Transfer to Interdisciplinary Natural and Mathematical Sciences (TraIN) 2.0

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 Arizona State University’s New College of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences. Arizona State University serves a large proportion of Pell eligible, non-traditional and transfer students.

Over its 5-year duration, this project will fund scholarships for 45 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in interdisciplinary natural and mathematical science majors including biology, forensic science, environmental science, pharmacology/toxicology, biotechnology, statistics, applied mathematics, and applied computing. Transfer students from partner community colleges and preparatory academies will receive scholarships for up to 3-years.

This project aims to support students with great potential but fewer opportunities to achieve a college education in high-demand STEM fields within Arizona and across the United States. Students will be retained and supported in their undergraduate degree programs through relationships with faculty mentors, their peer cohort, alumni from the original scholarship project, peer mentors, professionals who will offer “soft skill” workshops, and industry mentors through shadowing in a research laboratory.

As an institution with a diverse population of low-income and non-traditional transfer students, this project has the potential to broaden participation within the STEM workforce in the southwestern U.S. and beyond. Furthermore, it will continue to develop a network of scholars who will support future graduating scholars as they enter the STEM workforce.

The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. This proposal builds on a current project that created a transfer consortium in the Phoenix metropolitan area between three Hispanic-Serving community colleges and the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Science at Arizona State University.

This new project expands the reach to additional community college and high school partners in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The project will support 45 unique scholars at Arizona State University for up to three years with scholarships of up to $10,000/year, as they work toward a STEM degree. Additionally, the project will remove barriers to student participation in research and internships that improve STEM workforce readiness.

This scholarship project plans to study the effectiveness of implementing research and/or internship shadowing with a low-income, diverse and primarily non-traditional transfer population. Project findings should advance the understanding of how less formal shadowing experiences with peer and faculty mentors increase student confidence about seeking out and engaging with longer-term research/internship experiences.

Furthermore, the project intends to examine whether students who engage in longer-term research and internship experiences are more likely than their peer group to enter the STEM workforce or graduate school after graduation. This project hopes to build STEM talent by adding new professionals from, and returning these graduates to, the high-need Phoenix job market.

These newly minted professionals will be highly connected with other STEM professionals in interdisciplinary fields through shadowing and internship experiences, allowing them to be influential innovators for the future of STEM, and mentors to STEM students who follow in their footsteps. Project staff will disseminate best practices to other colleges and universities by hosting a workshop, presenting at events such as the AZ Transfer Summit and various national and international meetings, and through publications.

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.