Supporting Multiple Pathways Through the Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum

Campbell University, Buies Creek NC

Investigators

Abstract

The NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program supports the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need. This four-year project at Campbell University will provide 18 to 28 scholarships per year to first, second, and third year undergraduate engineering students. In addition to financial support, the project will provide students with research-based experiences and support that have been shown to increase student retention in STEM. These experiences include tutoring, professional development workshops, faculty and peer mentoring, career advising, and service projects. This project will support students on multiple tracks through the engineering curriculum, depending on student needs and academic backgrounds. This flexibility is particularly valuable for low-income, high-potential students who did not have access to high quality, college-preparatory high school education. The project will focus on assisting students in mathematics and chemistry courses, which have been demonstrated to be critical attrition points in engineering education at Campbell University. Building on prior work that examined the social capital characteristics of first generation college students, this project will examine the relationships between mathematics preparation and social capital characteristics in the undergraduate engineering experience. This research topic connects with Campbell's general engineering and liberal arts approach, which helps students integrate social and ethical considerations into their work. The research will be based on the Name and Resource Generator developed by Dr. Julie Martin as part of her NSF CAREER award. Using this survey, the project will track scholars' social capital development as they move through the program. Based on their responses to this instrument, selected students will be interviewed, and their responses will be coded and analyzed based on social capital theory. Insights gained from this qualitative analysis will inform the project about the effectiveness of various components and guide future inquiries. In addition to the usual dissemination through conference presentations and journal publications, the insights from this project will be shared through a workshop at a national professional engineering education conference, allowing for a more detailed sharing of the practical lessons learned in implementing these ideas. 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.