Increasing Success of STEM Students through Cohort Building, Mentoring, and Career Discerning Experiences: an Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Earlham College是一所小型文理学院，主要位于印第安纳州中东部的农村地区，该项目将通过支持优秀的低收入家庭学生留在Earlham College并毕业，从而满足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。该计划为期六年，将为15名攻读生物学、生物化学、化学、计算机科学、数据科学、地球与环境科学、数学、物理或预工程学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得长达四年的奖学金支持。该项目旨在通过减少经济障碍、提供队列建设、职业识别和指导活动，增加进入STEM劳动力或研究生项目的学生人数。重点包括以群体为基础的大学定位，全额资助的早期研究经验，通过教师和同伴指导进行的广泛咨询和群体建设，以及将职业识别活动纳入必修的第一年和第二年课程。该项目有可能产生关于早期研究参与对该学生群体的职业投入和STEM持久性的影响的知识。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：在第一年之后保留85%的STEM学科参与者，75%的学者在STEM学科内毕业，并将STEM毕业生在毕业后六个月内进入STEM劳动力或研究生课程的比例提高到85%。虽然有研究将本科研究与就业和研究生教育的职业规划联系起来，以及将本科研究与工作场所和职业技能联系起来的例子，但这些研究通常侧重于接近完成STEM课程的高年级本科生，很少包括有意准备和事后反思，研究经验作为职业识别。该项目将回答以下问题：正规职业教育框架下的早期研究参与对低收入学生的职业投入和STEM坚持度有何影响？该项目有可能促进对使用早期研究经验来启动学生职业参与的理解，设想他们作为科学家的未来，并通过坚持STEM专业和追求进一步的研究/实习经验来实现职业目标。该项目将采用混合方法进行评估，以了解更加关注职业识别支持的有效性，包括监测学者在STEM专业的第一年和第二年的保留情况，随后参与额外的研究/实习，毕业率以及毕业生在STEM领域的工作或就业的职业规划。该项目的战略、实施和成果将在国内、地方、区域和国家会议以及适当的同行评议期刊上传播，以提高有学术天赋的低收入家庭学生的成功。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 Earlham College, a small liberal arts college located in predominantly rural east central Indiana. Over its six year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 15 unique full time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, data science, earth and environmental science, mathematics, physics or pre-engineering. First-year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support. This project is designed to increase the number of students who enter the STEM workforce or graduate programs by reducing financial barriers and providing cohort building, career discernment, and mentoring activities. Highlights include a cohort-based college orientation, a fully funded early research experience, extensive advising and cohort building through Faculty and peer mentoring, and career discernment activities integrated into required first and second year courses. This project has the potential to generate knowledge about the effects of early research participation on career engagement and STEM persistence of this student population.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific aims include: retain 85% of the participants in a STEM discipline after their first year, have a graduation rate within a STEM discipline of 75% of the Scholars, and increase the percentage of STEM graduates who have entered the STEM workforce or graduate programs within six months of graduation to 85%. While there are studies linking undergraduate research to increased career planning for employment and postgraduate education, and examples of connecting undergraduate research to workplace and career-ready skills, these studies generally focus on upper-level undergraduates who are near completion of a STEM program and rarely include intentional preparation for, and post-reflection of, the research experience as career-discerning. This project will answer the question: What is the effect of early research participation framed by formal career education on career engagement and STEM persistence for low-income students? This project has the potential to advance the understanding of the use of an early research experience to jump-start students’ career engagement, envision their future as a scientist, and work toward that career goal both by persisting in the STEM major and pursuing further research/internship experiences. This project will be evaluated using a mixed methods approach to understand the efficacy of the increased focus on career discernment support, including monitoring scholars' first and second year retention in a STEM major, subsequent engagement in additional research/internships, graduation rates, and career plans of graduate work or employment in a STEM field. The project’s strategies, implementation, and outcomes for improving the success of academically talented low-income students will be disseminated internally and at local, regional, and national conferences and in appropriate peer reviewed journals. 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.