Improving Recruitment, Retention, and Graduation in STEM for Low-Income Students in Central Pennsylvania

该项目将通过支持宾夕法尼亚联邦大学（一所公立的、广泛入学的、以本科为主的大学）保留和毕业成绩优异的低收入家庭学生，从而满足全国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。该项目为期6年，将为38名攻读生物学、化学、计算机科学、数字取证和网络安全、工程学、地球科学、数学和物理学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得长达四年的奖学金支持。该项目将通过学术、社会和专业支持的结合来提高学生的毅力，包括第一年的学习社区、教师指导、同伴辅导、早期服务学习研究机会、专业经验资助、主要成功地图、第一年研讨会和职业咨询。该项目的主要影响是持续改进英联邦的STEM学生招聘和支持系统，以及更好地了解有针对性的学生成功措施对STEM学生保留的影响。由于联邦大学主要服务于农村和低收入地区，该项目有可能扩大STEM学科的参与，并有利于宾夕法尼亚州中北部和美国科技劳动力的经济发展。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。为了实现这一目标，项目团队将追求三个具体目标。首先，与2022-23年相比，将STEM学科的低收入学生入学率提高10%。二是保留一至二年级92%的项目学者，三是4年内83%的项目学者毕业。该项目将通过首先研究诸如第一年研讨会、主要成功地图、专业经验补助和服务学习等工具对低收入学生在STEM学科中的成功的影响，填补对特定学生成功措施影响的理解的关键空白，这些工具通过2年保留率、DFWI%和4年和6年毕业率等指标来衡量。接下来，该项目将通过调查这些工具对提高留校率和毕业率（如自我效能感、归属感和学科认同）相关的社会心理结构的影响，探索这些工具如何改善学生的成绩。第三，也是最后一点，该项目将发展对活动的理解，这些活动可用于在多个校区建立群体凝聚力。本项目将采用基于机构研究、访谈、调查和焦点小组信息的混合方法进行评估。将通过在STEM教育和学科会议上的演讲、在适当的教育和学科期刊上发表文章以及专门的项目网页，与当地、区域和国家的受众分享经验教训和最佳做法。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 Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, a public, broad access, primarily undergraduate institution. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 38 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity, Engineering, Geosciences, Mathematics, and Physics. First-year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project will improve student persistence through a combination of academic, social, and professional supports including a first-year learning community, faculty mentoring, peer tutoring, early service-learning research opportunities, professional experience grants, major success maps, first-year seminars, and career counseling. The key impacts of this project are persistent improvements to STEM student recruitment and support systems at Commonwealth and a better understanding of the impact of targeted student success measures on scholar retention in STEM. Because Commonwealth University serves a primarily rural and low-income region, this project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM disciplines and benefit economic development in north central Pennsylvania and the U.S. Science and Technology workforce.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Towards this goal the project team will pursue three specific objectives. First, is to increase matriculation of low-income students in STEM disciplines by 10% compared to 2022-23. Second, is to retain 92% of project scholars from first- to second-year, and third, is to graduate 83% of project scholars in 4 years. This project will fill critical gaps in the understanding of the impacts of specific student success measures by first studying the effect of tools such as first year seminars, major success maps, professional experience grants, and service-learning on low income student success in STEM disciplines, as measured by metrics such 2-year retention rates, DFWI%, and 4- and 6-year graduation rates. Next, the project will explore how these tools improve student outcomes by investigating their effects on psycho-social constructs associated with increased retention and graduation such as self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and disciplinary identity. Third, and lastly, the project will develop understanding of activities that can be used to build cohort cohesion across multiple campuses. This project will be evaluated using a mixed-methods approach built on information from institutional research, interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Lessons learned and best practices will be shared with local, regional, and national audiences through presentations at STEM education and disciplinary conferences, publication in appropriate education and disciplinary journals, and a dedicated project webpage. 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.