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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.
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This content will become publicly available on June 1, 2026
BOARD # 449: S-STEM Project Overview: Supporting Low-Income Engineering and Computing Students with Scholarships for Higher Degree Attainment
This S-STEM project addresses the national need for a well-educated engineering and computing workforce by supporting the retention and graduation of low-income students with demonstrated financial need and strong academic potential. The project focuses on creating pathways that allow students to progress from an associate's and bachelor's degree (at the regional campus) in technology to a bachelor's and possibly even a master's degree in engineering and computing at the main campus. This has been achieved by creating curricular pathways and providing infrastructure and support to encourage higher degree attainment by participating students while reducing graduation time. Over six years, this project aims to provide scholarships to 132 full-time students pursuing Associate, Bachelor's, and Master's degrees in Engineering, Computer Science, and related fields. So far, through this project, three cohorts of students have been recruited through a holistic review process, with recruitment strategies involving high school visits, outreach events, and collaborations with community colleges. As of Fall 2024, 45 students have been funded, with $256,125 in scholarships awarded. The diverse body of S-STEM scholars includes ~27% female, 11% African American/Black, 11% Asian, and ~7% Hispanic students. So far, ten students have graduated with a bachelor's degree who started with an associate's degree, and one student who started with an associate degree has completed a master's program. This supporting paper associated with the poster highlights the various aspects of this project, including recruitment strategies, curricular pathway development, cohort building, etc. We anticipate that this project will generate data on recruiting and retaining low-income, academically talented students, with findings related to fostering community and identity among scholarship recipients through mentoring and peer support, promoting excellent retention and workforce development.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2130384
- PAR ID:
- 10648727
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE Conferences
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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