Improving the Retention and Success of High Performing, Low Income Undergraduates in Computer Science

该项目将通过支持皇后学院(QC)、纽约市立大学(CUNY)、西班牙裔服务机构(HSI)和亚裔美国人和美洲原住民太平洋岛民服务机构(AANAPISI)留住和毕业有经济需求的高成就低收入学生，来促进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。在四年的时间里，该项目将为至少45名全日制学生提供奖学金，这些学生将在三年级和四年级攻读计算机科学学士学位。在昆士兰大学就读的学生和从皇后县两所社区学院(CC)转学的学生都将获得资助。该项目包括增强的指导，一个夏季桥牌项目，以及职业发展机会。向学者提供的支持包括：一个咨询小组，其中包括来自CC的教师；一个项目主管，负责与职业咨询一起工作，帮助学生在系统中导航并在QC找到一份工作；以及一个衔接课程，在QC开始前的一个夏天举行，旨在加强内容知识，缓解转学学生在适应QC时的转学冲击。该项目的总体目标是提高低收入、高成就、有经济需求的本科生的STEM学位完成率。更广泛的影响包括有可能造福社会，并有助于实现以下目标：(1)来自STEM中任职人数不足的群体的学生充分参与，特别是努力支持不同群体的QC社区大学转学；(2)改善STEM教育，使其能够跨机构协作，更好地调整课程设置，改善转学体验；(3)发展一支多样化的、具有全球竞争力的STEM工作人员队伍，为学者提供职业介绍服务，使他们能够找到工作，并提高其家庭和社区的生活质量；以及(4)增加学术界与产业界的伙伴关系。这个项目的智力价值是在2016年研究成果的基础上推进知识发展，该研究报告名为“社区大学获得计算机科学学士学位途径的纵向分析”。关键的发现和建议预计将在已建立的联盟内付诸实施，这项研究预计将确定这些建议中的哪些做法最有利于支持QC计算机科学成就优异的低收入学生成功转学，获得本科学位，并在毕业后进入STEM劳动力或进入STEM硕士或博士课程。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 Queens College (QC), City University of New York (CUNY), a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI). Over its four year duration, this project will fund scholarships to at least 45 unique full-time students who are pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science during their junior and senior years. Both students who start at QC and those that transfer from one of the two community colleges (CC) in Queens County will be funded. The project includes enhanced mentoring, a summer bridge program, and career development opportunities. Support provided to Scholars includes: an advisory group including faculty those from the CC’s; a project director assigned to work with Career Counseling and help students navigate the system and find a job within the discipline; and a bridge course, held the summer before beginning at QC intended to strengthen content knowledge and ease transfer shock for transfer students as they adjust to QC.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The broader impacts include the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of: (1) full participation of students from groups underrepresented in STEM, with a specific effort to support the diverse population of QC community college transfers; (2) improved STEM education, by empowering CS departments to collaborate across institutions to better align curricula, improving the transfer experience; (3) development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce, by providing career placement services to scholars, empowering them to land jobs, and improving the quality of life of their families and communities; and (4) increased partnerships between academia and industry. The intellectual merit of this project is to advance knowledge building upon the findings of the 2016 study, “A Longitudinal Analysis of Community College Pathways to Computer Science Bachelor’s Degrees.” The key findings and recommendations are expected to be put into practice within the established consortium, and the study is expected to identify what practices within those recommendations are best in supporting QC computer science high achieving, low-income students successfully transfer, graduate with an undergraduate degree, and move into the STEM workforce or into a STEM Master’s or PhD program after graduation. 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.