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1. Work in Progress: NSF S-STEM Program: Recruitment, Engagement, and Retention: Energizing and Supporting Students with Diverse Backgrounds in Mechanical Engineering

   Jamie R. Gurganus, Liang Zhu ( June 2019 , ASEE annual conference & exposition)

   Recognizing current and future needs for a diverse skilled workforce in mechanical engineering and the rising cost of higher education that acts as a barrier for many talented students with interests in engineering, the NSF funded S-STEM project at a state university focuses resources and research on financial support coupled with curricular and co-curricular activities designed to facilitate student degree attainment, career development, and employability in STEM-related jobs. This program has provided enhanced educational opportunities to more than 90 economically disadvantaged and academically talented undergraduate students in the Mechanical Engineering Department in the past eight years. It is expected that approximately 45 academically talented and financially needy students, including students transferring from community colleges to four-year engineering programs will receive scholarship support in the next 5 years, with an average amount of $6,000 per year for up to four years to earn degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). Through scholarships and supplemental support services, this program promotes full-time enrollment and will elevate the scholastic achievement of the S-STEM scholars, with a special emphasis on females and/or underrepresented minorities. It will provide a holistic and novel educational experience combining science, engineering, technology and medicine tomore »improve student retention and future career prospects. The project builds on an established partnership between the state university and community colleges to improve and investigate the transfer experience of community college students to four-year programs, student retention at the university, and job placement and pathways to graduate school and employment. A mixed methods quantitative and qualitative research approach will examine the implementation and outcomes of proactive recruitment; selected high impact practices, such as orientation, one-to-one faculty mentoring, peer mentoring, and community building; participation by students in research-focused activities, such as research seminars and undergraduate experiences; and participation by students in career and professional development activities. In this paper, preliminary data will be presented discussing the attitudes and perceptions of the s-stem scholars and comparing students in scholarly programs and non-programmed situations. This research was supported by an NSF S-STEM grant (DUE-1742170).« less
2. S-STEM Student Reflections and IDP Process

   Fiss, L. K. ; Irwin, J. L. ; Tan, S. ( July 2021 , 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. https://peer.asee.org/37693)

   Student reflections and using individual development plans (IDPs) for mentoring have been an integral part of an NSF S-STEM project focusing on students pursuing baccalaureate degrees in Engineering Technology (ET). The Engineering Technology Scholars – IMProving Retention and Student Success (ETS-IMPRESS) project provides financial support and offers students several high-impact curricular and co-curricular activities to increase the success of academically talented students. This interdisciplinary project brings together the Electrical Engineering Technology, and Computer Network and System Administration programs in the College of Computing and the College of Engineering’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program, with programs in the Pavlis Honors College, an inclusive and unique college designed around high-impact educational practices. An IDP is commonly used in business and industry to assist employees in meeting short- and long-term goals in their professional career. This tool has been adapted for use in the educational setting in a faculty mentoring capacity. The ET program advisors assign the freshman or transfer S-STEM student scholars with faculty mentors to match their area of research interest. The faculty mentors meet with the students a minimum of three to four times a year to review their IDP, make suggestions, and provide input for reaching their goals. The goalsmore »of the IDP process are to develop a deeper more meaningful relationship between the advisor and student, reflect and develop a strategy for the scholar’s educational and career success, and manage expectations and identify opportunities. In the initial meeting there are several prompts for the student to write about their goals, strengths, weaknesses and perceived challenges. In subsequent meetings the advisor and student revisit the IDP to discuss progress towards those goals. This study will describe some outcomes of the IDP process providing specific examples from each of the ET programs. Although it is difficult to measure the effect of these relationships, it is one of the high impact practices that have been noted as increasing student engagement and retention. The consequences of COVID-19 introducing a virtual environment to the IDP process will also be examined from the viewpoint of both student and advisor. An advantage of the IDP meetings for students is that advisors may provide personal business connections for internship opportunities and/or research projects that otherwise would not be discussed in a typical office hour or classroom session. One of the innovations of the ETS-IMPRESS program was requiring participation in the Honors Pathway Program, which generally emphasizes intrinsic motivation (and does not use GPA in admissions or awarding of credentials). The honors program consists of three seminar classes and four experiential components; for all of these, students write reflections designed to promote their development of self-authorship. Preliminary survey results show no difference between ETS and other honors students in the areas of student motivation, intention to persist, and professional skill development. ETS students see a closer link between their current major and their future career than non-ETS honors students. A comparative analysis of reflections will investigate students’ perceptions of the program’s effect.« less
3. Board 3: Engineering Technology Scholars-IMProving Retention and Student Success (ETS-IMPRESS): First Year Progress Repo

   Alaraje, Nasser ; Meadows, Lorelle A. ; Fiss, Laura Kasson ; Amato-Henderson, Susan L. ; Hambroff, Guy C. ; Sergeyev, Aleksandr ; Raffaelli, Kellie H. ; Irwin, John L. ( June 2019 , ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   Recognizing a national and regional need for a highly trained engineering technology STEM workforce with baccalaureate degrees, the Engineering Technology Scholars – IMProving Retention and Student Success (ETS-IMPRESS) project provides financial support and an ecosystem of high-impact curricular and co-curricular activities to increase the success of academically talented students. A total of 12 first-time students will be supported for four years and 36 students transferring from community colleges will be supported for two years. The goals of the project are to (1) increase the number and diversity of students pursuing degrees in engineering technology (first-generation, underrepresented students, women, and veterans); (2) add to the body of knowledge regarding best practices in Engineering Technology and promote employment; and (3) contribute to the literature on self-efficacy. The project brings together engineering technology academic programs that are offered through the School of Technology and programs in the Honors College, an inclusive and unique college designed around high-impact educational practices. The project provides a unique opportunity to engage academically talented engineering technology students in activities designed to foster leadership, technical know-how, and employability skills for technology fields that actively recruit and employ graduates from diverse backgrounds and communities. By focusing on a broad rangemore »of students, the project will investigate the relationship between student characteristics and student success through (1) a mixed methods pre/post research design that examines differences in motivation, self-efficacy and professional skills and (2) a matched cohort comparison study of transfer students that examines participation/non-participation in engineering technology programs of study with honors’ college elective programming. The paper will address first year project activities including the ETS-IMPRESS recruitment, and advertisement plan to recruit first-year and community college transfer students. The paper will address the student eligibility and selection process, the recruitment of the first cohort scholars, and finally the orientation program including the summer bridge undergraduate research experience.« less
4. NSF S-STEM Scholarship Program Initiative via Recruitment, Innovation, and Transformation: SPIRIT Program Year-One Results

   https://doi.org/10.18260/p.25808  

   Ferguson, Chip ; Yanik, Paul ; Yan, Yanjun ; Kaul, Sudhir ( June 2016 , American Society for Engineering Education)

   The NSF S-STEM funded SPIRIT: Scholarship Program Initiative via Recruitment, Innovation, and Transformation program at Western Carolina University creates a new approach to the recruitment, retention, education, and placement of academically talented and financially needy engineering and engineering technology students. Twenty-seven new and continuing students were recruited into interdisciplinary cohorts that are being nurtured and developed in a community characterized by extensive peer and faculty mentoring, vertically integrated Project Based Learning (PBL), and undergraduate research experiences. The SPIRIT Scholar program attracted a diverse group of Engineering and Engineering Technology students, thus increasing the percentage of female and minority student participation as compared to the host department program demographics. Over the last academic year, fifty-four undergraduate research projects/activities were conducted by the twenty-seven scholars under the direction of twelve faculty fellows. Additionally, peer-to-peer mentorship and student leadership were developed through the program’s vertically integrated PBL model, which incorporated four courses and seven small-group design projects. Academic and professional support for the student scholars were administered through collaborations with several offices at the host institution, including an industry-engaged product development center. The program participants reported strong benefits from engaging in the program activities during the first year. Specifically, this paper presents resultsmore »from the program activities, including: cohort recruitment and demographics; support services; undergraduate research; vertically integrated PBL activities; and the external review of the program. Similar programs may benefit from the findings and the external review report, which contained several accolades as well as suggestions for potential continuous improvement.« less
5. Educating the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Experts

   Katerina Goseva-Popstojanova, West Virginia ; Robin A.M. Hensel, West Virginia ( July 2021 , 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference)

   The overall goal of the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) S-STEM funded "Attracting and Cultivating Cybersecurity Experts and Scholars through Scholarships" (ACCESS) program is to increase Cybersecurity-related STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, persistence, graduation, and career pathways of these students to improve the education of future STEM workers. Specifically, ACCESS aims to contribute towards addressing the tremendous governmental and industry need for highly skilled cybersecurity experts. Program objectives include: (1) increasing annual enrollment of students in the B.S. in Computer and Information Sciences programs with specialization in Cybersecurity; (2) enhancing curricular and extra-curricular student support services and activities for students; (3) strengthening the partnerships with computer and information technology employers; and (4) investigating the impact of the curricular and co-curricular activities on student success. While significant research has been done relative to student success, retention, and persistence to graduation in STEM fields, cybersecurity is a new field of study and factors affecting student recruitment, academic success, retention, persistence to graduation within this field are not known. In year 1, students were recruited, applications were evaluated, and scholarships were awarded to nine academically talented students,more »beginning fall 2020. Of these students, four are female (one is from an underrepresented minority population) and five are male (three are from underrepresented minority populations). The students engage in a set of co-curriculum activities, including participation in: outreach activities; technical and career development seminars; a cybersecurity-focused student organization; and potentially, cybersecurity undergraduate research and summer internship opportunities. The paper and poster describe the background of the ACCESS program, recruitment and selection of ACCESS scholarship recipients, project activities, and challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.« less