Broadening Participation, Fostering Cultural Wealth, and Increasing Student Success Through an Undergraduate Research Training Program

通过本科生研究培训计划扩大参与、培育文化财富并提高学生的成功

• 批准号: 2345290
• 负责人: William Frankino
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-07-01 至 2028-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2345290&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Broadening; Participation; Fostering; Cultural; Wealth

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project will support undergraduate students with significant financial need in biology and biochemistry at the University of Houston. Specifically, the project will engage cohorts of students in a two-semester capstone course that lays the foundation for future research experiences. Participating students will develop critical scientific and workforce skills in a welcoming environment and explore opportunities in STEM graduate education and the STEM workforce. After the capstone course, students will be placed in research labs with engaged, responsive mentors that can help them experience first-hand how science is created and communicated. The emphasis on students with financial need is critical, as lower-income individuals often face challenges that can exclude them from research opportunities and other experiences. These students are also disproportionally from populations that have been historically underrepresented in many STEM disciplines, making the project’s effort important to the larger goal of harnessing the full spectrum of talent across the nation. The primary goals of this project are to: i) increase STEM preparation, self-efficacy, and identity through a developmental training course sequence; ii) nurture students’ cultural wealth by facilitating lab placements where they can conduct research with experienced and responsive mentors; and iii) facilitate the transition to STEM careers or post-graduate study. The mixed methods project research plan will connect measures of student engagement, sense of belonging in STEM, self-efficacy, and persistence with key components of the project. Project evaluation will further explore the implementation of the project’s components and identify how the project helps participants overcome new or known barriers to their success. Findings will be shared through faculty and student presentations at professional meetings, scholarly publications, and student-centered outreach events and popular media. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.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.

在改善本科STEM教育的支持下：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划），这个轨道2项目将支持休斯顿大学生物学和生物化学方面有重大经济需求的本科生。具体来说，该项目将在两个学期的顶点课程，为未来的研究经验奠定基础的学生群体。参与的学生将在一个温馨的环境中发展关键的科学和劳动力技能，并探索STEM研究生教育和STEM劳动力的机会。在顶点课程之后，学生将被安置在研究实验室中，有参与，反应迅速的导师，可以帮助他们亲身体验科学是如何创造和传播的。 对有经济需要的学生的重视至关重要，因为低收入者经常面临挑战，可能会将他们排除在研究机会和其他经验之外。这些学生也来自历史上在许多STEM学科中代表性不足的人群，这使得该项目的努力对于利用全国各地全方位人才的更大目标至关重要。该项目的主要目标是：i）通过发展培训课程序列增加STEM准备，自我效能和身份; ii）通过促进实验室安置培养学生的文化财富，他们可以与经验丰富和反应灵敏的导师进行研究; iii）促进向STEM职业或研究生学习的过渡。混合方法项目研究计划将学生参与度，STEM归属感，自我效能感和持久性与项目的关键组成部分联系起来。 项目评价将进一步探讨项目各组成部分的执行情况，并确定项目如何帮助参与者克服阻碍其成功的新的或已知的障碍。调查结果将通过教师和学生在专业会议，学术出版物，以学生为中心的外展活动和大众媒体的演示文稿共享。该项目由HSI计划资助，旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM参与，并建立HSI的能力。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。