Integrating Scholarships, Academic Assistance, Professional Development, and Wellness to Increase Undergraduate Retention in Engineering and Computing

该项目将通过支持表现出经济需要的成绩优异的低收入家庭学生的保留和毕业，满足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。该项目为期五年，将为27名在南卡罗来纳大学哥伦比亚分校攻读工程、计算机信息系统、计算机科学或综合信息技术学士学位的学生提供四年奖学金。工程学科包括航空航天、生物医学、化学、土木、计算机、电气和机械工程。通过提供一套综合的学术支持、社会支持和专业发展机会，包括对职业规划和健康的支持，该项目旨在提高STEM学生在工程和计算机领域的保留率。它还寻求产生关于低收入第一代STEM学生学业持久性的新知识，以支持扩大STEM教育和职业的参与。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。它旨在提供一套综合的基于证据的保留策略，以提高持久性和保留率，以校园生活/学习社区为中心。该项目包括为期四年的综合健康干预，重点关注四个关键领域：勇气/弹性、孤独、冒名顶替综合症和一般健康与福祉。这些关键领域也将是培训教师和同行导师以支持学者的核心。职业道路支持包括来自当地行业的讲习班和研讨会，与校园就业中心的互动，以及获得实习和本科生研究机会。本研究拟采用混合方法趋同平行研究设计，通过倾向得分匹配构建比较组，考察项目要素对学生自我效能感、归属感和坚持性的影响。项目评估将提供关于项目要素和合作伙伴关系的有效性的形成性反馈，以及项目满足保留和毕业目标的程度的总结性评估。该项目由美国国家科学基金会的科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金项目资助，旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生在STEM领域获得学位的人数。它还旨在改善未来STEM工作者的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、留校、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。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。

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. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund four-year scholarships to 27 students who are pursuing Bachelor of Science degrees Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, or Integrated Information Technology at the University of South Carolina at Columbia. Engineering disciplines include Aerospace, Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering. By providing an integrated set of academic supports, social supports, and professional development opportunities, including support for career planning and for wellness, the project aims to improve retention of STEM students in engineering and computing fields. It also seeks to generate new knowledge about academic persistence of low-income, first-generation STEM students to support broadening participation in STEM education and careers.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. It aims to deliver an integrated suite of evidence-based retention strategies to increase persistence and retention, with a campus living/learning community approach at the center. The project includes a comprehensive wellness intervention across the four years of the project, with a focus on four key areas: grit/resiliency, loneliness, imposter syndrome, and general health & well-being. These key areas will also be central for training faculty and peer mentors to support the Scholars. Career pathways support includes workshops and seminars from local industry, interactions with the campus Career Center, and access to internships and undergraduate research opportunities. A mixed methods convergent parallel research design is planned to examine the impact of project elements on Scholars' self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and persistence, relative to a comparison group constructed via propensity score matching. Project evaluation will provide formative feedback regarding the effectiveness of program elements and collaborative partnerships, as well as summative evaluation of the extent to which the project meets retention and graduation targets. 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.