Analyzing the Impact of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program

描述(由申请人提供)：巴尔的摩县马里兰大学迈耶霍夫奖学金项目(UMBC)是一种多方面的、基于优势的干预和研究方法，在增加获得博士或医学/博士学位并从事生物医学研究事业的非裔美国学生数量方面取得了长足进步。该项目目前已进入第16个年头，目前招收了261名学生，到目前为止，已有400多名学生从科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)专业毕业。有很高比例的毕业生继续攻读博士和医学博士/博士学位。该计划包含15个不同的组成部分，所有这些都是为了支持学生在本科阶段取得成功，并最终获得博士或医学博士/博士学位，以及从事研究工作。先前的研究表明，迈耶霍夫计划总体上提高了预期结果。这项建议使用定量和定性的方法，开始剖析项目的成功，勾勒出对攻读和完成STEM博士学位最重要的学生特征和项目特征。我们有两个具体目标。首先，我们希望提供关于该计划有效性的进一步证据，包括哪些类型的学生从该计划中受益最多。我们将解决这些问题：(1)当严格的统计控制时，非裔美国人迈耶霍夫学生是否会比对照学生获得更好的STEM博士成绩！迈耶霍夫计划对代表不足的j少数族裔学生(非裔美国人)的积极影响是否大于亚裔美国人和高加索学生。我们的第二个目标是通过研究来调查该计划是如何运作的：(3)认为从计划组成部分中受益更大的Meyerhoff学生是否获得了更积极的STEM博士成绩；(4)哪些特征(高中准备、高中GPA、SAT、父母SES、研究倾向等)。对于Meyerhoff项目的参与者来说，最能预测STEM博士学位成果的因素是什么，这是因为这些特点会带来更大的预期收益；(5)参加STEM研究密集型暑期实习的Meyerhoff学生是否比没有参加的学生获得更积极的STEM博士成果；以及(6)有持续研究经验的Meyerhoff学生是否比没有参加的学生获得更多积极的STEM博士成果。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a multifaceted, strengths based approach to intervention and research that has made great strides in increasing the number of African American students who earn Ph.D.s or M.D./Ph.D.s and pursue research careers in biomedical science. Now in its 16th year, the program has 261 students currently enrolled and so far it has graduated more than 400 students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). A very high percentage of graduates have gone on to pursue Ph.D. and M.D. /Ph.D. degrees. The program incorporates 15 different components, all geared toward supporting students' success as undergraduates and leading to a Ph.D. or M.D. /Ph.D. and a research career. Previous studies indicated that the Meyerhoff Program overall increases the desired outcomes. This proposal uses quantitative and qualitative methods to begin to dissect the success of the program to delineate the student characteristics and program features that are most important to pursuit and completion of a STEM Ph.D. We have two specific aims. First, we want to provide further evidence about program effectiveness, including what types of students receive the most benefit from the program. We will address these questions: (1) will African American Meyerhoff students achieve greater STEM Ph.D. outcomes than comparison students when stringent statistical controls! Are applied; and (2) does the Meyerhoff Program have a greater positive impact on underrepresented j minority students (African Americans) than on Asian American and Caucasian students. Our second aim is to investigate how the program works by studying: (3) do Meyerhoff students who perceive greater benefit from program components achieve more positive STEM Ph.D. outcomes; (4) what characteristics (high school preparation, high school GPA, SAT, parental SES, research proclivity, etc.) of students are the strongest predictors of STEM Ph.D. outcomes for Meyerhoff program participants and is this because those characteristics lead to greater perceived benefit from the program; (5) do Meyerhoff students who participate in STEM research intensive summer internships achieve more positive STEM Ph.D. outcomes than those who do not; and (6) do Meyerhoff students who have sustained research experience in on-campus STEM research labs achieve more positive STEM Ph.D. outcomes than those who do not.