RII-BEC: Bridging Collaboration Across South Carolina Academic Institutions to Support Underserved and Underrepresented Community Needs

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）。该项目旨在通过解决因COVID-19大流行造成的中断而导致的学术界和工业界的迫切需求来服务于国家利益。在学术准备和劳动力发展方面，来自服务不足或代表性不足的社区的个人正在接受STEM相关教育，由于各种原因，他们不得不改变或结束他们的专业追求。通过为学生继续学业提供财政支助和个性化指导，满足这些人重新开始学习和修订职业准备计划的需要。该项目是整个南卡罗来纳州与克莱姆森大学，两个历史上的黑人学院和大学（克拉夫林大学和南卡罗来纳州州立大学），技术学院（三叉戟学院）和军事学院（城堡）的合作。该项目将侧重于从受大流行病影响最严重的服务不足和代表性不足的社区招募、指导、留住和毕业学生。提供学术和财政支持将有助于解决当前的问题，迫使学生改变他们的计划，并返回他们的学术成就和职业成功的途径，特别是在工程学科。该项目的总体目标是通过纳入个人，机构和地理多样性来扩大STEM的参与。鉴于南卡罗来纳州汽车和先进材料制造业的增长，特别是在三叉戟和城堡所在的地区，调查人员将能够通过更好地连接学生，机构和行业来解决劳动力发展需求。该项目的范围包括通过在线证书课程增加和改善受教育的机会，这些课程为进入工业和研究生学习提供了便利。克莱姆森大学将提供汽车和机械工程证书课程，并创造新的机会与复合材料证书，以支持学生，并帮助他们朝着他们预期的职业目标的进展。有意的机构合作伙伴关系和行业联系也将支持学生的进步。项目干预措施将评估其对学生的直接影响，并在长期指标上进行评估，重点是解决入学和STEM保留问题，并与当地行业建立新的联系。定期评估的结果对于确定对所有利益相关者的影响至关重要，以便更好地评估受破坏性事件影响的学生的需求，这些事件阻碍了他们的学术和职业生涯的进步。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This project aims to serve the national interest by addressing acute needs in academia and industry resulting from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In both academic preparation and workforce development, individuals from underserved or underrepresented communities who are pursuing STEM related education have had to alter or end their professional pursuits for a variety of reasons. The importance of supporting the needs of these individuals for restarting their studies and revising their plans for their professional preparation is addressed by providing financial support and personalized guidance to students in the continuation of their education. This project is a collaboration across South Carolina with Clemson University, two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Claflin University and South Carolina State University), a technical college (Trident College), and a military college (The Citadel). The project will focus on the recruitment, mentoring, retention, and graduation of students from underserved and underrepresented communities who have been most impacted by the pandemic. Providing academic and financial support would help address current issues that forced students to change their plans and return them to academic achievement and career success pathways, especially in the engineering discipline. The overall goal of the project is to broaden participation in STEM by incorporating individual, institutional, and geographic diversity. Given the growth of automotive and advanced materials manufacturing in South Carolina, especially in the region where Trident and Citadel are located, the investigators will be able to address workforce development needs by better-connecting students, institutions, and industries with professional learning, workforce development, and employment opportunities across the state. The project scope involves increasing and improving access to education through online certificate courses that provide facilitated entry points to industry and graduate study. Clemson University will offer the Automotive and Mechanical Engineering certificate program and create new opportunities with the Composites certificate to support students and help them progress toward their intended professional goals. Intentional institutional partnerships and connections to industry will also support student advancement. Project interventions will be assessed for their immediate impact on students, as well as evaluated over long-term metrics with a focus to address enrollment and STEM retention and create new connections to local industries. Outcomes from periodic evaluations will be essential to determine the impact across all stakeholders, in order to better assess the needs of students impacted by disruptive events, which inhibit progress in their academic and professional careers.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.