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1. Promoting Success Through Building Community for Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduates

   Harris, S. L.; Jiang, Y.; Clark, C.; Jorgensen, E.; Garza, T.; Marrun, N. A.; & Taylor, V. L. (June 2023, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   Building on prior studies that show a sense of belonging and community bolster student success, we developed a pilot program for computer engineering (CpE) and computer science (CS) undergraduates and their families that focused on building a sense of belonging and community supported by co-curricular and socioeconomic scaffolding. As a dually designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) – two types of federally designated Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) – with 55% of our undergraduates being first-generation students, we aimed to demonstrate the importance of these principles for underrepresented and first-generation students. Using a student cohort model (for each incoming group of students) and also providing supports to build community across cohorts as well as including students’ families in their college experiences, our program aimed to increase student satisfaction and academic success. We recruited two cohorts of nine incoming students each across two years, 2019 and 2020; 69% of participants were from underrepresented racial or minority groups and 33% were women. Each participant was awarded an annual scholarship and given co-curricular support including peer and faculty mentoring, a dedicated cohort space for studying and gathering, monthly co-curricular activities, enhanced tutoring, and summer bridge and orientation programs. Students’ families were also included in the orientation and semi-annual meetings. The program has resulted in students exceeding the retention rates of their comparison groups, which were undergraduates majoring in CpE and CS who entered college in the same semester as the cohorts; first- and second-year retention rates for participants were 83% (compared to 72%) and 67% (compared to 57%). The GPAs of participants were 0.35 points higher on average than the comparison group and, most notably, participants completed 50% more credits than their comparison groups, on average. In addition, 9 of the 18 scholars (all of the students who wanted to participate) engaged in summer research or internships. In combination, the cohort building, inclusion of families, financial literacy education and support, and formal and informal peer and faculty mentoring have correlated with increased academic success. The cohorts are finishing their programs in Spring 2023 and Spring 2024, but data up to this point already show increases in GPA, course completion, and retention and graduation rates, with three students having already graduated early, within three and a half years. The findings from this study are now being used to expand the successful parts of the program and inform university initiatives, with the PI serving on campus-wide STEM pipeline committee aiming to recruit, retain, and support more STEM students at the institution. 

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2. Enhancing the Success of Minority STEM Students by Providing Financial, Academic, Social, and Cultural Capital

   Enriquez, A. G.; Lipe, C. B.; Price, B. (June 2017, ASEE annual conference & exposition)

   Research has shown that student achievement is influenced by their access to, or possession of, various forms of capital. These forms of capital include financial capital, academic capital (prior academic preparation and access to academic support services), cultural capital (the attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors related to education which students are exposed to by members of their family or community), and social capital (the resources students have access to as a result of being members of groups or networks). For community college students, many with high financial need and the first in their families to go to college (especially those from underrepresented minority groups), developing programs to increase access to these various forms of capital is critical to their success. This paper describes how a small federally designated Hispanic-serving community college has developed a scholarship program for financially needy community college students intending to transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field. Developed through a National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) grant, the program involves a collaboration among STEM faculty, college staff, administrators, student organizations, and partners in industry, four-year institutions, local high schools, and professional organizations. In addition to providing financial support through the scholarships, student access to academic capital is increased through an intensive math review program, tutoring, study groups, supplemental instruction, and research internship opportunities. Access to cultural and social capital is increased by providing scholars with faculty mentors; engaging students with STEM faculty, university researchers, and industry professionals through field trips, summer internships, professional organizations, and student clubs; supporting student and faculty participation at professional conferences, and providing opportunities for students and their families to interact with faculty and staff. The paper details the development of the program, and its impact over the last five years on enhancing the success of STEM students as determined from data on student participation in various program activities, student attitudinal and self-efficacy surveys, and academic performance including persistence, retention, transfer and graduation. 

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3. Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment of Large-Scale Interventions in a First-Year Experience Program

   Menezes, Gustavo B.; Allen, Emily L.; Ragusa, Giselle; Schiorring, Eva; Nerenberg, Paul (June 2019, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   In this Work-in-Progress paper, we report on the challenges and successes of a large-scale First- Year Engineering and Computer Science Program at an urban comprehensive university, using quantitative and qualitative assessment results. Large-scale intervention programs are especially relevant to comprehensive minority serving institutions (MSIs) that serve a high percentage of first-generation college students who often face academic and socioeconomic barriers. Our program was piloted in 2015 with 30 engineering students, currently enrolls 60 engineering and computer science students, and is expected to grow to over 200 students by Fall 2020. The firstyear program interventions include: (i) block schedules for each cohort in the first year; (ii) redesigned project-based introduction to engineering and introduction to computer science courses; (iii) an introduction to mechanics course, which provides students with the foundation needed to succeed in the traditional physics sequence; and (iv) peer-led supplemental instruction (SI) workshops for Calculus, Physics and Chemistry. A faculty mentorship program was implemented to provide additional support to students, but was phased out after the first year. Challenges encountered in the process of expanding the program include administrative, such as scheduling and training faculty and SI leaders; barriers to improvement of math and science instruction; and more holistic concerns such as creating a sense of community and identity for the program. Quantitative data on academic performance includes metrics such as STEM GPA and persistence, along with the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) for physics. Qualitative assessments of the program have used student and instructor surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews to measure relationships among factors associated with college student support and to extract student perspectives on what works best for them. Four years of data tell a mixed story, in which the qualitative effect of the interventions on student confidence and identity is strong, while academic performance is not yet significantly different than that of comparison groups. One of the most significant results of the program is the development of a FYrE Professional Learning Community which includes faculty (both tenure-track and adjunct), department chairs, staff, and administrators from across the campus. 

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4. Persistence Priorities and Financial Servingness in an Emerging HSI

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10343220  

   Hug, Sarah (October 2023, IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE))

   As the demographics in the United States college-going population continue to shift, the number of HSIs grows annually, yet research in higher education indicates a difference between enrolling Hispanic students in great numbers and serving the Hispanic/LatinX population [1,2] Servingness is embodied in structures and practices that constitute HSIs and is manifested in the acts of institutional agents who interpret policy, advocate for students, and access resources on behalf of students. This paper describes the findings from an initial case study of a public US East Coast Emerging Hispanic Serving Institution recently funded by the National Science Foundation to provide scholarships for high-achieving students with great financial need. To understand the financial barriers students face in attending college in a post-pandemic context, the first author interviewed key stakeholders at EAST STEM University. The research question driving the study was: How is EAST STEM changing its infrastructure to develop diverse support structures that serve students? Data for this pilot case study were collected from unstructured interviews with the lead faculty member of the grant in the computer science department, document analysis of institutional data (e.g., contextual data from the US Department of Education, publicly available information from Excellencia in Education, institutional profile data from the Institute of Educational Statistics), and from formal interviews with key stakeholders across the university. Interviews were transcribed and coded using emerging themes with Dedoose software. The staff interviewed in this study span five administrative offices and academic departments. Findings from this case suggest the institutional goals of promoting diversity and increasing persistence were values aligned with the acts of servingness utilized at East STEM University to advocate holistically for student needs [3]. Interviews with institutional agents indicate two ways the institution supported student progression through the major-through human resource allocation and through financial prioritization for equity. Within this institutional context, institutional agents enacted servingness through their emphasis on equity and persistence priorities, with, in some cases, a critical lens supportive of student success[4]. Key to their efforts in promoting persistence for students were three actions-creating space for one-on-one engagement with students, advocating on students' behalf across multiple administrative offices, and adapting and reinterpreting policies to support continued student enrollment. This study illustrates how institutional agents aligned serving with a key institutional initiative and how that alignment created space for innovation in meeting undergraduate students' financial needs. 

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5. Engineering Student Perceptions of Combined Faculty and Peer Academic Performance

   Rodríguez, Y; Angulo, N; Nieto-Wire, C; Varelas, A. (December 2020, The Chronicle of Mentoring and Coaching 2020. Special Issue 13. UNM Mentoring Institute’s Conference Proceedings 2020. ISSN 2372-9848)

   null (Ed.)

   There has been a nationwide effort to increase the number, caliber, and diversity of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. Research on student development shows that while there is a need, providing financial aid alone is not a sufficient factor for academic success of low-income academically talented college students. Thus, Hostos Community College has recently created the NSF-funded Hostos Engineering Academic Talent (HEAT) Scholarship Program which offers its scholars financial support and experience with a combined mentoring model where students work with faculty and peers during the academic year. This research then systematically investigated the impact of a combined faculty- and peer-mentorship approach with a population not yet studied, undergraduate STEM students at minority-serving community colleges. Preliminary data indicates that the combined mentoring approach has positive effects on scholar’s academic performance and STEM identity. The findings are expected to be generalizable to other populations, and hence provide an opportunity to expand the combined mentorship model to other STEM programs at a variety of institutions whose students could benefit from its implementation. 

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