Increasing Retention and Graduation of STEM Undergraduates through Scholarships and a Learning Community Combined with Academic, Social, Professional, and Family Supports

该项目将通过支持高成就，低收入STEM本科生的保留和毕业，为国家对高技能科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。 该项目设在Azusa Pacific大学，这是一个为西班牙裔服务的机构。在为期五年的时间里，该项目将为14名学生提供奖学金，这些学生至少半读，正在攻读计算机科学、工程、数学和/或物理学学士学位。学者将在大学第一年进入该项目，并将获得四年的支持。他们将参加一个STEM学习社区，包括参加共同课程，同行和教师指导以及学术成功辅导。 其他学者支持包括一个以STEM为重点的成功教练，他将提供职业指导，以及实习和研究机会。该项目的一个显著特点是定期组织家庭聚会，旨在让学者家庭参与支持学生完成学位。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生完成STEM学位的人数。该项目旨在提高学者的第一年保留率和四年毕业率。在这样做的过程中，该项目打算建立一个持久的以STEM为重点的招聘渠道，其中包括学生群体高度多样化的当地高中。该项目将促进对配对的有效性的理解重大奖学金支持与导师，无论是同行对同行和教师对学生。在国家认可的顾问的专家指导下，该项目预计将为学者提供变革性的指导经验，并产生国家规范的、可衡量的项目有效性结果。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。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术成功，保留，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 highly skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income STEM undergraduates. The project is located at Azusa Pacific University, a Hispanic-serving institution. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to 14 students, who are enrolled at least half-time and are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in computer science, engineering, mathematics, and/or physics. Scholars will enter the project in their first year in college and will be supported for four years. They will participate in a STEM learning community that includes enrollment in common courses, peer and faculty mentoring, and academic success coaching. Additional Scholar supports include a STEM-focused success coach who will provide career guidance, as well as internships and research opportunities. A distinguishing feature of this project is organization of regular family gatherings designed to include Scholars’ families in supporting their students’ degree completion.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project aims to increase the Scholars’ first-year retention and four-year graduation rates. In doing so, the project intends to establish an enduring STEM-focused recruitment pipeline that includes local high schools with highly diverse student populations. The project will advance understanding of the effectiveness of pairing significant scholarship support with mentorship, both peer-to-peer and faculty-to-student. With expert guidance from nationally recognized consultants, the project expects to provide Scholars with transformative mentoring experiences, and produce nationally normed, measurable results of project effectiveness. 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.