Sustaining Undergraduate Classroom and Career Excellence for STEM Students (SUCCESS) Project

Doane University, Crete NE

Investigators

Abstract

In Nebraska, seven of the twelve industry clusters that drive the state economy are STEM-related. However, Nebraska STEM employers struggle to employ and retain highly qualified, technically skilled employees, citing "limited workforce availability" as the primary disadvantage to business growth statewide. Doane College's Sustaining Undergraduate Classroom and Career Excellence for STEM Students (SUCCESS) Project will award scholarships to 24 academically talented students with financial need in the college's biology, biochemistry, chemistry, environmental science, or physics program. Through increasing enrollment in STEM majors and connecting students to local STEM industries, the project will address Nebraska's need for a highly qualified STEM workforce. The technical merit of this project lies in its plan to design, implement, assess, and advance practices that support STEM student success, such as STEM living and learning communities, Four-Year Graduation Guarantees, common coursework structures, STEM workshops, and undergraduate research experiences. Guided by a highly qualified PI team, and with strong institutional support, the SUCCESS project will evaluate STEM recruitment activities in order to advance knowledge regarding which activities are most successful at increasing STEM student postsecondary enrollment. Moreover, the project will build on past and current EPSCoR funding to increase the number and quality of research opportunities for STEM students, as well as opportunities for STEM students to participate and present at professional STEM conferences. Evaluation findings will be disseminated within the Doane community and to other postsecondary institutions and STEM professionals in order to advance the knowledge and practice of STEM student recruitment, retention to graduation, and STEM career preparation and placement, thus contributing to the knowledge base about undergraduate scholarship projects of this type and underlying elements that make them successful.