Scholarships, Community, and High-impact Practices to Improve Undergraduate Student Success in Computer Science and Engineering

该项目将通过支持路易斯维尔大学有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，来促进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。在五年的时间里，该项目将为20名正在攻读计算机科学和工程学士学位的本科生提供60个奖学金。两组五名一年级学生将获得最多四年的奖学金支持，两组五名转校生或大三学生将获得最多两年的奖学金。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与有效的支持活动联系起来，包括指导、本科生研究经验、服务学习、研究生院准备和外联努力，加强学生在STEM领域的坚持性，以补充大学与当地和国家技术劳动力的新合作。该项目还旨在通过接触经过改进的计算机科学和工程入门课程以及获得最先进的技术工具和资源，提高STEM留存率和学者的总体毕业率。该项目产生的知识、经验和教训将使项目团队能够确定支持学生的最有效的特定学科课程和联合课程活动。提高计算机科学和工程专业学生的毕业率将有助于满足肯塔基州及其他地区的劳动力需求。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位毕业率。该项目有四个具体目标：(1)在五年内增加计算机科学和工程专业招收的低收入、有学术天赋的学生的数量；(2)在一年级达到至少90%的保留率，在二年级和三年级达到80%，并显著提高参与S-STEM学者的毕业率；(3)确保至少90%的项目参与者在毕业后六个月内找到与职业相关的工作或报读研究生课程；以及(4)促进对拟议教育活动在提高低收入、在学术上有天赋的计算机科学和工程学生的保留率和毕业率方面的有效性的了解。来自低收入家庭的学生通常工作时间更长，社会关系更少，而且不太可能参加全日制课程或从一个学期持续到下一个学期。这些因素对留校率和毕业前景产生了不利影响。除了通过奖学金为学生提供更好的财务稳定性，以及通过队列身份和社区提供情感支持的潜力外，该项目还将调整和实施高质量的循证实践，以提高留校率、毕业率和就业能力。这些战略包括改进计算机科学和工程学入门课程，为学生为工程合作社和就业做好更好的准备，培训本科助教以支持入门课程，每两周举行一次分队会议和建立网络，以建立社区意识。项目组成部分和服务的影响将通过在每学期开始和结束时使用利克特量表调查等工具来衡量，以调查学生对学习的满意度和自信心、坚持学习领域的意图，以及每项活动或学生支持服务的感知影响。外部监督将包括监测方案和研究活动，提供及时、定期的反馈，为改进这些活动提供信息，以及在接近完成时对目标和工作质量进行总结性审查。将通过教育材料和执行文件在区域和国家会议上传播该项目的进展和成果，并在期刊或会议记录中发表报告。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 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 the University of Louisville. Over its five-year duration, this project will provide 60 scholarships to 20 unique undergraduate students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Engineering. Two cohorts of five first-year students will receive up to four-years of scholarship support, and two cohorts of five transfer or junior students will receive up to two-year scholarships. The project aims to increase student persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with effective supporting activities including mentoring, undergraduate research experiences, service learning, graduate school preparation, and outreach efforts to complement the university’s emerging collaboration with the local and national technological workforce. The project also aims to improve both STEM retention rates and overall graduation rates of scholars through exposure to improved computer science and engineering gateway courses and access to state-of-the-art technological tools and resources. The knowledge, experiences, and lessons generated by this project will enable the project team to identify the most effective discipline-specific curricular and co-curricular activities for supporting students. Improving graduation rates for computer science and engineering students will help address workforce needs in Kentucky and beyond. 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 four specific objectives: (1) to increase the number of enrolled low-income, academically talented students in computer science and engineering over a five-year period; (2) to achieve retention rates of at least 90% in Year 1 and 80% in Year 2 and Year 3, and to improve graduation rates significantly for participating S-STEM scholars; (3) to ensure that at least 90% of the project participants obtain career-related employment or enroll in a graduate program within six months of graduation; and (4) to advance understanding of the effectiveness of the proposed educational activities in improving the retention and graduation rates of low-income, academically talented students in computer science and engineering. Students from low-income backgrounds often work more hours, have fewer social connections, and are less likely to take a full-time course load or enroll continuously from one semester to the next. These factors adversely impact retention and graduation prospects. In addition to providing students with improved financial stability through scholarships and the potential for emotional support through cohort identity and community, this project will adapt and implement high-quality evidence-based practices to improve retention, graduation, and employability. These strategies include the improvement of computer science and engineering gateway courses, better preparation of students for engineering co-ops and employment, training of undergraduate teaching assistants for the purpose of gateway course support, bi-weekly cohort meetings and networking to build a sense of community. The impact of program components and services will be measured through use of instruments such as Likert-scale surveys at the beginning and end of each semester to probe students’ satisfaction and self-confidence in learning, intention to persist in their field of study, and the perceived impact of each activity or student support service. External oversight will include monitoring of programmatic and research activities, provision of timely, periodic feedback to inform improvement of these activities, and summative reviews of the goals and quality of work near its completion. Dissemination of the project’s progress and outcomes will be provided at regional and national conferences, via educational materials and implementation documents, and published reports in journals or conference proceedings. 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.