Bridging the STEM Gap in Appalachia: Engaging with students to iteratively improve faculty practices in support of student success

缩小阿巴拉契亚地区的 STEM 差距：与学生互动，不断改进教师实践，支持学生取得成功

• 批准号: 2130106
• 负责人: Robert Niichel
• 金额: $ 74.97万
• 依托单位: Fairmont State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-02-15 至 2028-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2130106&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Bridging; STEM; Gap; Appalachia; Engaging

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 Fairmont State University (FSU) in West Virginia. The project will support students through a combination of financial assistance and curricular and co-curricular support. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to eighteen (18) unique high-achieving, low-income undergraduate majors in the STEM disciplines at the University. Additional support will include a STEM bootcamp for incoming students, a first-year STEM seminar course, opportunities for research experiences, STEM living and learning community availability, and regular interactions with faculty and peer mentors. Career placement initiatives will be incorporated and will include networking seminars with local and regional industries. A professional development program will be put in place for faculty and peer mentors. Recruiting efforts will include a focus on a 15-county region in Appalachia that will be accompanied by an innovative and flexible two-tier selection process to allow for the identification of low-income, highly-talented STEM students who might not have met traditional metrics related to high school success. To increase retention and STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue several goals. First is to adapt and implement evidence-based curricular and co-curricular strategies for systematically supporting student academic and career pathways to success. Second is to implement, test, and study through project evaluation an innovative model for recruiting and selecting highly-talented STEM students who might otherwise go unnoticed based on traditional metrics for high school success. Third is to contribute to the knowledge base to help guide other colleges to implement similar programs successfully. Fourth is to integrate the project with local industries to improve career preparation and job placement, directly filling needs in the region. And fifth is to incorporate a networking process with industry, high schools, and other colleges to disseminate outcomes and findings related to project challenges and successes, in particular to other institutions working to support low-income STEM students. Insights and outcomes from a mixed methods evaluation will generate new knowledge on which aspects of the project's support interventions, or combination of interventions, are most effective for retention, engagement, academic performance, and overall success of students. The lines of investigation will address gaps in the literature and inform other higher-education professionals seeking to support students with a combination of curricular and co-curricular interventions, especially for students from rural regions who are underrepresented in STEM. 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.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.

该项目将支持西弗吉尼亚州费尔蒙特州立大学 (FSU) 保留和毕业有经济需要的成绩优异、低收入的学生，从而满足国家对受过良好教育的科学家、数学家、工程师和技术人员的需求。该项目将通过财政援助以及课程和课外支持相结合的方式为学生提供支持，在为期六年的时间内，该项目将为十八 (18) 个独特的高成就、低收入本科专业提供奖学金。其他支持包括为新生开设 STEM 训练营、一年级 STEM 研讨会课程、研究经验机会、STEM 生活和学习社区可用性以及与教师和同行导师的定期互动。将合并，并将包括与当地和区域行业的网络研讨会，将为教师和同行导师制定招聘工作，重点是阿巴拉契亚地区的 15 个县。创新和灵活的两层选拔流程，以识别可能不符合与高中成功相关的传统指标的低收入、高才华的 STEM 学生，以提高低收入、高收入群体的保留率和 STEM 学位完成率。为了帮助有经济需要的本科生，该项目将追求几个目标：首先是调整和实施基于证据的课程和课外策略，以系统地支持学生的学术和职业成功之路，其次是通过实施、测试和学习。项目评估创新模式招募和选拔才华横溢的 STEM 学生，否则根据传统的高中成功衡量标准，这些学生可能会被忽视。改善职业准备和就业安置，直接满足该地区的需求，第五是与工业界、高中和其他大学建立联系流程，传播与项目挑战和成功相关的成果和发现，特别是向其他正在开展工作的机构。支持低收入 STEM混合方法评估的见解和结果将产生新的知识，了解项目支持干预措施或干预措施的哪些方面对学生的保留、参与、学业表现和整体成功最有效。解决文献中的空白，并为寻求通过课程和课外干预相结合的方式支持学生的其他高等教育专业人士提供信息，特别是针对在 STEM 中代表性不足的农村地区的学生。该项目由 NSF 科学技术奖学金资助。 ,工程和数学项目旨在增加获得 STEM 领域学位的低收入学术天才学生的数量，并提高未来 STEM 工作者的教育，并产生有关学术成功的知识，该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。