Project Synergy: Developing Connections at the Interface of Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, and Data Science

该项目将通过支持伊利诺斯州罗密欧维尔刘易斯大学（Lewis University）表现出经济需求的优秀低收入家庭学生的保留和毕业，解决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。刘易斯大学是一所天主教综合性、新兴的西班牙裔大学，以通勤族为主，第一代学生的比例很高。在五年的时间里，项目协同将为23名攻读五个科学和工程专业学士学位的全日制本科生提供四年的奖学金支持：物理、化学、生物化学、计算机工程和数据科学。学生将通过研究方法、协作工作和跨学科方法的活动为现代科学和工程职业做好准备。队伍建设策略包括：为即将入学的学者提供为期两周的新兵训练营，为住校学生提供生活学习社区，分享课程经验，沉浸在跨学科合作研究项目中，通过持续的教师指导为职业做好准备，与来访的演讲者互动，实习和职业研讨会。奖学金学生将从STEM学生占少数的地区招募，包括芝加哥内城和伊利诺伊州农村的学区。通过监测其学者的进展，项目协同将研究其干预措施在持久性，保留性和STEM身份发展方面的有效性。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。具体目标包括：(1)为5个STEM专业的23名本科生提供四年奖学金支持；(2)第一年至第二年的保留率至少达到83%，四年毕业率至少达到74%；(3) 94%的毕业生参与STEM就业或研究生项目；(4)为学生在当代科学和工程领域的职业生涯做好准备。众所周知，在持续的指导和共享科学经验的背景下，跨学科观点和协作技能的发展是最有效的。因此，指导、本科生研究、实习和群体建设是项目协同计划干预的优先事项。在协同学者中，通勤学生、第一代学生和少数族裔学生的预期代表为进一步了解特定干预措施对这些人口群体的影响提供了一个独特的机会。除了评估项目成果的保留和职业轨迹数据外，该团队还计划采访学者，以监测STEM身份的发展、对科学的态度和专业心态。这些数据将被分解，以确定对住校学生和通勤学生的差异影响，并将与同一专业的非学者的平行调查进行比较。项目成果将通过社交媒体、在地方和国家会议上的正式演讲以及发表期刊文章，广泛传播给STEM教育界。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 address 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 Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. Lewis University is a Catholic, comprehensive, emergent Hispanic-serving, commuter-majority university with a high proportion of first-generation students. Over its five-year duration, Project Synergy will provide four years of scholarship support to 23 unique full-time undergraduate students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in five science and engineering majors: physics, chemistry, biochemistry, computer engineering, and data science. Students will be prepared for modern careers in science and engineering by activities in research methods, collaborative work, and interdisciplinary approaches. Cohort-building strategies include: a two-week boot camp for incoming scholars, living-learning communities for residential students, shared course experiences, immersion in interdisciplinary collaborative research projects, career preparation through sustained faculty mentoring, interaction with visiting speakers, internships, and career workshops. Scholarship students will be recruited from areas whose students are minoritized in STEM, including school districts in inner-city Chicago and in rural Illinois. By monitoring the progress of its scholars, Project Synergy will study the effectiveness of its interventions on persistence, retention, and the development of STEM identity. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific objectives include: (1) provide four years of scholarship support for 23 undergraduate students in five STEM majors; (2) achieve first-to-second year retention rates of at least 83% and four-year graduation rates of at least 74% among Synergy Scholars; (3) place 94% of graduated scholars in STEM employment or graduate programs; and (4) prepare students for contemporary careers in science and engineering. It is well known that development of interdisciplinary perspectives and collaborative skills are most effectively realized in the context of sustained mentorship and shared scientific experiences. For this reason, mentorship, undergraduate research, internships, and cohort-building are priorities of Project Synergy’s planned interventions. The expected representation of commuter, first-generation, and demographically minoritized students among the Synergy Scholars provides a unique opportunity to advance understanding of the impact specific interventions have on the these demographic groups. In addition to retention and career-trajectory data to evaluate project outcomes, the team plans to interview scholars to monitor development of STEM identity, attitudes toward science, and a professional mindset. These data will be disaggregated to determine any differential impact on residential versus commuter students and will be compared with parallel surveys of non-scholars in the same majors. Project outcomes will be disseminated widely to the STEM education community using social media, formal presentations at local and national meetings, and publication of journal articles. 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.