Supporting Undergraduate STEM Graduation and Career Pathways Through Student and Faculty Learning Communities

该项目将通过支持高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，促进国家对高技能科学家，数学家和技术人员的需求。 该项目以卡洛大学为中心，这是一所位于宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡的私立文科大学。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为18名攻读生物学、化学和/或数据分析学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。第一年的学者将获得长达四年的奖学金，转学学者将获得长达两年的奖学金支持。该项目将在一个以小组为基础的学者学习社区内支持学者，其中包括指导和其他高影响力的支持实践。该项目还设有一个STEM教师学习社区，该社区以学者成果的共同兴趣为中心，旨在加强STEM教学并实施学者支持的最佳实践。学者/教师学习社区模式旨在促进学生和教师之间的联系，这将有助于成功毕业和追求STEM职业。该项目的研究将深入了解一种潜在的可复制的双重学习社区方法的有效性，以支持STEM学生的成功。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生与证明财政需要完成STEM学位。具体的项目目标包括：1）：招募18名低收入，学术才华，全日制学生谁追求生物学，化学和数据分析学位在补助金期间; 2）提高学者的第一年保留率和毕业率; 3）放置在STEM相关的工作或研究生院的学者在毕业后六个月内的高比例。 该项目还将研究参与学习社区对STEM领域妇女的影响。 尽管对学习型社区进行了大量研究，但很少有研究探讨学习型社区在多大程度上有助于低收入妇女在STEM领域取得成功。社会科学研究人员将通过进行一项研究来解决这一差距，该研究测量学习社区对学者对整体大学成功的信心以及他们的态度，学习经验和STEM内在动机的影响，包括他们的学术能力，在STEM领域工作的兴趣，以及向大学社会过渡的便利性。由外部评价人员进行的项目评估和评价计划将在整个项目实施过程中为改进提供信息。 评价结果将通过地方、区域和国家会议和出版物传播，以便向学术界通报情况并提供推广机会。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 highly skilled scientists, mathematicians, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students. The project is centered at Carlow University, a private, liberal arts university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to 18 full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, and/or data analytics. First-year Scholars will receive up to four years and transfer Scholars will receive up to two years of scholarship support. The project will support Scholars within a cohort-based Scholar learning community that includes mentoring and other high-impact support practices. The project also features a STEM faculty learning community centered on shared interest in Scholar outcomes, with the goal of enhancing STEM teaching and implementing best practices in Scholar support. The Scholar/Faculty learning community model is intended to foster connections among students and faculty that will contribute to successful graduation and pursuit of STEM careers. The project’s research study will provide insight into the effectiveness of a potentially replicable, dual learning community approach for supporting STEM student success. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific project objectives include: 1): Recruiting 18 low-income, academically talented, full-time students who pursue degrees in biology, chemistry, and data analytics over the grant period; 2) Increasing first-year retention and graduation rates of the Scholars; 3) Placing a high proportion of Scholars in STEM-related jobs or graduate school within six months of graduation. The project will also examine the impacts of participation in learning communities on women in STEM. Despite abundant research on learning communities, few studies have examined the extent to which learning communities contribute to success of low-income women in STEM. A social science researcher will address this gap by conducting a research study measuring the impact of learning communities on Scholars’ confidence in overall college success and their attitudes, learning experiences, and intrinsic motivation in STEM, including their academic abilities, interest in working in STEM fields, and ease in the social transition to college. A project assessment and evaluation plan, conducted by an external evaluator, will inform improvements throughout project implementation. Results of this evaluation will be disseminated via local, regional, and national conferences and publications to inform the academic community and provide opportunities for replication. 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.