Improving STEM Undergraduate Student Outcomes Through Partnerships, Mentoring, and High Impact Practices

该项目将通过支持布里奇沃特州立大学（Bridgewater State University）这所提供硕士学位的公立综合性大学保留和毕业成绩优异、低收入且有经济需要的学生，从而满足全国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。该项目为期六年，将为35名攻读化学、计算机科学、地质科学、数学、光子学和光学工程以及物理学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将分成三组，分别获得四年的奖学金。其他有针对性的支持将包括指导和让学生参与已知可以提高STEM学生成绩的活动（例如，本科生研究和实习）。该项目的一个独特之处在于它与专业组织的合作伙伴关系，专门为来自STEM中代表性不足的群体的个人提供服务。在这样做的过程中，该项目希望更好地了解与专业组织的伙伴关系如何有助于学生的STEM身份和保留。这种理解对新知识的产生和与其他对提高STEM学生成绩感兴趣的机构和专业组织分享知识都有影响。该项目的总体目标是提高具有经济需求的低收入，高成就的本科学者的STEM学位完成程度。该项目旨在调查两个研究问题：(1)涉及教师和不同STEM专业人员的广泛指导方法以何种方式影响学者的持久性、自我效能感、STEM身份以及与参与课程和课外活动相关的结果预期？(2)与不涉及外部导师的项目组成部分的发展相比，学者们将自我效能感、STEM认同和结果预期的发展在多大程度上归功于他们与专业组织（特别是全国黑人工程师协会-波士顿）导师的具体互动？该项目将建立在公认的知识基础上，即参与整合高影响力实践的项目，包括指导，通过培养强大的STEM身份，在STEM保留方面取得积极成果。该项目将进一步研究与多元化专业组织建立伙伴关系如何进一步影响STEM的身份，从而影响STEM的保留。调查措施和访谈将评估学者如何看待自己的STEM身份，他们对该身份的外部代理人的认可程度，以及该身份对他们的生活有多重要和突出。假设这些中介因素会导致更多地参与研究、服务学习和其他高影响力的实践，并增强STEM的保留率。对学者的采访将使用关键字分析进行检查，该分析阐明了教师和专业顾问导师与大学外部不同STEM专业人士群体指导的相对影响。除了专业会议和期刊出版物的标准传播做法外，项目成果将通过有意扩大STEM参与的区域和国家专业组织传播。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 well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Bridgewater State University, a public, master’s degree offering comprehensive university. Over its six year duration, this project will fund scholarships for 35 full-time students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry, Computer Science, Geological Sciences, Mathematics, Photonics and Optical Engineering, and Physics. First-year students, in one of three cohorts, will receive four years of scholarship. Additional targeted supports will include mentoring and engaging the students in activities (e.g., undergraduate research and internships) known to improve STEM student outcomes. A unique feature of the project is its use of a partnership with a professional organization that specifically serves individuals from groups that are often underrepresented in STEM. In doing so, the project expects to better understand how partnerships with professional organizations can aid in students' STEM identity and retention. This understanding has implications for both generation of new knowledge and sharing of that knowledge to other institutions and professional organizations interested in improving STEM student outcomes. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduate Scholars with demonstrated financial need. The project aims to investigate two research questions: (1) In what ways does a broad mentoring approach involving both faculty and diverse STEM professionals influence Scholar persistence, self-efficacy, STEM identity, and the outcome expectations associated with participation in coursework and co-curricular activities? (2) To what extent do Scholars attribute the development of their self-efficacy, STEM identity, and outcome expectations to their specific interaction with mentors from a professional organization (specifically the National Society for Black Engineers- Boston), compared with development attributed to program components not involving outside mentors? This project will be building upon well-established knowledge that participation in programs integrating high-impact practices, including mentoring, lead to positive outcomes in STEM retention through the development of a strong STEM identity. This project will further examine how the addition of a partnership with a diverse professional organization can further impact STEM identity, and thus impact STEM retention. Survey measures and interviews will evaluate growth in how Scholars view their own STEM identity, how validated they feel by external agents in that identity, and how prominent and salient that identity is to their lives. These mediating factors are hypothesized to lead to greater participation in research, service-learning, and other high-impact practices, and to stronger STEM retention. Interviews with the Scholars will be examined using a keyword analysis that illuminates the relative impact of faculty and professional advisor mentor versus mentoring by a diverse group of STEM professionals external to the university. In addition to standard dissemination practices of professional conference and journal publications, project outcomes will be disseminated through regional and national professional organizations interested in broadening participation in STEM. 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.