Retaining Students in STEM on a Commuter Campus with Efficient High Impact Practices

该项目将通过支持密歇根大学迪尔伯恩分校招收、保留和毕业有经济需要的优秀低收入学生，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。该项目旨在适应高影响力的实践和支持服务，这些实践和支持服务已被证明对住宅校园的学生有益，并适用于底特律地铁中由不同学生群体组成的100%通勤人口。在此期间，该项目将为56名攻读生物科学、生物化学、计算机与信息科学、工程、电气工程、工业与系统工程、机械工程、计算机工程、数学、环境科学、生物工程和化学（ACS认证）学士学位的一年级全日制学生提供奖学金。入选的一年级学生将获得四年的奖学金，以及学术和社会支持、研究机会和专业发展。这些干预措施是专门为适应通勤学生的时间表而设计的，这些学生通常住在家里，并且有义务阻止他们参加高影响力的实践。在第一年，这些学生将被安排在2-3个普通班级，以建立一个队列社区，在数学和化学课上获得直接和有意的同伴支持。将由教师提供专门的指导，并由训练有素的项目协调员提供专业建议，同时，在学生在校期间，将为他们提供远程或方便时间提供的支持服务。一项名为“研究轮转”（research rotation）的新型带薪本科生研究经历旨在扩大对各种科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域研究的接触，并培养归属感，这将使学生有机会在兼职的基础上与教师密切合作，调查多个研究项目。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、成绩优异的本科生在STEM学科的学位完成率。具体目标包括：保持第一至第二年的保留率85%，达到50%的四年制毕业率，并为由于外部责任而时间有限的通勤学生调整现有的，经过验证的干预措施。在传统的住宿式校园里，队伍建设、同伴指导、主动学习和研究经验都被证明是提高留校率和毕业率的有效策略。对于通勤学生，特别是低收入学生，由于经济、工作或家庭义务的限制，他们无法获得许多这些干预措施。该项目旨在调整这些支持结构，引入更灵活的时间承诺或远程访问，并将研究这些调整对STEM的持久性、学生学习、保留率和毕业率的影响。外部评估人员将度量项目的成功，确定哪些干预措施和参与的频率与实现目标相关。该项目有可能促进对通勤校园（包括社区大学）学生有效和高效的留校策略的理解。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工作者的教育经历，并为低收入学生的学业成功、留校、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路提供有关最佳实践的知识。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 recruitment, retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at University of Michigan-Dearborn. The project aims to adapt high impact practices and support services, that have been proven to benefit students on residential campuses, to a 100% commuter population composed of a diverse group of students in metro-Detroit. Over its duration, this project will fund scholarships to 56 unique first year, full time students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in the Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Computer and Information Science, Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Environmental Science, Bioengineering, and Chemistry (ACS Certified). Selected first year students will receive four-year scholarships along with academic and social support, research opportunities, and professional development. These interventions are specifically designed to accommodate the schedules of commuter students, who typically live at home and have commitments that prevent them from participating in high impact practices. The scholars will be placed in 2-3 common classes during their first year to build a cohort community, receiving direct and intentional peer support in their math and chemistry classes. Dedicated mentoring by faculty and professional advising by a trained project coordinator will be provided, while support services that are delivered either remotely or at convenient times, will be available to the scholars throughout their four years on campus. A new, paid undergraduate research experience called “Research Rotations” intended to broaden exposure to research in various science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and to foster a sense of belonging will allow students the opportunity to work closely with faculty on a part-time basis, investigating multiple research projects. The overall goal of this project is to increase degree completion in STEM disciplines for low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific objectives include: maintaining a first to second year retention rate of 85%, attaining a 50% four-year graduation rate, and adapting existing, proven interventions for commuter students who have limited time due to outside responsibilities. Cohort building, peer mentoring, active learning, and research experiences have all proven to be effective strategies for increasing retention and graduation rates on traditional, residential campuses. For commuter students, especially those with low income, many of these interventions are inaccessible because of constraints on their time due to financial, work, or family obligations. This project aims to adapt these support structures, introducing more flexible time commitments or remote access, and will study the effectiveness of these adaptations on persistence, student learning, and retention and graduation rates in STEM. An external evaluator will measure the success of the project, determining which interventions and what frequency of participation is correlated with meeting the objectives. The project has the potential to advance understanding of effective and efficient retention strategies for students on commuter campuses, including community colleges. 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 educational experiences of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about best practices for 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.