Supporting Early Career STEM Majors Through Community and Interdisciplinary Interaction

杜鲁门州立大学S-STEM奖学金计划的目标是增加成功完成STEM学士学位的学术天才学生的数量，并增加杜鲁门STEM学生群体的多样性。该项目支持生物、化学、物理或相关跨学科专业的有经济需要的优秀学生。在大一和大二期间提供奖学金和学生支持服务，有证据表明，杜鲁门州立大学的学生最容易离开STEM专业。该项目的目标是：1)提高目标学科的大一至大三学生的保留率；2)提高生物、化学、物理专业新生中少数民族学生的比例；3)培养目标学科一、二年级学生的跨学科思维和推理能力；4)将项目参与者与关键的学生支持服务联系起来。通过特别的研讨会课程和分组会议，奖学金获得者参与一系列跨学科主题的活动，旨在促进社区意识，建立支持网络，帮助他们坚持自己的STEM专业。

The goal of the S-STEM scholarship program at Truman State University is to increase the number of academically talented students who successfully complete a STEM baccalaureate degree and to increase the diversity of the STEM student body at Truman. The project supports talented students with demonstrated financial need who are majoring in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics or related interdisciplinary programs. Scholarships and student support services are provided during the freshman and sophomore years, when evidence shows that Truman State students are most vulnerable to leaving STEM majors. The objectives of the project are: 1) to increase the freshman to junior year retention rate for students in the target disciplines; 2) to increase the percentage of freshman Biology, Chemistry, and Physics majors who are minority students; 3) to engage first and second year students in the target disciplines in interdisciplinary thinking and reasoning; 4) to connect project participants to critical student support services. Through special seminar courses and cohort meetings, scholarship recipients engage in a range of activities with an interdisciplinary theme designed to promote a sense of community and develop a support network to help them persist in their STEM major.