Opportunities in Manufacturing of Advanced Materials for Second Career Seeking Students

NSF科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金（S-STEM）计划支持具有经济需求的高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业。 在为期五年的奖项，这个项目在工程和技术的老自治领大学（ODU）的巴顿学院将资助60奖学金的学生，在6-8谁是攻读本科和研究生学位的工程学生群体。该项目将包括招聘对先进材料制造感兴趣的第二职业寻求学生。除了奖学金，该计划将包括一个动手，以项目为基础的课程，有机会在先进制造领域进行跨学科的研究项目。 课外活动将包括定期研讨会，指导机会，并在专业协会和S-STEM学者会议的参与。该S-STEM项目旨在为训练有素的第二职业学生进入工程专业创造一个管道，重点是先进材料的制造。该项目将重点了解影响ODU工程专业学生学业成功的因素。干预措施的组合将提高第二职业寻求学生的自我效能信念和结果期望。巴顿工程技术学院的教师将与ODU心理学系的研究人员合作，研究影响工程专业学生敏捷性、学术成功、招聘、保留和学位获得的障碍、支持和资源。该项目将扩展ODU以前开发的方法，以了解学生群体在沿着职业道路过渡时的不同经历。从教育研究的角度来看，该项目将研究第二职业寻求学生的过渡过程作为教育心理学研究问题，确定关键障碍和关键驱动因素（即支持和资源），促进成功过渡到新的职业。当采取行动时，这些知识可能会导致在ODU和全国范围内的工程项目中寻求第二职业的学生的成功率提高。因此，在ODU纳入第二职业寻求学生将有助于国家努力吸引更广泛的群体的学术才华，勤奋的学生与财政需要在STEM职业。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

The NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program supports the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need. Over the five-year award, this project at the Batten College of Engineering and Technology at Old Dominion University (ODU) will fund 60 scholarships to students, in groups of 6-8 students who are pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering. The project will include recruitment of second career seeking students interested in a concentration in manufacturing of advanced materials. In addition to scholarships, the program will include a hands-on, project-based curriculum with opportunities to conduct interdisciplinary research projects in advanced manufacturing areas. Co -curricular activities will include regular seminars, mentoring opportunities, and participation in professional societies and conferences for S-STEM scholars. This S-STEM project aims to create a pipeline for well-trained second career students entering engineering professions with focus on manufacturing of advanced materials.The project will focus on understanding the factors that affect academic success of engineering students at ODU. The combination of interventions will improve self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations among second career seeking students. Faculty from the Batten College of Engineering and Technology will collaborate with researchers in the Department of Psychology at ODU to study barriers, supports and resources that affect agility, academic success, recruitment, retention, and degree attainment of engineering students. The project will extend the methodology previously developed at ODU for understanding the differential experiences of groups of students as they transition along their careers paths. From the educational research point of view, the project will study the transition process for second career seeking students as an educational psychology research problem, identifying the critical barriers and the key driving factors (i.e. support and resources) that facilitate a successful transition to a new career. When acted upon, this knowledge may lead to improvements in the success rate for second career seeking students in engineering programs at ODU and nationwide. Therefore, the inclusion of second career seeking students at ODU will contribute to the national effort to engage wider groups of academically talented, hardworking students with financial need in STEM 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.