NSF Award
2424850
This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, data scientists, and technicians by supporting the future retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at the University of Maryland (UMD), the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), and Bowie State University (BSU) in the University System of Maryland. UMD is the flagship university and UMES and BSU are HBCUs. Over its one-year duration, this Collaborative Planning Grant will prepare the foundation for a Track 3 S-STEM proposal to support S-STEM M.S. students in Engineering (UMD), Chemistry (UMES), and the Internet of Things and Internet Technology (BSU). These disciplines fill local and national needs and represent areas of strength and strong student interest at each University. In addition, they are areas where students can move between consortium partners to earn M.S. degrees. Institutional data, surveys, and focus groups will be used to analyzed to identify how the consortium can best attract, support, and graduate talented scholars and help them launch careers. The long-term goal is to develop a systematic model to successfully couple HBCU institutions with research-intensive universities. The project model would draw on each institution’s strengths to develop a program that graduates low-income M.S. students prepared for the workforce. <br/><br/>The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving graduate students with demonstrated financial need. The project goals are to develop the knowledge base and approach to support development of a Track 3 S-STEM proposal and program for M.S. students at the three collaborating universities. The project team has identified three research questions to support this effort: 1) How does financial support impact the decision of low-income students to pursue M.S. degrees?; 2) What types of financial aid are most effective in supporting low-income students through their M.S. degrees?; and 3) How can institutions work together to develop a pathway for successful S-STEM scholars’ education? These questions will be addressed using information gained through analysis of institutional data, along with surveys and focus groups of potential S-STEM students, financial aid officers, graduate admissions counselors, and team leaders at each institution. Results will be disseminated by presentations and proceedings at STEM education conferences, journal articles, and sharing of anonymized data that other universities can use to adapt this model. 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.
