Scholarships, Strategic Course Sequencing, and Comprehensive Student Support to Increase Undergraduate Degree Completion in Computing and Cybersecurity

This project will contribute to the national need for skilled scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income STEM students at Mount Hood Community College. Over its five-year duration, the project will fund scholarships to 35 students who are pursuing Associate in Applied Science degrees in Cybersecurity and Networking and Computer Information Systems.

Scholars will be admitted in three cohorts that include both full-time and part-time students, and receive up to three years of scholarship support. Scholars will participate in a new orientation course that integrates foundational information technology skills into the college's existing orientation and learning community for new students. The project intends to implement wraparound student services including personalized education plans and career pathways, appreciative advising, academic tutoring, and academic skills workshops.

The project will contribute to the body of knowledge about impacts of scholarships and wraparound student services, with a focus on students pursuing degrees in information technology and/or in integrated systems and technology management education.

The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project aims for scholars to participate in co-curricular enrichment activities such as cybersecurity competitions, the Portland Chapter of Information Systems Security meetings and events, and other software development and cybersecurity events and exhibits.

The project intends to address the problem of community college students' earning of excess credits that are not aligned with a degree or career program. To this end, the Scholars will create a personalized education plan within a career pathway curriculum. This plan will map out the courses needed each semester through graduation to ensure efficient and timely completion of their program.

The project will provide Scholars with appreciative advising, a best practice characterized by the intentional collaborative practice of asking positive, open-ended questions to help students achieve academic success. This advising will be combined with academic tutoring and academic skills workshops to improve student outcomes, including degree completion or transfer.

The project's research plan includes quantitative and qualitative techniques to investigate the impacts of project activities on Scholars’ academic outcomes, development of relevant professional capabilities, self-determination within their professional identities. An evaluation plan will examine the implementation and management processes to ensure fidelity to the project plan, identify compliance and performance issues, and make recommendations to improve the project elements and services over the course of the project period.

Initial venues for dissemination will include presentations to local chapters of professional organizations, professional networking with peer institutions, and local and regional equity in education and STEM education conferences (e.g., Oregon Science Teachers Association Annual Fall Conference on Science Education). 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.