Improved Persistence to Degree Completion through Enhanced Engineering Identity

该项目将为国家对受过良好教育的工程师的需求做出贡献，支持在威奇托州立大学留校和毕业的高成绩、低收入、有经济需求的学生。认识到经济援助与学术和学生服务相结合的重要性，该项目团队将使用奖励资金，通过增强学生在先进制造业职业中的认同感，提高三个队列中24名低收入高成就工科本科生的第二年和第三年保留率和毕业率。该项目将在四年内向工程技术、计算机科学和网络安全、工业系统和制造工程以及电气和计算机工程的学生颁发奖学金，这些学生将在先进制造业中就业，特别是专注于当地的航空航天行业，以满足当地和国家对这些专业人员日益增长的需求。奖学金获得者将获得为期四年的资助：一年级：10,000美元；二年级：5,000美元；三年级：2,500美元；四年级：1,250美元(四年内每个奖学金获得者18,750美元)。该项目旨在培养学生的工程认同感，通过他们参与(1)学术、个人和专业技能培养活动，以及(2)新的为期两个学期的第一年体验课程，其中一个学期与工程师一起解决现实世界的工程问题，并在此后每年进行合作体验。教师和行业导师将接受培训，以促进学习，并帮助学生培养工程认同感和归属感。学生将通过他们的“项目引领”工程学课程从七所高中招收。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学位毕业率。借助工程身份发展的社会化理论(Tonso，2006)和情境学习设计项目活动的理论，学生将在行业环境中与工程师一起工作，并通过训练有素的教师和行业导师与工程界接触，学习工程技能。定量和定性混合方法评估的目的是全面的，侧重于参与者对工程的认同感以及对专业的归属感，以此作为衡量成功和计划干预措施有效性的标准。目的是确定参与者的感知和信念的轨迹。描述性统计将用于确定轨迹的形状，而重复测量方差分析技术将用于确定参与者的感知是否存在统计上的显着差异。定性的主题分析将利用一对一访谈和焦点小组访谈的编码和意义模式来澄清定量分析的结果。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 engineers by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Wichita State University. Recognizing the importance of financial assistance coupled with academic and student services, the project team will use award funds to increase second and third-year retention and graduation rates for 24 low-income high achieving undergraduate engineering students in three cohorts by enhancing the student’s identity in advanced manufacturing industry careers. The project will award scholarships over a four-year period to students in engineering technology, computer science and cybersecurity, industrial systems and manufacturing engineering, and electrical and computer engineering that will lead to careers in advanced manufacturing industries, particularly focusing on the local aerospace industries, filling the growing local and national need for such professionals. Scholarship recipients will receive funds for four years: Year 1: $10,000; Year 2: $5,000; Year 3: $2,500; and Year 4: $1,250 ($18,750/scholar over four years). The project is designed to cultivate students’ sense of engineering identity through their participation in (1) academic, personal, and professional skill-building activities and (2) a new two-semester First Year Experience Course in which one semester is spent working alongside engineers on a real-world engineering problem and in co-op experiences each year thereafter. Faculty and industry mentors will receive training to facilitate learning and assist students in developing an engineering identity and a sense of belonging. Students will be recruited from seven high schools through their "Project Lead the Way" engineering classes. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Drawing on the socialization theory of engineering identity development (Tonso, 2006) and theories of situated learning to design project activities, students will learn engineering skills working alongside engineers in an industry setting and by engaging with the engineering community through trained faculty and industry mentors. The quantitative and qualitative mixed methods evaluation is designed to be holistic and is focused on participant perception of identification with engineering as well as a sense of belonging within the profession as measures of success and the effectiveness of the planned interventions. The purpose is to determine the trajectory of participant perceptions and beliefs. Descriptive statistics will be used to determine the shape of the trajectory while Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance techniques will be used to determine if there is a statistically significant difference in participant perceptions. Qualitative thematic analysis will clarify the findings from the quantitative analysis using coding and patterns of meaning of one-on-one and focus group interviews. 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.