Promoting Early Retention of STEM Students: Achieving Change in our Communities through Equity and Student Success in STEM

该项目将通过支持华盛顿大学塔科马分校(UW)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。威斯康星大学塔科马分校是一家亚裔美国人、美洲原住民和太平洋岛民服务机构(AANAPISI)。在七年的时间里，该项目将为48名正在攻读数学、环境科学、生物医学、信息技术、计算机科学和系统、计算机工程和系统、电气工程、机械工程或土木工程学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。第一届大学生和第一年转校生头两年将获得全额奖学金，第三和第四年将获得部分奖学金。该项目将包括一个旨在提高进入STEM学科的暑期数学准备计划。参与者将在第一年被邀请参加一个基于研究经验或基于项目的设计入门课程。再加上可选的校园STEM生活学习社区和要求的个别教师指导，季度STEM成功研讨会课程旨在通过小组指导支持学者形成一个有凝聚力的社区。编程还旨在支持学生的专业发展。该项目的特点是侧重于STEM预科专业在校第一年和第二年的学生，并包括为大约40名教师提供导师培训，他们将教授和指导不同的学生群体。位于塔科马的华盛顿大学有大量学生，他们来自STEM历史上代表性不足的群体；该项目旨在进一步研究如何最好地支持一年级和二年级本科生进入STEM专业。通过在关键的头两年增加招聘和留住，该项目努力支持不同的学生，支持有才华和技能的专业人员进入当地劳动力大军。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成率。具体目标是：i)在华盛顿大学塔科马分校的STEM专业招收有才华的低收入学生；ii)在关键的头两年通过学生支持机制将这些学生留在STEM；iii)通过密集的辅导、早期入学的数学准备、一年级的研究经验和设计课程以及STEM研讨会的成功，提高学生的成功和进步；以及iv)扩大参与，促进公平和融入STEM。辅导、早期研究和设计经验以及强大的学习社区已被证明影响诸如学术动机、STEM认同感、自我效能、对偏见和STEM准入障碍的兴趣/意识以及健康和幸福感等心理社会因素，从而提高学生在STEM中的坚持性。然而，关于这些因素如何影响少数族裔服务机构的一年级和二年级学生，尤其是AANAPISI机构的学生，人们知之甚少。PI团队假设，与有代表性的控制组相比，通过提供数学准备、早期研究和设计课程、强大的学习社区和密集的教师指导，参与者将体验到学术成功、保持和学术动机、STEM认同感和自我效能感的提高。该项目有可能通过纳入公平的视角，加上社区参与的早期研究和设计经验，促进对辅导有效性的理解，以支持低收入学生在STEM取得成功。将采用年度调查的定量数据和定性访谈相结合的混合方法来评估项目成果。该项目的成果将在该团队的SSTEM项目网页和社交媒体上公布，并在包括生物教育研究促进会和AAC&Amp；U改造STEM教育的会议上公布，并发表在《高等教育多样性杂志》和《理解干预杂志》等期刊上。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 Washington (UW) Tacoma. UW Tacoma is an Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander-serving institution (AANAPISI). Over its seven-year duration, this project will fund scholarships 48 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics, Environmental Science, Biomedical Sciences, Information Technology, Computer Science and Systems, Computer Engineering and Systems, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Civil Engineering. First-time college students and first-year transfer students will receive full scholarships for their first two years and partial scholarships for their third and fourth years. The project will include a summer mathematics preparation program that aims to enhance entry into STEM disciplines. Participants will be invited to engage in a research experience or project-based Introduction to Design course in their first year. Coupled with an optional on-campus STEM living learning community and required individual faculty mentoring, the quarterly Success in STEM seminar course aims to support scholars in the formation of a cohesive community through group mentoring. Programming also aims to support students in their professional development. This project is distinguished by its focus on pre-STEM majors in their first and second years on campus, and includes mentorship training for approximately 40 faculty who will be teaching and mentoring diverse student populations. The University of Washington, Tacoma has a large population of students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM; this project aims to further research on how best to support first- and second-year undergraduate students as they enter STEM majors. Through increased recruitment and retention in the critical first two years, the project endeavors to support diverse students, supporting the entry of talented and skilled professionals into the local workforce.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion among low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific objectives are to i) recruit talented, low-income students to STEM majors at the University of Washington Tacoma, ii) retain these students in STEM through student support mechanisms in the critical first two years, iii) improve student success and progress via intensive mentoring, early-entry math preparation, first-year research experience and design courses, and the Success in STEM seminar, and iv) broaden participation to promote equity and inclusion in STEM. Mentoring, early research and design experiences, and strong learning communities have been demonstrated to affect psychosocial factors such as academic motivation, STEM identity, self-efficacy, interest/awareness of bias and barriers to STEM access, and health and well-being, thereby increasing student persistence in STEM. Less is known, however, about how these factors affect first- and second-year students at minority-serving institutions, particularly for AANAPISI institutions. The PI Team hypothesizes that by providing math preparation, early research and design courses, strong learning communities, and intensive faculty mentorship, participants will experience increases in academic success, retention and academic motivation, STEM identity, self-efficacy, as compared with a representative control group. This project has the potential to advance understanding of the effectiveness of mentoring by incorporating an equity lens, coupled with community-engaged early research and design experiences to support the success of low-income students in STEM. A mixed-methods approach combining quantitative data from yearly surveys with qualitative interviews will be used to assess project outcomes. Results of this project will be made available on the team's SSTEM project webpage and social media, and presented at conferences including the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research and AAC&U Transforming STEM Education, and published in journals such as the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education and the Understanding Interventions Journal. 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.