Recruiting, Retaining, and Engaging Academically Talented Students from Economically Disadvantaged Groups into a Pathway to Successful Engineering Careers

University Of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, Mayaguez PR

Investigators

Abstract

With funding from the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, this project will support high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez. Throughout its five years, this project will fund 176 scholarships for students who are pursuing bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering. Scholarships will address college access and economic hardships of target students. The project includes a research plan to investigate the effectiveness of an institutional intervention model seeking to increase the retention and academic success of talented engineering students coming from economically disadvantaged families. By leveraging scholarship support and established college-wide programs, the project aims to create an environment that fosters degree attainment by low-income students, in a model that can be used by to other institutions. The project interventions fit a hybrid theoretical model that combines elements from widely accepted theories on social cognitive career choices and student attrition mitigation. The longitudinal implementation of interventions will address specific cognitive factors, including sense of belonging, self-efficacy beliefs, career interest, and individual actions leading to the ultimate goal of graduating and inserting scholars into research- or job market-oriented engineering careers. A mixed-methods research approach will allow for collecting information to assess the impact of each intervention, providing answers to a set of research questions guiding the investigation. The knowledge gained through this research will provide recommendations for sustainable institutional policies and intervention methods for improving recruitment practices, strengthening retention strategies, and increasing graduation rates of economically disadvantaged students. The project will foster collaborations among major stakeholders that include academic programs, research centers, faculty, the library, students, and industry. 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.