国人的机构，也是美国最多元化的社区学院之一。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为90名正在攻读1)计算机科学、2)网络安全、3)工程和4)网络与无线技术专业副学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。学生将获得平均每年12,000美元的奖学金，在大多数情况下为期两年。该项目将与这些奖学金相结合，提供一系列学术、同行和专业支持。此外，该项目将被设计为一个队列模式(提供同行支持)，为学生与学术导师配对(用于学术支持)，并为实习和研究经验提供津贴(用于专业经验和网络)。该项目将有助于理解如何提高低收入个人STEM学位路径的毕业率、转校率和就业率。这样的理解将有助于创造一种成功的模式，这种模式将加强大学到职业生涯的道路，并可扩展到其他学院和大学。该项目的成果将对扩大如何为大量没有参加STEM学习的学生提供有效和持久的财政和方案支持方面具有重要意义。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成率。该项目将在美国最多元化的社区学院之一测试基于证据和有前景的做法，进一步了解哪些干预措施有助于低收入学生成功并坚持他们的学位课程，同时继续为低收入和代表性不足的个人建立通往STEM职业生涯的职业管道。该项目的预期成果是：(A)提高保留率；(B)提高副学士学位毕业率；(C)按人口特征及其交叉性，即族裔、种族、性别、年龄、第一代学生身份，提高STEM转校率；(D)参与者对项目倡议积极满意；和(E)提高STEM就业率和工资，和/或表示有意从事STEM职业。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 Montgomery College, a a Minority-Serving and Hispanic-Serving Institution and one of the most diverse community colleges in the nation. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 90 unique full-time students who are pursuing associate degrees in 1) Computer Science, 2) Cybersecurity, 3) Engineering, and 4) Networking & Wireless Technologies. Students will receive an average scholarship of $12,000 per year, in most cases for two years. The project will couple an array of academic, peer, and professional supports with these scholarships. In addition, the project will be designed as a cohort model (to provide peer support), match students with academic mentors (for academic support) and provide stipends for internships and research experiences (for professional experience and networking). The project will contribute to an understanding of how to increase graduation, transfer, and employment rates in STEM degree paths for low-income individuals. Such understanding will help to create a successful model that will reinforce college to career pathways that is scalable to other colleges and universities. The outcomes of this project will be significant in expanding knowledge of ways to provide effective and lasting financial and programmatic support for students who have not participated in STEM learning in large numbers.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project will test evidence-based and promising practices at one of the nation’s most diverse community colleges, furthering an understanding of which interventions help low-income students to succeed and persist in their degree programs, while continuing to build a career pipeline to STEM careers for low-income and underrepresented individuals. The expected outcomes of the project are: (a) improved retention rates; (b) improved associate degree graduation completion rates; (c) improved STEM transfer rates by demographic attributes and their intersectionality, i.e., ethnicity, race, gender, age, first-generation student status; (d) positive satisfaction with the project's initiatives among participants; and (e) improved STEM employment rates and salaries and/or expressed intention to pursue STEM careers. 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.