Eastern Mennonite University received a 5-year S-STEM award for their STEM Scholars Engaging in Local Problems (SSELP) program. The goal of this place-based, interdisciplinary scholarship program is to increase the number of academically talented, low-income students who graduate in STEM fields and either pursue immediate employment in STEM careers or STEM-related service or continue their STEM education in graduate school.
In 2018 and 2019, two cohorts of seven students were recruited to major in biology, chemistry, engineering, computer science, mathematics, or environmental science. A key part of recruitment involved on-campus interviews, during a February Scholarship Day, between STEM faculty and potential scholars. As the yield rate for the event is high (54-66%), the university has continued this practice, funding additional STEM scholarships.
In order to retain and graduate the scholars in STEM fields, the SSELP faculty designed and carried out various projects and activities to support the students. The SSELP Scholars participated in a first-year STEM Career Practicum class, a one-credit course that connected students with regional STEM practitioners across a variety of fields. The scholars were supported by peer tutors embedded in STEM classes, and now many are tutors themselves. They participated in collaborative projects where the cohorts worked to identify and solve a problem or need in their community. The SSELP scholars were supported by both faculty and peer mentors. Each scholarship recipient was matched with a faculty mentor in addition to an academic advisor. A faculty mentor was in a related STEM field but typically not teaching the student. Each scholar was matched with a peer mentor (junior or senior) in their intended major of study. In addition, community building activities were implemented to provide a significant framework for interaction within the cohort.
To evaluate the progress of the SSELP program, multiple surveys were conducted. HERI/CIRP Freshman Survey was used in the fall of 2018 for the first cohort and 2019 for the second cohort. The survey indicated an upward shift in students’ perception of science and in making collaborative effort towards positive change. Preliminary data on the Science Motivation Questionnaire showed that the SSELP scholars began their university studies with lower averages than their non-SSELP STEM peers in almost every area of science motivation.
After over three years of implementation of the NSF-funded STEM Scholars Engaging in Local Problems program, the recruitment effort has grown significantly in STEM fields in the university. Within the two cohorts, the most common majors were environmental science and engineering. While 100% of Cohorts 1 and 2 students were retained into the Fall semester of the second year, two students from Cohort 1 left the program between the third and fourth semesters of their studies. While one student from Cohort 2 had a leave of absence, they have returned to continue their studies. The support system formed among the SSELP scholars and between the scholars and faculty has benefited the students in both their academic achievement as well as their personal growth.
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This content will become publicly available on June 25, 2024
Board 258: Diversifying the Graduate Student Pipeline to Academia: Challenges in Recruitment of Low-Income, High Achieving Students to Graduate School—Award # 2130403
In higher education, faculty diversity is critical for a variety of important outcomes, including supporting students in pursuing and persisting in STEM fields by providing in-group role models. However, current engineering faculty do not equitably represent the general population. In order to address this lack of representation in higher education engineering programs, the University of Lowell S-STEM program has the goal to recruit three cohorts of low-income, high-achieving students who wish to pursue a career in higher education. The UML S-STEM program supports engineering scholars for four years, their last two years of undergraduate school and their first two years of graduate school. The goal of the program is to attract and retain diverse engineering S-STEM scholars and prepare them to enter the competitive pool of future faculty candidates.
We present our successes and challenges in recruiting the first two cohorts of low-income, high-achieving students. In the first year, we focused on email blasts, a social media campaign, partnering with student groups, and general outreach via career panels. 55 eligible students were identified by the financial aid office, 12 applications received, and 4 students fit the timeline and eligibility requirements (all were accepted). Three of the four are first generation students, and three of the four identify as students from underrepresented minority backgrounds in engineering. Recruitment lessons learned were that because the scholarship opportunity is so unique, emails alone from a faculty member the students are not familiar with do not work well. Additionally, sophomores are often not proactively seeking more information and scholarship opportunities for graduate school. As a result of these findings, we increased our outreach opportunities to allow students to discuss and explore the benefits of graduate school to build the interest and self-efficacy of our target population. Further, we asked faculty members that work with the students to reach out to students individually and encourage them to apply. Using this approach, after identifying 79 eligible students, 38 applications were received, 84% from our list of eligible students, and 63% from populations underrepresented in engineering.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2130403
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10476901
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Society for Engineering Education
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Baltimore , Maryland
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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