Unlimited Pathways to Biology & Mathematics in Southcentral Kentucky

Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia KY

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 Lindsey Wilson College. This private college located in a small, rural town in south central Kentucky serves economically distressed and at-risk counties in Appalachia. Over its 6-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 15 unique full-time students who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology or mathematics. Three cohorts of five first-year students will receive scholarships for four-years. The project aims to build student ownership of learning with the supports of peer mentors, faculty mentors, supplemental instruction, and internship or research experiences. Low-income and first-generation students who could benefit from additional preparation make up more than half of the student population at Lindsey Wilson College. This project has the potential to assess the impact of supports designed to overcome shortfalls in pre-college preparation for promising, rural STEM students. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Student ownership of learning is known to be a key component of college and career readiness and success. Self-directed, lifelong learners are advantageous to the STEM workforce. The project will investigate the impacts of a summer bridge program, peer and faculty mentorship, supplemental instruction, and cohort experiences such as field trips and a lecture series, as measured by retention and graduation rates as well as other data. The project will seek to identify the various factors that contribute to student ownership of learning and improved self-direction. Through the evaluation of collected data, and dissemination of key elements and lessons learned, the project has the potential to advance the understanding of how high-potential, rural, low-income, underprepared students can become life-long learners in STEM fields. 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.