Achieving Change in our Communities for Equity and Student Success (ACCESS) in STEM at the University of Washington Tacoma started as a Track 1 S-STEM program in 2018 and has supported 69 students to date. This year we received Track 2 funding and welcomed our fifth cohort to campus, with funding to support ~32 additional students through 2026. University of Washington Tacoma is an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution (AANAPISI), and we serve a high proportion of racial minority and first generation college students. Our ACCESS scholars are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics, Environmental Science, Biomedical Sciences, Information Technology, Computer Science and Systems, Computer Engineering and Systems, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering, with Computer Science and Engineering representing over 60% of ACCESS scholars to date. First-time college students and first-year transfer students receive full scholarships for their first two years, and partial scholarships for their third and fourth years. The project includes an optional Early Fall Math course to enhance entry into STEM majors, and participants are able to engage in a Research Experience or project-based Introduction to Engineering course in their first year. Coupled with individual faculty mentoring and an on-campus STEM living learning community, the quarterly Success in STEM seminar course helps scholars form a cohesive community through group mentoring, as well as develop a sense of belonging, identity, and empowerment to transform the culture of STEM. This program is distinguished by its focus on pre-STEM majors in their first and second years on campus, and includes mentor training for ~30-40 faculty in teaching and mentoring diverse student populations, thus impacting all students in our majors.
Our goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of a program that focuses on the first two years of college and provides financial support, courses to introduce students to research and project-based engineering, and intensive mentoring in increasing retention and academic success for Computer Science and Engineering (CS+E) students, and whether this program helps to close equity gaps for CS+E students who are low socioeconomic status (SES), underrepresented minorities (URMs), female, and/or first generation in college (First Gen) students. We compared our student scholars to a comparison group of students who met eligibility requirements but did not participate in the program. Program scholars had higher first and second year retention, and had significantly higher GPAs. The pandemic resulted in significant social, emotional, and economic stresses for our program scholars, which may have heightened the impact of the ACCESS in STEM program.
more »
« less
Evaluation of STEM Engagement Activities on the Attitudes and Perceptions of Mechanical Engineering S-STEM Scholars
Abstract Since 2009, the mechanical engineering (ME) scholarship-science technology engineering and mathematics (S-STEM) Program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) has provided financial support and program activities to ME undergraduate students aiming at improving their retention and graduation rates. The objective of this study is to identify program activities that were most effective to help students for improvements. Current ME S-STEM scholars were asked to complete a survey that measures their scientific efficacy, engineering identity, expectations, integration, and sense of belonging, as well as how program activities impact their attitudes and perceptions. Analyses of 36 collected surveys showed that scholars reported high levels of engineering identity, expectations, and sense of belonging. However, further improvements were needed to help students in achieving scientific efficacy and academic integration into the program. Results demonstrated that pro-active mentoring was the most effective method contributing to positive attitudes and perceptions. The implemented S-STEM research-related activities and internship were viewed favorably by the scholars in helping them establish their scientific efficacy and engineering identity, and understand their expectations and goals. Community building activities were considered helpful for them to integrate into campus life and improve their sense of belonging to the campus and program. Scholars identified mentoring, research related activities, internships, and social interaction with faculty and their peers as important factors for their retention and graduation. Although the sample size was small in the study, we believe that the cost-effective activities identified could be adopted by other institutions to further improve students' retention and graduation rates in engineering programs.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1742170
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10298370
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Biomechanical Engineering
- Volume:
- 143
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 0148-0731
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
The S-STEM supported program “Achieving Change in our Communities for Equity and Student Success” (ACCESS) in STEM started at the University of Washington Tacoma in 2018 and has supported 108 students over 6 cohorts. University of Washington Tacoma has been designated an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution (AANAPISI) due to our high proportion of racial minority and first generation college students. The program is multidisciplinary across STEM majors including Mathematics, Environmental Science, Biomedical Sciences, Information Technology, Computer Science and Systems, Computer Engineering and Systems, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering, with Computer Science, IT and Engineering representing 65% of ACCESS scholars to date. Program scholars receive full scholarships for their first two years, and partial scholarships for their third and fourth years. We provide a summer bridge precalculus or research experience course, and project-based Introduction to Engineering or Introduction to Research courses in students’ first year. Individual faculty mentoring, an on-campus STEM living learning community, and quarterly Success in STEM seminar courses help scholars form a cohesive community through group mentoring, to promote a sense of belonging, identity, and empowerment in the STEM community. Our S-STEM program is distinctive in focusing on pre-STEM majors in their first and second years on campus to facilitate the entry into STEM majors, and we provide mentor training for ~30-40 faculty in teaching and mentoring diverse student populations, thus impacting all students in our majors. Our goal was to evaluate how retention and academic success of our program scholars was impacted by the program, and whether this program helps to close equity gaps for students who identify as low socioeconomic status, underrepresented minorities, women or non-binary, or first generation in college. We also evaluated the impact of the program for students before, during, and after the Covid-19 pandemic. We compared our program scholars to a comparison group of students who met eligibility requirements but did not participate in the program. Overall, program scholars had higher first year retention, and higher GPAs, particularly for individuals belonging to groups that are historically underrepresented in STEM. Retention was markedly higher for program scholars during the pandemic, suggesting that the program may have been particularly impactful for students as they endured the emotional and financial stresses of the pandemic.more » « less
-
Alvares, Stacy (Ed.)Although Hispanic population is growing rapidly, Latino students earn fewer STEM degrees than their peers. Therefore, it is mandatory to implement strategies that improve STEM retention and graduation rates for Hispanic students. There is little research about the ways in which multicampus collaborative CUREs combined with additional academic support, affect low-income, Hispanic students and none that focus solely on Puerto Rican students in STEM. Puerto Rico (PR) has a 99% Hispanic population; thus, it is imperative to include PR in education research literature. This study sought to examine the impacts of the Research for Improved Student Experiences (RISE) in STEM program at two campuses of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. The program included multicampus collaborative CUREs, academic advising, and peer mentoring using quasi-experimental design. Impact assessment included psychosocial metrics such as self-efficacy, science identity and sense of belonging in a pre/posttest design. These findings were triangulated with the differences between treatment and control for retention, pass rate, and course grades. The findings revealed statistically significant improvements on all metrics. This study’s findings support multicampus collaborative CUREs, academic advising, and peer mentoring as useful and effective strategies for improving outcomes for low-income Hispanic students in Puerto Rico.more » « less
-
more » « less
To address the continuing disparity in the representation of women and racial and ethnically minoritized populations in STEM, an online peer mentoring program, eSTEM, was developed, implemented, and tested among undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in STEM degree programs at two historically black institutions. Using a case study design, participants’ experiences in the program were evaluated to determine the degree to which their participation impacted their STEM self-efficacy, sense of community, STEM identity, and intent to persist in STEM. Several themes were identified which demonstrate that the eSTEM program is effective in enhancing students’ feelings of self-efficacy, sense of community and belonging in STEM, STEM identity and understanding of intersecting identities, and in sustaining their intent to persist in STEM degree programs and careers.
-
Retention of students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines is a significant concern in higher education. Identity has been identified as an important correlate of academic success that may be important in a robust model of STEM retention. The engineering identity of “early career” university engineering students and its relation to GPA, self-efficacy, and a sense of belonging was examined. Self-efficacy and belonging were demonstrated to be domain dependent. A sense of belonging was much more strongly related to identity than either GPA or self-efficacy. A strong sense of belonging, specifically in the domain of the department of their major, was critical to a strong engineering identity.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4051715
