Joint Applied Mathematics and Statistics Scholarships

该项目将通过支持佛罗里达国际大学（FIU）表现出经济需求的高成就低收入学生的保留和毕业，为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做出贡献。佛罗里达国际大学是位于迈阿密的R1公立研究型大学，是美国最大的大学之一，拥有54,000多名学生。FIU也是一所西班牙裔服务机构（HSI），超过60%的学士和硕士学位授予西班牙裔学生。该计划为期6年，将为约80名攻读数学及统计学学士及研究生学位的全日制学生提供可续期奖学金。除了为经济困难、学术有天赋的学生提供资金支持外，该项目还旨在确保他们及时、成功地完成学位，并晋升到下一个学位或在STEM领域成功的职业安置。为此，将邀请从本科新生到一年级和二年级研究生的学生参加各种学术和社会活动，特别侧重于垂直整合和未来的职业技能和机会。这个项目的意义在于，它将提供一个独特的机会，增加历史上代表性不足的群体在数学和统计学方面的成功，并加深对支持这些群体的实践的理解。教育下一代数学和统计问题的解决者，以及传播从这个项目中获得的新颖的教育和研究思想和成果，将是这个项目的成果。学生群体将通过一种新颖的方法整合到一个学术社区中，该社区由本科生和研究生团队组成，他们在同一研究项目或同一领域持续工作或学习。这种方法将促进友爱和凝聚力，使学生拥有团队努力的成功。作为这一引擎的火花，学者们将被鼓励参加研讨会，这些研讨会将包括学生群体的垂直整合，并将由项目团队组织和领导的几个高影响力的教育和研究实践组成。作为学术课程的补充，他们将参加一系列的社会活动，并指导和参与研究暑期项目，如当地的REU或其他暑期学校，所有这些都将进一步将他们融入学习社区。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。学生的学业和社会融入对学生的保留至关重要，特别是对于第一代和低收入家庭的学生。教育规划的成功不仅与高校资源有关，更与教育环境有关。目标是为学生创造一个最佳的学习环境，采用混合方法，将更个性化的指导与垂直整合相结合，挑战学生，并提供大型州立大学的教育资源和机会。通过将这个项目的结果与更传统的方法或需要更少参与的方法进行比较，了解和理解各种因素和活动如何有助于保留和学生的成功，将衡量项目的有效性。项目程序和活动的有效性将得到外部评价。纵向研究中的分组比较将与非奖学金队列数学和统计专业的学生进行比较，这些学生与奖学金队列的学生具有相似的特征（例如，参加S-STEM之前的GPA）。评估标准包括毕业率、时间和学位学分、高年级GPA、研究生院录取或毕业后三个月内的就业情况。测量可能的决定因素，如社区意识、项目参与、导师关系、减轻经济负担和时间限制，将探讨影响程度。这个项目的结果将在整个大学和全国学术会议上传播。结果将在适当的时候提交到适当的期刊和预印本服务器。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 Florida International University (FIU). FIU is an R1 public research university located in Miami and is one of the largest universities in the country with over 54,000 students. FIU is also a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and awards over 60% of bachelor and master degrees to Hispanic students. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund renewable scholarships to about 80 unique full time students who are pursuing bachelor and graduate degrees in Mathematics and Statistics. Beyond monetary support for financially needy, academically talented students, the project aims to ensure their timely and successful degree completion and advancement to the next degree or successful career placement in STEM fields. To that end, cohorts of students ranging from undergraduate freshmen to first- and second-year graduate students will be invited to participate in a variety of academic and social activities, with a specific focus on vertical integration and future career skills and opportunities. The significance of this project is that it will offer a unique opportunity to increase the success of historically underrepresented groups in mathematics and statistics, and to develop deeper understanding of practices that support these groups. Educating the next generation of mathematical and statistical problem-solvers as well as disseminating novel educational and research ideas and results obtained from this project will be the outcomes of this project. The student cohorts will be integrated into an academic community by a novel approach that consists of undergraduate and graduate student teams continuously working or studying on the same research project or in the same area. This approach will promote camaraderie and cohesiveness that will make students own the success of a team endeavor. As a spark for this engine, scholars will be encouraged to participate in seminars, which will include vertical integration of students in cohorts and will consist of several high-impact educational and research practices organized and lead by the project team. Complementing their academic program will be a series of social engagements as well as guidance and participation in research summer programs, such as the local REU or other summer schools, all of which would further integrate them into the learning community.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Students’ academic and social integration into the institution is vital to student retention, particularly, for first generation and low-income students. The success of educational programming is linked to university resources but more importantly the educational environment. The goal is to create an optimal learning environment for students with a hybrid approach that integrates more personalized mentoring with vertical integration that challenges students and provides the educational resources and opportunities of a large state university. By comparing the results of this project with approaches that are more traditional or approaches that require less engagement, the knowledge and understanding of how various factors and activities contribute to retention and student success will gauge project effectiveness. The effectiveness of project procedures and activities will be externally evaluated. Comparison of groups in longitudinal studies will be done with non-scholarship cohort Mathematics and Statistics majors matching similar characteristics to scholar cohort students (e.g., GPA prior to the S-STEM participation). Assessment measures will include graduation rates, time and credits to degree, upper division GPA, graduate school acceptance or employment within three months of graduation for both groups. Measurement of possible determining factors such as sense of community, project engagement, mentor rapport, relief from financial burden & time constraints will be explored for degree of influence. Results from this project will be disseminated across the university and at national academic conferences. Results will be submitted to appropriate journals and preprint servers when appropriate. 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.