Improving Persistence in Undergraduate Engineering and Computer Science

该项目将有助于国家需要受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术人员通过支持高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，证明在基督教兄弟大学（CBU）的经济需要。在六年的时间里，该项目将为15名正在攻读计算机科学和化学，土木，电气和机械工程学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。每个符合条件的学生将获得长达四年的资助。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与有效的支持活动联系起来，包括教师和行业专业指导，本科生研究经验，研究生院准备以及参加特定学科的学生竞赛和会议，以及提供技术资源（即笔记本电脑），以提高学生的坚持性。项目调查结果将用于为项目和课程改进提供信息，旨在提高STEM一年级学生的保留率。该项目将导致学生的经济流动性，并将有助于扩大目标STEM学科专业人员的社会经济多样性。 该项目的总体目标是提高低收入，高成就的本科生与证明财政需要完成STEM学位。为此，该项目力求提高低收入学生在STEM入门课程中的保留率，并引导他们取得学术成功。四个目标指导项目团队。首先是在三个队列中招募15名在计算机科学和化学，民用，电气和机械方面具有学术才能的低收入学生。其次是保留87%（15人中的13人）的学者从他们各自的第一年到第二年，并在四年内毕业15名S-STEM学者（考虑替代品）在他们选择的STEM专业。第三，将100%的S-STEM毕业生安排在STEM相关的研究生课程中，或在毕业后六个月内安排在STEM相关领域的劳动力中。最后，第四个目标是确定影响低收入家庭学生在入门STEM课程中成功的因素，这些课程是日后成功的关键。为了帮助实现这些目标，PI团队和教师导师将利用早期干预措施，如以学生为中心的咨询网络，教师和专业导师，课外活动参与，有偿研究机会和实习，通过块调度队列建设，以及提供技术资源。这个项目将提供一个更好的了解如何这些个别活动和他们的综合效果影响学生的持久性。项目评估将利用形成性和总结性评估活动，研究项目活动的有效性。有关该项目的信息将在当地与CBU的其他教职员工分享，并将传播到更广泛的STEM教育社区，以促进对改善低收入学生学习的理解，学术天赋的学生。该项目由NSF的科学，技术，工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加低收入学术人才的数量，这些学生表现出经济需求，并获得STEM领域的学位。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术成功，保留，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 Christian Brothers University (CBU). Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 15 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in computer science and chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering. Each eligible student will receive funding for up to four years. The project aims to increase student persistence by linking scholarships with effective supporting activities, including faculty and industry professional mentoring, undergraduate research experiences, graduate school preparation, and participation in discipline-specific student competitions and conferences, plus the provision of technological resources (i.e. laptop computers). Project findings will be used to inform both project and curriculum improvements aimed at improving first-year student retention in STEM. The project will lead to students' economic mobility and will serve to broaden the socioeconomic diversity of professionals in the targeted STEM disciplines. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Towards this end the project seeks to enhance the retention of low-income students in introductory STEM courses and lead them to academic success. Four objectives guide the project team. First is to recruit 15 academically talented, low-income students in computer science and chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical across three cohorts. Second is to retain 87% (13 of 15) of scholars from their respective Year 1 to Year 2 and graduate 15 S-STEM scholars (factoring in replacements) in their chosen STEM major in four years. Third is to place 100% of S-STEM graduates in a STEM-related graduate program or in the workforce in a STEM-related field within six months of graduation. Finally, the fourth objective is to identify the factors that influence the success of low-income students in introductory STEM courses that are key to later success. To help achieve these objectives, the PI team and faculty mentors will utilize early intervention practices such as student-centered advising networks, faculty and professional mentors, extracurricular activity involvement, paid research opportunities and internships, cohort-building through block scheduling, and the provision of technological resources. This project will provide a better understanding on how these individual activities and their combined effects influence the students’ persistence. Evaluation of the project will utilize formative and summative assessment activities to study the effectiveness of the project activities. Information about the project will be shared locally with other faculty and staff at CBU and will be disseminated to the broader STEM education communities to advance the understanding of improvement of student learning of low-income, academically talented students. 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.