Scholarships, Targeted Support, and Leadership Development to Increase Retention and Graduation of Math-Intensive STEM Majors

该项目将有助于国家需要受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员通过支持高成就，低收入的学生在布鲁克代尔社区学院表现出经济需要的保留和毕业。在五年的时间里，该项目将为32名攻读工程、计算机科学、化学、物理或数学副学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。 学者将进入三个年度队列，并获得奖学金长达三年。 除了奖学金，学者将有机会获得多种支持活动，包括：1）一个夏桥计划，结合学术，成功和文化方面; 2）每周一次的技能提高会议，从微积分预科到微积分II的数学课程; 3）由学者学科的教师指导;以及4）领导力研讨会，将以行业，教师和学生演讲者以及旨在培养领导技能和STEM归属感的研讨会为特色。学者将被要求在他们的第二年从事领导活动。一个研究项目，实习，或与潜在的四年转学机构的合作将作为学者的顶点经验。这些支持结构和领导力发展活动旨在通过解决学术和文化差异来帮助STEM教育的公平竞争。此外，他们将帮助学生准备毕业后担任领导角色，从而有助于更多样化和全球竞争力的STEM劳动力。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生的STEM学位完成证明经济需要。具体目标包括提高五个目标专业的保留率和完成率，提高这些专业共有的四门课程数学序列的完成率，并增强学者对STEM身份的认同感。课程数据和学生评估将用于研究数学课程补充教学的有效性。学生反思期刊，前和后评估，以及个人和小组访谈将被用来促进学生发展身份作为科学家的条件下的理解。通过在区域和国家会议上以及在出版物中传播方案组成部分和成果，将在更大范围内和在更多的机构中分享和采用见解和最佳做法。 该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。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术成功，保留，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 at Brookdale Community College. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to thirty-two unique full-time students pursuing Associate's degrees in engineering, computer science, chemistry, physics, or mathematics. The Scholars will enter as three annual cohorts and receive scholarships for up to three years. In addition to scholarships, Scholars will have access to multiple supporting activities including: 1) a summer bridge program incorporating academic, success, and cultural facets; 2) a weekly skills-enhancement session tied to mathematics courses from pre-calculus to Calculus II; 3) mentoring by faculty members from the Scholar’s discipline; and 4) a Leadership Seminar that will feature industry, faculty, and student speakers and workshops designed to build leadership skills and belonging in STEM. Scholars will be expected to engage in a leadership activity during their second year. A research project, internship, or collaboration with a potential four-year transfer institution will serve as Scholars’ capstone experience. These support structures and leadership development activities are designed to help level the playing field in STEM education by addressing academic and cultural disparities. In addition, they will help prepare students to assume leadership roles after graduation, thereby contributing to a more diverse and globally competitive STEM workforce.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific objectives include increasing the retention and completion rates in the five targeted majors, raising the completion rates in the four-course mathematics sequence common to these majors, and enhancing the Scholars' sense of STEM identity. Course data and student assessments will be used to study the effectiveness of supplemental instruction in mathematics courses. Student reflective journals, pre- and post-assessments, and individual and group interviews will be used to advance the understanding of the conditions under which students develop identities as scientists. Through dissemination of program components and outcomes at regional and national conferences and in publications, insights and best practices will be shared and adapted on a larger scale and at additional institutions. 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 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.