Academic Opportunities through Recruitment, Retention & Mentoring for Undergraduate Biotechnology Students with Financial Need

该项目通过支持有经济需要的高成就STEM本科生的留任和毕业来回应国家对高素质科学家的需求。在为期五年的时间里，该项目计划为30名正在攻读植物科学-生物技术本科学位的学生提供一至四年的奖学金。为了提高奖学金获得者在生物技术专业的坚持性，奖学金将与有效的学生支持活动联系起来，包括共同课程安排、同行指导以及研究和/或实习机会。学者将通过实地考察、研讨会和职业介绍服务获得劳动力经验。福特谷州立大学是一所历史悠久的黑人大学，拥有大量农村学生、第一代学生和代表性不足的学生。因此，该项目有可能扩大对STEM的参与，特别是在生物科学和生物技术方面。该项目还将通过发展大学与区域生物技术行业合作伙伴之间的协同伙伴关系来促进劳动力发展。该项目的总体目标是增加STEM领域低收入、学术成就优异的本科生的学位完成情况。为了实现这一目标，该项目将从八所地区高中和地区社区大学招收学生。这些学者将加入一个有组织的队列，参与旨在增加留校率和学生成功的有针对性的学术和职业计划。该项目将解决以下研究问题：1)是什么激励来自低收入背景的有学业天赋的STEM学生，包括代表性不足的学生和农村学生，追求生物技术职业，以及这些发现如何与现有关于STEM领域学生动机的文献相吻合？2)关于学生参与高影响的教育实践和提高学业成绩之间关系的普遍接受的发现，在农村HBCU服务于以低收入为主的第一代学生的背景下是否仍然有效？3)关于农村HBCU低收入、学业有天赋的学生利用可用的学生支持服务，是否存在可识别的行为模式？将收集有关学生参与度、表现、保持能力和特征的数据，如科学身份和自我效能的变化。对这些数据的分析将有助于确定哪些干预措施最有效地激励和留住STEM项目的学生，并促进他们进入STEM劳动力或STEM研究生项目。该项目有可能促进关于本科生研究项目如何支持留住STEM专业学生的知识。该项目由NSF科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，该项目旨在增加在STEM领域获得学位的低收入、有经济需求的低收入学业天才学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来科学家、工程师和技术人员的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学术成功、留住、转移、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project responds to the national need for highly-qualified scientists by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving STEM undergraduates with financial need. Over its five-year duration, the project plans to provide one- to four-year scholarships to 30 students who are pursuing undergraduate degrees in Plant Science-Biotechnology. To increase the persistence of the Scholars in the biotechnology major, scholarships will be linked with effective student support activities, including common course scheduling, peer mentoring, and opportunities for research and/or internships. Scholars will gain workforce experience through field trips, workshops, and career placement services. Fort Valley State University is a historically Black university with a high population of rural, first-generation, and underrepresented students. Consequently, this project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM, particularly in biological sciences and biotechnology. It will also promote workforce development by developing synergistic partnerships between the University and regional biotechnology industry partners.The overall goal of this project is to increase degree completion of low-income, academically high-achieving undergraduates in STEM fields. To meet this goal, the project will recruit students from eight regional high schools and regional community colleges. These Scholars will join a structured cohort that will engage in targeted academic and career programs that are intended to increase retention and student success. The project will address the following research questions: 1) What motivates academically-talented STEM students from low-income backgrounds, including underrepresented and rural students, to pursue careers in biotechnology, and how do the findings fit into existing literature regarding the motivations of students in STEM fields? 2) Do commonly-accepted findings regarding associations between student engagement with high impact educational practices and improved academic outcomes remain valid within the context of a rural HBCU serving a predominantly low-income, first-generation population of students? 3) Do discernable patterns of behavior exist regarding the utilization of available student support services by low-income, academically-talented students at a rural HBCU? Data will be gathered about student engagement, performance, retention, and characteristics such as changes in science identity and self-efficacy. Analysis of these data will help to determine which interventions were most effective for motivating and retaining students in STEM programs and promoting their entry into the STEM workforce or STEM graduate programs. The project has the potential to advance knowledge about how undergraduate research projects can support retention of students in STEM majors. This project is funded by the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future scientists, engineers, and technicians, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.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.