Building Science Identity, Sense of Belonging, and Social Support Networks to Increase the Success of Undergraduate Chemistry Transfer Students

该项目将通过支持西密歇根大学表现出经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，来促进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。在五年的时间里，该项目将为40名从其他机构转到西密歇根大学后正在攻读化学和/或生物化学学士学位的本科生提供奖学金。它还将支持多达8名攻读化学博士学位的研究生。本科生将获得最多四年的奖学金支持，研究生将获得最多五年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在通过开展暑期研究或参加当地行业、政府机构和社区组织的暑期实习来招聘、留住和支持未来的化学家和生物化学家。该项目还将提供方案和讲习班，以促进学术成功和职业准备。参与活动的学生将与其他本科生、研究生、教职员工和行业专业人士一起完成活动。正在进行的教师专业发展将为所有STEM教师提供了解和参与讨论的机会，以帮助提高学生的归属感和包容性。由于西密歇根大学有大量的转校生，这个项目有可能扩大化学项目的参与度。该项目将对社会支持网络、归属感和科学家身份的发展如何支持这一学生群体的留住和毕业提供新的见解。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的STEM学位完成率。具体地说，该项目旨在更好地融入和支持转学学生，同时培养他们作为科学家的身份，并为他们的科学生涯和/或研究生学习做好准备。在西密歇根大学化学系，注册化学或生物化学专业的学生中有40%是转校生，过去五年中33%的毕业生从其他机构获得了30个或更多学分。该项目包括有组织的、有针对性的干预措施，旨在将转学学生纳入化学系，支持他们发展作为科学家的身份，并建立他们的社会支持网络。将通过对科学家身份、社会支持网络、部门整合和归属感的年度调查和访谈，对该项目进行纵向评估。该项目将促进对转学学生的经历和干预措施的作用的了解，如学生规划、教师规划、分层队列、暑期研究和实习经验以及学者认可。这些调查结果将通过学术报告和出版物、项目网站和社区活动提供。该项目的发现将对其他有兴趣更好地支持和留住从两年制院校转来的理科学生的机构有所帮助。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 well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Western Michigan University. Over its five-year duration, this project will provide scholarships to up to 40 unique undergraduate students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and/or Biochemistry after transferring to Western Michigan University from another institution. It will also support up to eight graduate students pursuing doctoral degrees in Chemistry. Undergraduate students will receive up to four years of scholarship support and graduate students will receive up to five years of scholarship support. This project intends to recruit, retain, and support future chemists and biochemists through opportunities to conduct summer research or participate in summer internships with local industries, government agencies, and community organizations. The project will also offer programming and workshops to promote academic success and career preparation. Participating students will complete activities in a cohort with other undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and industry professionals. Ongoing faculty professional development will provide all STEM faculty with the opportunity to learn about and engage in discussions to help improve students’ sense of belonging and inclusion. Because Western Michigan University has a high population of transfer students, this project has the potential to broaden participation in chemistry programs. The project will provide new insights into how social support networks, sense of belonging, and development of scientist identities support retention and graduation of this student population.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 aims to better integrate and support transfer students while developing their identities as scientists and preparing them for scientific careers and/or graduate studies. In the Chemistry Department at Western Michigan University, 40% of students enrolling as chemistry or biochemistry majors are transfer students and 33% of the graduates over the past five years have 30 or more credits from another institution. This project includes structured, targeted interventions aimed at integrating transfer students into the chemistry department, supporting their development of identities as scientists, and building their social support networks. This project will be evaluated longitudinally through yearly surveys and interviews on scientist identity, social support networks, and departmental integration and sense of belonging. This project will advance understanding of the experiences of transfer students and the role of interventions such as student programming, faculty programming, stratified cohorts, summer research and internship experiences, and scholar recognition. These findings will be made available through academic presentations and publications, a project website, and community events. Project findings will be useful to other institutions interested in better supporting and retaining science students transferring from two-year institutions. 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.