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

该项目将通过支持伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校（一所联邦政府指定的研究密集型机构，也是美国种族最多样化的大学之一）保留和毕业表现出经济需求的优秀低收入学生，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。在为期五年的时间里，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，并将活动纳入其中，包括在整个本科教育中建立和培养队列，与教师，同行和行业合作伙伴进行三管齐下的指导计划，通过有保障的带薪实习计划进行专业实习，高级准备课程和设计项目。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计划和政策。UIC的独特之处在于，可持续项目的实施和发展将为其他研究密集型、有大量转学生或少数族裔服务机构如何采用这些做法树立榜样。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。为了实现这个目标，团队将关注几个项目目标。首先是提高一年的保留率。第二个目标是提高六年毕业率。三是提高毕业生在毕业后6个月内获得专业相关工作/研究生入学的比例。将使用多种研究方法来促进对低收入背景的高成就工程专业学生在UIC期间如何发展他们的工程身份的理解，以及在UIC期间影响工程身份发展的转学生的普遍方面是什么。除了为符合佩尔资格的学生提供更高的经济支持外，该项目的制度化组成部分将产生连锁反应，影响所有UIC工程专业学生的成功。该项目由一群不同的教师组成，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的专业知识。研究小组计划采用调查形式的定量方法和访谈形式的定性方法等多种方法对项目进行评价。传播计划确保成果将通过专门的网站在各个层面上共享，包括系、学院行政、国家工程教育委员会、会议、期刊和公众。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 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.