Scholarships and Co-Curricular Activities Leading to Excellence in the Biotechnology Workforce

该项目将通过支持德克萨斯女子大学(TWU)有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，来促进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。TWU是一家为拉美裔服务的机构，也是美国最大的以女性为主的公共机构。该项目为期六年，将为56名攻读生物技术专业理科硕士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。应届研究生将获得两年的奖学金支持，继续学习的学生将获得一年的奖学金支持。该项目寻求通过奖学金、联合课程支持和研究来确定与参与者科学身份、领导身份和成功相关的因素，以增加生物技术研究生的入学人数、留校率和毕业率。学生将被分组，并可以从同行、教师和行业合作伙伴那里获得指导，从而培养一个包容和支持的教育环境。此外，还将强调领导力培训和职业指导，以促进真实的个人身份和科学身份的发展。由于东华大学有大量的女性学生(占学生总数的88%)和在STEM学习领域中代表性不足的少数族裔(占学生总数的61%)，这一具有变革意义的项目有可能使STEM劳动力多样化，并确定支持这些学生留住和毕业的因素。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的研究生的STEM学位完成率。这将通过三个具体目标来实现。首先是增加入学人数，并通过奖学金缓解经济压力。第二，通过共同课程支持和活动，包括群体发展、指导、领导力培训和职业调查/指导，提高留校率和毕业率。第三，考察与参与者科学认同感、领导力认同感和成功相关的因素。有证据表明，与教师和/或导师的互动、职业教育以及工作实习等经验将增加学生的留校率和毕业率。具体而言，对妇女而言，财政资源以及教育和社会支持有助于STEM留校和毕业。然而，人们对导致科学家和/或领导者积极的个人认同发展的因素知之甚少。该项目将为生物技术学生提供奖学金和共同课程支持，同时研究干预措施如何影响学生的认同感。该项目有可能提高留校率和毕业率，同时确定有助于建立积极的科学认同感的因素。此外，该项目不仅将增加STEM劳动力并使其多样化，还将培养出领导人，其中许多人将是女性。与目标和目的相关的绩效、可交付成果和有效性的衡量标准将基于跟踪参与者的留存、坚持、毕业和共同课程活动所收集的数据进行评估。评价将遵循上下文-投入-过程-产品模式，并将提供对项目有效性的独立观点。结果将通过专题介绍和出版物向机构社区和其他方面传播。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 Texas Woman’s University (TWU). TWU is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and the nation’s largest predominantly female public institution. Over its six-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to 56 full-time students who are pursuing professional science master’s degrees in biotechnology. New graduate students will receive two years of scholarship support and continuing students may receive one year of scholarship support. The project seeks to increase graduate student enrollment, retention, and graduation in biotechnology through scholarships, co-curricular supports, and research to identify factors related to participant science identity, leadership identity, and success. Students will be placed in cohorts and have access to mentoring from peers, faculty, and industry partners, fostering an inclusive and supportive educational environment. In addition, leadership training and career guidance will be emphasized to promote development of authentic personal identities and science identities. Because TWU has a high student population of women (88% of the student body) and minorities who are underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study (61% of the student body), this transformative project has the potential to diversify the STEM workforce and identify factors supporting retention and graduation of these students. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving graduate students with demonstrated financial need. This will be accomplished through three specific aims. First is to increase enrollment and alleviate financial stress with scholarships. Second is to improve retention and graduation rates through co-curricular supports and activities that include cohort development, mentoring, leadership training, and career investigation/guidance. Third is to examine factors related to participant science identity, leadership identity, and success. Evidence suggests interactions with faculty and/or mentors, career education, and experiences such as work internships will increase student retention and graduation. Specifically, for women, financial resources and educational and social support help with STEM retention and graduation. However, little is known about the factors that lead to the development of a positive personal identity as a scientist and/or as a leader. This project will provide scholarships and co-curricular supports to biotechnology students while examining how the interventions impact the students’ sense of identity. The project has the potential to increase retention and graduation rates while identifying the factors contributing to building a positive science identity. In addition, the project will not only add to and diversify the STEM workforce, but it will also produce leaders, many of whom will be women. Measures of performance, deliverables, and effectiveness as related to goals and objectives will be assessed based on data collected from tracking participants’ retention, persistence, graduation, and co-curricular activities. Evaluation will follow the Context-Input-Process-Product model and will provide an independent perspective on project effectiveness. The results will be disseminated to the institutional community and beyond through presentations and publications. 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.