Building Scientific Identity and Microbiology Research Skills of Undergraduate Women in Chemistry and Biochemistry

该项目将为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做出贡献，通过支持高成就、低收入、有经济需求的学生在芒特玛丽大学留校和毕业，该大学既是一所女性服务机构，也是一所拉美裔服务机构。在五年的时间里，这个项目将为22名正在攻读生物、化学或食品科学化学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。奖学金获得者将参加五个分组，大约四名学生，并获得长达四年的奖学金支持。该项目将通过提供：(1)教师指导、财务指导和综合支持；(2)同行辅导；(3)真实的微生物学研究研讨会；以及(4)实习、科学与工业研讨会系列和行业顾问委员会，支持学者们发展专业的STEM身份。项目活动预计将提高妇女在科学、技术和经济管理领域的坚持性和毕业程度，她们独特和多样的观点将有助于科学进步和创新的完整性。该项目还将通过将真实的微生物学研究研讨会制度化，将循证方法引入本科生STEM，以支持所有学生的坚持不懈。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。该项目的具体目标是通过实现以下目标来增加本科生奖学金的留存和晋升：(1)招聘和招收被芒特玛丽大学录取的低收入、有学术天赋的本科生；(2)留住和毕业准备进入STEM劳动力或攻读研究生的学者；以及(3)调查身份认同对女性科学家的影响。这个项目将通过探索以探究为基础的系列研讨会是否可以增加科学技能和作为科学家的归属感来促进知识的发展。因此，这项工作将解决STEM教育研究文献中的空白，即多年研究研讨会如何影响低收入女性学者的坚持性和成功，她们克服冒名顶替者现象的能力，以及她们作为科学家的自我认同。该项目将使用经过验证的评估工具来评估项目方法的力量。研究结果将公布，并与学术界和科学界分享。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 Mount Mary University, both a women’s and a Hispanic Serving Institution. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 22 unique full-time students who are pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biology, chemistry, or food science chemistry. The Scholars will enter in five cohorts of about four students and receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project will support Scholars to develop a professional STEM identity by providing: (1) faculty mentoring, financial mentoring, and wrap-around support; (2) peer tutors; (3) an Authentic Research in Microbiology Seminar; and (4) internships, a Science & Industry Seminar Series, and industry advisory board. The project activities are expected to increase persistence and graduation of women in STEM whose unique and diverse perspectives will contribute to the integrity of scientific advancement and innovation. The project will also introduce evidence-based approaches to undergraduate STEM by institutionalizing Authentic Research in Microbiology seminars to support persistence of all students. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific goal of this project is to increase undergraduate Scholars’ retention and advancement by accomplishing the following aims: (1) recruit and enroll low-income, academically talented undergraduates who matriculate into Mount Mary University; (2) retain and graduate Scholars who are prepared to enter the STEM workforce or pursue graduate school; and (3) investigate how identity affects scientists who are women. This project will advance knowledge by exploring if an inquiry-based seminar series can increase scientific skills and a sense of belonging as a scientist. As a result, this work will address gaps in the STEM education research literature about how a multi-year research seminar affects low-income female scholars’ persistence and success, their ability to overcome impostor phenomenon, and their self-identify as scientists. The project will use validated assessment instruments to evaluate the strength of the project’s approaches. Results will be published and shared with the academic and scientific communities. 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.