Foundations for Success: Empowering Transfer Student Scholars for Graduation and STEM Career Readiness

该项目将通过支持特拉华山谷大学有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生的留校和毕业，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。特拉华山谷大学是一所特别重视自然科学和体验式教育的小型私立大学。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为21名正在攻读生物、化学、保护野生动物管理、环境科学和植物科学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。学生将获得为期两年的奖学金。该项目的目标是提高STEM转校生的留校率和毕业率，并通过特定学科的体验式学习机会为STEM劳动力和研究生教育做好准备。该项目将提供有针对性的新生指导、职业道路指导以及教职员工和同行指导。该项目还将有助于债务负担较小的学生按时毕业。这个项目将加深对专门为转移STEM奖学金而设计的干预措施的理解。该项目的总体目标是增加低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成情况。该项目将为转学学生提供课程路线图，以减少毕业时间。对现有社区大学学生的建议将确保他们在转学前完成专业的基础课程。目标是促进对如何为学生提供归属感的理解，并增加他们毕业的可能性。以STEM为重点的体验式学习机会在留校和毕业方面的有效性将通过大学坚持性问卷和“归属感”的测量来确定。该项目的预期是，留校率、毕业率和归属感将受到积极影响。项目评估将调查哪些干预措施在提高学者的坚持性和毕业率方面最有效。结果将提交区域转学招生和咨询委员会，其使命是弥合两年制和四年制学校之间的知识差距。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 scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Delaware Valley University. Delaware Valley University is a small private university with a special emphasis on the natural sciences and experiential education. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 21 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Conservation Wildlife Management, Environmental Science, and Plant Science. Students will receive 2-year scholarships. The goals of the project are to increase the retention and graduation rate of STEM transfer students and prepare students for the STEM workforce and graduate education through discipline-specific experiential learning opportunities. The project will provide targeted new student orientation, career pathway mentoring, and faculty and peer mentoring. This project will also facilitate the on-time graduation of students with less debt load. This project will deepen the understanding of interventions designed specifically for transfer STEM scholars.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project will provide curricular road maps for transfer students to decrease time to graduation. Advising of current community college students will ensure they complete foundational courses in their major prior to transfer. A goal is to advance the understanding of how to provide students with a sense of belonging and increase their likelihood of graduating. The effectiveness of STEM-focused experiential learning opportunities on retention and graduation will be determined via The College Persistence Questionnaire and a measure of “sense of belonging.” The expectation of the project is that retention, graduation rates, and sense of belonging will be positively impacted. Project evaluation will investigate which interventions were the most effective at increasing persistence and graduation rates of the scholars. Results will be presented at the regional Transfer Admissions and Advising Committee, with a mission of bridging the knowledge gap between two-year and four-year schools. 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.