Building Capacity: Integrated Interventions to Improve Undergraduate Student Success in STEM

改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构计划（HSI计划）旨在加强本科STEM教育并建立HSI的能力。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。休斯顿大学的这个项目将通过提高学生从第一年课程到更高级别课程的保留率，并通过完成学士学位来推进HSI计划的目标。该项目将分析学生获得STEM学位的动机和愿望。它还将实施和测试学术干预的有效性，如夏桥计划，对学生的成功。 作为德克萨斯州指定为HSI的两个公共研究机构之一，并考虑到其学生入学的人口统计数据，休斯顿大学可以为德克萨斯州和国家发展多元化的STEM劳动力做出贡献。该项目有两个组成部分：干预部分和研究部分。干预部分的目标是实施和测试干预措施的有效性，包括：（1）夏桥计划，（2）第一年的兴趣小组，（3）本科生研究行会经验计划。研究部分的目的是检查这些干预措施对动机和自我调节学生特征和心理社会背景因素（例如，归属感），通过干预可以改变，并与大学成绩和毕业的坚持有关。该项目将评估这些干预措施的执行情况和有效性，这些干预措施具有内在的学术和个人支持机制。通过衡量这些综合干预措施对学生成功的影响，该项目将扩大有关提高保留率和毕业率的最佳做法的知识。该项目有可能提高准备进入STEM职业和研究生或专业学校的STEM本科生的毕业率。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge about how to achieve these aims. This project at the University of Houston will advance the aims of the HSI Program by improving retention of students from first-year courses to higher level courses, and through completion of the bachelor's degree. The project will analyze student motivation and desire for obtaining a STEM degree. It will also implement and test the effectiveness of academic interventions, such as a summer bridge program, on student success. As one of two public research institutions in the state of Texas designated as an HSI, and given the demographics of its student enrollment, the University of Houston can contribute to developing a diverse STEM workforce for the state of Texas and the Nation. This project has two components: an intervention component and a research component. The objectives of the intervention component are to implement and test the effectiveness of interventions including: (1) a Summer Bridge Program, (2) a First Year Interest Group, and (3) the Undergraduate Research Guild Experience program. The objective of the research component is to examine the effect of these interventions on motivational and self-regulatory student characteristics and psychosocial contextual factors (e.g., sense of belonging) that are malleable to change through intervention and that are associated with college grades and persistence to graduation. The project will evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of these interventions, which have built-in academic and personal support mechanisms. By measuring the impact of these integrated interventions on student success, the project will extend knowledge about best practices for improving retention and graduation rates. The project has the potential to increase the graduation rate of STEM undergraduates who are prepared to advance into STEM careers and graduate or professional school.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.