NSF Award
2221623
This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated engineers by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Wichita State University. Recognizing the importance of financial assistance coupled with academic and student services, the project team will use award funds to increase second and third-year retention and graduation rates for 24 low-income high achieving undergraduate engineering students in three cohorts by enhancing the student’s identity in advanced manufacturing industry careers. The project will award scholarships over a four-year period to students in engineering technology, computer science and cybersecurity, industrial systems and manufacturing engineering, and electrical and computer engineering that will lead to careers in advanced manufacturing industries, particularly focusing on the local aerospace industries, filling the growing local and national need for such professionals. Scholarship recipients will receive funds for four years: Year 1: $10,000; Year 2: $5,000; Year 3: $2,500; and Year 4: $1,250 ($18,750/scholar over four years). The project is designed to cultivate students’ sense of engineering identity through their participation in (1) academic, personal, and professional skill-building activities and (2) a new two-semester First Year Experience Course in which one semester is spent working alongside engineers on a real-world engineering problem and in co-op experiences each year thereafter. Faculty and industry mentors will receive training to facilitate learning and assist students in developing an engineering identity and a sense of belonging. Students will be recruited from seven high schools through their "Project Lead the Way" engineering classes. <br/><br/>The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Drawing on the socialization theory of engineering identity development (Tonso, 2006) and theories of situated learning to design project activities, students will learn engineering skills working alongside engineers in an industry setting and by engaging with the engineering community through trained faculty and industry mentors. The quantitative and qualitative mixed methods evaluation is designed to be holistic and is focused on participant perception of identification with engineering as well as a sense of belonging within the profession as measures of success and the effectiveness of the planned interventions. The purpose is to determine the trajectory of participant perceptions and beliefs. Descriptive statistics will be used to determine the shape of the trajectory while Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance techniques will be used to determine if there is a statistically significant difference in participant perceptions. Qualitative thematic analysis will clarify the findings from the quantitative analysis using coding and patterns of meaning of one-on-one and focus group interviews. 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.<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.
