Rochester STEM Scholars

University Of Rochester, Rochester NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project is striving to increase the numbers of low-income students who persist to declaration of a science, engineering, or mathematics major by fifty percent, and to gain an understanding of the role of appropriate levels and forms of scholarship support in retention of STEM students. Towards this end the project is providing significant scholarship support to first, second, and third year students, and integrating a number of academic, financial, and social support systems. Faculty participants also are benefiting from training and support in the development of enhanced understanding of the mentoring and advising practices that work to increase retention of higher-risk students in the sciences. The project expects this attention to faculty development to lead to a more friendly academic culture for low-income students. The broader impacts of this project are both institutional and national in scope. Locally, the mentoring and advisement structures and culture that are developed by this program are being institutionalized; and nationally, the results of the student and faculty-focused aspects of the program are being disseminated as potential models for adaptation and implementation at other colleges and universities. The intellectual merit of the project includes a focus on understanding the intersections of campus and interpersonal racial and socioeconomic dynamics and their impact on retention in STEM study. This focus contributes to the nation's understanding of the ways in which scientists can and should be prepared for and reflect the diversity of American life.