Increasing Retention of Veterans in Engineering and Science Through Student Engagement

项目服务（工程和科学领域退伍军人的成功、参与和保留）旨在为参与的退伍军人学生提供在科学、技术、工程和数学领域成功职业所需的技能。几乎一半的退伍军人本科学生在退伍后进入社区大学就读。然而，退伍军人在STEM领域的代表性相当低。在这个项目中，东洛杉矶学院（一所HSI社区学院）和加州大学洛杉矶分校（一所研究型大学）将合作提供一系列协调的课堂表现干预、实习和咨询，重点是理解和满足退伍军人的需求。通过评估提高退伍军人学生参与度和保留率的有效做法，该项目有可能为其他高等教育机构提供一种模式，以满足退伍军人学生的需求，并使他们过渡到民用STEM职业。服务项目旨在扩大退伍军人对STEM职业的参与。该项目将使用社区大学学生参与中心开发的三种评估方法来跟踪学生参与的多个基准。作为潜在的大学生，许多退伍军人都拥有独特的优势，包括承诺、强烈的职业道德、纪律、责任和团队合作。退伍军人也可能在军事职业专业中接受过高度专业化的技术训练。然而，当退伍军人遇到传统的STEM教育时，他们面临的挑战可能会更加复杂。研究表明，信心水平、课程超载、STEM教师的教学风格以及不充分的建议/咨询是导致STEM学生（包括退伍军人）保留率低的原因。服务部将试点和传播他们的研究成果，这些成果将评估STEM学生参与策略的有效性。这个项目可以为社区大学的成功提供一个可复制的模式。在招聘和留住STEM学科的学生老兵方面。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。

Project SERVES (Success, Engagement & Retention of Veterans in Engineering and Science) aims to provide participating student veterans with the skills needed for successful careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Almost half of undergraduate student veterans enroll in a community college after separation from service. However, veterans are considerably under-represented in STEM. In this project, East Los Angeles College (an HSI community college) and the University of California Los Angeles (a research university) will collaborate to offer a coordinated series of classroom performance interventions, internships, and counseling that focus on understanding and meeting veterans' needs. By evaluating effective practices to increase engagement and retention of student veterans, this project has the potential to model a way for other postsecondary institutions to meet the needs of student veterans and their transition into civilian STEM careers. Project SERVES is designed to broaden participation of veterans in STEM careers. The project will use three assessments, developed by the Center for Community College Student Engagement, to track multiple benchmarks of student engagement. Many veterans possess unique strengths as potential college students, including commitment, strong work ethic, discipline, accountability, and teamwork. Veterans may also have undergone highly specialized technical training in a Military Occupational Specialty. However, veterans face challenges that may be compounded when they encounter traditional STEM education. Research indicates that confidence levels, curriculum overload, STEM faculty teaching styles, and inadequate advising/counseling are responsible for poor retention of STEM students, including veterans. SERVES will pilot and disseminate results of their research, which will assess the effectiveness of STEM student engagement strategies. This program may provide a replicable model for increasing the success of community college?s in recruiting and retaining student veterans in STEM disciplines.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.