Early Research Experiences and Mentoring to Increase the Numbers of Biology and Chemistry Graduates Prepared for Careers in Science

该项目将通过支持高成就、低收入学生在基恩州立学院的留校和毕业来促进国家对高技能科学家、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14名攻读生物或化学学士学位的本科生提供奖学金。奖学金获得者将分两组参加，并获得最多四年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与有效的基于队列的支持系统联系起来，提高学生在STEM领域的坚持性，旨在建立学者之间的社区感。学生将在关键的生物和化学门户课程上得到导师和同行导师的学术支持，并将受益于与教师合作开展本科生研究项目的有偿机会。为了让学者为未来的职业生涯做好准备，他们将与教师、职业顾问和校友导师合作，培养员工技能。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。具体地说，该项目预计将增加新罕布夏州农村地区完成化学或生物学士学位的学生人数。该项目计划探索早期研究经验对学者的学术成功以及他们作为学者和未来科学家的自我认同感发展的作用。在该奖项的第一年和第二年，将招收七名一年级学生。在第一年，Scholars将与其他化学和生物学生一起，参与一系列旨在促进他们成功的经历，包括为化学和生物学生设计的写作课程、同行和教师指导、社区建设经验，以及参与科学研究的机会。基恩州立学院没有这样的学生支持活动，类似的公共文科机构可能会受到限制。利用预期价值理论框架，该项目将研究早期研究经验与其他支持结构相结合，如何影响学生坚持的意图和他们在STEM专业的实际坚持。这项研究的结果以及该项目的其他方面将传播给STEM教育界，从而提供关于如何最好地支持STEM专业的知识，特别是来自农村环境的学生。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 highly skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students at Keene State College. Over its five-year duration, the project will provide scholarships 14 undergraduate students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology or Chemistry. The Scholars will enter in two cohorts and receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project aims to increase student persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with an effective a cohort-based support system designed to build a sense of community among the Scholars. Students will be supported academically by tutors and peer mentors in key biology and chemistry gateway courses and will benefit from paid opportunities to work with faculty on undergraduate research projects. To prepare Scholars for their future careers, they will work with faculty, career advisors, and alumni mentors to develop workforce skills. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specifically, this project is expected to increase the number of students in rural New Hampshire completing a baccalaureate degree in Chemistry or Biology. The project plans to explore the role of early research experiences on Scholars' academic success and on development of their self-identity as scholars and future scientists. In both year one and two of the award, a cohort of seven entering first year students will be recruited. During their first year, Scholars, together with other chemistry and biology students, will engage in a set of experiences aimed at promoting their success, include a writing course designed for chemistry and biology students, peer and faculty mentoring, community-building experiences, and an opportunity to engage in scientific research. Such student support activities are not in place at Keene State College and may be limited at similar public liberal arts institutions. Using an Expectancy Value Theory framework, the project will examine how early research experiences, in combination with other support structures, affect students’ intentions to persist and their actual persistence in their STEM major. Findings from this research, along with other aspects of this project, will be disseminated to the STEM education community, thus contributing knowledge about how to best support STEM majors, particularly those coming from rural environments. 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.