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1. Positive Impact of an S-STEM Scholarship Program on Computer Science Students’ Academic Performance and Retention Rate

   Dong, Zhijiang.; Phillips, Joshua L; Oslund, Eric; Pettey, Chrisila; Brawner, Catherine. E (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   In this Work in Progress, we present a progress report from the first two years of a five-year Scholarships in STEM program. The number of graduates with computing related degrees from colleges and universities, especially female and underrepresented minorities (URM), is too small to keep up with the fast-growing demand for IT professionals across nation and Tennessee specifically. To reduce the gap in the Tennessee region, our university launched a 5-year S-STEM Scholarship program in 2018 to recruit and graduate more computer science students, especially female and URM. The scholarship program supports about 20 qualified Pell-eligible students every year. Each recipient receives an annual stipend of up to $6000 for no more than three years. In order to increase their interest in computer science and to improve retention of CS majors, a pipeline of well-proven activities were integrated into the program to inspire exploration of the CS discipline and computing careers at an early stage and help students gain work experience before graduation. These activities include, but are not limited to: summer research program that provides opportunities for students to conduct research in different computer science areas, peer-mentoring program that leverages experience and expertise of the group of CS majors who work in the computing field to better prepare scholarship recipients for their careers, and professional conference attendance program that sends students to professional conferences to explore computer science careers and build their own networks. The preliminary data suggest that these activities had a positive effect on our students. We find that the financial support allows students to focus on both academics and searching for computing-related employment. Early analysis of institutional data shows that scholars take more CS credit hours and achieve a higher GPA than other Pell-eligible and non-Pell eligible students, thus making faster progress toward their degree. The support to attend in-person conferences and summer research opportunities had a transformative impact on many participating scholars. The original mentoring program was less effective and has been redesigned to include higher expectations for mentors and mentees and increased faculty involvement. This paper will describe the program elements and explain the effects of these activities on our students with preliminary outcome data and formative evaluation results about the program 

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2. Future of Work Issues for Florida Two-Year Engineering Technology Program

   Barger, Marilyn Gilbert (July 2022, ASEE annual conference exposition proceedings)

   Manufacturing Division Program Committee of ASEE (Ed.)

   The two-year (60 semester credit hour) Engineering Technology (ET) Associate of Science (AS) degree program is available to students in 23 of the 25 Florida State Colleges that offer technician preparation degrees. As of 2020 there were over 2,000 students enrolled in this course of study. The degree has a Core set of courses completed in the first year followed by a set of specialized courses in year 2. The program has a high percentage of students working in industry during their course of study and enjoys an over 90% industry employment placement of its graduates. Graduates can also seamlessly articulate into an B.S. program offered in the Florida State College System as well as pursue a B.S. Engineering Technology degree that also leads to a Professional Engineers License. To maintain this rewarding ET career path, the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE) with support from the Florida Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, supported Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) interacts directly with manufacturers, college technical faculty, and college upper administration to assure the ET degree program focus is manufacturing industry impact within each college service region. 

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3. An Orientation Program for Vertical Transfers in Engineering and Engineering Technology

   Gupta, SK; Foltz, F; Moon, JE; Melton, R; Kuhl, M; Johnson, DP; Valentine, M; Lee, J; Garrick, R (June 2019, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   This paper reports on a scholarship program funded by the National Science Foundation that focuses on students who transfer at the 3rd-year level from 2-year schools to the engineering and engineering technology BS programs at our university. The objectives of the program are to: (i) expand and diversify the engineering/technology workforce of the future, (ii) develop linkages and articulations with 2-year schools and their S-STEM (Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs, (iii) provide increased career opportunities and job placement rates through mandatory paid co-op experiences, and (iv) serve as a model for other universities to provide vertical transfer students access to the baccalaureate degree. The program is in its third year. It recruited its first group of 25 students in Fall 2017, and another group of 27 students in Fall 2018. We hope to recruit 26 more students in Fall 2019 for a total of 78 vertical transfers. The goal is to retain and graduate at least 95% of these scholars. To enhance the success of these scholars, a zero-credit six-week orientation course was developed in Fall 2017 focusing on four dimensions of student wellness: academic, financial, social, and personal. This paper describes the development of this course, its content, and the modifications that were made to the course for Fall 2018. The paper will also address the research conducted in order to generate knowledge about the program elements that will be essential for the success of vertical transfer programs at other universities. Two research instruments are described: an online survey and a focus group interview that were developed, and administered to the transfer scholars in their first year. Initial findings concerning students’ experiences at their 2-year schools, their reason for transferring, their experience in transferring as well as their initial conceptions of what life at a 4-year institution will be like are presented. 

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4. The SEECRS Scholar Academy at Whatcom Community College: Three Cohorts of S-STEM Scholarships Later

   Babcock, M. J.; Vannelli, T. A.; Hanley, D.; Davishahl, E. (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   The STEM Excellence through Engagement in Collaboration, Research, and Scholarship (SEECRS) project at Whatcom Community College is in year four of a five-year NSF S-STEM funded program aiming to support academically talented students with demonstrated financial need in biology, chemistry, geology, computer science, engineering, and physics. This program offered financial, academic, and professional support to three two-year cohorts of students and is in the final year of the third and final cohort of the currently funded grant cycle. The SEECRS project aimed to utilize a STEM-specific guided pathways approach to strengthen recruitment, retention, and matriculation of STEM students at the community college level. Over the course of the program 39 individuals received scholarship support. The program supported scholarship recipients through participation in the SEECRS Scholars Academy, a multi-pronged approach to student support combining elements of community building, faculty mentorship, targeted advising activities, authentic science practice, and social activities. Key elements of the program are: a required two-credit course that emphasized STEM identity development, course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in Biology, Chemistry and Engineering courses, funded summer research opportunities, and paring of each scholar with a faculty mentor. This paper presents data from the first four years of the program including participant outcomes and feedback on their experiences. Results from project evaluation activities such as pre and post surveys, focus groups, exit interviews, and faculty surveys are also presented and analyzed to compare how gains reported by program participants regarding such attributes as their STEM identities and sense of belonging compare to responses from a control group of students who did not participate in the program. Preliminary identification of some program best practices will also be presented. 

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5. Value of Experiential Experiences for Diverse Student Populations Within Engineering Disciplines

   Stwalley, Carol S.; Stwalley, Robert M.; Baldwin, Grace L.; Booth-Womack, Virginia L.; LaRose, Sarah (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Annual Conference)

   Traditional admissions processes at top institutions predominately utilize standardized test scores when comparing student applications. The equity of these high-stakes tests most severely affects students of low socioeconomic status (SES). The NSF-sponsored program, Rising Scholars: Web of Support used as an Indicator of Success in Engineering, was created to investigate whether alternative admission criteria could be used to identify low-SES applicants who would excel within STEM fields in higher education, even if they did not have the superior standardized testing metrics preferred by current admissions process. The quality of the student’s support networks and their readiness for higher education as determined by an in-person interview with the selection committee were used as input data for a Web of Support characterization model to predict a student’s likely collegiate success at the matriculation point. There were three cohorts with a total of 21 students chosen for the program during their entry to the university which included applicants of low-SES and under-represented minority status. A significant programmatic element for these students was their involvement in experiential activities through pre-existing programs in the institution. It was reasonably assumed that the Rising Scholars student population could be positively influenced toward long-term educational commitment through experiential activities providing realistic views of professional activity. The prescribed collegiate path for these students contained an experiential educational element for each summer between admission and graduation. A summer research project with a faculty-directed laboratory before the sophomore year and a self-directed research project prior to the junior year were used to build project management experience, along with a paid, external internship in a professional organization likely to hire within the student’s major. Based upon the limited data collected so far, the researchers seem to have been conclusively demonstrated that a structured, ‘high-touch’ program with a heavy experiential component can successfully move low-SES students with STEM inclinations through a highly ranked institution. Counselling to reduce the anxiety surrounding the collegiate process for first generation students and some form of scholarship support to reduce the financial burden are both crucial underlying elements to this program’s success, but the importance of hands-on, experiential activities that help the student visualize their professional career cannot be under-estimated. 

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