Science Engagement and Active Mentoring to Build Science Identity among Students in Computer Science, Chemistry, and Geosciences

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 Concord University. Concord University is a rural serving, primarily undergraduate institution with a majority of first-generation, low-income students from Appalachian coalfield communities in southern West Virginia and southwestern Virginia.

Over its six-year duration, this Track 1 project will fund scholarships to 19 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor of science degrees in chemistry, computer science, computer information systems, and environmental geosciences. First-year students will receive four-year scholarships and enrichment activities to support their academic and social growth through graduation.

The project will enhance students’ STEM and professional identity and overall development by tying together cohort building, career- and entrepreneurial -focused field trips, direct mentoring by student peers and faculty, and a variety of asynchronous workshops to improve academic success and career preparation. As a distinguishing feature, student cohorts will be able to participate in outreach and research activities at Concord’s Materials and Rare Earth Element Analysis Center and Virginia Tech’s NSF-funded NanoEarth laboratory, part of a 16-site National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure network.

Ultimately, the project will help grow the regional STEM workforce while enhancing its diversification.

The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. An underlying impetus of the project is to employ project evaluation to investigate the merit and impact of active mentoring, asynchronous workshops, scientific engagement, cohort collaboration, and development of science identity on student retention and success in the STEM arena, especially as it relates to challenging socioeconomic factors in rural Appalachia.

Evaluation will employ a multiphase, mixed-methods approach utilizing qualitative data through narrative-based reflections, and quantitative data through statistical analysis of Likert-scale surveys. Data will be cross analyzed when appropriate to triangulate data and strengthen findings. The resulting evaluation study will fill critical gaps in the literature and generate transformative knowledge that will be immediately useful for institutes of higher education and researchers who seek to better understand the role active mentoring, asynchronous workshops, science engagement, and gains in students' professional identity as scientists may play, particularly to improve outcomes for low-income, rural, and underrepresented students.

Outcomes and findings will be disseminated through journal articles and at national conferences and regional conferences. In addition, special efforts will focus on rural settings, targeting higher education administrators, K-12 teachers, and university faculty in numerous disciplines. 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 and 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.