Miami Dade College InterAmerican Campus: STEM-Mia Project

Miami-Dade Community College/Interamerican Campus, Miami FL

Investigators

Abstract

Miami Dade College (MDC) InterAmerican Campus will implement the five-year STEM-Mia (or "My STEM" in Spanish) project to promote increased success, retention, and degree completion of 45 academically talented, low-income students. Students will be recruited and supported in three cohorts of 15 students. Students pursuing associates degrees in biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and engineering will be supported while at MDC. Through program activities, including mentoring, the students will be encouraged to transfer to an upper-division baccalaureate program, and provided support for that transition. STEM-Mia will support students with GPAs of at least 3.0 who are enrolled full-time at MDC. In addition to scholarships, the program includes the following high-impact practices: undergraduate research experiences; advising and mentoring by STEM faculty; implementation of academic pathways and early alert systems; year-round STEM colloquia; and extensive assistance in transfer to four-year institutions. STEM-Mia will broaden the participation of Hispanics and other underrepresented students, including first generation-in-college students in STEM fields and careers. In addition, it will present a model for other two-year Hispanic-Serving Institutions that are interested in increasing student participation, retention, and success in STEM. More importantly, the project will help address the critical STEM workforce crisis, by graduating increasing numbers of well-trained and competent professionals in these fields. The Leadership Team will conduct a curricular redesign of two interdisciplinary courses focused on transferring to four-year institutions and STEM content infused with social cognitive career theory (SCCT)-based interventions. Employing SCCT as a framework, the project seeks to advance the body of research on low-income, community college students in STEM education by focusing on science support activities and psychological interventions. STEM-Mia will generate knowledge about student success and degree attainment in STEM and yield understanding of factors that will lead to improved retention of students in STEM programs at a two-year Hispanic-serving institution. The two primary research questions are (1) How does the provision of financial assistance (scholarships and summer stipends) and curricular/co-curricular supports to academically-talented students from low-income families affect their (a) retention in STEM majors, (b) year-to-year retention in college, and (c) on-time graduation, when compared to a similarly matched group of students? and (2) How do psychosocial constructs such as math/science self-efficacy, science identity, and leadership/teamwork capabilities of low-income, academically-talented STEM students change over time when provided STEM-specific academic supports and SCCT-based interventions? The STEM-Mia project will examine the effectiveness of a model that scales and adapts integrated approaches for promoting student engagement and success for a demographic that has been historically underrepresented in STEM.