STEP UP - Science Talent Expansion Program in Urban Polynesia

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

Kapiolani Community College is implementing a comprehensive plan that adapts and integrates research-based best practices with successful campus-based innovations to increase the numbers of high school students entering STEM majors as well as the numbers of students completing associate and baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields. This plan includes integrating high school student recruitment and intensive Summer Bridge preparation; intrusive advising; supplemental instruction by peer mentors; undergraduate research in the College's evolving STEM Learning Center; faculty-student engagement in web-based course strategies and community based research and service; and e-portfolio and resume development. The College is strongly committing to prepare its diverse island students for transfer to and graduation from four-year institutions and success in STEM Careers. The project's four major goals are: 1) Increasing the number of students in the College's STEM pipeline from 185 to 485 while providing ongoing support. 2) Increasing the number of Associate in Science degree completers from zero to 290. 3) Increasing the number of students matriculating to two collaborating institutions, the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) and UH Hilo (UHH), from 90 to 280. 4) Institutionalizing and providing ongoing support for STEM students in the pipeline. The College's e-portfolio system is providing assessment data on the student experience, student outcomes, as well as providing a platform for STEM student degree and career exploration and resume development. The project is also building on and extending successful STEM strategies to high achieving students, especially those of Pacific and Filipino ancestry who are under-represented in STEM fields. The Broader Impact includes extending STEM opportunities to students at six major feeder high schools, establishing an Associate in Science degree with concentrations in Life Science and Physical Science which can be adopted and adapted by other two-year campuses in the University of Hawaii system, and have statewide impact in producing additional STEM majors and degree completers. STEM undergraduate research pathways is connecting students to UH baccalaureate campuses, national research labs, and careers in STEM industries. Existing service-learning partnerships are enabling students to complete STEM-related research projects that positively impact schools, communities, and ecosystems. Regionally, successful STEM strategies are being shared through faculty and student conference and web-based presentations with 13 other Pacific island colleges through the "Islands of Opportunity: Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP)" grant recently funded by NSF. Nationally, KCC is sharing successful STEM strategies, pathways, and degrees through faculty and student presentations at conferences of the League for Innovation in the Community Colleges, the American Society of Electrical Engineers in Honolulu in June 2007, the regional Hawaii Space Grant Consortium and Campus Compact and others. The College is also providing STEM-related civic engagement training and technical assistance for colleges and universities in ten states per year through Campus Compact.