Partnering with Rural and Low-income Students for Academic Success in the Biological Sciences

该项目将通过支持北达科他州州立大学(NDSU)--一家为农村服务的机构--留住并毕业有经济需求的高成就、低收入学生，来促进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。在为期6年的时间里，该项目将为28名正在攻读生物学学士学位的全日制学生提供奖学金。一年级学生将获得最多4年的奖学金，转校生将获得最多3年的奖学金。获得奖学金的学生将有机会参加牧群学者学术和职业支持项目。该项目旨在通过将奖学金与有效的支持活动联系起来，提高学生在STEM领域的坚持性，包括建立学习社区、指导、本科生研究和实习经验，以及为研究生院和就业做准备。由于南洋理工大学有大量农村学生，该项目有可能扩大他们在STEM领域的参与，并有助于我们了解STEM是如何实现社会和学术融合的。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完成STEM学位的人数，并扩大进入研究生研究项目和/或STEM劳动力的学生的多样性。为了实现这一目标，该项目将首先利用一个由高中辅导顾问、南加州州立大学校友教师和美洲原住民伙伴组织组成的网络，加强从农村地区招收成绩优异的低收入学生。它将通过为期两年的队列课程建立一个羊群学者学习社区，让学生参与职业探索和STEM技能的发展，同时确保每周与同行和教师导师互动。为确保课程及协同课程活动切合学生的学术需要，并促进他们对科学的认同，计划将采用学生为伙伴的架构，在课程及协同课程活动的设计中，刻意将学生的观点纳入其中，以促进学生的归属感和自我效能。学生将获得参与本科生研究的支持机会。该项目旨在建立一个区域行业和政府机构合作伙伴网络，其中包括那些在农村地区提供就业机会的人的代表，他们将分享他们对STEM职业机会的知识，并提供实习机会。该项目旨在增进对课程和共同课程结构的了解，以促进农村低收入学生等代表人数不足的群体的学术和社会融合。将使用混合方法进行评价，以收集有关项目每个组成部分的定量和定性信息。结果将用于在整个项目期间不断改进，并确定最有价值的部分，可在农村学生入学率较高的其他环境中复制。该项目的成果将通过内部研讨会、期刊出版物和会议报告进行传播。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 North Dakota State University (NDSU), a Rural-Serving Institution. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 28 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology. First-year students will receive up to 4-year scholarships, and transfer students will receive up to 3-year scholarships. Students receiving scholarships will have the opportunity to participate in the Herd Scholars academic and career support project. This project aims to increase student persistence in STEM fields by linking scholarships with effective supporting activities, including establishment of learning communities, mentoring, undergraduate research and internship experiences, and preparation for graduate school and employment. Because NDSU has a high population of rural students, this project has the potential to broaden their participation in STEM fields and contribute to our understanding of how social and academic integration in STEM is achieved. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, and broaden the diversity of students entering graduate research programs and/or the STEM workforce. To achieve this goal, the project will first use a network of high school guidance counselors, NDSU alumni teachers and Native American partner organizations to enhance recruitment of high-achieving low-income students from rural areas. It will establish a learning community of Herd Scholars through a 2-year cohort curriculum that engages students in career exploration and development of STEM skills, while ensuring interaction with peers and faculty mentors on a weekly basis. To ensure that the curricular and co-curricular activities are meeting Herd Scholars’ academic needs and promoting their science identity, the project will use a Students as Partners framework in which the student’s perspective is deliberately incorporated into the design of curricular and co-curricular activities in order to promote students’ sense of belonging and self-efficacy. Students will receive supported opportunities to participate in undergraduate research. The project aims to build a network of regional industry and governmental agency partners, including representation from those providing employment opportunities in rural areas, who will share their knowledge of STEM career opportunities and provide internship opportunities. This project aims to advance understanding of curricular and co-curricular structures that promote academic and social integration of underrepresented groups, such as rural, low-income students. Evaluation will be conducted using mixed-methods to gather both quantitative and qualitative information about each component of the project. The results will be used to continuously make improvements throughout the project duration and identify those components most valuable for replication of in other settings with high rural student enrollment. The outcomes of this project will be disseminated through internal seminars, journal publications, 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.