Engineering Academic Pathways

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 the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, an urban, access-oriented institution. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 25 unique full time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Engineering Technology.

Eligible scholars will be able to receive up to four years of support while they complete their undergraduate degree. A suite of evidence-based programming will be deployed to enhance opportunities for social-emotional learning, academic skills development, and social and navigational capital building that were missed due to the pandemic. The project makes an urgent, evidence-based response to pandemic impacts on low-income students’ preparation for and enrollment of engineering majors, as well as their missed opportunities for social and emotional learning.

Key components of programing include a summer bridge program, high engagement mentoring, a college skills and professional development seminar, and dedicated advising. The programing will improve employment prospects by developing social and cultural capital in students. Through outreach, the program will also help large numbers of high school students learn about engineering majors and prepare them for the college application process and will train high school counselors about engineering opportunities for low income students.

The Engineering Academic Pathways program is specifically designed to enhance the prospects of economic mobility by responding to the unique needs of low-income students that the pandemic has substantially exacerbated. Recent data indicate the pandemic has disproportionately harmed people in low-income households relative to employment, health, and well-being.

Prior to the setbacks of the COVID 19 pandemic, Charlotteans were responding to substantial disparities in opportunity after the city was ranked 50th out of the 50 largest US cities for economic mobility in 2015. The program will implement four of the strategies for improving economic mobility that were recommended by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Opportunity Task Force in 2017.

First is to broaden the range of and access to high quality college and career pathways offered by K-12 and postsecondary institutions. Second is to equip all students and their parents with the information and guidance they need to understand and navigate multiple college and career pathways, preparation, and processes. Third is to expand and strengthen support for First Generation and other low-socioeconomic students who need help transitioning to and completing secondary education.

Fourth, and finally, is to elevate and actively promote the critical importance of acquiring a post-secondary degree. The success of individual elements of the program will be rigorously evaluated and adapted for the greatest effectiveness. This will advance understanding of the unique needs of low income students in a post-pandemic world and enable the dissemination of best practices through professional development seminars and scholarly publications to other institutions that are reacting to similar conditions.

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.