Scholarships, Academic, and Social Supports to Provide Low-Income Transfers Students Opportunities for Nurtured Growth in AI

奖学金、学术和社会支持为低收入转学生提供促进人工智能发展的机会

• 批准号: 2321986
• 负责人: Mubarak Shah
• 金额: $ 249.05万
• 依托单位: The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-15 至 2029-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321986&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Scholarships; Academic; Social; Supports; Provide; Scholarships; Academic; Social; Supports; Provide

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 the University of Central Florida (UCF). As one of the largest universities in the nation, UCF is among the top three institutions enrolling transfer students and is recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to fifty unique full-time students who are pursuing Bachelor of Science (BS) or Master of Science (MS) degrees in the artificial intelligence (AI) fields of Computer Science, Computer Vision, Computer Engineering, Data Analytics, and Statistics & Data Science. With BS+MS programs in place, many of these students will be able to complete an MS degree in just 12 months after completion of a BS degree. All scholarship recipients will enter the program as transfer students entering the university and will receive support until graduation. These students are at a critical phase in their academic careers, at a time when obstacles of many varieties have the greatest potential to cause students to reconsider their paths, becoming vulnerable to attrition. Each program participant is given a faculty mentor, who has expertise in his/her field of study, and a peer mentor, who is near graduation for a degree in that field. The mentors serve as a personal guides for the student as he/she navigates unknown territory at a new institution and begins challenging coursework. Scholarships provide freedom to focus on studies, without the additional burden of finding ways to pay for it. Altogether, the support of a scholarship, a mentor, and a community of like-minded students, promises to reduce the obstacles students face, keep them interested in their field of study, and motivate them to excel academically. Students will be streamlined into existing research groups or industrial internships or REUs, which will later be used to place qualified students into the workforce.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving students with demonstrated financial need. The specific aims of the project are to (i) ensure scholars are retained past the first year, (ii) ensure scholars persist and complete a BS degree in high-need fields of AI, and (iii) substantially increase the number of MS degrees in AI fields. To achieve the project goals, we will (a) provide transfer students a strong sense of belonging and establish their identities as AI scholars, (b) develop scholars’ proficiency in AI through mentoring and advanced coursework, with potential for research and internships, and (c) provide clear pathways to MS degree completion with financial support. The expected outcomes are 90% retention rate past the first year, 90% participation rate in internships or research projects, and 60% acceptance rate into MS degree programs in AI fields. To ensure the project remains on track for achieving its goals, an external evaluator will monitor the selection and recruitment process, along with graduation and retention rates, as well as student and mentor activities. Program results will be disseminated through the program webpage, reports at conferences and article publication. 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.

该项目将通过支持中央佛罗里达大学（UCF）的高成就，低收入学生的保留和毕业，对受过良好教育的科学家，数学家，工程师和技术的国家需求做出贡献。作为美国最大的大学之一，UCF是入学学生的前三名机构之一，并被公认为是西班牙裔服务机构。在五年的持续时间内，该项目将为五十名独特的全日制学生提供资金，这些学生正在攻读理学学士学位（BS）或人工智能（AI）计算机科学，计算机视觉，计算机工程，数据分析，数据分析以及统计学和统计学和数据科学领域的科学硕士（MS）学位。有了BS+MS课程，其中许多学生将能够在完成BS学位后仅12个月内完成MS学位。所有奖学金获奖者将作为转学学生进入大学，并获得支持直至成绩。这些学生处​​于学术职业的关键阶段，当时许多变化的障碍具有使学生重新考虑自己的道路，变得容易受到流失的最大潜力。每个计划参与者都有一个在学习领域中具有专业知识的教师心理，并且是一个同伴的心理，他们在该领域的学位接近成绩。当他/她在新机构中浏览未知领土并开始挑战课程工作时，这些导师是学生的个人指南。奖学金提供了专注于研究的自由，而没有额外的燃烧寻找付费的方法。总之，奖学金，导师和志趣相投的学生社区的支持，承诺减少学生面临的障碍，使他们对自己的学习领域感兴趣，并激励他们以学术上的优势来表现。学生将简化为现有的研究小组或工业实习或REU，后来将其用于将合格的学生置于劳动力中。该项目的总体目标是增加具有表现出财务需求的低收入，高位熟练的学生的STEM学位完成。该项目的具体目的是（i）确保第一年保留学者，（ii）确保学者在AI的高需求领域中持续并完成BS学位，并且（iii）大大增加了AI领域的MS学位数量。为了实现项目目标，我们将（a）为转学学生提供强烈的归属感，并确立自己作为AI学者的身份，（b）通过心理和高级课程来发展学者在AI方面的熟练程度，并具有研究和实习的潜力，并且（c）提供了MS学位完成的明确途径。预期的结果是第一年以前的保留率90％，实习或研究项目的参与率为90％，在AI领域的MS学位课程中的接受率为60％。为了确保该项目的实现目标，外部评估将监视选择和招聘过程，以及毕业和保留率以及学生和心理活动。程序结果将通过程序网页，会议和文章出版物的报告进行传播。该项目由NSF在科学，技术，工程和数学计划方面的奖学金提供资金，该计划旨在增加具有在STEM领域获得学位的经济需求的低收入学术才华的学生的数量。它还旨在改善未来STEM工人的教育，并为低收入学生的学术成功，保留，转移，毕业以及学术/职业途径提供知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来通过评估来诚实地通过评估来诚实地支持。