The STEM Excellence through Engagement in Collaboration, Research, and Scholarship (SEECRS) project at Whatcom Community College is a five-year program aiming to support academically talented students with demonstrated financial need in biology, chemistry, geology, computer science, engineering, and physics. This project is funded by an NSF S-STEM (Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant awarded in January 2017. Through an inclusive and long-range effort, the college identified a strong need for financial and comprehensive supports for STEM students. This project will offer financial, academic, and professional support to three two-year cohorts of students. The SEECRS project aims to utilize a STEM-specific guided pathways approach to strengthen recruitment, retention, and matriculation of STEM students at the community college level. Scholarship recipients will be supported through participation in the SEECRS Scholars Academy, a multi-pronged approach to student support combining elements of community building, faculty mentorship, targeted advising activities, authentic science practice, and social activities. Students are introduced to disciplines of interest through opportunities to engage in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in Biology, Chemistry and Engineering courses, funded summer research opportunities, and seminars presented by STEM professionals. Communities of practice will be nurtured through the introduction of cohort building and facultymore »
Board 105: The Redshirt in Engineering Consortium: Progress and Early Insights
The NSF-funded Redshirt in Engineering Consortium was formed in 2016 with the goal of enhancing the ability of academically talented but underprepared students coming from low-income backgrounds to successfully graduate with engineering degrees. The Consortium takes its name from the practice of redshirting in college athletics, with the idea of providing an extra year and support to help promising engineering students complete a bachelor’s degree. The Consortium builds on the success of three existing “academic redshirt” programs and expands the model to three new schools. The Existing Redshirt Institutions (ERIs) help mentor and train the new Student Success Partners (SSP), and SSPs contribute their unique expertise to help ERIs improve existing redshirt programs. The redshirt model is comprised of seven main programmatic components aimed at improving the engagement, retention, and graduation of students underrepresented in engineering. These components include: “intrusive” academic advising and support services, an intensive first-year academic curriculum, community-building (including pre-matriculation summer programs), career awareness and vision, faculty mentorship, NSF S-STEM scholarships, and second-year support. Successful implementation of these activities is intended to produce two main long-term outcomes: a six-year graduation rate of 60%-75% for redshirt students, and increased rates of enrollment and graduation of Pell-eligible, URM, and more »
- Award ID(s):
- 1564681
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10068253
- Journal Name:
- ASEE annual conference & exposition proceedings
- ISSN:
- 2153-5868
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Low-income students are underrepresented in engineering and are more likely to struggle in engineering programs. Such students may be academically talented and perform well in high school, but may have relatively weak academic preparation for college compared to students who attended better-resourced schools. Four-year engineering and computer science curricula are designed for students who are calculus-ready, but many students who are eager to become engineers or computer scientists need additional time and support to succeed. The NSF-funded Redshirt in Engineering Consortium was formed in 2016 as a collaborative effort to build on the success of three existing “academic redshirt” programs and expand the model to three new schools. The Consortium takes its name from the practice of redshirting in college athletics, with the idea of providing an extra year and support to promising engineering students from low-income backgrounds. The goal of the program is to enhance the students’ ability to successfully graduate with engineering or computer science degrees. This Work in Progress paper describes the redshirt programs at each of the six Consortium institutions, providing a variety of models for how an extra preparatory year or other intensive academic preparatory programs can be accommodated. This paper will pay particular attentionmore »
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In this work-in-progress paper we present emergent recruitment issues encountered during an ongoing design-based project with participants from two-year colleges for an NSF-funded scholarship program. Our hope is to connect with researchers who have previously explored similar issues or may be experiencing them in their current work. Student Pathways in Engineering and Computing for Transfer Students (SPECTRA) is an NSF S-STEM program that provides financial assistance to students transferring from the South Carolina Technical College System into Engineering or Computing majors at Clemson University [1]. SPECTRA also assists students by connecting them with peers at the technical colleges who move together through the transfer process to Clemson and are supported by the SPECTRA program until graduation. In addition to exploring the experiences of current SPECTRA participants, we investigate how the project can be scaled to include more students and sustained after NSF support ends. The 2021-2022 academic year is the third of the five-year program, although, given emergent recruitment issues, we foresee application for a no-cost extension. The primary concern is the low number of students currently supported in comparison to our goals, highlighting recruitment for further examination. We planned to support up to twenty students in year 1, 52more »
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The NSF-funded Redshirt in Engineering Consortium was formed in 2016 with the goal of enhancing the ability of academically talented but underprepared students coming from low-income backgrounds to successfully graduate with engineering degrees. The Consortium takes its name from the practice of redshirting in college athletics, with the idea of providing an extra year and support to help promising engineering students complete a bachelor’s degree. The Consortium builds on the success of three existing “academic redshirt” programs and expands the model to three new schools. The Existing Redshirt Institutions (ERIs) help mentor and train the new Student Success Partners (SSP), and SSPs contribute their unique expertise to help ERIs improve existing redshirt programs. This Work in Progress paper describes the history of the Redshirt in Engineering Consortium; the Redshirt model as a framework for addressing issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in engineering; and initial lessons learned from the implementation of the model across unique institutional contexts.