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1. Examining an NSF S-STEM Community College program through an Identity Lens

   Edwards, Jan; Mazilu, Ana (June 2025, https://peer.asee.org/)

   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. 

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2. Work in Progress: Developing an Engineering Community in a Fablab

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--41084  

   Edwards, Jan; Pizano, Ana (August 2022, ASEE Conferences)

   The observations to date for an NSF S-STEM Research project will be shared as a work in progress. The NSF S-STEM program has enabled academically talented lower income scholars at a community college to receive scholarships and intentional advising since 2006. This support resulted in higher success rates based on GPA as well as higher graduation and transfer rates. In addition, the percentage of students who are historically underrepresented in the engineering and computer science fields was greater among these NSF scholars in comparison to the overall program comparison group. Starting in 2020, a research component was added to the scholarship program with a desire to better understand the development of student self-efficacy and sense of belonging. In particular, the impact of enhanced community building activities at the college using the Fablab as a central hub was of interest. The lab was developed in part to encourage commuter students to engage in more experiential learning and social collaboration between classes. While considerable research has been conducted on self-efficacy, sense of belonging and student success, there is limited data available on connections to a Fablab / makerspace environment and even less in a community college context. For the last four semesters, the NSF engineering and computer science scholars and a comparison student population have completed a survey to provide a measure of their self-efficacy relative to engineering, tinkering and design, sense of belonging, and inclusion. Observations and survey results to date will be shared. Since the timing of these surveys is such that only one occurred prior to the pandemic, there will be an attempt to disentangle the effects of the remote learning experience and discussion of the virtual approach to support services. In addition, the self-efficacy and sense of belonging measures will be analyzed for different student populations including the NSF scholars and overall comparison group as well as exploring underrepresented status in terms of gender and ethnicity. Next steps will be discussed for the following three years of the research program. 

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3. Board 330: Iron Range Engineering Academic Scholarships for Co-Op Based Engineering Education

   Spence, Catherine M. Siverling (June 2023, Review directory American Society for Engineering Education)

   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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4. Board 265: Enhancing the Transfer Experience through a Collaborative Cohort Program: the Culmination of a 5-year NSF S-STEM Program at a Community College

   Dancz, Claire L_A; Adams, Elizabeth A; Orfi, Nihal; Evans, Emily (June 2024, 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   This paper reports on the culmination of an NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) awarded to a two-year college located in a metro area with high rates of concentrated poverty and low levels of educational attainment. This two-year college is a minority-serving institution with curriculum to prepare students majoring in engineering to transfer and complete a baccalaureate degree at a four-year university. The Engineering Scholars Program (ESP) was established in fall 2019 to award students majoring in engineering annual scholarships of up to $6000, depending on financial need. In addition to supporting students through scholarships, the program engages scholars in professional development activities inclusive of academic seminars, extracurricular events, and undergraduate research opportunities in collaboration with the local four-year university. The program also established a mentorship structure with faculty mentors, student peer mentors, and academic advising. In addition to supporting scholars at the two-year college, the ESP provides support for a portion of cohorts that have transferred to the local four-year university and remained connected to the program. To date, the ESP has awarded a total of 131 semester long scholarships; 16 in year one (2019-2020), 28 in year two (2020-2021), 35 in year three (2021-2022), including six transfers, 38 in year four (2022-2023), including eight transfers, and 28 in year five (2023-2024), including 10 transfers. In year three, the ESP was awarded supplemental funding to support a larger portion of students and transfer cohorts; this helped reduce the financial burdens resulting from exacerbated financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic during years two and three of this project. This paper details the progress made towards the achievement of the program goals of creating a welcoming STEM climate at the two-year college, increasing the participation and persistence in engineering among economically disadvantaged students, and establishing transfer support to the local four-year university. Program evaluation findings have identified several opportunities for sustaining scholar transfer support outside of the financial support provided in the form of scholarships. These opportunities fell into two major themes: (1) peer-led transfer support inclusive of connecting transferred students and students preparing for transfer with emphasis on navigating different university structures, and (2) collaboration across engineering disciplines to develop and offer interdisciplinary undergraduate research and/or collaborative work on other projects. Furthermore, research findings from interviews with scholars provided additional context for taking action on program outcomes while also enhancing the understanding of how participation in a collaborative cohort experience can contribute to students’ membership within the STEM community and the construction of their own STEM identity. Although formal financial support sunsets during the final year of the ESP, program and research findings have identified programmatic elements that provide key support for students and can be sustained into the future. This paper reports on the program strategy for meeting the future needs of scholars at both the two-year college and the four-year transfer university. 

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5. Board 317: Institutional Practices to Close the Equity Gap

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--46896  

   Cline, EC; Dillon, Heather; Sesko, Amanda; Nahmani, Marc; Kmail, Zaher; Dinglasan-Panlilio, Joyce; Lee, Seung-Jin; Cilli-Turner, Emily; Björling, Elin (June 2024, ASEE Conferences)

   The S-STEM supported program “Achieving Change in our Communities for Equity and Student Success” (ACCESS) in STEM started at the University of Washington Tacoma in 2018 and has supported 108 students over 6 cohorts. University of Washington Tacoma has been designated an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution (AANAPISI) due to our high proportion of racial minority and first generation college students. The program is multidisciplinary across STEM majors including Mathematics, Environmental Science, Biomedical Sciences, Information Technology, Computer Science and Systems, Computer Engineering and Systems, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering, with Computer Science, IT and Engineering representing 65% of ACCESS scholars to date. Program scholars receive full scholarships for their first two years, and partial scholarships for their third and fourth years. We provide a summer bridge precalculus or research experience course, and project-based Introduction to Engineering or Introduction to Research courses in students’ first year. Individual faculty mentoring, an on-campus STEM living learning community,and quarterly Success in STEM seminar courses help scholars form a cohesive community through group mentoring, to promote a sense of belonging, identity, and empowerment in the STEM community. Our S-STEM program is distinctive in focusing on pre-STEM majors in their first and second years on campus to facilitate the entry into STEM majors, and we provide mentor training for ~30-40 faculty in teaching and mentoring diverse student populations, thus impacting all students in our majors. Our goal was to evaluate how retention and academic success of our program scholars was impacted by the program, and whether this program helps to close equity gaps for students who identify as low socioeconomic status, underrepresented minorities, women or non-binary, or first generation in college . We also evaluated the impact of the program for students before, during, and after the Covid-19 pandemic. We compared our program scholars to a comparison group of students who met eligibility requirements but did not participate in the program. Overall, program scholars had higher first and second year retention, and significantly higher GPAs, particularly for individuals belonging to groups that are historically underrepresented in STEM. Retention was markedly higher for program scholars during the pandemic, suggesting that the program may have been particularly impactful for students as they endured the emotional and financial stresses of the pandemic. 

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