Improving Student Success in Engineering and Computer Science

该项目将通过支持路易斯安那州立大学（LSU）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。路易斯安那州立大学是一所研究型大学，2020年秋季共有本科生27948人，工程学院有4000多名学生。该计划为期六年，将为45名攻读生物、土木、化学、计算机、电气、环境、工业、机械、石油工程及计算机科学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得四年奖学金。该项目将通过提供学术准备、指导和职业发展活动，帮助学生从高中过渡到路易斯安那州立大学。具体活动包括举办学术研讨会，由训练有素的工程专业学生提供第一年的课程辅导，以及提供个性化的毕业途径。还将提供一系列指导活动，如提供教师和同行学术导师，将学生与基于工程的学生组织联系起来，并提供与行业和职业导师的联系。最后，项目团队将根据美国大学和雇主协会（National Association of Colleges and Employers）的能力举办专业发展研讨会，鼓励参与STEM外展活动，以培养领导力和沟通技巧，并创建专业的在线作品集。该项目将通过为第一代大学生和第一代专业人士创造一条通往成功的道路，帮助扩大工程劳动力的参与。该项目将培养一批路易斯安那州立大学工程和计算机科学专业的校友和在校生，他们将在参与社区活动时，作为K-12和工程专业学生的大使。项目活动的影响将被评估，以确定其在帮助学生在工程方面取得成功的有效性。为了提高有经济需求的低收入、优秀本科生的STEM学位完成率，该项目将实现三个目标。一是提高学生在工程基础课程中的学习成绩。第二是通过在学者之间建立社区意识来提高学生的保留率。三是提高用人单位对低社会经济地位学生优势的认可和对其专业能力的评价。该项目将研究早期干预对准备不足、有风险的一年级新生在成功完成工程学位方面的效果。学生项目活动基于社会学习理论和社会认知职业理论的要素。将使用多种调查工具和定量数据解决五个研究问题，以比较对照组学生和项目奖学金获得者的结果。(1)哪些干预措施最能支持学生的整体学习成绩？(2)哪些干预措施最能支持学生坚持到毕业？(3)自我效能感、应对自我效能感和工程兴趣如何随着干预而改变？(4)职业自我效能感如何因干预而改变，是否因种族/性别认同而不同？(5)通过学生参与行业实习，雇主对高GPA学生的内隐偏见能在多大程度上得到缓解？项目评价侧重于对学者成功、项目活动和学者态度的评价。项目活动将使用调查工具进行评估，以确保其相关性和对学者成功的感知贡献。测试前和测试后的评估将衡量学生对他们的工程和专业能力的信心。焦点小组和个人访谈将用于评估学者对他们在项目中的经历的态度。项目成果将在国家会议上展示，提交给评审期刊出版物，在区域工程院长会议上推广，并提交给州一级的教育合作伙伴。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 Louisiana State University (LSU). LSU is a Research I University with a total undergraduate enrollment 27,948 for fall 2020 and over 4,000 students in the College of Engineering. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 45 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biological, civil, chemical, computer, electrical, environmental, industrial, mechanical, and petroleum engineering as well as computer science. First-year students will receive four-year scholarships. This project will help students transition from high school to LSU by providing academic readiness, mentoring, and career development activities. Specific activities include conducting academic workshops, providing first-year course tutoring by trained engineering students, and offering alternate individualized pathways to graduation. A suite of mentoring activities will also be made available such as providing faculty and peer academic mentors, connecting students to engineering-based student organizations, and providing access to industry and career mentors. Finally, the project team will conduct professional development workshops based on the National Association of Colleges and Employers competencies, encourage participation in STEM outreach activities to develop leadership and communication skills, and enable the creation of professional online portfolios. This project will help broaden participation in the engineering workforce by creating a pathway to success for first-generation college students and first-generation professionals. The program will create a population of LSU engineering and computer science alumni and current students who will serve as ambassadors for K-12 and engineering students with similar backgrounds as they engage in their communities. The impact of project activities will be assessed to determine their effectiveness in helping students succeed in engineering.To increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue three goals. First is to improve students’ academic performance in engineering foundational courses. Second is to increase student retention by building a sense of community among the scholars. Third is to increase employers’ recognition of low socio-economic status students’ strengths and valuations of their professional competencies. This project will study the efficacy of early intervention with underprepared, at-risk entering first-year students with respect to successfully completing an engineering degree. Project activities for students are based on elements of Social Learning Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory. Five research questions will be addressed using multiple survey instruments and quantitative data to compare results for a control group of students and project scholarship recipients. (1) Which interventions best support students’ overall academic performance? (2) Which interventions best support students’ persistence to graduation? (3) How does self-efficacy, coping self-efficacy, and interest in engineering change as a result of the interventions? (4) How does career self-efficacy change as a result of the interventions and does it vary by racial/gender identity? (5) To what extent can employer implicit bias toward only high GPA students be mitigated through student participation in industry internships? The project evaluation focuses on the evaluation of scholar success, project activities, and scholars' attitudes. Project activities will be assessed using survey instruments to ensure their relevancy and perceived contributions to scholars’ success. Pre- and post-test assessments will measure students’ confidence in their engineering and professional competencies. Focus groups and individual interviews will be used to evaluate scholars’ attitudes regarding their experiences in the program. Project results will be presented at national conferences, submitted to refereed journal publications, promoted at regional Engineering Deans’ meetings, and presented to state level education partners. 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.