Scholars of Excellence in Engineering Design

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，低收入的学生在得克萨斯州州立大学证明经济需要的保留和毕业。德克萨斯州立大学是一所西班牙裔服务机构，其位于德克萨斯州圣马科斯的校园位于从奥斯汀延伸到圣安东尼奥的快速发展的创新走廊的中心。在六年的时间里，该项目将为38名正在攻读以下工程专业之一的学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金：土木工程，电气工程，工业工程，制造工程或机械工程。第一次上大学的学生将获得长达四年的奖学金。此外，该项目还将包括早期和经常让学生参与队列建设，工程身份形成，重要专业技能发展以及接触工程专业的活动。特别是，该项目将包括教师导师的培训，在学生到达校园之前开始的个性化学生辅导，基于队列的专业学习社区，允许学生相互支持，以及一系列专注于产品设计和开发过程的研讨会，行业合作教育经验，以及本科生研究机会。如果所提出的方法是成功的，它可能是有用的，在学术机构的STEM项目，希望支持低收入家庭的学生在他们的本科教育证明经济需要。鉴于德州州立大学所服务的学生的人口统计数据，成功留住和毕业的工程专业学生可以转化为区域和国家工程职业领域的多样性增加，最终建立更广泛的社会能力，以公平和可持续的方式解决当今最复杂的设计和系统问题。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。当这些有才华的学生报名参加工程项目时，他们往往觉得自己不“属于”工程，因为他们的经济状况，他们的数学和科学准备，缺乏家庭支持或指导，以及缺乏分享他们文化背景的工程榜样。该项目将使用一个全面的支持系统，旨在充分整合，集中和激励这些学生，帮助他们实现自己的学术潜力，培养他们对工程专业的归属感，并发展专业技能。一系列的产品设计和开发研讨会以及参与工业合作教育经验的可能性将使学生能够将他们在课程中所学的内容与工程专业的实践方面联系起来。预计后者将提高他们的动力和坚持程度完成。参与研究经验的机会将使学生能够考虑在获得学士学位后攻读研究生课程的可能性。该项目的有效性将通过跟踪奖学金获得者的学习成绩，留存率和毕业率来评估。此外，还将通过调查确定项目活动在提高学生对工程专业的归属感、工程设计的自我效能和专业技能发展方面的影响。一名外部评估员将定期进行项目评估，并提供反馈和改进建议。项目结果将通过同行评审的文章和会议报告传播。此外，项目信息和结果将提交给所涉及的每个工程项目的工业咨询委员会，并将根据要求通过德克萨斯州州立大学的数字收藏库提供给感兴趣的STEM教师。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，有学术天赋的学生的数量，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 Texas State University. Texas State University is a Hispanic Serving Institution, and its campus in San Marcos, Texas, is at the center of a rapidly growing innovation corridor that extends from Austin to San Antonio. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to thirty-eight unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in one of the following engineering majors: Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering. First-time-in-college students will receive up to four years of scholarship. In addition, the project will include activities that engage students early and often in cohort building, engineering identity formation, the development of important professional skills, and exposure to the engineering profession. In particular, the project will include training for faculty mentors, individualized student mentoring that starts before students arrive on campus, cohort-based professional learning communities that allow students to support each other, and a sequence of workshops focusing on the product design and development process, cooperative education experiences in industry, and undergraduate research opportunities. If the proposed approach is successful, it could be useful for STEM programs at academic institutions that want to support low-income students with demonstrated financial need during their undergraduate education. Given the demographics of the students served by Texas State University, success in retaining and graduating engineering students could translate into increased diversity in regional and national engineering career fields, which ultimately builds the broader society’s capacity to solve today’s most complex design and systems problems in ways that are equitable and sustainable. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. When these talented students enroll in engineering programs, they often feel they do not “belong” in engineering because of their financial situation, their math and science preparation, the absence of family support or mentoring, and the lack of engineering role models who share their cultural backgrounds. The project will use a comprehensive system of supports aimed at fully integrating, centering, and motivating these students to help them achieve their academic potential, foster their sense of belonging to the engineering profession, and develop professional skills. A sequence of product design and development workshops and the possibility to participate in cooperative education experiences in industry will allow students to connect what they are learning in their courses with the practical aspects of the engineering profession. The latter is expected to increase their motivation and persistence to degree completion. Opportunities to participate in research experiences will allow students to consider the possibility of pursuing graduate studies after obtaining their bachelor’s degree. The effectiveness of the project will be evaluated by tracking the scholarship recipients’ academic performance, retention rate, and graduation rate. In addition, surveys will be used to determine the impact of project activities in increasing student sense of belonging to the engineering profession, self-efficacy in engineering design, and professional skill development. An external evaluator will conduct periodic project assessments and provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. Project results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed articles and conference presentations. In addition, project information and results will be presented to the Industrial Advisory Boards of each of the engineering programs involved and will be made available upon request to interested STEM faculty members via Texas State University’s Digital Collections Repository. 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.