Removing the Disparity in Success-Related Outcomes Between Academically Talented Low-Income Engineering Students and Other Engineering Students

该项目将有助于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要，通过支持在伊利诺伊大学芝加哥，一个联邦指定的研究密集型机构，是美国种族最多样化的大学之一，表现出经济需要的高成就，低收入的学生的保留和毕业。在五年的时间里，该项目将为51名攻读工程或计算机科学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生和转学生将获得四年的奖学金支持。该项目将利用伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校（UIC）工程学院的现有课程，并纳入活动，其中包括整个本科教育的队列建设和培养，与教师，同行和行业合作伙伴的三管齐下的指导计划，通过有保证的带薪实习计划，高级准备课程和设计项目的专业实习。该项目的直接影响将是参与的学者和未来的工程师。此外，该项目有可能影响部门方案和政策。UIC在可持续项目的实施和发展方面处于独特的地位，将模拟这些做法如何在研究密集型的其他机构中采用，有很大一部分转学生，或者是少数民族服务机构。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。为了实现这一目标，团队将专注于几个项目目标。一是提高一年留存率。第二个目标是提高六年制毕业率。第三是提高毕业生在毕业后六个月内获得与专业相关的工作机会/研究生学习录取的比例。多种研究方法将被用来推进如何从低收入背景的高成就的工程专业学生在他们的时间在UIC开发他们的工程身份的理解，以及什么是转学生的时间在UIC影响工程身份发展的普遍方面。除了为符合佩尔资格的学生提供更高的财政支持外，该项目的制度化组成部分还将产生涟漪反应，影响所有UIC工程专业学生的成功。该项目由一组多元化的教师组成，他们在各种工程和计算机科学学科，教育和跨学科社会科学方面具有协同专业知识。该团队计划使用多种方法评估该项目，包括调查形式的定量方法和访谈形式的定性方法。传播计划确保成果将在各级共享，包括部门，学院管理，国家工程教育委员会，会议，期刊和公众通过一个专门的网站。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。

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 the University of Illinois Chicago, a federally designated research-intensive institution that is among the most ethnically diverse universities in the United States. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 51 unique full-time students, who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in engineering or computer science. First-year students and transfer students will receive four years of scholarship support. The project will leverage available programs in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and incorporate activities, which include cohort building and nurturing throughout the undergraduate education, a three-pronged mentoring program with faculty, peers, and industry partners, a professional practicum through a guaranteed paid internship program, senior preparation course, and a design project. The direct impact of the project will be on the participating scholars and future engineers. In addition, the project has the potential to impact departmental programs and policies. UIC is in a unique position in that implementation and development of a sustainable project will model how these practices may be adopted at other institutions that are research intensive, have a significant portion of transfer students, or are minority serving institutions. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. To achieve this goal, the team will focus on several project objectives. The first is to increase the one-year retention rate. The second objective is to increase the six-year graduation rate. The third is to increase the percentage of graduates with a major-related job offer/graduate study admission within six months of graduation. Multiple research methods will be used to advance the understanding of how high-achieving engineering students from low-income backgrounds develop their engineering identity during their time at UIC, and what are the prevalent aspects of a transfer student’s time at UIC that impact engineering identity development. In addition to providing higher financial support to Pell-eligible students, the institutionalized components of the project will have ripple effects that can impact the success of all UIC engineering students. The project consists of a diverse group of faculty members with synergistic expertise in the various engineering and computer science disciplines, education, and interdisciplinary social sciences. The team plans to evaluate the project using multiple methods including quantitative methods in the form of surveys and qualitative methods in the form of interviews. The dissemination plan ensures that results will be shared at various levels, which includes departments, college administration, national engineering education committees, conferences, journals, and the public via a dedicated website. 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.