Increasing the Success of Talented Engineering Students with Unmet Financial Need with Scholarships, Culturally-responsive Curriculum, and Mentoring

通过奖学金、文化响应式课程和辅导，提高经济需求未得到满足的优秀工程学生的成功

• 批准号: 2322770
• 负责人: Nehal Abu-lail
• 金额: $ 250万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at San Antonio
• 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: 2024-04-01 至 2030-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322770&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Increasing; Success; Talented; Engineering; Students

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 The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). UTSA is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Over its six- year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 36 uniquely talented, full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering (BCE). Based on the composition of enrollment, the majority of funded BCE students will be first generation college students, women, Hispanic, or African American. Scholarships will be provided to cover the unmet financial need (UFN) of students entering their second semester freshmen year and will continue until graduation. The scholarships will be coupled with evidence-based, culturally-responsive and culturally relevant (CR2) curriculum as well as co-curricular activities to enhance workforce readiness, including inclusive mentoring, experiential learning, and workshops for leadership, self-efficacy, engineering identity, career counseling and employment placement. This project is expected to increase the number of students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds who persist and graduate in engineering, effectively compete in the job market, provide economic security to themselves and their families, and help secure the US’s place as a global leader.The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Financial needs strain students’ bandwidth, leading longer times to graduation relative to other student populations. To decrease this strain and address issues of persistence and sense of belonging, the following four specific aims will be completed: (1) Identify talented BCE students with UFN as scholarship recipients; (2) Increase awareness and preparation of faculty for implementation of CR2 curriculum and inclusive mentoring practices; (3) Support the development of students’ engineering identities through participation in experiential learning opportunities and CR2 academic projects and assignments; and (4) Perform a rigorous assessment of the project, and disseminate knowledge to engineering education communities. Upon completion, this project will increase understanding of the factors that influence low-income students’ persistence, graduation, and success in engineering and will reveal new knowledge related to: (1) positive engineering identity and leadership development, (2) development of CR2 pedagogies and shifts in building a CR2 community, and (3) indicators for advancements towards progress to graduation. The desired project outcomes include: (1) Increasing positive engineering identity, (2) Increasing the number of CR2 pedagogical lesson plans developed and implemented within core curriculum, (3) Enhancing scholars’ workforce and research readiness; (4) Improving first-year retention rates in the targeted courses to 100% for scholarship recipients; and (5) Improving six-year graduation rates for BCE students to 90% in each cohort. The project will be assess the project’s implementation and impact of the project activities on the desired outcomes. The project outcomes will be disseminated by faculty and scholars using mixed strategies to a wide range of audiences. 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.

该项目将支持有经济需要的成绩优异、低收入的学生在德克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校 (UTSA) 的留校和毕业，从而满足国家对受过良好教育的工程师的需求。在为期六年的时间内，该项目将为 36 名攻读生物医学工程和化学工程 (BCE) 学士学位的独特才华的全日制学生提供奖学金。 BCE 学生将是第一代大学生、女性、西班牙裔或非裔美国人。奖学金将用于满足进入新生第二学期的学生未满足的财务需求 (UFN)，并将持续到毕业。循证、文化响应和文化相关（CR2）课程以及课外活动，以增强劳动力准备，包括包容性指导、体验式学习以及领导力、自我效能、工程认同、职业咨询研讨会该项目预计将增加来自社会经济背景不利的学生的数量，他们坚持并毕业于工程学，有效地在就业市场上竞争，为自己及其家人提供经济保障，并帮助确保美国的全球地位。该项目的总体目标是提高具有经济需求的低收入、成绩优异的本科生的 STEM 学位，经济需求使学生的带宽紧张，从而导致相对于其他学生群体的毕业时间更长。并解决持久性和归属感问题，将完成以下四个具体目标： (1) 确定 UFN 的优秀 BCE 学生作为奖学金获得者； (2) 提高教师对实施 CR2 课程和包容性辅导实践的认识和准备； (3) 支持学生的发展；通过参与体验式学习机会和 CR2 学术项目和作业来增强工程身份；(4) 对项目进行严格的评估，并向工程教育社区传播知识。收入学生的坚持，毕业和工程方面的成功，并将揭示与以下方面相关的新知识：(1) 积极的工程身份和领导力发展，(2) CR2 教学法的发展和建设 CR2 社区的转变，以及 (3) 毕业进展指标预期的项目成果包括：(1) 增加积极的工程认同，(2) 增加在核心课程中开发和实施的 CR2 教学课程计划的数量，(3) 增强学者的劳动力和研究准备；(4)将目标课程的奖学金获得者一年级毕业率提高到 100%；以及 (5) 将每个保留群体的 BCE 学生六年毕业率提高到 90% 该项目将评估项目的实施情况和项目的影响。该项目的成果将由教师和学者使用混合策略向广泛的受众传播。该项目由美国国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学项目奖学金资助。旨在增加获得 STEM 领域学位的低收入学术才华学生的数量，并提高未来 STEM 工作者的教育，并产生有关学业成功、保留、转学、毕业和学习的知识。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。