STEM Core in Central Maryland for Cybersecurity Education

社区大学的学生，尤其是那些来自弱势群体的学生，在努力获得STEM领域的学位时面临许多障碍。为了减少这些障碍，机构可以实施创造性的创新，从孤立的项目转向涉及雇主、高中、非营利组织和地区社区其他方面的合作行动。该项目将实施Growth Sector制定的战略，Growth Sector是一家非营利组织，致力于向低收入背景的学生和目前在STEM领域代表性不足的群体开放STEM职业。Growth Sector的STEM核心课程包括加速数学和一年级学生立即沉浸在技术科目中。学生支持专家提供全面的帮助，以提高学生的成绩。在STEM核心学年结束后的夏季，学生们将被安排到一些组织中进行带薪实习，这些组织计划雇佣拥有学生们正在培养的技能的员工。巴尔的摩县社区学院和安妮阿伦德尔社区学院将为两个校区的网络安全学生调整和实施STEM核心年。两所院校都将通过学生支持专家提供全方位支持。此外，由200名成员（包括公司和个人）组成的米德堡联盟（Fort Meade Alliance）将为成功完成STEM核心年课程的网络安全学生提供暑期实习机会。这两所大学在STEM领域都有大量未被充分代表的学生，招聘工作的目标是将这些学生纳入网络安全项目。加州的14所社区学院在采用Growth Sector的STEM核心年模式后取得了可喜的成果。例如，大多数从代数开始学习STEM核心课程的学生在一个学年结束时完成了微积分。该项目将进一步深入了解STEM核心模式可能成为一种可转移的方法，以提高学生的成功和熟练技术劳动力的多样性。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。

Community college students, especially those from underrepresented groups, face many barriers in their efforts to earn degrees in STEM fields. To reduce these barriers, institutions can implement creative innovations, moving away from isolated programs and toward cooperative action involving employers, high schools, non-profits, and others in the regional community. This project will implement such a strategy that was developed by Growth Sector, a non-profit devoted to opening STEM careers to students from low-income backgrounds and from groups that are currently underrepresented in STEM fields. Growth Sector's STEM Core curriculum includes accelerated mathematics and immediate immersion in technical subjects for first-year students. Student Support Specialists provide comprehensive assistance to enhance student achievement. During the summer after their STEM Core Year, students are placed into paid internships with organizations planning to hire employees who have the skills the students are developing. The Community College of Baltimore County and Anne Arundel Community College will adapt and implement the STEM Core Year for cybersecurity students at both campuses. Both institutions will provide wraparound support through Student Support Specialists. In addition, the Fort Meade Alliance, a consortium of 200 members (including companies and individuals), will support the summer internships for cybersecurity students who successfully complete the STEM Core Year of course work. Both institutions have significant populations of underrepresented students in STEM and recruitment efforts will aim to bring these populations into the cybersecurity programs. Fourteen community colleges in California have achieved promising results after adopting Growth Sector's STEM Core Year model. For example, a majority of STEM Core students who began in algebra, had completed calculus by the end of one academic year. This project will provide additional insight into the possibility that the STEM Core model may be a transferable approach for increasing student success and diversity in the skilled technical workforce.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.