Expanding Opportunities for the Success of Deaf and Hard of Hearing STEM majors

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 Gallaudet University. Gallaudet University is the world’s only liberal arts university established to accommodate Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students and its bilingual mission states that both American Sign Language (ASL) and English are used for instruction.

The University provides tremendous support to DHH students and is well-positioned to increase the number of DHH individuals in the STEM workforce. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 32 full-time or part-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, or Information Technology. Students of all years, including transfer students, are eligible to apply for the S-STEM scholarship.

First-year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support and transfer students will receive up to two-year scholarships. This project will increase the number of DHH students in STEM through support activities such as mentoring, tutoring, preparation for graduate programs, presenting at conferences, and supporting an ASL accessible environment.

The significance of the project is to generate STEM-focused linguistic content and improve the curriculum specific for DHH students. This type of supportive environment will help to increase the number of graduates in these majors and prepare students for STEM graduate school and careers.

The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The specific goals of the project are to increase and retain DHH students in STEM majors, provide academic and wellness support to the students, improve ASL access to the students and prepare students for STEM careers.

The number of DHH undergraduates in STEM fields is low which leads to an underrepresentation of DHH individuals in STEM. Several factors contribute to this underrepresentation, chief among them being linguistic and cultural barriers. Gallaudet University can address these factors and provide mentoring experiences and support activities for STEM majors.

At the end of the project, DHH STEM majors will gain skills to be successful in STEM careers that are in primarily hearing environments. The project also aims to increase the graduation rates of the STEM majors by 50%. The project will be evaluated using qualitative and quantitative data and the results will be disseminated through the School of Science, Technology, Accessibility, Mathematics and Public Health website, through peer reviewed publications, and at national conferences focused on STEM or deaf and hard of hearing 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.