Biology Opportunities and Scholarships for Success II

该项目将通过支持西阿拉巴马大学(UWA)有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，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。位于阿拉巴马州农村的西澳大学被指定为以黑人为主的学院(PBI)和以本科生为主的学院(PUI)。基于之前S-STEM奖项的经验和教训，该项目将为30名攻读生物和环境科学学士学位的独特全日制学生提供奖学金。它还将扩大学生支持服务，包括帮助学生过渡到大学生活的暑期新兵训练营，改善学生学习策略的培训，监测学生的幸福感，以及提高他们的沟通能力。学者还将参与同行和教师指导、研究机会、在专业会议上的演讲以及参加实地考察。该项目计划提高留校率和毕业率，监测学生成功找到工作或进入研究生院，并衡量该项目的服务和活动在帮助学生实现目标方面的重要性。该项目将促进对幸福感评估、元认知学习策略和沟通技能在提高学生留存和成功方面的作用的理解。这个项目产生的知识对西澳大学和其他许多类似的高等教育机构具有重要意义。这个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完成STEM学位。生物学成功机会和奖学金II项目旨在提高参与者在科学方面的坚持性，在学术生涯中取得成功，并最终提高科学工作者的多样性。有两个具体目标是该项目的驱动力。一是提高生物与环境科学专业优秀生的入学率和毕业率，提高学生就业或进入研究生课程的成功率。第二是评估学生支持服务(新兵训练营、学生幸福感、元认知学习培训和提高学生沟通技能)在提高学生保留率和毕业率方面的作用。该项目将通过混合方法、定量和定性研究产生知识，调查项目支助服务的有效性。这项工作将有助于填补关于学生支持服务如何影响学生的留校率和总体成功的知识空白，特别是对农村地区的少数民族学生。该项目将通过在同行评议的期刊上发表文章以及在区域和国家STEM教育相关会议上发表演讲来传播所产生的知识。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 the University of West Alabama (UWA). Located in rural Alabama, UWA is designated as a Predominately Black Institution (PBI) and Predominately Undergraduate Institution (PUI). Building on the experiences and lessons learned from a prior S-STEM award, this project will fund scholarships to 30 unique full-time students pursuing bachelor's degrees in biological and environmental sciences. It will also expand student support services including a summer boot camp to aid with the transition to college life, training to improve students' study strategies, monitoring students' well-being, and improving their communication skills. Scholars will also be involved in peer- and faculty-mentoring, research opportunities, presentations at professional conferences, and participation in field trips. The project plans to increase retention and graduation rates, monitor student success in obtaining jobs or entering graduate school, and measure the significance of the project’s services and activities in helping students achieve their goals. The project will advance understanding of the role well-being assessments, metacognitive study strategies, and communication skills in increasing student retention and success. The knowledge generated from this project is of significance to UWA and many other similar higher education institutions.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The Biology Opportunities and Scholarships for Success II project aims to increase participants' persistence in science, success in academic careers, and, ultimately, diversity in the scientific workforce. Two specific goals serve as driving forces for the project. The first is to increase the enrollment and graduation rates of academically talented students majoring in biological and environmental sciences and improve student success in obtaining jobs or entering graduate programs. The second is to evaluate the role of student support services (boot camp, student's well-being, metacognitive study training, and enhancement of students' communication skills) in improving students' retention and graduation rates. The project will generate knowledge through a mixed methods quantitative and qualitative study that investigates the effectiveness of the project's support services. The work will help to fill a knowledge gap about how the student support services impact students' retention and overall success, particularly on minority students in rural settings. The project will disseminate the generated knowledge via articles in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at regional and national STEM education-related conferences. 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.