Empowerment of Undergraduate STEM Majors through Scholarships and Strengthening STEM Identity

Le Moyne-Owen College

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 at Le Moyne-Owen College, a private Historically Black College. Over its five-year duration, the project will provide up to four-years of scholarship support to 22 unique students in four cohorts. The Scholars will pursue bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, computer science, information technology, and mathematics. Although the overarching project goal is to increase the number of students who graduate in STEM, the project’s targeted goal is to increase the number of students majoring in chemistry and mathematics. In the project’s first two years, recruitment will focus on students from STEM-focused high schools. In years 3 and 4, recruitment will focus on students from community colleges. Recognizing the need to provide more than financial support, the project will provide the Scholars with a suite of academic and co-curricular activities to support their success. Many of these supports were developed through prior NSF support from the HBCU-UP program and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program. The project intends that these activities will provide the Scholars with a support ecosystem that will foster the growth and development of their STEM identities. The project team will investigate the hypothesis that fostering STEM identity will increase student interest, retention, graduation, and careers in STEM. Building on previous research on STEM identity, the research component of the project includes an in-depth longitudinal qualitative study of science identity development as students progress in their STEM major. Identity can be defined as how one views oneself and is viewed by others as a result of participation in certain activities or groups or becoming a member of a community. Research has shown that a strong positive STEM identity correlates with successful pursuit of a STEM major or career. By following the Scholars across their time in college, the research results have the potential to lead to insights about how STEM identity changes over time. The purpose of the research is to advance understanding about the factors and/or activities associated with retention, student success, transfer, academic/career pathways, and degree attainment within a historically black colleges and universities context. Project results will be disseminated through the University website, conferences, and publications in STEM education 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.