Winning Approaches for Talented Transfers in Science

Webster University, Saint Louis MO

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 transfer students with demonstrated financial need at Webster University. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 32 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and biology. The project focuses on the recruitment of transfer students from local and regional community colleges, with each scholar receiving 2-2.5 years of funding. This project will expand upon targeted academic and student support systems that have proven effective in decreasing time to graduation and in building collaborations with industry partners. The program will examine the effectiveness and impact of all activities offered, including the incorporation of a research component into scholarship recipients’ first semester. Best practices and lessons learned from this project will be documented and shared with other institutions interested in attracting and successfully graduating students transferring from community colleges and majoring in STEM. 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 main objectives: to recruit and enroll academically talented, low-income community college students into biology and chemistry bachelor’s degree programs; to retain at least 90% of the students through targeted support practices; and to prepare our scholars for relevant industry employment or graduate level study. By implementing a research experience as part of a learning community in their first semester, the effectiveness on retention not only at Webster, but in research-oriented careers will be examined. The evaluation and knowledge-generation plan has been designed to gather both quantitative and qualitative annual data on the scholars’ program experience and post-graduation plans. Data will be used to understand the extent to which the overall articulated program goals and outcomes are met and what areas can be strengthened. The outcomes and evidence generated from the project will be presented at teaching and learning conferences and in academic 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.