Scholarships and Enhanced Mentoring to Promote Equity and Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

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 Northern Illinois University (NIU). Over its five-year duration, this project will build on a successful previous S-STEM award and fund scholarships to at least 68 unique, full-time students who are pursuing BS degrees in Biology, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Geosciences, Mathematics, Physics, or Statistics.

The project will recruit talented, new community college transfer students or rising juniors and culminates in scholars’ graduation and successful placement in technical careers. The intellectual merit of this project includes expanding NIU’s infrastructure to implement high-impact practices for effective recruitment, retention, graduation, and job placement of scholars.

Project activities include: 1) Monthly professional development activities focusing on career planning, time management, critical thinking, communication, and leadership skills; 2) mentoring featuring scholar-faculty pairs and near-peer graduate mentors; 3) optional research opportunities and internships; and 4) interactions with alumni and leaders from industry, government, and academic partners. Up to 40 faculty members will also participate in course design workshops to address the most critical issues identified by current scholars and alumni.

The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific aims of the project include leveraging existing infrastructure and offering students a novel mentoring program that includes faculty-student pairs, optional internship and research experiences, and weekly cohort meetings to help students reach their highest academic potential.

Evaluators will explore the implementation of key project activities, emphasizing evidence of participation in, satisfaction with, and impact of these activities. The project will also generate research-based knowledge about universal design for learning and culturally responsive pedagogical practices by STEM faculty; the mechanisms by which peer support groups promote a sense of STEM student belonging; and the individual and programmatic factors which predict STEM graduate school and job attainment.

Evaluation and research results will be disseminated on websites, in peer-reviewed publications, and at conference presentations. 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.