Improving the Academic Success and Graduation of Transfer Students in Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Programs

该项目将通过支持奥本大学高成就、低收入转学生的保留和毕业，帮助满足国家对熟练工程师的需求。在五年的时间里，该项目将向28名攻读机械或材料工程学士学位的全日制转学生提供奖学金。学者的两个年度队列将从谁是进入大学在他们的工程研究的第二或第三年的学生中选出。 学者将获得长达三年的奖学金支持。 除了经济上的挑战，许多转学生还面临着适应校园生活，与学习小组联系，获得学术支持计划和研究/实习机会的挑战。该项目将通过将财政支持与资源和活动相结合来帮助学者应对这些挑战，以帮助他们与其他转学生和教师建立关系，并培养作为工程师取得成功的技能。例子包括方向和第一学期的成功研讨会，研究经验，职业发展资源，教师和同行指导。当他们通过他们的学习计划移动，学者将从被指导过渡到成为一个导师，促进他们的身份作为奥本大学社区的一员，作为一个工程师。作为该项目一部分开发的课程，讲习班和研讨会将向所有转学生开放，从而增加该项目的影响力和可持续性。 预计这个项目可能是一个模型，其他机构可以复制或调整，以提高转学生的成功。这个项目的目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生与证明财政需要完成STEM学位。 具体目标是：（1）改善机械工程系转学生的学业表现;（2）改善转学生对校园的适应及参与校园生活的情况;（3）促进转学生参与研究工作;（4）加强转学生与教师及朋辈导师的联系;（5）加强转学生对学业支援服务的使用;及（6）为转校学生提供专业发展活动。 该项目旨在通过提高学生的参与度和归属感来实现这些目标。 该项目将收集和分析关于队列经验的特点和好处的数据，以及转学生和从高中进入大学的学生对这些经验的看法的差异。在拟议的项目过程中，将确定有助于或有损于积极群组经验的活动。这些信息将有助于为转学生量身定制高质量，有影响力的队列体验。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 help meet the national need for skilled engineers by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income transfer students at Auburn University. Over its five-year duration, the project will award scholarships to 28 full-time transfer students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in mechanical or materials engineering. Two annual cohorts of Scholars will be selected from students who are entering the University in their second or third year of engineering study. The Scholars will receive up to three years of scholarship support. In addition to financial challenges, many transfer students also face challenges with acclimation to campus life, connecting with study groups, and accessing academic support programs and research/internship opportunities. This project will help Scholars navigate these challenges by combining financial support with resources and activities to help them develop relationships with other transfer students and with faculty, as well as develop skills for success as an engineer. Examples include orientation and first-semester success seminars, research experiences, career development resources, and faculty and peer mentoring. As they move through their program of study, Scholars will transition from being mentored to being a mentor, promoting their identity as a member of the Auburn University community and as an engineer. The classes, workshops, and seminars developed as part of this project will be open to all transfer students, thus increasing the project’s impact and sustainability. It is expected that this project may be a model that other institutions could replicate or adapt to improve transfer student success.The goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific aims are to: (1) improve the academic performance of transfer students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; (2) improve transfer students’ acclimation to campus and engagement in campus life; (3) promote participation in research among transfer students; (4) connect transfer students with faculty and peer mentors; (5) enhance transfer students’ use of academic support services; and (6) provide professional development activities for transfer students. The project intends to achieve these objectives by increasing student engagement and sense of belonging. The project will collect and analyze data on the characteristics and benefits of a cohort experience and the differences in perception of these experiences between transfer students and students who enter the university from high school. Over the course of the proposed project, activities that contribute to or detract from a positive cohort experience will be identified. This information will enable the design of high quality, impactful cohort experiences tailored to transfer students. 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.