Guiding Underrepresented Students to Opportunities in STEM

引导代表性不足的学生获得STEM机会（GUSTO-STEM）项目将从学院的化学技术员计划中招募，保留和研究生，以满足当地工业的需求。密尔沃基地区技术学院（MATC）拥有设备齐全的设施，与当地工业有着良好的联系，但历史上并没有准备足够的毕业生来满足当地的劳动力需求。为了招收更多的学生，该项目将与密尔沃基公立学校的顾问合作，并聘请一个巡回的公共宣传团队与未来的学生直接互动。为了提高留存率，该项目将举办为期两周的暑期过渡/新兵训练营，帮助学生适应大学生活。将指派一名顾问协助化学技术学院的教师有目的地将新的化学技术学生分组在核心课程中，并允许他们在专门的会议空间进行社交互动。为了提高毕业率，该项目将适应并应用化学技术项目的指导路径，帮助学生及时完成学位。通过支持这些学生完成这个严格的两年项目，该项目将为他们提供平均每年50,000美元的机会，并提供全额福利，同时如果他们回国继续学习，还将为他们提供获得高级学位的机会。该项目的一个更广泛的影响将是大大提高学生的经济流动性，这些学生通常来自低收入家庭。增加化学技术毕业生人数的策略分为两类：加强招聘和提高留用率。招聘工作将包括与密尔沃基公立学校（MPS）在九所以stem为重点的高中开展合作，MATC已经与这些高中建立了工作关系。MATC招聘人员将与MPS指导顾问合作，引导未来的学生进入化学技术项目。MATC的项目负责人将促进参与“STEM马戏团”活动，作为推广化学技术项目的公共宣传。通过第一学期前的过渡新兵训练营、小组辅导课程、指导、指导以及在MATC和几个工业合作伙伴地点举行的正式和非正式规划活动期间的社交活动，将鼓励和支持队伍建设，作为留住员工的战略。在校园里为化学技术学生提供一个专门的学习空间，并有机会通过STEM马戏团与社区分享科学，这将促进一个与项目和大学联系在一起的学习社区。除了为化学技术专业的学生提供工业实验室实地考察外，工业合作伙伴还致力于为这些学生提供关键的软技能培训：培养专业精神、撰写简历、准备面试和举行模拟面试。该项目由先进技术教育计划资助，该计划侧重于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。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。

The Guiding Underrepresented Students to Opportunities in STEM (GUSTO-STEM) project will recruit, retain, and graduate students from the college's Chemical Technician Program to meet the needs of the local industry. Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) has well equipped facilities and is well connected to local industry, but historically has not prepared sufficient graduates to meet local workforce needs. To recruit more students, the project will work with advisors in the Milwaukee Public Schools and employ a traveling public outreach team to interact directly with prospective students. To improve retention, the project will host a two-week summer bridge/boot camp to help students transition to college. An advisor will be assigned to assist the Chem Tech faculty in purposefully building the new Chem Tech students into a cohort by grouping the new students together in core classes and allowing them to socially interact in a dedicated meeting space. To increase graduation rates, the project will adapt and apply guided pathways to the Chem Tech program that help students complete degrees in a timely fashion. By supporting these students through this rigorous two-year program, the project will offer them the opportunity to make on average, $50,000 per year, with full benefits, while providing them with opportunities to advanced degrees if they return for further study. A broader impact of this project will be to dramatically enhance the economic mobility of students, who typically come from low-income families.The strategies to be used to increase the number of Chem Tech graduates fall into two categories: enhanced recruiting and improved retention. Recruiting efforts will include collaborations with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) at nine STEM-focused high schools with whom MATC already has a working relationship. MATC recruiters will work with MPS guidance counselors to steer future students towards the Chem Tech program. The project leaders from MATC will facilitate engaging "STEM Circus" events as public outreach that promotes the Chem Tech program. Cohort building will be encouraged and supported as a retention strategy through a pre-first semester transitional boot camp, small group tutoring sessions, coaching, mentoring, and socializing during formal and informal programming events at MATC and at several industrial partner sites. Having a dedicated learning spaces on campus dedicated to Chem Tech students and the opportunity to share science with the community through the STEM Circuses will promote a learning community that feels connected to the program and the college. In addition to providing Chem Tech students with industry lab field trips, industrial partners have committed to providing these students with critical soft-skills training: developing professionalism, resume writing, interview preparation, and holding mock interviews. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.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.