NSF Award
2424935
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 a consortium of six academic institutions in Alabama and Michigan: Tuskegee University, Auburn University, Auburn University Montgomery, Oakland University, Southern Union State Community College, and Troy University. This institutional consortium represents a HBCU, private and public 4-year institutions, a 2-year community college, two predominantly undergraduate institutions, and three doctoral-granting institutions. Over its 5-year duration, this Track 3 Collaborative project will fund scholarships to 72 unique full-time students who are pursuing associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees associated with Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematical, Computer) and Engineering (Materials, Mechanical, Software, Electrical, Computer). First-year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support, while transfer and graduate students will receive up to two years of scholarship support. The project aims to increase student persistence in STEM and promote their workforce readiness by linking scholarships with supporting activities, including mentoring, research experiences, graduate school preparation, participation in conferences, professional advising, career planning, and hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies. Project activities will synergize to promote students’ sense of belonging in the college environment and help them identify as future STEM professionals in high-demand fields. The partnership institutions serve a large number of students from underrepresented racial, ethnic, and economic minorities; thus, this project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM areas of critical need, and advance understanding of how the proposed activities foster academic and professional success in this student population.<br/><br/>The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific aims are to increase students’ academic skills for college success and professional skills for STEM careers in critical need areas and investigate the impact of its activities on retention and graduation of low-income students. This project will analyze the institutional and personal factors that foster sense of belonging in low-, mid-, and high-income students, and fill a gap in the knowledge base by investigating sense of belonging in connection to a salient professional identity. The project will analyze the support needs of low-, mid-, and high-income students, the extent to which academic advisors’ and professors’ views of student needs coincide with students’ perceived needs, and the role of personal relationships on preventing isolation and strengthening professional identity. A rigorous mixed-methods evaluation will determine the extent to which the project is achieving its goals by assessing student participation in project activities, perceived gains, persistence in the major, and professional outcomes. Results of this project will be disseminated through a website, digital newsletters, data briefs, explainer videos, presentations, and journal publications. 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-to-career pathways of low-income students.<br/><br/>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.
