Expanding the Scientific Workforce in the Rural Regions of the Greater South Through Scholarships, Belonging, and Community Investment

通过奖学金、归属感和社区投资扩大大南方农村地区的科学劳动力

• 批准号: 2322521
• 负责人: Laura MacDonald
• 金额: $ 250万
• 依托单位: Hendrix College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-01 至 2030-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322521&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Expanding; Scientific; Workforce; Rural; Regions

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 Hendrix College. Hendrix College is a liberal arts college situated in central Arkansas and primarily serves students in the rural regions of the South. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 28 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, biochemistry & molecular biology, chemistry, chemical physics, computer science, mathematics, and physics. Eligible first-year students will receive four-year scholarships to attend Hendrix College and pursue the STEM disciplines. In addition to receiving scholarships, students will engage closely with faculty mentors and each other in shared coursework, participate in a peer mentoring program designed to foster a sense of belonging and engagement in the sciences, receive internship and research opportunities, converse with professional scientists, and undertake a STEM-themed community project. In partnership with the Arkansas Innovation Hub, scholarship program participants will design and execute a project that addresses student-identified community challenges. Students will leverage their scientific skill sets and connections to the rural places of the South to consider how they can contribute to the innovation economy in their communities to bolster infrastructure and other scientific needs in the region. This project seeks to advance the understanding of strategies to retain talented scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians in areas of the country that most need their skill sets. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There are four specific aims: 1) Recruit, retain, and graduate 3 cohorts of low-income students with a baccalaureate degree in the scientific disciplines, 2) Evaluate the effectiveness of a science-based community project in helping scholars develop a professional scientific identity tied to civic engagement in a rural context, 3) Expand engagement of faculty with students from underserved backgrounds, and 4) Evaluate the effectiveness of a deep teaching professional development program emphasizing growth mindset in changing faculty mindsets and approaches about teaching and mentoring. The project seeks to expand what is known about teaching and mentoring approaches that best engage students from rural and low-income backgrounds in the scientific endeavor and determine how to retain them in their local communities following training. Prior research demonstrates that faculty are major determinants of whether students from limited economic backgrounds persist in the scientific disciplines, and those that take a growth mindset about students, positively impact persistence. Deep teaching professional development is an intensive, reflective approach that can lead to overall mindset changes, but little is known about its efficacy when combined with growth mindset training. Additionally, development of a scientific identity is critical to persistence in the scientific disciplines, but few studies have addressed how to develop an identity that is tied to civic engagement in a rural context. The project will investigate how a deep teaching professional development experience designed to enhance growth mindset in faculty affects their approaches to teaching, advising, and mentoring. It will also evaluate how having a faculty mentor trained in growth mindset in the first year of matriculation impacts feelings of belonging, self-efficacy, and resilience. Finally, it will investigate how participation in a science-based community project impacts identity, self-efficacy, civic engagement, and resilience. This project has the potential to advance understanding of how to support and retain talented trained individuals in the scientific workforce in the rural areas of the country that require innovative scientific solutions. This project will be evaluated using a mixed method approach that measures growth mindset, a sense of belonging, resilience, and civic engagement. Results of this project will be made available to diverse stakeholders at multiple levels of organization on the Hendrix campus, state-wide, and nationally. Specifically, results will be disseminated to Arkansas secondary and postsecondary educators and members of state legislature to raise important issues that impact the state. 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.

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，证明在亨德里克斯学院的经济需要。亨德里克斯学院（Hendrix College）是一所位于阿肯色州中部的文理学院，主要为南方农村地区的学生提供服务。在6年的时间里，该项目将为28名攻读生物学、生物化学、分子生物学、化学、化学物理、计算机科学、数学和物理学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。符合条件的一年级学生将获得为期四年的奖学金，参加亨德里克斯学院和追求干学科。除了获得奖学金，学生将与教师导师和彼此在共享的课程密切合作，参加旨在培养归属感和参与科学的同伴指导计划，获得实习和研究机会，与专业科学家匡威，并进行STEM主题的社区项目。与阿肯色州创新中心合作，奖学金计划的参与者将设计和执行一个项目，解决学生确定的社区挑战。学生将利用他们的科学技能和与南方农村地区的联系，考虑如何为社区的创新经济做出贡献，以加强该地区的基础设施和其他科学需求。该项目旨在促进对战略的理解，以在该国最需要他们技能的地区留住有才华的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员。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。有四个具体目标：1）招募，保留和毕业3组低收入学生在科学学科的学士学位，2）评估科学为基础的社区项目的有效性，帮助学者发展一个专业的科学身份与公民参与在农村背景下，3）扩大教师与来自服务不足背景的学生的参与，以及4）评估一个深入的教学专业发展计划的有效性，该计划强调在改变教师的心态和教学与辅导方法方面的成长心态。该项目旨在扩大已知的教学和指导方法，这些方法最能吸引来自农村和低收入背景的学生参与科学奋进，并确定如何在培训后将他们留在当地社区。先前的研究表明，教师是经济背景有限的学生是否坚持科学学科的主要决定因素，而那些对学生有成长心态的学生，对坚持有积极影响。深度教学专业发展是一种密集的，反思性的方法，可以导致整体心态的变化，但很少有人知道它的功效时，结合成长型思维训练。此外，科学身份的发展是坚持科学学科的关键，但很少有研究已经解决了如何发展的身份，是在农村背景下的公民参与。该项目将调查旨在增强教师成长心态的深入教学专业发展经验如何影响他们的教学、咨询和指导方法。它还将评估如何在入学的第一年有一个在成长思维训练的教师导师影响归属感，自我效能感和韧性。最后，它将调查参与科学为基础的社区项目如何影响身份，自我效能，公民参与和韧性。该项目有可能促进了解如何支持和留住该国农村地区需要创新科学解决方案的科学劳动力中训练有素的人才。该项目将使用混合方法进行评估，该方法衡量成长心态，归属感，复原力和公民参与。该项目的结果将提供给亨德里克斯校园，全州和全国各级组织的不同利益相关者。具体而言，调查结果将分发给阿肯色州中学和中学后教育工作者以及州议会成员，以提出影响该州的重要问题。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。