Scholarships and Mentoring to Advance Retention and Training in Support of Low-income STEM Students

该项目将通过支持罗克赫斯特大学（Rockhurst University）一所位于密苏里州堪萨斯城市中心的私立文理大学的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为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做出贡献。该项目为期6年，将为20名攻读生物、化学或物理学士学位的全日制本科生提供奖学金。第一年的学生将获得长达四年的奖学金支持，转学生将获得大约两年的奖学金。该项目旨在通过采用队列模式和利用加强的学生支持机制，提高学生的成功程度。学生将受益于广泛的校友网络和行业联系，以帮助鼓励他们坚持STEM领域并加强他们的专业网络。此外，该项目的一个核心组成部分是一个以多样性、公平、包容和心理健康培训为中心的教师和同伴指导计划。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。这个项目的目标是：1)招募和招收总共20名学生，分为两组；2)通过同伴和教师指导计划增加学生对这些队列的支持；3)增加与校友和行业联系的网络联系，以促进STEM职业发展；4)提高这些队列中学生的1年保留率和4年毕业率；5)传播关于队列模型如何影响保留率、毕业率和毕业后在STEM劳动力或研究生院的安置的知识。在高等教育中，队列模型已经被成功地用于帮助学生取得成功，但往往不是为私立文科院校中代表性不足的低收入学生量身定制的，在这些院校，学费的价格往往是低收入学生的一个重大障碍。该项目将使学者受益于一个包容和支持的校园社区，这将增加毕业后坚持STEM职业的可能性。该项目还将确定教师和同伴辅导队列模型，结合其他大学支持，是否会影响生物、化学和物理学者1年的留校率和4年的毕业率。教师导师多样性、公平、包容和心理健康培训将被评估，以了解这种培训与特定学科的指导相结合，是否能对学生的成功产生积极影响，并增加他们的归属感。该项目将通过调查和其他针对学生和教师导师的既定措施进行评估。该项目的结果将在国家会议上提出，并提交同行评议期刊发表。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 Rockhurst University, a private liberal arts university located in the urban core of Kansas City, Missouri. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships for 20 full-time undergraduate students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, or physics. First year students will receive up to four-years of scholarship support and transfer students will receive approximately two-years of scholarships. The project aims to increase student success by using a cohort model and leveraging enhanced student support mechanisms. Students will benefit from an extensive network of alumni and industry contacts to help encourage persistence in STEM fields and strengthen their professional network. In addition, a central component of the project is a faculty and peer mentoring program centered on diversity, equity, inclusion, and mental health training. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The objectives of this project are to: 1) recruit and enroll 20 total students into two cohorts, 2) increase student support in these cohorts with a peer and faculty mentoring program, 3) increase network connections with alumni and industry contacts to promote STEM careers, 4) increase 1-year retention and 4-year graduation rates for students in these cohorts, and 5) disseminate knowledge on how the cohort model impacts retention, graduation, and post-graduation placement in STEM workforce or graduate school. Cohort models have been successfully used in higher education to help students succeed but often are not tailored for low-income students from underrepresented populations at private liberal arts institutions, where the price of tuition is often a significant barrier for low-income students. This program will allow scholars to benefit from an inclusive and supportive campus community which will increase the likelihood of persistence in STEM careers after graduation. This project will also identify if a faculty and peer mentoring cohort model, combined with other university supports, impacts 1-year retention and 4-year graduation rates for biology, chemistry, and physics scholars. The faculty mentor diversity, equity, inclusion, and mental health training will be assessed to understand if this training, combined with discipline-specific mentoring, can positively impact students' success, and increase their sense of belonging. The project will be evaluated using surveys and other established measures for both students and faculty mentors. Results of this project will be presented at national meetings and submitted for publication in peer reviewed journals. 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.