Enhancing a Transfer Pathway to Improve STEM Student Success

该项目将通过支持俄亥俄州立大学纽瓦克分校表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，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。俄亥俄州立大学纽瓦克分校是一个小的、区域性的、多元化的、经济实惠的、主要是通勤的、开放的进入俄亥俄州立大学攻读学位的学生的入口点。在为期四年的时间里，该项目将为45名全日制学生提供奖学金，这些学生正在俄亥俄州立大学提供的近40个S-STEM合格学科中的任何一个学科中攻读学士学位。三组15名一年级学生将在纽瓦克校区获得长达两年的奖学金资助、STEM丰富活动和支持服务，然后转到哥伦布校区完成学位。项目活动和服务包括：在一个活跃的野外站进行短暂的沉浸式研究静修，以启动每个队列；一个学年学习社区，提供不同STEM领域的课外和课外机会；还有可选的暑期实习，提供专业和职业经验。奖学金和队列活动将以个性化的教师指导、早期和持续的研究经验、与学术科学家、行业科学家和工程师的直接互动，以及多种学术、社会和个人支持服务为基础，使学者能够顺利完成校园过渡和学位完成。这个项目的智力价值在于产生了关于学生支持活动如何影响学生成功过渡到四年制课程的新知识。项目结果将公布并提交给国家/国际利益集团。俄亥俄州立大学纽瓦克分校将成为低收入学生在R1大学完成科学、技术、工程或数学学位的重要途径，他们以前可能认为这是遥不可及的。该项目的总体目标是提高有经济需求的低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率。具体目标是：招收和留住合格的学生；为这些学生提供学术和其他方面的支持；促进过渡到俄亥俄州立大学哥伦布校区符合条件的STEM部门；并传播经验教训。项目设计将传统大学环境中成功的循证实践应用到区域和社区大学环境中。调查将检查招聘信息的有效性，基于绩效的stem重点经济援助对入学和保留的影响，以及跨性别、收入水平、种族/民族和第一代大学生身份的成功模式。项目层面的预期成果包括学生第一年到第二年的成功过渡，第三年在校园之间的成功过渡，以及学位的完成。更广泛的影响包括更好地了解STEM专业学生的校园过渡经历，以及其他公立大学地区校区采用成功的项目组成部分，以减少全国类似学生的流失。项目评估将包括焦点小组、访谈和学生数据分析。评估结果将通过学术会议、期刊、高等教育组织、校园出版物和活动在全国和地区传播，覆盖俄亥俄州立大学六个校区的5000多名教师。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 The Ohio State University at Newark. Ohio State Newark is a small, regional, diverse, affordable, mainly commuter, open-access entry point for students seeking a degree at The Ohio State University. Over its four-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 45 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in any of the almost 40 available S-STEM eligible disciplines offered at Ohio State. Three cohorts of 15 first-year students will receive up to two years of scholarship funding, STEM enrichment activities, and supportive services on the Newark campus, then transition to the Columbus campus for degree completion. Project activities and services include: a short immersive research retreat at an active field station to launch each cohort; an academic year learning community with extra- and co-curricular opportunities in diverse STEM fields; and optional summer internships providing professional and career experiences. Scholarships and cohort activities will be scaffolded with individualized faculty mentoring, early and ongoing research experiences, direct interaction with academic scientists, industry scientists, and engineers, and multiple academic, social, and personal support services to keep scholars on track for campus transition and degree completion. The intellectual merit of this project is the generation of new knowledge about how student support activities affect student success in making a transition to a four-year program. Project results will be published and presented to national/international interest groups. Ohio State Newark will become an important pathway for a diverse demographic of low-income students to complete science, technology, engineering, or mathematics degrees at an R1 university they may previously have thought was beyond their reach.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific aims are to: recruit and retain eligible students; provide these students with academic and other support; facilitate transition to Ohio State Columbus campus eligible STEM departments; and disseminate lessons learned. The project design adapts successful evidence-based practices from traditional college settings to the environment of regional and community colleges. Investigations will examine efficacy of recruitment messaging, impact of performance-based STEM-focused financial aid on entry and retention, and patterns of success across gender, income level, race/ethnicity, and first-generation college student status. Project-level expected outcomes include successful transition from students’ first to second year, successful transition between campuses for their third year, and degree completion. Broader impacts include a better understanding of the campus-transition experience for students in STEM majors and adoption of successful program components by other public-university regional campuses to reduce attrition of similar students nationwide. Project evaluation will include focus groups, interviews, and analyses of student data. Evaluation results will be disseminated nationally and regionally through academic conferences, journals, higher-education organizations, and campus publications and events to reach more than 5000 faculty of Ohio State’s six campuses. 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.