The Biology, Coastal and Marine Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Neuroscience Scholarship Program

Sacred Heart University, Fairfield CT

Investigators

Abstract

With funding from the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, this project will support high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Sacred Heart University (SHU) in Fairfield, CT. Throughout its five years of funding, this project will fund 56 annual scholarships to provide four years of support for two cohorts of seven students. Scholars will be pursuing bachelor's degrees in general biology, coastal and marine science, molecular and cellular biology, or neuroscience. The project is designed to ensure that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds will have strong faculty and peer relationships that can support learning activities, thus improving student achievement and retention. This S-STEM Track 2 project will implement the following activities: a pre-fall orientation, biology-focused first-year seminar courses, faculty mentoring, peer-led team learning in four biology courses, learning communities that extend throughout all four years, research experiences, and a research and career "STEMinar" series. Cohort-based activities for the scholars, regardless of major, will expose the scholars to the diversity of perspectives found in the biological sciences. SHU will conduct a research study to investigate the effects of student-faculty and student-peer support on achievement, retention, and graduation. The objectives are to enroll 14 scholars, retain 12 of the original 14 (86%) until their sophomore year, retain 10 of the 14 (71%) through graduation in four years, and place 12 out of 14 in STEM-related careers or graduate school within one year of graduation. Scholars who leave the program will be replaced. The project aims to strengthen existing relationships with industry partners and graduate programs, and to foster new ones. The project management team will gain and disseminate new knowledge related to the impact of providing strong faculty mentoring across all four years of study, combined with enhanced peer relationships through the implementation of peer-led team learning in courses that are identified attrition points. 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.