NSF Award
2306341
Implementation Projects in the HBCU-UP program provide support to design, implement, study and assess comprehensive institutional efforts to increase the numbers of students and the quality of their preparation by strengthening science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research. This implementation project at Tennessee State University seeks to address issues related to the declining enrollment and graduation of underrepresented engineers. The goal of this project is to create a five-year pilot engineering curriculum that includes a pre-engineering program and CUREs-based immersive engineering studio to enhance underrepresented student retention and graduation at Tennessee State University. A sociocultural educational research project will investigate the factors that contribute to the success of HBCU engineering students. Formative and summative evaluation will be used to evaluate the project.<br/><br/>The project aims to develop a five-year pilot engineering program at TSU to improve student completion rates, focused on implementing a innovative pre-engineering curriculum for incoming freshmen. A STEM Enhancement Institute will be formed to provide support to students who struggle with their STEM courses in their pre-engineering program. Students will participate in CUREs and an immersive engineering studio project every year to enhance their engagement and empowerment in STEM learning. The immersive engineering studio will use virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) facilitated instructional models to enhance students' visual-spatial ability, create a situated learning environment, encourage student engagement, and enable data-driven teaching decisions in STEM classrooms. The faculty team aims to structure an intervention around engineering curriculum to enhance students' learning commitment, motivation, and academic performance. The project aims to create a pipeline of trained undergraduate students with various engineering analysis and design skills, while also systematically studying the sociocultural factors affecting retention of underrepresented students in undergraduate engineering programs. Overall, the project aims to enhance the retention and success of underrepresented students in engineering programs at TSU through innovative pedagogical practices and interdisciplinary research.<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.
