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Innovative and Meaningful Mentoring to Enhance Retention, Success, and Engagement (IMMERSE) in STEM supports the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low- income students with demonstrated financial need at Skyline College, a two-year Hispanic Serving Institution situated in Silicon Valley, a hub of STEM innovation with many high-demand jobs. Over its 5-year duration, this project will fund 90 scholarships to at least 30 students who are advancing toward an associate degree or transfer to a four-year university to earn a degree in Biology, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or Physics. IMMERSE in STEM is now in its second year and has supported 25 scholars, including 4 who have transferred to a 4-year university. All students receive up to three years of support. In addition to scholarships, the project incorporates a transformative approach to mentoring, and innovative supports intended to address financial and academic barriers. All participating students engage in a comprehensive set of evidence-based co-curricular services designed to support their persistence, completion, and transfer. Faculty mentors are trained on innovative and effective approaches to student retention and success, such as the implementation of ePortfolios. The overall goal of this project is to increase the STEM degree completion of low-income, high- achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There are three specific aims: 1) leverage existing high-impact, evidence-based processes already implemented on campus (such as ePortfolios and undergraduate research opportunities); 2) implement a cohesive multi-layer mentorship program to increase retention, student success, and graduation of scholars; 3) expand industry partnerships in association with workforce development programs to support the scholars’ academic and career opportunities with mentoring and internships. The high cost of attendance in the San Francisco Bay Area leads to high unmet financial needs, and leads students to seek part-time or full-time employment while they are in college. By combining financial assistance with specific practices, such as multi-tiered mentoring, ePortfolio adoption or participation in co-curricular activities, we have observed the impact on the retention and success rates of underrepresented minorities in STEM. This work is supported by the NSF S-STEM program under award number 2221696.
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S-STEM First Year Progress: Baylor Engineering and Computer Science Scholar's Program
Abstract This S_STEM project is designed to support the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low income students with demonstrated financial need at Baylor University. Over its five-year duration, this project will fund four-year scholarships to 22 students who are pursuing Bachelor degrees in Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) Scholars will participate in activities which include an orientation, a monthly seminar series and required faculty mentoring. Support services and activities for ECS Scholars build upon existing activities at Baylor and feature peer mentoring, study abroad opportunities, alumni mentoring, support and training for undergraduate research, professional development workshops, and tutoring support from the ECS Learning Resource Center. A distinguishing feature of the project is the use of EAB’s Navigate, a web-based software platform for tracking student progress, coordinating student care and employing predictive analytics. The expertise generated using a student dashboard capable of predictive analytics will have the broad impact of informing the STEM community of best practices for timely interventions, and improving retention and graduation rates. The Navigate platform is used for predictive analytics and to track and document ECS Scholar progress toward achieving benchmark goals in the areas of retention, graduation rates, internships, undergraduate research experiences, and job placement. The use of predictive analytics has significant potential for helping students arrive at successful outcomes. However, it is an assumption of this project that the successful use of predictive analytics should take into consideration not simply the accuracy in identifying students who are struggling but in the social attributions of success and perceptions of a “big data” tool that might be received alternatively with enthusiasm or suspicion. The focus of this paper will be to give an overview of our first-year results from the project. We were successful in recruiting the full first cohort that began in the Fall of 2020. For the first year, many of the engagement sessions with the students pivoted to a virtual experience, however, we were able to manage several events that fostered a sense of community among the ECS scholars. Our research partners from the Baylor School of Education were successful in conducting baseline qualitative research using detailed interviews with an initial focus on community fit, academic fit and faculty relationships. The paper will also summarize our use of the Navigate platform and the lessons learned in the areas of data capture and interventions.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1930502
- PAR ID:
- 10399131
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2022 ASEE Conference & Exposition
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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