Financial, Academic, Social, and Mental Health Supports to Improve STEM Undergraduate Student Retention and Graduation

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。具体来说，马萨诸塞州北安多弗梅里马克学院的这个项目将为20名学生提供四年的奖学金支持和专业支持服务，目标是招收、留住和毕业拥有四年制STEM学位的学生。学生将分成三组，七名学生中的两组在第一年和第二年开始学习，六名学生中的三分之一在第三年开始学习。研究问题将探讨经济、社会、情感和心理健康因素之间复杂的相互作用，以及它们对STEM本科生留校和学业成功的影响。该计划的一个新颖元素是将心理健康专业人员作为项目团队的一部分，为学生提供健康资源。该项目的研究目标是在项目过程中量化学生的毅力、韧性和其他因素，并将使用统计分析来探索这些因素与学生成功之间的相互作用。这些学者将参加小组编程，旨在提高他们的适应能力、与STEM领域的联系和学术技能。研究人员将使用多种统计分析，包括重复测量之间的相互作用，以及定性评估来检验假设，即学者将证明更大的心理弹性和学业成绩相对于a)随着时间的推移他们自己和b)他们匹配的对照。此外，回归分析将用于评估哪些变量最能预测学生的学习成绩，结构方程模型将允许当前项目评估变量之间关系的潜在理论模型。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. Specifically, this project at Merrimack College in North Andover Massachusetts will provide 20 students with four years of scholarship support and specialized support services with the goal of recruiting, retaining, and graduating students with a four-year STEM degree. Students will progress through the program in three cohorts, two of seven students beginning in the first and second years, and a third of six students beginning in the third year. Research questions will explore the complex interactions among financial, social, emotional, and mental health factors and their influences on STEM undergraduate student retention and academic success. A novel element of the proposed program is the inclusion of a mental health professional as part of the program team to provide wellness resources for students.The project’s research goals are to quantify student grit, resilience, and other factors over the course of the program and will use statistical analysis to probe the interactions between these factors and student success. The Scholars will participate in group programming designed to improve their resilience, connection to the STEM field, and academic skills. The investigators will use multiple statistical analyses, including repeated measures with a within-between interaction, as well as qualitative assessments to test the hypothesis that the Scholars will evidence greater psychological resiliency and academic achievement outcomes relative to a) themselves over time and b) their matched controls. Additionally, regression analyses will be used to assess what variables are most predictive of student academic performance and structural equation modeling will allow for the current project to assess the underlying theoretical model of the relationships between variables. 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.