Promoting Retention by Fostering Identity and Belongingness in Low Income Students Majoring in Scientific Disciplines and Mathematics

This project aims to serve the national need for well-educated scientists and mathematicians by improving the retention rates, graduation rates, and career opportunities of academically talented, low-income students with unmet financial need at Arcadia University, a small liberal arts school. Despite the availability of many STEM-related career opportunities, STEM majors at Arcadia, including those with unmet financial need and from groups underrepresented in the STEM disciplines, often have lower retention and graduation rates than other undergraduates.

To address the national need for these scholars, an interdisciplinary program will be created that integrates our STEM departments (Biology, Chemistry and Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science) to provide academic and financial support for 21 undergraduate STEM majors ("STEM Scholars") over six years. STEM Scholars will participate in an interdisciplinary cohort experience to foster the development of their STEM identity and sense of belonging to the STEM community, both of which are correlated with increased student retention in the STEM disciplines.

As part of the cohort experience, students will have opportunities to engage with STEM faculty, network with other STEM professionals, and use interdisciplinary problem-solving skills for community-based research projects and other high-impact activities. These experiences will foster relationships among the STEM Scholars and STEM faculty, while also helping Scholars develop technical skills and professional confidence, and so result in increased STEM-degree graduation rates and continuation to STEM careers.

This project at Arcadia University will provide four-year scholarships to three cohorts of seven low-income, academically talented scholars (21) majoring in biology, chemistry, computer science, math, and actuarial science who have unmet financial need. This project is informed by institutional data suggesting that STEM Scholars would benefit from targeted interventions designed to promote increases in (a) first-year retention to 80% or higher, (b) graduation rates to 60%, or higher, (c) the retention of underrepresented students in our STEM programs to 80% or higher. and (d) STEM career placement.

Consistent with the strategy's focus on the student experience and student success, STEM Scholars will engage in existing as well as evidence-based but new-to-Arcadia curricular and co-curricular activities and opportunities selected to (1) foster STEM identity, (2) promote a sense of belonging in the STEM community, and (3) promote a sense of belonging in the wider non-STEM community using STEM skills to address inequities within the community. Scholars will be engaged in interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving and community-based research projects to further deepen their sense of belonging in STEM- and non-STEM communities and strengthen their STEM identity.

Arcadia will study the effects of high-impact activities on the development of STEM identity and sense of belonging in STEM and non-STEM communities among our STEM Scholars, and the effects of these activities on first-year and overall retention, as well as preparation for the workforce. Improved retention and graduation in STEM fields and successful pursuit of STEM-related careers or graduate school will further strengthen the nation's STEM workforce and help diversify its composition.

The project approaches, results, and conclusions will be broadly disseminated through the published literature and other channels, allowing other similar institutions to benefit from this work. 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.