Achieving Upward Socio-Economic Mobility

该项目将有助于国家需要受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员，通过支持高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，证明在蒙哥马利学院，一个少数民族服务和西班牙裔服务机构和全国最多样化的社区学院之一的经济需要。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）网络无线技术副学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。学生每年将获得平均12，000美元的奖学金，大多数情况下为期两年。该项目将结合一系列的学术，同行和专业支持与这些奖学金。此外，该项目将被设计为一个群组模式（以提供同行支持），为学生匹配学术导师（以提供学术支持），并为实习和研究经验提供津贴（以获得专业经验和建立联系）。该项目将有助于了解如何提高低收入个人在STEM学位路径中的毕业，转移和就业率。这种理解将有助于创建一个成功的模式，该模式将加强大学到可扩展到其他学院和大学的职业途径。该项目的成果将在扩大知识的方式提供有效和持久的财政和程序支持的学生谁没有大量参与STEM学习是显着的。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生与证明经济需要完成STEM学位。该项目将在美国最多样化的社区学院之一测试基于证据和有前途的做法，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一个职业管道。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）提高按人口特征及其交叉性分列的STEM转移率，即，（d）参与者对项目举措的积极满意度;（e）提高了STEM就业率和工资和/或表达了追求STEM职业的意愿。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 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.