Facilitating Undergraduate Success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Through Improved Student Competencies

该项目将通过支持伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，为国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。在五年的时间里，该项目将为35名攻读化学和生物化学学士学位的学生提供两年和四年的奖学金。该项目将使学者们能够接触到新的活动，包括：1)为期三天的实习浸入式讲习班；2)通过大学卓越学术中心举办的学生成功讲习班；以及3)在商学院教授的专业存在课程。来自化学和生物化学项目的同伴成功教练将为学者们提供指导，帮助他们应对职业和个人挑战。伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校是一所公立、城市和土地赠与机构，也是一所联邦指定的拉美裔服务机构，因此这项工作的结果将在理解STEM学生的支持方面具有广泛的适用性。作为更广泛影响的一部分，该项目将作为一个试点，评估拟议的活动及其对培养本科生能力和在研究1机构取得学术成功的影响。该项目还将通过评估支持低收入天才学生在研究1机构本科职业生涯的不同阶段的有效战略，为科学教育界做出贡献。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位毕业率。该项目的具体目的是评估旨在提高内部和人际能力的活动是否有助于支持和留住STEM学习计划中的本科生。该项目旨在确定实习浸入式研讨会、学生成功研讨会系列和专业呈现课程是否有助于增强自我效能和协作，从而提高学生的学业成绩。据预测，完成课程和共课活动的学者将拥有更高的专业平均绩点，以及更高的学位完成率和更短的学位完成时间。一名独立评估者将研究项目文件和内部评估，以确定项目是否实现了基准流程活动，以及项目是否使用了资源和专业知识来支持作为STEM专业的学者。该项目的成果将通过专门的网页、同行评议文章中的出版物以及在专题讨论会、讲习班和研讨会上的介绍来传播。该项目由NSF的科学、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学术天才学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并产生关于低收入学生的学业成功、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 will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund both two-year and four-year scholarships to 35 students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in chemistry and biochemistry. The project will provide Scholars with access to new activities including: 1) A three-day internship immersion workshop; 2) Student Success workshops through University's Academic Center for Excellence; and 3) A Professional Presence course taught at the College of Business. Peer Success Coaches from chemistry and biochemistry programs will provide Scholars with mentoring that can help them tackle both professional and personal challenges. The University of Illinois at Chicago is a public, urban, land-grant institution and a federally-designated Hispanic-serving institution, so the results from this work will have wide applicability in understanding the support of STEM students. As part of the broader impacts, the project will serve as a pilot to evaluate proposed activities and their impact on developing undergraduate competencies and academic success in a Research 1 Institution. The project will also contribute to the science education community by evaluating effective strategies for supporting low-income talented students at different stages of their undergraduate careers at Research 1 Institutions. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific aim of the project is to evaluate if activities aimed at growing intra- and interpersonal competencies can help support and retain undergraduate students within STEM programs of study. The project aims to determine if an internship immersion workshop, a student-success workshop series, and a professional presence course can help strengthen self-efficacy and collaboration, thus improving students' academic outcomes. It is predicted that the Scholars who complete the curricular and co-curricular activities will have higher grade point averages in their majors, as well as higher rates of degree completion and a shorter time-to-degree than their peers. An independent evaluator will study project documentation and internal assessment to address if the project has achieved benchmarked process activities and if the project has used resources and expertise to support the Scholars as STEM majors. Results from this project will be disseminated through a dedicated webpage, publications in peer-reviewed articles, and presentations at symposia, workshops, and seminars. This project is funded by NSF's 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 STEM workers, 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.