Community, Identity, and Competence: Supporting Low-Income Students in Computing and the Data Sciences at the University of Connecticut

该项目将有助于满足地区和国家对计算机和数据科学毕业生的需求，并将提高康涅狄格大学（UConn）这些专业的低收入和第一代学生的保留率和毕业率。在6年的资助期间，将为三组学生提供服务，在项目生命周期内总共有28名S-STEM学者。参与该项目的学生将作为一年级学生参加一门介绍性的支持课程。在教师和同伴导师的帮助下，学者们将提高他们的研究经验，职业准备和创业精神；所有这些都将导致积极的毕业后成果，包括全职工作或研究生学习。该项目有可能扩大更多学生接受高等教育的机会，也将为支持STEM专业学生的学习项目提供知识和最佳实践。通过与雇用计算和数据科学专业学生的本地和区域公司合作，该项目还促进了学术界和工业界之间的伙伴关系，并支持本地和国家在计算和数据科学领域的劳动力发展努力，这些领域对国家利益至关重要。该项目将从康涅狄格大学两所学院的八个专业招募符合条件的学生，并让他们参与高质量的项目，旨在提高保留率和毕业率，建立社区，促进STEM身份，并通过体验式学习机会培养学生的能力。被选为S-STEM学者的学生将参与由pi开发的各种编程。文理学院（CLAS）、工程学院（SOE）和学生成功研究所（ISS）将共同努力，并在文献方面打下坚实的基础，重点关注三个基础活动：队列组建、基于学科的探索和学术支持以及指导。这些活动反过来又支持了该项目旨在向其S-STEM学者灌输的三个核心价值观：社区、身份和能力。队列形成的核心是S-STEM学生成功课程，该课程形成了与S-STEM学者早期接触的框架。本课程将建立S-STEM学者作为一个群体，并支持学生的社区和身份发展。这些学者将通过研究机会、实习或合作项目以及毕业后的准备，探索不同的途径和技能发展，所有这些都将培养学生作为STEM从业者的能力。所有这些活动都通过电子档案进行记录，支持学生构建他们的知识和身份，同时为项目评估和知识生成提供强大的工具。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 regional and national need for graduates in computing and data science and will increase both the retention and graduation rates for low-income and first-generation students in these majors at the University of Connecticut (UConn). Over the 6-year duration of the grant, three cohorts of students will be served, for a total of 28 S-STEM scholars over the project lifetime. Students in the project will participate in an introductory support course as first-year students. With the help of faculty and peer mentors, scholars will improve their research experiences, career readiness, and entrepreneurship; all of which will lead to positive post-graduation outcomes, including full-time employment or post-graduate studies. This project has the potential to expand access to higher education to a broad group of students and will also generate knowledge and best practices in supporting STEM majors in their programs of study. By partnering with local and regional companies that hire computing and data science majors, this project also fosters partnerships between academia and industry and supports the local and national workforce development efforts in computing and data sciences, areas critical to the national interest.This project will recruit eligible students from eight majors across two schools at UConn and engage them in high-quality programming designed to improve retention and graduation rates, build community, promote STEM identity, and develop students’ competence through experiential learning opportunities. Students selected as S-STEM Scholars will engage with a variety of programming developed by the PIs. Working together and with a strong foundation in the literature, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), the School of Engineering (SOE), and the Institute for Student Success (ISS) will focus on three foundational activities: Cohort Formation, Discipline-Based Exploration and Academic Support, and Mentoring. These activities in turn support the three core values the project aims to instill in its S-STEM Scholars: Community, Identity, and Competence. At the heart of cohort formation is the S-STEM Student Success course that forms the framework of early engagement with S-STEM Scholars. This course will establish the S-STEM Scholars as a cohort and support students’ development of community and identity. The scholars will explore different pathways and skills development through research opportunities, internships or co-ops, and post-graduation preparation, all of which develop students’ competencies as STEM practitioners. All of these activities are documented via an e-portfolio that supports students’ construction of their knowledge and identity, while providing a robust tool for program evaluation and knowledge generation. 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.