Undergraduate Scholar Education and Research: Program To Usher Scholars Into Success in Computer Science

California State University-Fresno Foundation, Fresno CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated computer scientists by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at California State University, Fresno (CSU-F). California State University, Fresno is both a Hispanic-Serving Institution and an Asian American, Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. Over its five-year duration, the Undergraduate Scholar Education and Research (USHER) project will fund $10,000 annual scholarships to 28 unique full-time students. Seventeen freshmen will receive scholarships for four years and 11 transfer students will receive scholarships for two years. USHER provides a suite of activities to support Scholars from matriculation to graduation, including intensive faculty and peer mentoring and 25 Challenges for Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (C2ATs) that expose students to various fields in Computer Science and give them a glimpse of real-world problems and how to solve them. Faculty will mentor students to draft a blueprint for career-long STEM Impact Identity that allows the Scholars to see a path to giving back to their home communities through research projects. The STEM Impact Identity process makes broader impacts a core feature of USHER, creating a new generation of computer scientists who have strong service-oriented identity. The project intellectual merit consists of addressing three gaps in the research: measuring the effectiveness of mentorship, intentional activities, and customized academic support services. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need to succeed in increasing Computer Science degree completion. It is essential to shed light on the unique factors related to the retention, persistence, and timely graduation of these students. The USHER research project explores the motivations and expectations of these students. This research will help fill the gap in documenting the various factors that contribute to the persistence of students, including enhancing the student’s sense of belonging in the field of computer science. An independent external evaluator will also gather data on the effectiveness of the USHER program in delivering the suite of activities to support Scholars’ needs and interests and to ascertain whether there is a difference in disciplinary interest and sense of proficiency between USHER Scholars and participants in the matched sample. 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.