Recognizing Science Scholars' Potential through Access and Engagement

Saint Paul College-A Community & Technical College, Saint Paul MN

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 Saint Paul College, an urban community and technical college with a large population of students from populations traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to approximately 80 unique full and part time students who are pursuing associates degrees primarily in Science and Engineering Technology. Students will be awarded up to $16,000 over up to eight semesters, including summer. The “Science Scholar” students participate in relationship-building co-curricular activities: faculty and peer mentoring, science-related campus events and service-learning activities, and a semester long undergraduate research project. The Science and Engineering Technology A.S. program encourages transfer or entrance to the workforce, so students can work while continuing towards their B.S, degree. The educational research on the effect of the project on student success, experience, and career choice will help inform science education and co-curricular engagement at many two-year schools with a diverse student pool. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. The first major objective is to recruit and award scholarships to these students, using internal recruitment strategies and partnerships with area high schools. The project will also increase participation of students from groups underrepresented in STEM due to the diversity in the pool of potential students. The recruitment events at partner high schools will expose high school students to STEM career opportunities and solidify a pipeline of students coming to the two-year institution. The scholarship amount is approximately the cost of tuition and fees for a full-time student, so the first expected outcome is the scholarships will increase the number of students completing an A.S. degree. The second objective is to add the relationship-building, co-curricular, high impact practices (HIPs) to the scholarship program. Previous research, mainly performed at universities, suggests scholarships combined with support services increased student success and promote access. Hence, an expected second outcome is an increase in retention and student success. The third objective is to perform and disseminate educational research on the effectiveness of the scholarship/HIPs on student success (course success, retention, and graduation/transfer), science attitudes, and career choice. A mixed- methods approach will link survey responses to student records, and the focus groups will give context to the quantitative data. Further, there is a notable gap of applied science education research coming from two-year institutions. The dissemination of the project findings, the third project outcome, will play a small role in closing this gap. 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.