STEM TRansfer Students Opportunity for Nurtured Growth (STRONG)

在美国国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金（S-STEM）计划的资助下，STEM转学学生培育成长机会（STRONG）为低收入学生提供支持，这些学生有经济需求和学术承诺，可以在中佛罗里达大学（UCF）的STEM学科中取得成功。S-STEM第二轨道项目将在5年内为攻读STEM学士学位的转学生提供36个奖学金。与在四年制大学开始学术生涯的首次入学学生（FTIC）相比，转学生通常发现获得学士学位的道路更具挑战性，而且他们毕业的可能性明显低于FTIC学生。寻找改善这些学生的教育体验的方法是国家的当务之急。UCF STRONG项目的目的是大幅提高STEM转学生的保留率、毕业率和职业成功。实现这一目标的部分方法是让每个学生在一个由专业相似领域的高成就学者组成的社区中参与各种STEM活动。在课堂外提供经济支持、指导和学术参与的机会，有望减少学生面临的障碍，保持他们对自己的研究领域的兴趣，并激励他们在学术上取得优异成绩。对该计划如何影响其参与者的深入研究将最大限度地发挥干预的影响，并为未来改善STEM转学生的教育体验提供信息。UCF STRONG项目由三个部分组成，这些部分对于实现提高STEM转学学生的保留率、毕业率和职业成功的项目目标至关重要。第一部分是设计、实施和改进用于识别高风险STEM转移的高精度预测模型。利用有关转学的已知信息，以及统计分析和机器学习，它将建立一种预测哪些学生最不可能完成STEM学位的方法，从而帮助UCF了解哪些学生将从STRONG中受益最大。第二个组成部分是增加STEM领域的转移。STRONG的学者将从经济上有困难的转学生中挑选，这些转学生被预测不太可能毕业，目的是为了在毕业时留住他们，因为他们参加了STRONG。这一结果是预期的结果，通过促进学术整合和培养他们所选领域的熟练程度，增加了学生的成功。更具体地说，每个学生都在一个由来自密切相关领域的志同道合的学生组成的社区中扮演一个角色；他们还定期与导师会面，并参加促进他们成功的STEM活动。第三部分是了解干预措施如何影响STEM转学生成为自己学习的积极参与者的能力。项目团队将研究干预对元认知、动机和行为的影响，这是自我调节学习的三大支柱，对学生的成功至关重要。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。

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, the STEM TRansfer Students Opportunity for Nurtured Growth (STRONG) is providing support to low-income students with demonstrated financial need and academic promise to succeed in STEM disciplines at the University of Central Florida (UCF). This S-STEM Track 2 project is funding up to 36 scholarships over 5 years for transfer students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in STEM. Compared to first time in college (FTIC) students who begin their academic careers at a four-year institution, transfer students generally find the path to obtaining a bachelor's degree more challenging, and they are significantly less likely to graduate than their FTIC counterparts. Finding ways to improve the educational experiences of these students is an urgent national priority. The aim of UCF's STRONG project is to substantially increase retention, graduation rates, and career success of STEM transfer students. This goal is achieved in part by giving each student a role in various STEM activities within a community of high-achieving scholars, who are majoring in similar fields. Providing financial support, mentorship, and opportunities for academic engagement outside the classroom promises to reduce the obstacles students face, keep them interested in their field of study, and motivate them to excel academically. A thorough study of how the program affects its participants will maximize the impact of the intervention and informs future efforts to improve the educational experiences of STEM transfer students.The UCF STRONG project consists of three components, which are all essential for reaching the program goal of increasing retention, graduation rates, and career success of STEM transfers. The first component is to design, implement, and improve a high-accuracy prediction model for identifying high-risk STEM transfers. Using known information about transfers, along with statistical analysis and machine learning, it will establish a means of predicting which students are least likely to complete a STEM degree, thereby helping UCF to know which students will benefit most from STRONG. The second component is to increase retention of transfers in STEM fields. STRONG scholars will be selected from financially needy incoming transfers who have been predicted to be unlikely to graduate, with the purpose of retaining them through graduation due to their participation in STRONG. This outcome is an expected result of increased student success through stimulation of academic integration and a cultivation of proficiency in their chosen fields. More specifically, each student is given a role within a community of like-minded students from closely related fields; they also meet regularly with mentors and participate in STEM activities that promote their success. The third component is to learn how the interventions influence STEM transfer students' ability to become active participants in their own learning. The project team will study the effects of the intervention on metacognition, motivation, and behavior, which are the three pillars of Self-Regulated Learning and are essential for student success.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.