Enhancing Pathways to the PhD in the Mathematical Sciences

该项目将通过支持亚利桑那大学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；德克萨斯大学格兰德谷分校；以及位于波莫纳的加州州立理工大学。这三所学校都是西南地区的西班牙裔服务机构，涵盖了非常高研究、高研究和大型硕士机构。联合组包含建立桥博士，硕士，和博士课程。重点是两个重要的过渡：从本科到研究生学习的过渡以及前两年博士学习的成功。一个有意的、协作的规划程序将使团队能够发展更深层次的联系，以解决低收入学生被录取并完成数学科学博士学位的最大障碍。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。研究表明，来自代表性不足的少数群体、女性和经济困难的学生面临着无法申请合适的项目、无法被顶级项目录取、无法在他们进入的项目中取得成功的风险。本项目将探讨研究生学习成功的最佳环境，特别是完成博士学位和之后的就业安排。主要目标是研究制度干预的有效性，并调查低收入学生在研究生阶段坚持并成功学习数学科学的条件。目前的项目范围仅限于这三所学校，将用于规划一个项目，其目标是形成一个导师社区和项目结构，为数学、应用数学、统计学和数据科学的研究生学习提供最好的成功环境。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 University of Arizona; University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley; and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The three schools are all Hispanic-Serving Institutions in the Southwest and span the spectrum of Very High Research, High Research, and Large Masters institutions. The combined group contains established Bridge-to-PhD, Masters, and PhD programs. The focus is on two important transitions: the transition from undergraduate to graduate study and success in the first two years of PhD study. An intentional, collaborative planning procedure will enable the team to develop deeper connections to tackle the most significant obstacles for low-income students to get admitted and complete PhDs in the mathematical sciences.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Research shows that students from underrepresented minority groups, women, and students with economic hardship are at risk of not applying to the appropriate programs, not being accepted at top programs, and not succeeding in programs they enter. This project will investigate the best possible environments leading to success in graduate study, especially toward completion of PhD and job placement afterwards. The primary goal is to study the effectiveness of institutional intervention and to investigate conditions under which low-income students persist and succeed in the mathematical sciences at the graduate level. The current scope of the project as limited to these three schools will be used to plan a project with a goal to form a community of mentors and programmatic structures that advance the best possible environment for success in graduate study in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, and Data Science. 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.