Achieving Upward Socio-Economic Mobility

该项目将通过支持蒙哥马利学院（Montgomery College）保留和毕业表现出经济需求的优秀低收入家庭学生，从而满足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。蒙哥马利学院是一所服务少数族裔和西班牙裔学生的机构，也是美国最多元化的社区学院之一。在为期6年的时间里，该项目将为90名攻读计算机科学、网络安全、工程和网络与无线技术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，大多数情况下为期两年。该项目将为这些奖学金提供一系列学术、同行和专业支持。此外，该项目将被设计为队列模式（提供同伴支持），为学生匹配学术导师（获得学术支持），并为实习和研究经历提供津贴（获得专业经验和网络）。该项目将有助于了解如何提高低收入人群在STEM学位道路上的毕业率、转学率和就业率。这样的理解将有助于创建一个成功的模式，将加强大学到职业道路，可扩展到其他学院和大学。该项目的成果将在扩大知识的方法方面具有重要意义，为没有大量参加STEM学习的学生提供有效和持久的财务和计划支持。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的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途的做法，进一步了解哪些干预措施可以帮助低收入学生取得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完成率；(c)根据人口统计属性及其交叉性（即民族、种族、性别、年龄、第一代学生身份）提高STEM转移率；(d)参与者对项目的措施感到满意；(e) STEM就业率和薪资有所提高和/或表示有意从事STEM职业。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、留校、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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.