Ensuring STEM Student Success Through an Integrative Support Program

Adelphi University, Garden City NY

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 Adelphi University (AU). As a comprehensive university in the NY metropolitan area, Adelphi is well-situated in a geographic region with a growing need for a highly educated STEM workforce. The Adelphi scholars will major in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, environmental science, mathematics, or physics and will be awarded financial support for the four years of their undergraduate education. Over the 6 years of the project, the project will support twenty-five (25) unique scholars with financial support as well as academic and co-curricular support activities to increase the retention, success, and graduation of these students. Through a holistic approach, students will develop the necessary skills to be successful in the workforce. The work of this project will include with an innovative recruitment strategy including partnerships at several local high schools that have a large proportion of students who qualify for free lunch. Once at Adelphi, students will benefit from a multi-tiered, collaborative mentoring network model including peer, alumni, and faculty mentors. Students will develop skills important for the STEM workforce through cohort activities including an interdisciplinary project to study environmental sustainability issues established by AU. Students will also acquire key research skills through two summer research fellowships and attendance at scientific conferences. Upon graduation, students will be prepared to enter either graduate programs or the local STEM workforce. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. To accomplish this, the project will pursue several additional goals. A first goal is to recruit a diverse set of 25 STEM scholars in 2 cohorts and to implement a suite of evidence-based and innovative academic and co-curricular activities to support, retain, and graduate these scholars. Second is to contribute to the knowledge base through project evaluation by employing mixed-methods techniques to analyze, provide formative feedback, and gain insights into the effectiveness of the project's individual and collective support activities for retention, engagement, success, and graduation of students. Third is to place these students upon graduation into the STEM workforce or STEM graduate programs. To help achieve these goals, the project will partnerships with several local high schools and local STEM employers including Brookhaven National Labs, ThorLabs, and Photonix. Within the Adelphi University community, this project will partner with University's mentoring and academic coaching programs. A fourth goal is to develop a sustainable and replicable national model, and to disseminate results from this model, to inform other higher-education professionals and institutions seeking to support talented, low-income STEM students. The findings and outcomes of this work will be disseminated regionally through a virtual conference on supporting STEM students and nationally through presentations at conferences and publications in peer-reviewed journals. 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.