Connecting Mentor Partners for Academic Success of Undergraduates in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need. The project will support students who enter Worcester Polytechnic Institute from the Worcester Public School system. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund four-year scholarships and provide academic support to 20 of these students who are pursuing Bachelor of Science degrees in STEM fields, including Engineering, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Biology and Biotechnology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Data Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physics. The project intends to use an assets-based framework that builds upon students' strengths rather than deficits. The expectation is that this approach will promote the Scholars' sense of belonging, self-efficacy, identity, well-being, academic success, degree completion in STEM, and entry into the workforce or graduate school. Several existing and new high-impact strategies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute will contribute to the project success. Examples include optional pre-summer "bridge" courses, pre-orientation bonding activities, a common first-year Great Problems Seminar course, individual development plans, professional development workshops, industry explorations, and on-campus paid research opportunities. This project will enhance the Institute's ability to recruit, support, and graduate students from low-income, first generation, and/or underrepresented groups in STEM and thus broaden participation in STEM fields. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The project has three specific aims: 1) To increase the number of low-income, academically talented, and first generation students from Worcester Public Schools who apply, enroll, and graduate with a STEM BS degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute; 2) To financially, academically, and emotionally support Scholars with holistic, research-backed programming designed to help them adapt over time from starting college to succeeding in college to becoming a STEM professional; 3) To develop, implement, and investigate an assets-based framework with a mentor network (e.g., peer, faculty, and campus champion) and workshops that will lead to sustainable institutional change to support all students. Traditional models of co-curricular student support utilize a deficit model whereas this project will use an assets-based approach to examine new ways to broaden participation in STEM. The project's approach focuses on the well-being of individuals and takes an assets-focused perspective that explores intersecting identities in a STEM focused environment. This project will investigate 1) which assets-based institutional support structures aid successful transition to college and graduation; 2) how students and institutional assets flow through student networks to support attainment of a STEM BS degree; and 3) whether there are attitudinal shifts and adoption of culturally responsive practices inclusive of low-income, first generation and/or underrepresented students by Worcester Polytechnic Institute faculty, staff, and administrators who have contact with the mentor program. The project has the potential to advance the understanding of different pathways through which these assets flow to and from students of traditionally underserved populations during their participation in college experiences. The project will be assessed through information from focus groups and surveys, to determine how students are progressing through their college experience. Results of this project will be made available through presentations and publication in conference proceedings at conferences such as the American Association of Engineering Education Conference and the Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference. 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.