Leadership Experience and Advancement Program in STEM: Promoting transfer student success with leadership development

该项目将通过支持中北学院（NC）表现出经济需要的成绩优异的低收入家庭学生的保留和毕业，为满足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。NC是一所四年制本科院校，位于芝加哥郊区，该地区对STEM领域的毕业生有很高的需求。在为期六年的时间里，该项目将为15名攻读生物学、计算机科学、环境研究、数学和神经科学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。转学生将获得为期两年的奖学金。量身定制的支持包括一个新颖的夏季桥梁项目，基于优势的领导力发展，教师和同伴指导，以及职业发展，包括带薪暑期研究经验和实习。该项目将通过探索基于优势的领导力规划如何影响留任率和毕业率以及职业准备来产生新的知识。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。具体的项目目标包括改善STEM转学生的招聘，以及以下几点：1)提高领导力、适应力和自我效能；2)提高留校率和毕业率；3)提高STEM职业或研究生院的准备。基于优势的方法，根据每个学生的准备和职业抱负进行个性化，将识别并建立他们的认知和非认知能力。虽然以优势为基础的领导力项目通过促进学业、社会和心理上的繁荣来帮助初入大学的学生适应变化，但很少有研究探讨以优势为基础的领导力发展对转校生的影响。该项目通过有意为转学生提供经验，以增加他们的知识、技能和领导能力，帮助解决这一差距。该项目将使用项目评估数据，特别是焦点小组和前后调查，以加深对三个感兴趣领域的理解。首先是探讨所提供的干预措施与转学生资本的具体组成部分（如弹性、自我效能和领导技能）的变化之间的关系。其次是调查编程的哪些具体方面最有效地满足不同学生身份的需求（即，学术历史，STEM专业，毕业后的愿望）。第三是检验成功结果（留任、毕业和毕业后STEM安置）与领导技能提高之间的关系。项目团队将以正式报告、同行评议论文和会议演讲的形式在全校、本地和全国范围内传播成果。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 North Central College (NC). NC is a four-year primarily undergraduate institution located in suburban Chicago, a region with high need for graduates in STEM fields. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 15 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Computer Science, Environmental Studies, Mathematics, and Neuroscience. Transfer students will receive two-year scholarships. Tailored support includes a novel summer bridge program, strengths-based leadership development, faculty and peer mentorship, and career development, including paid summer research experiences and internships. This project will generate new knowledge by exploring how strengths-based leadership programming impacts retention and graduation rates as well as career readiness. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific project objectives include improving recruitment of STEM transfer students, as well as the following: 1) improving leadership, resilience, and self-efficacy; 2) improving retention and graduation rates; and 3) improving STEM career or graduate school readiness. A strengths-based approach, individualized for each scholar's preparation and career aspirations, will recognize and build upon their cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. Although strengths-based leadership programs are known to help first-time-in-college students adapt to change by fostering academic, social, and psychological thriving, few studies explore the outcomes of strengths-based leadership development on transfer students. This project helps address that gap through an intentional provision of experiences for transfer students to increase their knowledge, skills, and capacity in leadership. The project will use program evaluation data, in particular focus groups and pre/post surveys, to develop understanding about three areas of interest. First is to probe the relationship between delivered interventions and changes in specific components of transfer student capital (e.g., resilience, self-efficacy, and leadership skills). Second is to investigate which specific aspects of programming most effectively meet the needs of differing student identities (i.e., academic histories, STEM major, post-graduation aspirations). Third is to examine the relationship between success outcomes (retention, graduation, and post-graduation STEM placement) and improvement of leadership skills. The project team will disseminate outcomes college-wide, locally, and nationally in the form of formal reports, peer-reviewed papers, and conference presentations. 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.