Empowering Students to Succeed in Engineering and Computer Science

This project will contribute to the national need for skilled engineers and scientists by supporting the attraction, retention, and graduation of low-income, academically talented, undergraduate students in software engineering, computer engineering, and computer science at San José State University (SJSU). Led by a collaborative team of faculty in engineering, the sciences, and sociology, the project will provide two consecutive summer enrichment programs starting when students are high school seniors, and continues with academic support, engagement activities, paid research opportunities, and scholarships throughout the students’ undergraduate careers.

The elements of the project are designed to increase students’ sense of belonging, facilitate community engagement via a robust network of faculty, staff, peers, and Silicon Valley technology professionals, and strengthen students’ mathematics, physics, and programming skill sets by employing active learning, culturally relevant, and inclusive pedagogical approaches.

The project will be designed to increase student belonging in technology via conversations about growth mindset and other metacognitive tools. This approach will be underpinned by a focus on community engagement, technical skills, and academic environment support via scaffolding and informational sessions about higher education processes aimed at building familiarity and comfort in the college environment.

Research will generate knowledge about academic success and career pathways for low-income, academically talented, students and serve as a template for the California State University System, and for postsecondary institutions nationwide. 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.