Scholarships and Support Strategies to Increase Retention and Graduation/Transfer of Students Pursuing Associate Degrees in Natural Science Fields

这个项目将有助于满足国家对熟练的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。它将通过支持帕克兰学院（Parkland College）——伊利诺伊州中东部的一所综合性社区学院——那些表现出经济需要的成绩优异的低收入家庭学生的留校和毕业来实现这一目标。该项目为期五年，每年向四批攻读自然科学副学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金，每批10人。这些学者将获得最多两年的奖学金支持。除了提供奖学金外，该项目还将通过五种策略来支持学者的学业表现：教师指导、同伴指导、暑期研究机会、俱乐部参与和定制的项目体验课程。帕克兰学院约40%的学生来自尚未在STEM中得到公平代表的群体。因此，该项目有可能满足国家对更多STEM专业人员的需求，同时也增加了STEM劳动力的多样性。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。在帕克兰学院，获得佩尔助学金的自然科学专业学生的辍学率和毕业/转学率都比非佩尔学生低21%左右。该项目希望通过为学者提供一系列协调一致的支持举措，提高低收入社区大学STEM专业学生的学习成绩。具体而言，该项目拟使参与者的春季至秋季保留率达到90%，秋季至秋季保留率达到85%，150%时间毕业/转学率达到75%。此外，该项目将寻求确保包括来自尚未在STEM中得到公平代表的群体的学生。该项目将与一名教育研究人员合作，通过研究分层多重策略对留校率、毕业率和转学率的影响，填补STEM教育研究文献中的空白。为了最大限度地发挥研究的智力价值，项目团队将为目标受众（包括学者、管理人员和决策者）编写研究简报和演示文稿。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 skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians. It will do so by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Parkland College, a comprehensive community college in east central Illinois. Over its five-year duration, the project will provide scholarships to four annual cohorts of 10 full time students who are pursuing associate degrees in a natural science field. The Scholars will receive scholarship support for up to two years. In addition to providing scholarships, the project will support Scholars’ academic performance through five strategies: faculty mentoring, peer mentoring, summer research opportunities, club participation, and a customized project experience course. About 40% of students at Parkland College are from groups that are not yet equitably represented in STEM. Thus, the project has the potential to contribute to the national need for more STEM professionals, while also increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. At Parkland College, both fall-to-fall retention rate and the graduation/transfer rate for natural science students receiving Pell grants is about 21% lower than their non-Pell peers. The project expects to improve the academic performance of low-income community college students in STEM majors by providing Scholars with a coordinated collection of support initiatives. Specifically, the project intends that the participants will reach a spring-to-fall retention rate of 90%, fall-to-fall retention rate of 85%, and 150%-time graduation/transfer rate of 75%. Additionally, the project will seek to ensure inclusion of students from groups that are not yet equitably represented in STEM. The project will work with an educational researcher to fill a gap in the STEM education research literature by examining the effects that layering multiple strategies has on retention, graduation, and transfer rates. To maximize the intellectual merit of the study, the project team will develop research briefs and presentations for targeted audiences, including academics, administrators, and policymakers. 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.