Supporting the Success of Mechanical Engineering Students through Sustainable Pathways that Emphasize Research and Innovation

该项目将通过支持西新英格兰大学的优秀低收入学生的保留和毕业，为国家对熟练的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求做出贡献。该项目为期五年，将为18名攻读机械工程学位的本科生提供奖学金。两组即将入学的一年级学生将获得长达四年的资助。两个新的基于课程的体验将为学者们提供研究经验，并培养他们的创业技能。该项目还将加强该大学现有的学生支持计划，包括教师和同伴指导、学习社区、学生会议参与和职业咨询。项目活动和服务有望提高低收入学生在大学生涯早期的自我效能感，从而更好地为他们应对大学和未来职业生涯中的挑战做好准备。该项目旨在促进对拟议活动与学生保留率和学位完成之间关系的理解。该项目的研究结果将为提高低收入社区大学生的持久性和毕业率的活动提供新的知识。该项目将通过建立一个社区外展计划来扩大其教育和经济影响，以增加进入STEM领域的高中生和中学生的数量。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。它旨在支持学生攻读STEM学位和职业，并为地方和国家层面的技术经济增长做出贡献。研究活动、创业技能发展和学生服务的结合旨在改善低收入STEM学生的成功之路。研究经验的目标是通过基于实验室的研究活动加深学生在工程领域的技术知识。此外，互补的创业课程将教会学生识别创新机会，并加强他们的职场技能和执行能力。该项目将促进对本科研究与创业技能发展相结合对低收入学生成功的影响的理解。它将利用有效的评估工具来评估实施的课程和课外活动，并根据学生和教师的反馈来改进活动。该项目的好处将在内部和外部传播。该项目确定的有效循证实践将在该大学更广泛的学生群体中实施。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 by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students at Western New England University. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to 18 undergraduate students who are pursuing mechanical engineering degrees. Two cohorts of incoming first-year students will be supported for up to four years. Two new course-based experiences will provide Scholars with research experiences and develop their entrepreneurial skillsets. The project will also strengthen the existing student support programs at the University, including faculty and peer mentoring, learning communities, student conference participation, and career consultation. Project activities and services are expected to boost the self-efficacy of low-income students early in their college careers, thus better preparing them to tackle challenges in college and future careers. This project intends to advance understanding of the relationship between the proposed activities and student retention and degree completion. The findings from this project will contribute new knowledge about activities that improve the persistence and graduation rates of college students from low-income communities. The project will broaden its educational and economic impacts by establishing a community outreach program to increase the number of high school and middle school students entering STEM fields.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. It aims to support students pursuing STEM degrees and careers and contribute to economic growth in technology on a local and national level. The combination of research activities, entrepreneurship skill development, and student services is intended to improve the pathway to success for low-income STEM students. The goal of the research experience is to deepen the students’ technical knowledge in the engineering field through laboratory-based research activities. Additionally, the complementary entrepreneurship curriculum will teach students to identify innovative opportunities, as well as strengthen their workplace skills and execution ability. This project will advance the understanding of the impact of undergraduate research combined with entrepreneurial skillset development on low-income student success. It will utilize validated assessment instruments to evaluate the implemented curricular and co-curricular activities and will improve the activities based on student and faculty feedback. The benefits of the project will be disseminated both internally and externally. The effective evidence-based practices determined by the project will be implemented across a wider student population at the University. 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.