Supporting Inclusive Excellence in STEM Education for Low-Income High-Achieving Students through Scholarships and Innovative Programming

支持包容性卓越（SIE）项目在乌尔西诺学院将支持30名学术才华的学生证明经济需要。奖学金和支持计划将帮助这些学生完成他们的生物学，生物化学或神经科学专业，并在完成学士学位后进入STEM劳动力或STEM研究生院。该项目将满足国家对训练有素的个人进入越来越多的STEM职业机会的需求。在五年的助学金期间，30名学生将获得奖学金，以帮助缩小现有援助和家庭学费之间的差距。该项目不仅为奖学金获得者提供学术支持系统，帮助他们在未来的STEM职业生涯中继续前进，校园内的其他学生也将受益于其中的一些支持。该项目的技术优势在于其协调一致的方法，通过学术咨询，课程和课外活动，指导和研究机会来支持STEM学生的招募和保留。奖学金获得者的活动包括：1）密集的课外辅导，以支持干课程，2）桥梁计划，以促进生物学导论的第一和第二学期之间的过渡，3）在生物学和化学导论课程包容性教学法，4）由职业和专业发展办公室提供的一系列研讨会，以实现干职业，以及5）研究机会，这将加强学生与STEM社区的联系。将对SIE项目进行评估，并分享评估结果，以便其他机构可以采用成功的方法来支持成绩优异和低收入学生。评估的结果将有助于扩大知识库，了解这类奖学金项目成功的情况。

The Supporting Inclusive Excellence (SIE) project at Ursinus College will support 30 academically talented students demonstrating financial need. Scholarships and support programs will assist these students in completing their majors in biology, biochemistry, or neuroscience and in entering the STEM workforce or STEM graduate school following completion of a baccalaureate degree. This project will address a national need for trained individuals to enter a growing number of STEM career opportunities. Over the five-year grant period, 30 students will receive scholarships to help close the gap between existing aid and family contributions for tuition. Not only will academic support systems be provided to scholarship recipients to remain in the pipeline toward future STEM careers, other students on campus will also benefit from some of these supports.The technical merit of the project lies in its coordinated approach to support recruitment and retention of STEM students through academic advising, curricular and co-curricular activities, mentoring and research opportunities. Activities for scholarship recipients include: 1) intensive co-curricular advising to support STEM coursework, 2) a bridge program to facilitate the transition between the first and second semesters of introductory biology, 3) inclusive pedagogy in introductory biology and chemistry courses, 4) a series of workshops offered by the Career and Professional Development office towards achieving STEM careers, and 5) research opportunities that will strengthen students' connection to the STEM community. The SIE project will be assessed and findings will be shared so that other institutions can incorporate successful approaches for supporting high-achieving and low-income students. The results of the assessment will contribute to the larger knowledge-base regarding the circumstances under which scholarship projects of this type are successful.