Scholarship Opportunities for Student Retention and Degree Attainment in Undergraduate Engineering and Computer Science Programs

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 Northern Arizona University. Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a Hispanic Serving Institution. Over a 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 36 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science.

First-year students and transfer students will receive four-year and two-year scholarships, respectively. The project will develop a formal mentoring program for Scholars to provide them with ample opportunities for peer and faculty mentoring, career and professional development, networking with engineering program alumni, as well as for participating in extra- and co-curricular activities that will help sharpen their skills and broaden their overall engineering experience.

The project will engage in outreach activities in high school districts serving significant populations underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study, and facilitate academic pathways for pre-engineering majors at community colleges. The engineering curriculum at NAU is built around an active/experiential learning philosophy that offers students ample opportunities to acquire in-depth knowledge and essential engineering skills and to make significant contributions to society at large.

The broader impacts of the project will be enacted by Scholars returning to and giving back to their communities after graduation, working toward improving the standard of living of their families and communities at large. The intellectual merit of the project is in advancing the understanding of how the planned interventions and co- and extra-curricular activities will affect the recruitment, retention, success, academic/career pathways, and graduation of low-income underrepresented students in engineering and computer science.

To increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue four goals. First is to broaden opportunities for university access to students from underrepresented and financially insecure groups from the broader Northern Arizona region. Second is to increase student success, retention, and graduation through student services such as mentoring and career development for which ample evidence of effectiveness exists.

Third is to facilitate student advancement to relevant employment/career pathways, and fourth is to foster academic pathways for pre-engineering community college students to complete B.S. degrees in engineering and computer science at NAU. Specific objectives for the project team include a) establishing a formal faculty mentorship program to foster scientific identity and career pathways for Scholars, b) providing career development training that includes and supports Scholars in proactively seeking internship opportunities, and c) mentoring pre-engineering community college students on pathways to engineering BS degrees.

This project will generate knowledge about the impact of specific support mechanisms and curricular innovations on the retention, academic success, career development, and graduation rates of underrepresented engineering and computer science Scholars. The planned educational research will investigate the suitability of the models chosen for data collection and analysis for the type of activities and outcomes planned in this project.

The evaluation will be conducted using mixed methods to gather both quantitative and qualitative information about each component of the project. The results will be used to improve all aspects of the project, and lessons learned will apply to work beyond the end of the award period. The outcomes of this project will be disseminated through internal seminars, journal publications, and conference presentations.

Publications and presentations will document project outcomes, accomplishments, and lessons learned on best practices to provide students with learning environments that promote inclusive participation in STEM. 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.