Joint Applied Mathematics and Statistics Scholarships

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 Florida International University (FIU). FIU is an R1 public research university located in Miami and is one of the largest universities in the country with over 54,000 students.

FIU is also a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and awards over 60% of bachelor and master degrees to Hispanic students. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund renewable scholarships to about 80 unique full time students who are pursuing bachelor and graduate degrees in Mathematics and Statistics. Beyond monetary support for financially needy, academically talented students, the project aims to ensure their timely and successful degree completion and advancement to the next degree or successful career placement in STEM fields.

To that end, cohorts of students ranging from undergraduate freshmen to first- and second-year graduate students will be invited to participate in a variety of academic and social activities, with a specific focus on vertical integration and future career skills and opportunities. The significance of this project is that it will offer a unique opportunity to increase the success of historically underrepresented groups in mathematics and statistics, and to develop deeper understanding of practices that support these groups.

Educating the next generation of mathematical and statistical problem-solvers as well as disseminating novel educational and research ideas and results obtained from this project will be the outcomes of this project. The student cohorts will be integrated into an academic community by a novel approach that consists of undergraduate and graduate student teams continuously working or studying on the same research project or in the same area.

This approach will promote camaraderie and cohesiveness that will make students own the success of a team endeavor. As a spark for this engine, scholars will be encouraged to participate in seminars, which will include vertical integration of students in cohorts and will consist of several high-impact educational and research practices organized and lead by the project team.

Complementing their academic program will be a series of social engagements as well as guidance and participation in research summer programs, such as the local REU or other summer schools, all of which would further integrate them into the learning community.

The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Students’ academic and social integration into the institution is vital to student retention, particularly, for first generation and low-income students. The success of educational programming is linked to university resources but more importantly the educational environment.

The goal is to create an optimal learning environment for students with a hybrid approach that integrates more personalized mentoring with vertical integration that challenges students and provides the educational resources and opportunities of a large state university. By comparing the results of this project with approaches that are more traditional or approaches that require less engagement, the knowledge and understanding of how various factors and activities contribute to retention and student success will gauge project effectiveness.

The effectiveness of project procedures and activities will be externally evaluated. Comparison of groups in longitudinal studies will be done with non-scholarship cohort Mathematics and Statistics majors matching similar characteristics to scholar cohort students (e.g., GPA prior to the S-STEM participation). Assessment measures will include graduation rates, time and credits to degree, upper division GPA, graduate school acceptance or employment within three months of graduation for both groups.

Measurement of possible determining factors such as sense of community, project engagement, mentor rapport, relief from financial burden & time constraints will be explored for degree of influence. Results from this project will be disseminated across the university and at national academic conferences. Results will be submitted to appropriate journals and preprint servers when appropriate.

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.