Connecting Mentor Partners for Academic Success of Undergraduates in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics

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。该项目将支持从伍斯特公立学校系统进入伍斯特理工学院的学生。该项目为期五年，将为其中20名攻读STEM领域理学学士学位的学生提供为期四年的奖学金，包括工程学、生物信息学和计算生物学、生物学和生物技术、化学、计算机科学、数据科学、数学科学和物理学。该项目打算采用一种以资产为基础的框架，以学生的长处而不是缺点为基础。期望这种方法将促进学者的归属感、自我效能感、身份、幸福感、学业成功、STEM学位完成以及进入劳动力市场或研究生院。伍斯特理工学院现有的和新的高影响力战略将有助于项目的成功。例子包括暑期前可选的“桥梁”课程、入学前的联系活动、一年级常见的大问题研讨会课程、个人发展计划、专业发展研讨会、行业探索和校园有偿研究机会。该项目将增强该研究所在STEM领域招募、支持和研究生的能力，这些学生来自低收入、第一代和/或代表性不足的群体，从而扩大STEM领域的参与。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。该项目有三个具体目标：1)增加来自伍斯特公立学校的低收入，学术才华和第一代学生的数量，他们申请，注册并毕业于伍斯特理工学院的STEM学士学位；2)通过全面的、以研究为基础的项目，在经济上、学术上和情感上支持学者，帮助他们从上大学到在大学取得成功，再到成为一名STEM专业人士；3)开发、实施和调查一个以资产为基础的框架，包括导师网络（如同伴、教师和校园冠军）和研讨会，这将导致可持续的制度变革，以支持所有学生。传统的课外学生支持模式使用赤字模型，而该项目将使用基于资产的方法来研究扩大STEM参与的新方法。该项目的方法侧重于个人的福祉，并采取以资产为中心的视角，在以STEM为重点的环境中探索交叉身份。该项目将调查1)哪些基于资产的制度支持结构有助于成功过渡到大学和毕业；2)学生和机构资产如何通过学生网络流动，以支持获得STEM学士学位；3)伍斯特理工学院的教职员工和管理人员与导师计划有联系的低收入、第一代和/或代表性不足的学生是否存在态度转变和文化响应实践的采用。该项目有可能促进对不同途径的理解，通过这些途径，这些资产在传统上服务不足的群体的学生参与大学经历期间流入和流出。该项目将通过焦点小组和调查的信息进行评估，以确定学生在大学生活中的进步情况。该项目的成果将在美国工程教育协会会议和工程与计算多样性合作网络会议等会议的会议论文集中发表。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. The project will support students who enter Worcester Polytechnic Institute from the Worcester Public School system. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund four-year scholarships and provide academic support to 20 of these students who are pursuing Bachelor of Science degrees in STEM fields, including Engineering, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Biology and Biotechnology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Data Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physics. The project intends to use an assets-based framework that builds upon students' strengths rather than deficits. The expectation is that this approach will promote the Scholars' sense of belonging, self-efficacy, identity, well-being, academic success, degree completion in STEM, and entry into the workforce or graduate school. Several existing and new high-impact strategies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute will contribute to the project success. Examples include optional pre-summer "bridge" courses, pre-orientation bonding activities, a common first-year Great Problems Seminar course, individual development plans, professional development workshops, industry explorations, and on-campus paid research opportunities. This project will enhance the Institute's ability to recruit, support, and graduate students from low-income, first generation, and/or underrepresented groups in STEM and thus broaden participation in STEM fields.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project has three specific aims: 1) To increase the number of low-income, academically talented, and first generation students from Worcester Public Schools who apply, enroll, and graduate with a STEM BS degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute; 2) To financially, academically, and emotionally support Scholars with holistic, research-backed programming designed to help them adapt over time from starting college to succeeding in college to becoming a STEM professional; 3) To develop, implement, and investigate an assets-based framework with a mentor network (e.g., peer, faculty, and campus champion) and workshops that will lead to sustainable institutional change to support all students. Traditional models of co-curricular student support utilize a deficit model whereas this project will use an assets-based approach to examine new ways to broaden participation in STEM. The project's approach focuses on the well-being of individuals and takes an assets-focused perspective that explores intersecting identities in a STEM focused environment. This project will investigate 1) which assets-based institutional support structures aid successful transition to college and graduation; 2) how students and institutional assets flow through student networks to support attainment of a STEM BS degree; and 3) whether there are attitudinal shifts and adoption of culturally responsive practices inclusive of low-income, first generation and/or underrepresented students by Worcester Polytechnic Institute faculty, staff, and administrators who have contact with the mentor program. The project has the potential to advance the understanding of different pathways through which these assets flow to and from students of traditionally underserved populations during their participation in college experiences. The project will be assessed through information from focus groups and surveys, to determine how students are progressing through their college experience. Results of this project will be made available through presentations and publication in conference proceedings at conferences such as the American Association of Engineering Education Conference and the Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference. 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.