Biology Education and Research Skills (BEARS) Scholarship Program

Kennebec Valley Community College, Fairfield ME

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 Kennebec Valley Community College (KVCC). This public institution serves approximately 2500 students and is one of seven community colleges which operates under the Maine Community College System Board of Trustees. Over its 5-year duration, this project will fund one-year scholarships, renewable for one year, to thirty-four (34) unique full-time high-achieving low-income students who are pursuing an Associate in Science degree in Biological Science at KVCC. The project team will adapt and implement a variety of evidenced-based and innovative curricular and co-curricular strategies to support S-STEM Scholars through three cohorts of 10,12, and 12 students, respectively. Support strategies will include cohort building, providing each scholar with a dedicated faculty mentor, integrating recitation components into introductory-level biology and chemistry courses, providing research opportunities and industry experiences in biology, integrating laboratory skills and research micro-credentials into the biology curriculum, and providing stipend support for summer practicums. The project will leverage existing relationships at regional high schools to identify qualified students for whom S-STEM scholarships could make a significant difference in their ability to enroll in and complete a two-year degree in Biology. Project investigators will disseminate outcomes and findings related to project challenges and successes, especially to other community colleges striving to support low-income STEM students. To increase degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need, the project will pursue several goals. First is to adapt, implement, and analyze evidence-based and innovative curricular and co-curricular activities to support, retain, and graduate with an associate in science degree the project's Biological Science scholars. Second is to enhance the regional STEM workforce by providing special career preparation experiences and academic support for students to prepare them to contribute through employment or pursuit of four-year degrees and beyond. Third is to contribute to the knowledge base by implementing, testing, and investigating through mixed-methods project evaluation strategies for systematically supporting student academic and workforce pathways in STEM. And fourth is to disseminate outcomes and findings related to the supports, activities, and combinations of these opportunities that promote student success to other institutions, especially other community colleges, working to support low-income STEM students. The directions of investigation, which will include closed cohort methodologies to analyze participant and comparison group outcomes, will address gaps in the literature and supplement the knowledge base on impactful, practical, and sustainable strategies unique to low-income, academically talented community college students, especially in low-population settings. Designed to address project goals, project evaluation is equipped to employ qualitative and quantitative methods to provide insights into how the project's practices affect the academic success and employment of the S-STEM Scholars and to identify the effective activities and combinations of activities for replication, especially in similar settings. 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.