Building an Academic Community of Engineering Scholars to Increase Persistence and Transfer into Four-year Engineering and Computer Science Degree Programs

College Of Lake County, Grayslake IL

Investigators

Abstract

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention, graduation, and transfer of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need. The project will support students at the College of Lake County, which is a community college as well as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Over its five-year duration, this project will provide up to three-year scholarships to 125 students who are pursuing associate of science degrees and who intend to transfer and complete a bachelor's degree in engineering or computer science. Five additional university-level scholarships per year will be awarded to students as they transfer. The project aims to increase student persistence by linking scholarships with effective support activities, including academic advising programs, tutoring and study sessions, makerspace activities, internships, and enrolling Scholars as cohorts in special sections of Calculus, Engineering Graphics, and Introduction to Engineering courses. Central to these activities is the introduction of the Baxter Innovation Lab (Makerspace/Fab Lab) as the engineering and computer science cultural hub. Because the College of Lake County has a high population of underrepresented students, this project has the potential to broaden participation in the engineering and computer science fields. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There are two specific aims: 1) study the effectiveness of enhanced community building at the College of Lake County; and 2) explore the impact of experiential learning and internships by examining how both affect self-efficacy and sense of belonging. Considerable research has been conducted about self-efficacy and student success. However, little data are available about how a makerspace environment and/or a community college context affect self-efficacy and student success. This project has the potential to help fill some of these research gaps. The project will conduct educational assessment and program evaluation to identify key interventions that promote student success and to provide information that can be used to improve STEM education at other institutions. Results from this work will be broadly disseminated to a variety of audiences through digital outlets, presentations at national conferences, and publications in peer-reviewed and trade journals. This project is funded by NSF's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students. 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.