Undergraduate Scholar Education and Research: Program To Usher Scholars Into Success in Computer Science

该项目将通过支持在弗雷斯诺加州州立大学(CSU-F)证明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计算机科学家的需求。加州州立大学弗雷斯诺分校既是一所为拉美裔美国人服务的机构，也是一所为太平洋岛民服务的亚裔美国人机构。在五年的时间里，本科生学者教育和研究(USHER)项目将为28名独特的全日制学生提供每年10,000美元的奖学金。17名新生将获得为期四年的奖学金，11名转校生将获得为期两年的奖学金。Usher提供了一套活动来支持学者从入学到毕业，包括密集的教师和同行指导，以及25个计算和算法思维(C2AT)挑战，让学生接触到计算机科学的各个领域，并让他们一瞥现实世界的问题和如何解决这些问题。教师将指导学生起草一份职业生涯STEM影响认同的蓝图，让学者们看到一条通过研究项目回馈家乡社区的途径。STEM Impact身份识别流程使更广泛的影响成为WISHER的核心特征，创造了具有强烈服务导向身份的新一代计算机科学家。智力价值项目包括解决研究中的三个空白：衡量导师、意向活动和定制学术支持服务的有效性。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就本科生的STEM学位完成率，并证明他们有经济需求，成功地提高了计算机科学学位的完成率。重要的是要阐明这些学生留住、坚持和及时毕业的独特因素。《引座者》研究项目探讨了这些学生的动机和期望。这项研究将有助于填补在记录有助于学生坚持不懈的各种因素方面的空白，包括增强学生在计算机科学领域的归属感。一名独立的外部评估员还将收集关于USER计划在提供一系列活动以支持学者的需求和兴趣方面的有效性的数据，并确定USER学者和匹配样本中的参与者在学科兴趣和熟悉感方面是否存在差异。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 computer scientists by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at California State University, Fresno (CSU-F). California State University, Fresno is both a Hispanic-Serving Institution and an Asian American, Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. Over its five-year duration, the Undergraduate Scholar Education and Research (USHER) project will fund $10,000 annual scholarships to 28 unique full-time students. Seventeen freshmen will receive scholarships for four years and 11 transfer students will receive scholarships for two years. USHER provides a suite of activities to support Scholars from matriculation to graduation, including intensive faculty and peer mentoring and 25 Challenges for Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (C2ATs) that expose students to various fields in Computer Science and give them a glimpse of real-world problems and how to solve them. Faculty will mentor students to draft a blueprint for career-long STEM Impact Identity that allows the Scholars to see a path to giving back to their home communities through research projects. The STEM Impact Identity process makes broader impacts a core feature of USHER, creating a new generation of computer scientists who have strong service-oriented identity. The project intellectual merit consists of addressing three gaps in the research: measuring the effectiveness of mentorship, intentional activities, and customized academic support services.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need to succeed in increasing Computer Science degree completion. It is essential to shed light on the unique factors related to the retention, persistence, and timely graduation of these students. The USHER research project explores the motivations and expectations of these students. This research will help fill the gap in documenting the various factors that contribute to the persistence of students, including enhancing the student’s sense of belonging in the field of computer science. An independent external evaluator will also gather data on the effectiveness of the USHER program in delivering the suite of activities to support Scholars’ needs and interests and to ascertain whether there is a difference in disciplinary interest and sense of proficiency between USHER Scholars and participants in the matched sample. 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.