HSI Implementation and Evaluation Project: Integrated Networking, Scholarship, and Peer Mentoring of Freshmen Engineers for Increased Academic Success and Graduation Rates

在不断改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，该Track 2项目旨在为UCSB工程学院(COE)具有一个或多个“机会效应者”(例如，第一代大学生、低收入、代表不足的少数族裔)的新生提供更好的学术和社会支持，以提高他们在该专业的学业成功和归属感。反过来，预计这将增加这些学生的留校率和毕业率。工程和计算机科学的学科，特别是UCSB的COE，在留住这些社区的学生方面遇到了不成比例的困难。新生工程师提高学业成功和毕业率的综合网络、奖学金和同行指导(INSPIRE)项目将创建新的基础设施和制度变革，从根本上改变拥有一个或多个“机会效应者”的学生在工程学第一年的体验。INSPIRE将包括为期一年的以研讨会为基础的课程，全面交织学术和社会课程以及同行指导。通过提高目标学生的成功留校率和毕业率，INSPIRE将培养和培养新一代多样化的工程和计算机科学毕业生。这些人将有机会攻读研究生学位和/或加入劳动力大军，在那里他们可以成为帮助雇佣和培训未来工程和计算机科学人才的榜样。该项目将把教育研究的重点放在评估拟议的整体方法如何改变(如果有的话)学生关于成功和失败的内部叙事、坚持学科的内在动机以及对社会支持网络的使用。本研究将通过分析激励对保持和社会认同、社会资本和社会学习的不同影响，为同伴辅导和第一年保持提供新的知识。一个关键的结果是有一个系统的方法来确定利益相关者的需求，包括教师、本科生、研究生，以及对留任的行政支持，以实现制度变革。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育和HSI的能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project aims to provide better academic and social support to UCSB College of Engineering (CoE) freshmen with one or more “effectors of opportunity’’ (e.g. first generation college student, low income, under-represented minority) to increase their academic success and sense of belonging in the major. This, in turn, is expected to increase the retention and successful graduation rates of these students. The disciplines of engineering and computer science in general, and the UCSB CoE specifically, disproportionately struggle to retain students from these communities. The Integrated Networking, Scholarship, and Peer Mentoring of Freshmen Engineers for Increased Academic Success and Graduation Rates (INSPIRE) project will create new infrastructure and institutional change to fundamentally transform how students with one or more "effectors of opportunity" experience the first year of engineering. INSPIRE will consist of a year-long, seminar-based curriculum that holistically inter-weaves academic and social curriculum and peer mentoring. By increasing the successful retention and graduation rates of targeted students, INSPIRE will educate and develop a new generation of diverse engineering and computer science graduates. These individuals will have the opportunity to pursue graduate degrees and/or join the workforce, where they can be role models who help hire and train future engineering and computer science talent.This project will focus its educational research on assessing how the proposed holistic approach changes (if at all) students’ internal narrative around success and failure, intrinsic motivation to persist in their discipline, and use of social support networks. This research will contribute new knowledge in peer mentoring and first-year retention by analyzing the differential effects of INSPIRE on retention and social identification, social capital, and social learning. A key outcome is to have a systematic approach to identifying the needs of stake-holders including faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students, and administrative support for retention to bring about institutional change. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.