Scholarships to Accelerate Engineering Leadership and Identity in Graduate Students

University Of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, North Dartmouth 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 at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, a nationally ranked research university that facilitates academic success and upward mobility of low-income, academically talented students. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 90 unique full-time students who are pursuing accelerated graduate B.S./M.S. degrees in engineering. Students will receive one-year scholarships in the master’s year of study. The program leverages established accelerated B.S/M.S. programs and research efforts in the college of engineering that support the maritime economy. It is designed to provide a coordinated program for high-achieving, low-income undergraduate student recruitment, and workforce development strategies to prepare and graduate M.S.-level students to address challenges in marine biotechnology, marine renewable energy, marine artificial intelligence and robotics, marine restoration, and water resources and protection. The project will provide scholarships to students to allow them to participate in activities that are intended to foster improved self-efficacy and engineering identity development. The intellectual merit of the project will be knowledge generation on the role of self-efficacy and engineering identity among undergraduate students who continue to pursue engineering through graduate degree attainment. The broader impact will be the implementation and sustainability of effective evidence-based curricular and co-curricular activities, including professional development practices, for high-achieving, low-income students pursuing master’s degrees so they are prepared for entry into the workforce or graduate Ph.D. programs in engineering. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving graduate students with demonstrated financial need. The program addresses the following three critical needs: (1) promotion of graduate degree attainment by high-achieving, low-income students to address demands for a workforce with master’s-level preparation in engineering, (2) implementation of evidence-based academic and student support activities that foster non-cognitive factors such as improved self-efficacy and engineering identity development and help undergraduate students make the transition to graduate degree programs, and (3) graduation of leaders skilled in technology, entrepreneurship and innovation to build and support the economy of the South Coast of New England, a diverse, post-industrial region characterized by high poverty. The specific aims for the program are to (1) double the application and recruitment of students with demonstrated financial need to accelerated B.S./M.S. programs in engineering, (2) double the participation, student success, and graduation of engineering M.S. students, (3) advance the research, leadership and entrepreneurship skills of engineering graduate students, and (4) generate and disseminate knowledge on engineering identity and self-efficacy, and evidence-based curricular and co-curricular activities that affect student recruitment, persistence, and M.S. degree attainment. Research has shown that students who persist in engineering tend to exhibit high levels of self-efficacy and identify themselves as belonging to an engineering community. While there have been studies on the role of engineering identity on the transition from K-12 to post-secondary education, few studies on either engineering identity or challenges related to self-efficacy have investigated the transition from undergraduate to graduate-level programs. Furthermore, there have been few studies of the impact of institutional support during these transitional years on recruitment and persistence of engineering graduate students, and the role of engineering identity and self-efficacy development in this process. Research questions will include: (1) To what extent do the project’s curricular and co-curricular activities increase the number of low-income, academically talented students entering graduate programs in engineering? (2) What cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of students’ experiences with curricular and co-curricular activities support engineering identity and self-efficacy among LIAT students? and (3) To what extent do positive engineering identity and self-efficacy serve as factors in participation and persistence of low-income academically talented students in engineering graduate degrees? Research questions will be addressed using student recruitment and retention data, program surveys, and interviews. An external evaluator will work with the project team to provide formative and summative assessments of yearly program outcomes. Overall, the project is expected to fill the gap in knowledge generation on the role of self-efficacy and engineering identity among undergraduate students who continue to pursue engineering through graduate degree attainment. Project findings will be presented to the STEM education and engineering communities and contribute to the knowledge base about what works for whom in retention, student success, and graduation in graduate-level engineering programs. 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.