Converging Earth Science and Sustainability Education and Experience to Prepare Next-Generation Geoscientists

融合地球科学和可持续发展教育和经验，培养下一代地球科学家

• 批准号: 2225490
• 负责人: Ruopu Li
• 金额: $ 133.33万
• 依托单位: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225490&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Converging; Earth; Science; Sustainability; Education

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 Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC). SIUC is a rural university and the major research institution in Southern Illinois, one of America’s most economically distressed regions. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 40 unique full-time transfer students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Geography & Environmental Resources and Geology. Transfer students will receive two-year scholarships. The proposed project is an interdisciplinary STEM program, Earth-Sustainability Scholarship (ESS), for academically talented students who demonstrate financial need to pursue undergraduate environmental and earth science degrees. A sustainability-minded STEM workforce is vital for the nation to strategically develop natural resources, experience economic growth, and make informed decisions in a rapidly changing world. The project will develop an educational pipeline from student admission and training to graduation and professional development and advance the understanding of the dominant factors that increase the academic and professional success of low-income students. A mentoring system and a networked supporting community that integrate campus resources and sustainability activities will be established for improved curricular and co-curricular experiences. The project is expected to broaden the participation of low-income students in environmental and earth science by reducing financial pressure, increasing learning opportunities and outcomes, and bridging overall career success. It will also advance the mission of U.S. institutions of higher education that train a diverse and globally competitive STEM workforce in sustainable environmental and earth science. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific objectives include: (1) increasing educational opportunities for academically talented students with financial need, (2) improving educational support programs at SIUC, (3) improving the retention of students in the SIUC School of Earth Systems and Sustainability, and (4) enhancing the future STEM workforce with skills in earth science and sustainability. To address the historic disconnect between sustainability and earth science training, it is vital to integrate sustainability into earth science education in institutes of higher education. Advancing understanding of how supporting services and programs drive academic success in geoscience majors, especially for transfer students, is also critical. This project will establish an educational prototype that successfully supports academically talented and low-income transfer students to become sustainability-focused earth science degree graduates. Following the Theory of Planned Behaviors, the supporting service and activities to enhance attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control will be framed as three critical constructs that are expected to drive students’ positive intentions for graduation. The project hopes to create an inclusive and diverse learning community and infrastructure to advance the project goals and missions. It is expected that 40 low-income academically talented transfer students will be awarded $10,000 scholarships each year and that an overall 85% retention rate and 80% graduation rate will be achieved. The project will utilize a management-oriented formative and summative evaluation approach. Results will be disseminated internally to the Office of the Provost and faculty members at SIUC and shared externally to the STEM community through STEM Central, social media, professional conferences, and publications in STEM education journals. 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.

该项目将支持南伊利诺伊大学卡本代尔分校 (SIUC) 保留和毕业有经济需要的成绩优异的低收入学生，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。伊利诺伊州南部是美国经济最困难的地区之一，该项目是一所乡村大学和主要研究机构，在五年内，该项目将为 40 名正在攻读学士学位的独特全日制转学生提供奖学金。地理与环境资源和地质学。拟议的项目是一个跨学科的 STEM 项目，即地球可持续发展奖学金 (ESS)，面向有经济需要攻读本科环境和地球科学学位的学术天才学生。具有可持续发展意识的 STEM 劳动力对于国家战略性开发自然资源、实现经济增长以及在快速变化的世界中做出明智决策至关重要。该项目将开发一条从学生入学和培训到毕业和职业发展和进步的教育渠道。对主导因素的理解提高低收入学生的学术和职业成功。将建立一个整合校园资源和可持续发展活动的指导系统和网络支持社区，以改善课程和课外体验。该项目预计将扩大低收入学生的参与。通过减少经济压力、增加学习机会和成果以及促进整体职业成功，为环境和地球科学专业的学生提供收入，这也将推进美国高等教育机构培养可持续环境和地球领域多元化且具有全球竞争力的 STEM 劳动力的使命。科学的总体目标。该项目的目标是提高有经济需要的低收入、成绩优异的本科生完成 STEM 学位的具体目标包括：(1) 增加有经济需要的学术天才学生的教育机会，(2) 改善 SIUC 的教育支持计划。 (3) 提高 SIUC 地球系统和可持续发展学院学生的保留率，以及 (4) 增强未来 STEM 劳动力的地球科学和可持续发展技能。将可持续性纳入其中至关重要提高对支持服务和计划如何推动地球科学专业的学术成功的理解，特别是对于转学生来说，该项目将建立一个成功支持学术人才和低收入转学的教育原型。遵循计划行为理论，增强态度、主观规范和感知行为控制的支持服务和活动将被构建为三个关键结构，预计将推动学生的积极意图。该项目希望创建一个包容性和多元化的学习社区和基础设施，以推进项目目标和使命，预计每年将向 40 名低收入学术才华转学生授予 10,000 美元的奖学金，总体保留率和毕业率将达到 85%。该项目将采用以管理为导向的形成性和总结性评估方法，结果将在 SIUC 教务长办公室内部传播，并通过 STEM 向外部共享。中央、社交媒体、专业会议和 STEM 教育期刊出版物该项目由 NSF 科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金计划资助，该计划旨在增加有经济需求的低收入学术天才学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来 STEM 工作者的教育，并为低收入学生提供有关学业成功、保留、转学、毕业和学术/职业道路的知识。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命。和通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，该项目被认为值得支持。