STEM Scholarships for Community College Students

Howard Community College, Columbia MD

Investigators

Abstract

This project at Howard Community College will provide scholarship support to lay the foundation for the continued study of community college students in baccalaureate degree programs at four-year colleges or universities followed by graduate school and/or careers in physical sciences, life sciences, engineering, information technology, computer science, environmental science, biotechnology, bioinformatics or mathematics. The overall goals are to expand enrollment, reduce economic barriers, and increase student retention and transfer. Emphasis will be placed on identifying and recruiting women and minorities, providing mentoring and support to retain students, and establishing an undergraduate research program to ensure students are well educated and prepared for further education, research, and employment. Graduates will help to alleviate the shortage of trained personnel needed by the high technology industries located in central Maryland. The success of this student focused program will depend not just on the scholarship, but on the academic and personal support provided to the students. With this initiative the college will build on its prior expertise in recruitment and retention of students to provide a model for a support structure that leads to student success in these critical fields of study. Support for students will include learning community support from peers, a program advisor, and faculty mentors. Scholars will receive formal, comprehensive mentoring and participate in activities throughout the year designed to improve their success in college and increase their knowledge about related career choices. Students will benefit from small class size plus faculty with expertise in their fields and commitment to the success of the scholars. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Seminar series, a sequence of four one-credit courses, will be designed to hone student skills in research, communication, teamwork and other topics. A new research sequence will be incorporated into this seminar series, enabling students to create, conduct, and present or publish original research under the supervision of a faculty mentor over their two years in this program. A comprehensive evaluation will measure the effectiveness and impact of the undergraduate research program by measuring students understanding of research, their ability to work collaboratively in teams and the impact of the program on student engagement, success and completion. These findings will help contribute to the growing knowledge base about successful attributes of such scholarship programs. In addition the scholars will be tracked for a minimum of four years to determine the time required for the completion of the four-year degree in a STEM field.