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This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Over its six year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 120 unique full-time students who are pursuing Bachelor of Science degrees in engineering. First semester junior, primarily transfer, students at Iron Range Engineering will receive scholarships for one semester. The Iron Range Engineering (IRE) STEM Scholars Program provides a financially sustainable pathway for students across the nation to graduate with an engineering degree and up to two years of industry experience. Students typically complete their first two years of engineering coursework at community colleges across the country. Students then join IRE and spend one transitional semester gaining training and experience to equip them with the technical, design, and professional skills needed to succeed in the engineering workforce. During the last two years of their education, IRE students work in industry, earning an engineering intern salary, while being supported in their technical and professional development by professors, learning facilitators, and their own peers. The IRE STEM Scholars project will provide access to a financially responsible engineering degree for low-income students by financially supporting them during the transitional semester, which has two financial challenges: university tuition costs are higher than their previous community college costs, and the semester occurs before they are able to earn an engineering co-op income. In addition, the project will provide personalized mentorship throughout students’ pathway to graduation, such as weekly conversations with a mentor. By providing these supports, the IRE STEM Scholars project aims to prepare students to be competitive applicants for the engineering workforce with career development and engineering co-op experience. Because community colleges draw relatively representative proportions of students from a variety of backgrounds, this project has the potential to learn how transfer pathways and co-op education can support financially sustainable pathways to engineering degrees for a more diverse group of students and contribute to the development of a diverse, competitive engineering workforce. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. As part of the scope of this project, a concurrent mixed-methods research study will be done on engineering students’ thriving, specifically their identity, belonging, motivation, and overall wellbeing (or mental and physical health). Student outcomes have previously been measured primarily through academic markers such as graduation rates and GPA. In addition to these outcomes, this project explores ways to better support overall student thriving. This study will address the following research questions: How do undergraduate students’ engineering identity and belongingness develop over time in a co-op-based engineering program? How do undergraduate students’ motivation and identity connect to overall wellbeing in a co-op-based engineering program? In the first year of the IRE STEM Scholars Project, initial interview data describe scholars’ sense of belonging in engineering, prior to their first co-op experiences and survey data describe IRE students’ experiences in co-op and overall sense of belonging. Future work will utilize these values to identify ways to better support the IRE STEM scholars’ identity development as they move into their first co-op experiences. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.
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Board 387: S-STEM: Iron Range Engineering Academic Scholarships for Co-Op Based Engineering Education
IRE STEM Scholars program contributes to the national need for well-educated STEM professionals by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Over its six year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 120 unique full-time students. The IRE STEM Scholars Program provides a financially sustainable pathway for students across the nation to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and up to two years of industry experience. Students typically complete their first two years of engineering coursework at community colleges across the country. Students then join IRE and spend one transitional semester gaining training and experience to equip them with the technical, design, and professional skills needed to succeed in the engineering workforce; it is during this semester that students receive the S-STEM scholarship. During the last two years of their education, IRE students work in paid engineering co-ops, while being supported in their technical and professional development by professors, learning facilitators, and their own peers. The IRE STEM Scholars project financially supports low-income students during the transitional semester, which has two financial challenges: university tuition costs are higher than their previous community college costs, and the semester occurs before they are able to earn an engineering co-op income. In addition, the project provides personalized mentorship throughout students’ pathway to graduation, such as weekly conversations with a mentor. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates. As part of the scope of this project, a concurrent mixed-methods research study will be done on engineering students’ thriving, specifically their identity, belonging, motivation, and subjective wellbeing (or mental and physical health). This study will address the following research questions: How do undergraduate students’ engineering identity and belongingness develop over time in a co-op-based engineering program? How do undergraduate students’ motivation and identity connect to overall wellbeing in a co-op-based engineering program? Currently in its second year, the project has supported 20 students, including 6 students on co-op. These six students have been interviewed on their sense of belonging in engineering during their co-op experiences, and have provided multiple survey data points describing IRE students’ experiences in co-op and overall sense of belonging. These IRE STEM Scholars program participant-specific data along with survey data documenting the co-op experiences of all IRE students describe how co-op experiences can be used to provide a financially responsible pathway to an engineering degree for low-income, high achieving students. Future work will utilize these values to identify ways to better support the IRE STEM scholars’ identity development as they move into their first co-op experiences. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2221441
- PAR ID:
- 10545611
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland, Oregon
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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S-STEM scholarships are provided to academically talented low-income engineering students with the intent of increasing retention as well as successful transfer and subsequent graduation rates for a bachelor's degree in an Engineering or Computer Science (ECS) field. Since the spring of 2020, 71 unique students have been awarded scholarships. At this time, there are 22 active scholars, 34 have already successfully transferred to complete their ECS degree and a quarter of those scholars have since graduated. Beyond the financial support, NSF S-STEM programs center on providing academic, social and professional development. In addition, the research component of this program at a midwestern HSI community college is exploring the following questions: Do students recognize themselves as engineers prior to transfer? Do students feel a sense of belonging in their Engineering and Computer Science programs? Does being an NSF S-STEM Scholar impact either of these outcomes? The importance of developing a strong engineering identity as an indicator of persistence to degree completion has been the focus of considerable research over the last fifteen years. However, there is limited understanding of how community college experiences influence engineering identity development. Since the spring of 2020, students have been completing surveys during the first six weeks of the fall semester and during the last four weeks of the spring semester. Engineering identity was explored with questions centered on interest, recognition and competence as well as self-efficacy in skills such as tinkering, design and experimentation. Sense of belonging indicators were examined in terms of inclusion, sense of belonging to the community and sense of belonging to their major. This paper will provide quantitative analysis of the data examining outcomes based on demographics including ethnicity, gender, scholar status and length of time in the program.more » « less
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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.more » « less
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Previous work has identified that one third of Americans live in an engineering education desert, or a county without a face-to-face 4-year accredited engineering degree or a two-year face-to-face pre-engineering program, regardless of whether it results in a credential. Iron Range Engineering (IRE) is an upper division engineering program designed to help provide access to individuals who due to financial and/or geographic location would be otherwise unable to participate in engineering. In this paper we present data demonstrating how this model of engineering education supports students from a range of geographical areas by addressing the research questions: Is IRE supporting students from engineering education deserts, are those students returning to their home region with a paid engineering position, and if so, with what income? In 2022, students at IRE were surveyed about their co-op experiences, feelings of belonging, and demographic information. This data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of location, salary, and demographic data. Our data supports the idea of this model of education attracting participation of students who otherwise may not have access to an engineering degree. Of the students in IRE, 67% come from engineering education deserts. Of those, 17 returned to their home state with a co-op and 8 returned to their home county with a paid co-op, at an average salary of $22/hour. Our results contribute to our understanding of engineering education deserts in the United States, and the IRE Bell co-op model as a curricular model to provide access to an affordable engineering degree for students in a wide range of locations.more » « less
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Previous work has identified that one third of Americans live in an engineering education desert, or a county without a face-to-face 4-year accredited engineering degree or a two-year face-to-face pre-engineering program, regardless of whether it results in a credential. Iron Range Engineering (IRE) is an upper division engineering program designed to help provide access to individuals who due to financial and/or geographic location would be otherwise unable to participate in engineering. In this paper we present data demonstrating how this model of engineering education supports students from a range of geographical areas by addressing the research questions: Is IRE supporting students from engineering education deserts, are those students returning to their home region with a paid engineering position, and if so, with what income? In 2022, students at IRE were surveyed about their co-op experiences, feelings of belonging, and demographic information. This data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of location, salary, and demographic data. Our data supports the idea of this model of education attracting participation of students who otherwise may not have access to an engineering degree. Of the students in IRE, 67% come from engineering education deserts. Of those, 17 returned to their home state with a co-op and 8 returned to their home county with a paid co-op, at an average salary of $22/hour. Our results contribute to our understanding of engineering education deserts in the United States, and the IRE Bell co-op model as a curricular model to provide access to an affordable engineering degree for students in a wide range of locations.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--46972
