Becoming Engaged Engineering Scholars: Success Programs for Recruitment and Retention in Engineering

NSF科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金（S-STEM）计划支持在STEM领域表现出经济需求的高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业。 西华盛顿大学的S-STEM项目旨在招募和留住工程专业的本科生。 在其五年的资助，该项目将资助48个奖学金，以一年级本科生，为他们提供平均6,250美元的财政支持，在他们的第一和第二年。 在该项目的前四年，将分四组招募学者。 新的西部华盛顿大学工程项目的学生没有被高水平地保留下来。 该项目将提供一系列系统的学术，社会和职业支持服务，专门用于提高工程专业学生在本科学习的前两年的成功。该项目的主要目标是确保工程项目提供一个公平的途径进入工程职业生涯，特别是在华盛顿州的低收入学生。除了为参与者提供财政支持外，该项目还将调整现有的支持结构，在第一年开始前提供为期一周的桥梁计划，实施包括内部和外部导师在内的多层次指导系统，让学者参与多个课程和课外活动，包括参与工程项目经验，创建一个专注于工程和社会的第一年研讨会，该项目的主要目标是：（1）为S-STEM学者提供包容性的、基于证据的结构化支持，以满足他们在工程项目第一年和第二年的学术、社会和职业发展需求;和（2）生成有关循证干预序列的影响的经验知识，以及它们如何改变工程项目中S-STEM学者的自我效能，身份和保留。 该项目将使用循证方法，这些方法已被证明可以改善传统上代表性不足的工程群体的招聘和保留。 为了评估影响，该项目将包括一个混合方法的准实验研究设计与匹配的比较组。 该项目有可能通过为学生的工程职业生涯做好准备，为发展多元化，具有全球竞争力的STEM劳动力做出贡献。 此外，从该项目中获得的发现和知识可以使其他希望实施类似项目的机构受益，特别是对考虑向工程过渡的工程技术部门非常有用。该奖项反映了NSF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。

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 in STEM fields. This S-STEM project at Western Washington University aims to recruit and retain undergraduates in engineering. Over its five years of funding, this project will fund 48 scholarships to first-year undergraduate students, providing them with an average of $6,250 of financial support in their first and second years. The Scholars will be recruited in four groups, in the first four years of the project. Students in the new Western Washington University engineering program have not been retained at high levels. This project will provide a systematic sequence of academic, social, and career support services specifically designed to enhance the success of engineering students during these first two years of undergraduate study. The primary project goal is to ensure the engineering programs offer an equitable pathway into engineering careers, particularly for low-income students in the State of Washington. In addition to providing financial support for participants, the project will adapt existing support structures to offer a one-week bridge program prior to the start of their first year, implement a multi-level mentoring system that includes internal and external mentors, engage Scholars in multiple curricular and co-curricular activities including an engaged engineering project experience, create a first-year seminar focused on engineering and society, and employ an education researcher and an external evaluator throughout the project to study its impact.The primary goals of this project are to: (1) Provide S-STEM Scholars with inclusive, evidence-based structured support that is responsive to their academic, social, and career development needs as they progress through the first and second years in the engineering programs; and (2) Generate empirical knowledge about the impact of the sequence of evidence-based interventions, and how they alter the self-efficacy, identity, and retention of S-STEM Scholars within the engineering programs. The project will use evidence-based approaches that have been shown to improve recruitment and retention of traditionally underrepresented groups in engineering. To assess the impact, the project will include a mixed methods quasi-experimental study design with a matched comparison group. The project has the potential to contribute to the development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce by preparing students for careers in engineering. Moreover, the findings and knowledge generated from this project can benefit other institutions looking to implement similar programs, and will be especially useful for engineering technology departments contemplating a transition to engineering.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.