Factors for STEM Student Success: The Relative Influence of Self-Efficacy, Mentorship, Leadership, and Belonging

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

With funding from the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics program, the "Factors for STEM Student Success" project will support high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at the University of Utah. Throughout its 5 years, this project will fund 15 scholarships for students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Computer Science (CS). Along with scholarship support, the project will provide student scholars with leadership training, leadership roles in summer outreach programs, student peer support, college readiness assessment, and faculty mentoring with the goal of increasing retention and success rates. The project's primary approach will be to form three cohorts of five students who will be: 1) assessed on their preparation and their own sense of potential, 2) provided preparation and mentoring throughout their college career, and 3) given tools to transform their sense of accomplishment through leadership and mentoring roles. Along with developing support and mentoring structures for CS students, this project will investigate the academic and extracurricular factors that lead to STEM student success. The research goals for this project will include understanding the social cognitive factors that promote student success and retention. The project also seeks to identify psychological, social, and cultural drivers of academic persistence and success for students, including traditionally underrepresented students, majoring in CS. This project aims to yield new interventions for retention and success for a diverse set of students pursuing CS. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.