Preparing College Students who Enter from High School or Transfer from Community Colleges for STEM Careers and Graduate School

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. The project is led by the University of North Carolina Greensboro, a Minority Serving Institution. Over its five year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 40 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Computer Science, Geography (Earth Science and GIS tracks only), Mathematics and Statistics, and Physics and Astronomy.

Twenty students will be selected in Year 1, with ten First Time in College (FTIC) and ten Community College transfer (CCT) students; a similar set of twenty students will be selected in Year 2. FTIC students entering in year one will be eligible for up to eight semesters of funding and CCT students will be eligible for up to six semesters of funding.

In addition to providing scholarship support, the project will support Scholars' success through cohort development, undergraduate research opportunities, peer and faculty mentors, early advising, and virtual and onsite visits to research labs. To increase knowledge about how to best support the college success of low income STEM students, the project will examine how being in a STEM cohort affects CCT students’ sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and science identity.

This research study will compare FTIC and CCT students to understand the similarities and differences between the two groups. Results of this research will help other universities develop cohort activities to increase the persistence and graduation of well-qualified FTIC or CCT in STEM fields.

The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. In addition to providing financial assistance to STEM students with financial need, the project aims to increase retention rates by creating a self-sustaining student success environment that will serve as a model for similar institutions.

Additionally, the project will study the impact of project activities and student support to determine if the impact of these project elements differ by FTIC or CCT status. New activities and support mechanisms will be added to existing supports to target the unique challenges that CCT students face as they transition to a mid-size, urban university with a highly diverse and rapidly growing transfer student population.

Using Tinto’s and Packard’s research on sense of belonging, this project will investigate the effectiveness of essential elements of the project and examine similarities and differences of Scholars' experiences. The project will measure self-efficacy, science identity, sense of belonging, professional skill development, mental health/well-being, and persistence in STEM to determine the impacts of individual project activities and combined effects on CCT and FTIC students.

Anticipated outcomes include increased knowledge about the similarities and difference between FTIC and CCT students and facilitating Scholars’ career pathways. Project evaluation will use a mixed methods approach to identify themes that emerge from the collected data. Project resources and outcomes will be disseminated through the project website and expanded to include other social media platforms.

Project staff will partner with other University personnel and offices to create regional and statewide S-STEM events. 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.