Financial Support, Mentoring, and Career Development for Scholars in Energy Technologies

该项目将通过支持在路易斯安那大学拉斐特分校工程学院攻读能源相关学位的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为全国对受过良好教育的工程师的需求做出贡献。该项目为期五年，将为38名攻读电气工程、机械工程、土木工程、化学工程、石油工程或工业技术学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。学者将包括18名大一学生，12名大二学生和8名大三学生，他们将获得长达四年的奖学金支持。奖学金获得者将获得有效的支持活动，包括高质量的教师指导、本科生研究经历、服务学习机会、与当地行业的联系、研究生入学准备和职业发展指导，以及参加有针对性的讲习班和研讨会。在教师导师的个性化指导下，学者们将制定个人发展计划，概述他们的职业目标和实现这些目标的步骤。该项目将支持旨在提高学院整体学生保留率的课程设计，特别是一年级和二年级学生，他们转学或退学的风险最大。这个项目可以帮助美国在能源技术领域保持竞争力，让毕业的学生能够满足这些领域的劳动力需求。此外，该项目有可能增加对指导和个人发展计划在支持STEM学位获得中的作用的理解，并扩大学生在STEM领域的参与和成功。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。该课程特别侧重于创建一个可持续和适应性的途径，为学生提供能源技术领域未来雇主所需的必要工程技能和基于解决方案的方法。为此，该项目旨在：1)为攻读能源相关工程领域的学生提供奖学金；2)实施基于证据的学者支持服务；3)制定支持本科生成功的策略模型。准备毕业生进入能源技术劳动力是这个项目的一个重要组成部分，反映了能源技术在路易斯安那州的劳动力和经济中的作用。通过分组、指导、实地体验、实习和研讨会，学者们有望发展有关当前和未来能源技术挑战的知识。尽管该项目侧重于能源技术，但即将实施的教育模式有可能在其他STEM学科中发挥作用。这些项目的研究计划包括对与资金支持相结合的队列参与模式的有效性进行调查。调查将试图确定项目活动，包括工作场所培训、研究经验和新的工程课程，对学生成功的影响。项目成功与否将通过外部评估进行评估，该评估将学者的结果与同行的结果进行比较。项目成果将在地方、区域和国家会议上公布，并通过项目网站公布。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 engineers by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students pursuing energy-related degrees in the College of Engineering at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 38 unique, full-time students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, petroleum engineering, or industrial technology. Scholars will include 18 freshman, 12 sophomores, and 8 juniors, who will receive up to four years of scholarship support. The Scholars will be provided with effective support activities including high-quality faculty mentoring, undergraduate research experiences, service learning opportunities, connections to local industries, guidance on graduate school preparation and career development, and participation in targeted workshops and seminars. With individualized guidance from faculty mentors, Scholars will create individual development plans outlining their career goals and steps toward achieving those goals. The project will support curriculum design aimed at improving overall student retention in the College, particularly for first- and second-year students, who are at greatest risk for transfer or drop-out. This project can help the United States remain competitive in the field of energy technologies by graduating students who can fill workforce needs in these fields. In addition, the project has the potential to increase understanding about the roles of mentoring and individual development plans in supporting STEM degree attainment and to broaden student participation and success in STEM fields.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specifically focuses on creating a sustainable and adaptive pathway that will provide students with the necessary engineering skills and solutions-based approaches needed by future employers in energy technology fields. To do so, the project aims to: 1) Provide scholarships to students pursuing energy-related engineering fields; 2) Implement evidence-based support services for Scholars; and 3) Develop a model of strategies to support undergraduate student success. Preparing graduates to enter the energy technologies workforce is an imperative component of this project, reflecting the role of energy technologies in Louisiana’s workforce and economy. Through cohorts, mentoring, field experiences, internships, and workshops, Scholars are expected to develop knowledge about current and future challenges of energy technologies. Although the project focuses on energy technologies, the educational model that will be implemented has the potential to work across other STEM disciplines. The projects' research plan includes an investigation of the effectiveness of the cohort engagement model when paired with financial support. The investigation will seek to identify the impact that project activities, including workplace training, research experiences, and new engineering courses, have on student success. Project success will be assessed through an external evaluation that compares outcomes of Scholars to those of peers. The project results and outcomes will be presented in local, regional, and national conferences and through the project's website. 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.