Providing a Cohort Model to Increase Self-efficacy and Career Success of High-achieving, Low-income Undergraduate STEM Students

这个项目将有助于国家对有技能的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。为此，它将支持俄亥俄多米尼加大学优秀、低收入STEM本科生的毕业。在五年的时间里，该项目将为14名攻读生物、化学和/或环境科学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得最多四年的奖学金支持。该项目将把奖学金与学生队列模式结合起来，该模式包括共同课程、指定的学习社区空间、教师指导、实习机会、夏季桥牌计划、研究机会、研究生准备和职业咨询。由于该大学的学生群体多样化，该项目可能会增加劳动力准备好的STEM毕业生的数量，这些毕业生来自代表不足的人口。这个项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成率。通过创建圣阿尔伯特学者团队，它的目标是提供高影响力的体验式学习，让学生沉浸在一种全面的体验中，促进获得学生服务并创造一种从大学到职业的文化。预计实现这些目标将有助于增加学者留存率、毕业率和职业安置。研究表明，自我效能感越高，保持能力和持久力就越好。该项目的研究计划将研究辅导和本科研究等支持活动如何影响学生对学生自我效能感和成功的影响。俄亥俄多米尼加大学的学生群体多样化，这为探索学生身份的交叉性以及身份对自我效能和成功的影响提供了一个新的机会。一项纵向研究将检验从入学到毕业的两个学生队列中多年、渐进的一套学术干预的有效性。本项目的活动和成果可能适用于其他文科院校。该项目将通过衡量学生完成学位的坚持性、自我效能感以及入学后进入STEM职业或研究生课程的位置来进行评估。该项目所展示的研究成果和最佳做法将通过出版物和区域/国家科学教育会议进行传播。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 nation’s need for skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians. To do so, it will support the graduation of high-achieving, low-income STEM undergraduates at Ohio Dominican University. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to 14 full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Chemistry, and/or Environmental Science. First-year students will receive up to four-years of scholarship support. This project will combine scholarships with a student cohort model that includes common coursework, a designated learning community space, faculty mentoring, internship opportunities, a summer bridge program, research opportunities, graduate school preparation, and career counseling. Because of the University’s diverse student population, the project may increase the number of workforce ready STEM graduates from underrepresented populations. It also has the potential to improve understanding of how academic support and other interventions affect the success of undergraduate STEM students.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Through the creation of the St. Albert Scholars cohort, it aims to provide high-impact experiential learning and immerse students in a comprehensive experience that promotes access to student services and creates a College-to-Career culture. It is expected that achieving these aims will support increased Scholar retention, graduation rates, and career placement. Research has demonstrated that higher self-efficacy results in improved retention and persistence. The project’s research plan will study how support activities such as mentoring and undergraduate research impact student their impact on student self-efficacy and success. Ohio Dominican University’s student population has a diverse mix of students, presenting a novel opportunity to explore the intersectionality of student identities and the impact that the identities have on self-efficacy and success. A longitudinal study will examine the effectiveness of a multi-year, progressive set of academic interventions on two student cohorts from admission to graduation. The activities and results of this project may be applicable to other liberal arts institutions. This project will be evaluated by measuring student persistence to degree completion, self-efficacy, and placement in STEM careers or graduate programs upon matriculation. Research findings and best practices demonstrated by the project will be disseminated through publications and regional/national science education meetings. 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.