Scholars Program for Environmental Challenges

该项目将通过支持查尔斯顿大学(UC)留住并毕业于查尔斯顿大学(UC)，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。查尔斯顿大学是一所位于西弗吉尼亚州查尔斯顿的独立男女同校寄宿大学。在为期5年的时间里，该项目将为12名正在攻读数据科学、计算机科学、生物科学、化学和生物化学双学士学位课程的学生提供四年奖学金。该项目将研究在加州大学STEM领域吸引和留住能够在STEM劳动力中取得成功的学生的创新方法，并确定哪些制度因素促进学生在STEM教育中的参与度和成就。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。该项目的具体目标是：(1)招募12名有学术天赋的学生，并证明他们有经济能力主修STEM学科，(2)提高STEM学者的留存率和毕业率，(3)在毕业一年内将90%的毕业学者安排在与STEM相关的工作、实习或研究生课程中，以及(4)通过研究新颖的招聘策略的影响并确定不断变化的教师指导方法是否有助于培养科学认同感并留住STEM学生，从而在本科STEM教育领域产生新的知识。本项目涉及的研究问题是：(1)非传统的招聘和遴选方法在多大程度上增加了进入STEM专业的人数，以及(2)以导师指导、导师-学生指导、最后是学生指导的研究机会为特色的不断发展的教师指导方法在多大程度上保留了STEM学生？这项研究将收集和分析机构数据，以确定该项目对STEM学生的招生和留住有什么影响(如果有的话)。对该项目的形成性和总结性评价将采用混合方法。这项研究的结果将通过阿巴拉契亚大学协会、西弗吉尼亚科学院、校园联络以及STEM教育档案期刊等场所在地区、州和国家各级分享。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 Charleston (UC), an independent, co-educational, residential university located in Charleston, West Virginia. Over its 5-year duration, this project will fund four year scholarships to 12 students who are pursuing baccalaureate degrees in data science, computer science, biological sciences, chemistry, and dual biology-chemistry B.S. programs. This project will examine innovative ways to attract and retain students in STEM fields at UC who can be successful in the STEM workforce, and determine what institutional factors promote students' engagement and achievement in STEM education. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific goals of this project are to: (1) recruit 12 academically talented students who demonstrate financial need to major in STEM disciplines, (2) improve retention and graduation of the STEM scholars, (3) place 90% of graduating scholars in a STEM-related job, internship, or graduate program within one year of graduation, and (4) generate new knowledge in the field of undergraduate STEM education by examining the effects of novel recruitment strategies and determining whether an evolving faculty mentoring approach featuring mentor-guided, mentor-student-guided and finally student-guided research opportunities helps to develop science identity and retain students in STEM. Research questions addressed in this project are: (1) to what extent does a non-traditional recruitment and selection method increase the number of underrepresented students entering STEM majors, and (2) to what extent does an evolving faculty mentoring approach featuring mentor-guided, mentor-student-guided, and finally student-guided research opportunities retain students in STEM? The study will collect and analyze institutional data to determine what effects (if any) this project has on recruitment and retention of STEM students. A mixed methods approach will be used for both the formative and summative evaluations of the project. The results of the study will be shared at the regional, state and national levels through venues such as the Appalachian College Association, West Virginia Academy of Sciences, Campus Contact, as well as archived journals in STEM education. 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.