Alternate Pathways to Excellence: Engineering a Transfer-Friendly Experience

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 St. Thomas (UST). Located in the Twin Cities, MN, UST is a designated "Military Friendly School" as well as a recognized "First-Gen Forward Institution" and is known for its high rates of retention (87%) and graduation in four years (68%).

Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 31 unique full-time students, including transfer students, who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in civil, computer, electrical, or mechanical engineering. Low-income, academically talented engineering students who have demonstrated financial need will receive scholarships for up to three years.

The Alternate Pathways to Excellence (APEX) project will increase the number of engineering transfer graduates by leveraging innovative mentoring practices, advancing engineering-focused diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and leveraging UST’s partnerships with five local community colleges. The project team also expects to build strong connections with local employers to help achieve the project's goals.

Support activities for scholars will include a new summer bridge course, monthly seminars to boost skills, and faculty, peer, and industry mentoring. Through the APEX project, UST will accelerate the Engineering Department’s efforts to advance an inclusive culture by addressing structural limitations that are common in engineering program curriculum, teaching practices, and recruitment efforts.

These strategies will have significance for engineering education broadly, and for supporting and retaining transfer students. As a result, the APEX project will produce diverse, well-qualified engineers who will meaningfully contribute to fueling innovation in the Twin Cities region.

To increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduate transfer engineering students, including students traditionally underrepresented in their participation in STEM courses of study and first-generation students, the project leadership will pursue three specific aims. First is to partner with five community colleges to recruit transfer students.

Second is to retain 90% of scholars each year and graduate 90% of all scholars within 3-years. Third is to support at least 95% of graduates to become employed in engineering or enrolled in a graduate degree program within 4 months of degree attainment. APEX is grounded in institutional research and knowledge from prior STEP awards, as well as an understanding of transfer students’ unique needs for retention support, including needs to identify scientific mentors and establish a sense of belonging.

Community college engineering students have been shown to benefit from tailored academic and personal supports that address their unique challenges. However, more investigation is needed to understand how specific interventions such as mentoring, a summer bridge course, and enhanced internships or research can improve engineering transfer student retention.

In addition, there is limited research on the extent to which diversity, equity, and inclusion programming for engineering faculty and students creates a scientific community that supports transfer student retention. UST will evaluate and advance understanding of the extent to which these targeted activities contribute to retaining transfer students.

Results will be disseminated via the KEEN National Conference and website, ASEE’s two-year college division, and submissions to peer-reviewed publications such as the Journal of Engineering Education. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) 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.