Academic and Social STEM Excellence for Transfer Students (ASSETS)

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

The Department of Technology and Society in the Stony Brook University (SBU) College of Engineering and Applied Sciences will establish an S-STEM project, titled "Academic and Social STEM Excellence for Transfer Students". The project will provide scholarship support for students who have completed an Associate's degree and who enroll in a STEM major at SBU. The project will incorporate a two week mathematics immersion program and will also make available a network of advising, career, and academic support structures. Data will be collected to identify specific academic transition issues and the use of base-line data will allow us to determine the effectiveness of the interventions that have been designed for this proposal. The project integrates scholarship support, subject-specific academic support, engagement in research and career preparation (through faculty mentoring and internships), as well as program assessment and assessment of the impact of the program on students' academic performance, persistence in S-STEM disciplines, and attitudes. The results of the project will add to the literature of helping community college student achieve successful transitions to four year institutions. The proposed S-STEM project will be a model for addressing the Nation's needs for producing more STEM educated students and further enhance the economic competitiveness of the United States and the Metropolitan New York Regions. The model illustrates an effective way of engaging students in STEM disciplines and careers and could be adapted to other institutional contexts so as to expand access to and excellence in STEM disciplines.