Opening Doors to Scientific Careers for Economically Challenged Students

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 Hawai'i Pacific University (HPU). HPU is an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander- serving institution (AANAPISI), serving students from more than 65 countries.

Over its five-year duration, this Track 1 project will fund scholarships to 11 unique full-time students who are pursuing a bachelor's degree in computer science, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, and biotechnology engineering. First-year students will receive up to four years of scholarship support. The project team will provide various supportive services to foster a STEM identity, including targeted interventions to develop self-efficacy, cohort-building activities, faculty mentoring, near-peer mentoring.

Faculty training in culturally responsive teaching, utilization of Navigate360 for academic and mental health support, and opportunities for research engagement and internships will also be provided. The project team further aims to enhance understanding of the needs and effective interventions for historically disadvantaged STEM students, especially in Honolulu, a geographically isolated region with characteristics that are distinct from the majority of the United States. The project will support individual students and significantly impact the local STEM workforce.

The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of high-achieving, low-income undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project will provide support, mentoring, and community-building activities to economically disadvantaged students in STEM majors leading to careers within the United States. Research indicates that low-income students face additional barriers to academic success compared to their peers, indicating the need for comprehensive support services that can help those students attain exceptional academic achievement and career opportunities prior to and after graduation.

This project will investigate the effect of peer, faculty, and university support systems on the academic attainment of underrepresented STEM students. It will differentiate between potential benefits of academic support and benefits of psychosocial support. The project has the potential to substantially increase understanding of the needs of economically disadvantaged STEM students while determining which systemic interventions are likely to provide the greatest benefit.

It will be evaluated by an external evaluator who will determine whether scholar recruitment strategies were successful, if scholar engagement increases STEM identity, if interventions successfully improve academic outcomes, whether project interventions increase retention in STEM careers, and whether learned best practices are replicable at similar institutions. Findings will be submitted for publication in the Journal for STEM Education Research, the International Journal of STEM Education, and the Journal of Science Education and Technology.

Project coordinators will also complete annual presentations at the STEM/STEAM Education Conference. 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.