Improving Student Success in Engineering and Computer Science

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 Louisiana State University (LSU). LSU is a Research I University with a total undergraduate enrollment 27,948 for fall 2020 and over 4,000 students in the College of Engineering.

Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 45 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biological, civil, chemical, computer, electrical, environmental, industrial, mechanical, and petroleum engineering as well as computer science. First-year students will receive four-year scholarships. This project will help students transition from high school to LSU by providing academic readiness, mentoring, and career development activities.

Specific activities include conducting academic workshops, providing first-year course tutoring by trained engineering students, and offering alternate individualized pathways to graduation. A suite of mentoring activities will also be made available such as providing faculty and peer academic mentors, connecting students to engineering-based student organizations, and providing access to industry and career mentors.

Finally, the project team will conduct professional development workshops based on the National Association of Colleges and Employers competencies, encourage participation in STEM outreach activities to develop leadership and communication skills, and enable the creation of professional online portfolios. This project will help broaden participation in the engineering workforce by creating a pathway to success for first-generation college students and first-generation professionals.

The program will create a population of LSU engineering and computer science alumni and current students who will serve as ambassadors for K-12 and engineering students with similar backgrounds as they engage in their communities. The impact of project activities will be assessed to determine their effectiveness in helping students succeed in engineering.

To increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue three goals. First is to improve students’ academic performance in engineering foundational courses. Second is to increase student retention by building a sense of community among the scholars.

Third is to increase employers’ recognition of low socio-economic status students’ strengths and valuations of their professional competencies. This project will study the efficacy of early intervention with underprepared, at-risk entering first-year students with respect to successfully completing an engineering degree. Project activities for students are based on elements of Social Learning Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory.

Five research questions will be addressed using multiple survey instruments and quantitative data to compare results for a control group of students and project scholarship recipients. (1) Which interventions best support students’ overall academic performance? (2) Which interventions best support students’ persistence to graduation? (3) How does self-efficacy, coping self-efficacy, and interest in engineering change as a result of the interventions? (4) How does career self-efficacy change as a result of the interventions and does it vary by racial/gender identity? (5) To what extent can employer implicit bias toward only high GPA students be mitigated through student participation in industry internships? The project evaluation focuses on the evaluation of scholar success, project activities, and scholars' attitudes.

Project activities will be assessed using survey instruments to ensure their relevancy and perceived contributions to scholars’ success. Pre- and post-test assessments will measure students’ confidence in their engineering and professional competencies. Focus groups and individual interviews will be used to evaluate scholars’ attitudes regarding their experiences in the program.

Project results will be presented at national conferences, submitted to refereed journal publications, promoted at regional Engineering Deans’ meetings, and presented to state level education partners. 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.