Bridging the Natural Sciences and Liberal Arts to Increase Retention, Graduation, and Career Preparedness

该项目由美国国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金（S-STEM）项目资助，将支持弗吉尼亚大学怀斯学院（UVa-Wise）自然科学系有经济需求的高成就低收入学生。在五年的时间里，该项目将为攻读生物学、生物化学、化学和环境科学学士学位的学生提供25个奖学金。对受过良好教育的STEM劳动力的需求指导了该项目的目标，即通过一套新颖的研讨会课程，重点关注一年级和转学生的成功，化学和自然科学写作，招募和支持两批S-STEM学者。该项目旨在增加第一代学生的参与，第一代学生占弗吉尼亚大学怀斯分校学生的一半，其中许多人来自弗吉尼亚州怀斯县，那里25岁及以上的成年人中只有不到15%拥有四年制学位。该项目旨在产生关于提高保留率和毕业率的最佳实践的知识，并为学生准备STEM研究生课程或职业生涯。为了实现这些目标，该项目将开发、实施和评估三个研讨会课程的影响。普通化学复习研讨会将评估参加的学者是否在国家考试中取得更高的分数和化学课程的保留率。自然科学写作研讨会是一门新的写作密集型课程，将对学生进行评估，以确定学生是否提高了科学写作技巧，并为未来科学家的写作要求做了更多的准备。环境基因组学或环境化学研究经验研讨会将评估与教师导师的研究和研究级仪器的培训是否会进一步追求独立研究，并继续进入STEM研究生学习和职业生涯。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 NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, this project will support high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need in the Department of Natural Sciences at The University of Virginia's College at Wise (UVa-Wise). Throughout its five years, this project will fund 25 scholarships for students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences. The need for a well-educated STEM workforce guides the aims of the project to recruit and support two cohorts of S-STEM Scholars with a novel set of seminar courses focused on first year and transfer student success, chemistry, and writing in the natural sciences. The project aims to increase participation of first-generation students, which comprise half of the students at UVa-Wise, many of whom are from Wise County, VA where less than 15% of adults aged 25 and above have a four-year degree. This project aims to generate knowledge about best practices for increasing retention and graduation rates, and preparing students for STEM graduate programs or careers. To achieve these aims, the project will develop, implement, and evaluate the impact of three seminar courses. The General Chemistry Recitation Seminar will evaluate if participating Scholars have higher scores on national exams and retention rates in Chemistry courses compared to a control. The Seminar in Writing in the Natural Sciences is a new writing-intensive course that will be evaluated to determine if students have improved scientific writing skills and increased preparation for the writing demands of a future scientist. The Research Experience Seminar in Environmental Genomics or Environmental Chemistry will evaluate if research with faculty mentors and training in research-grade instrumentation results in further pursuit of independent research, and continuation into STEM graduate studies and careers.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.