Search for: All records

The National Science Foundation established the Rising Scholars program at Purdue University to promote the cultivation of professional mentor support networks for qualified low socio-economic students in STEM fields. In collaboration between the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department and the Minority Engineering Program, Rising Scholars students, in three cadres of 21 students total, were recruited from general admissions to the institution, who had previously expressed an initial desire for engineering. These students were provided with a defined path of activities in college designed to enhance their professional mentoring networks among STEM specialists. Rising Scholars students were provided with a partial scholarship and intensive academic guidance. These students participated in multiple networking and social activities sponsored by the program administrators. Academic results for the Rising Scholars students against their matched pair grouping for graduation rate and GPA will be presented. Students who socialized well and developed stronger social networks within the high-touch, student-centric environment fared better academically and outperformed their matched pair direct-to-engineering admits to the university. Small-to-moderate sized academic engineering departments are well-suited to provide a similar nurturing culture for support and belonging that can help all students succeed. 

This study follows the selection process for participants in a National Science Foundation S-STEM grant program for low socio-economic students. State land grant institution were created to provide states with technical universities for mid- to lower-class citizens, but they have generally failed to deliver successful instruction to residential, low-socioeconomic status, underrepresented minority students. There is a need for more research on additional predictors to assess the potential of non-traditional students in the admissions process. The primary research question in this work is whether students from low-SES backgrounds possessing lower incoming metrics can still have success earning a STEM degree with the help of a web of support adults. This metrics-based selection process was generated from a five-year study of underrepresented minority (URM) students who had previously succeeded in earning an engineering degree, even though they were not originally admitted into engineering. The selection process also asked students to identify the members of their support network, how they used this support to succeed in life, and culminated in an on-campus interview. The high school metrics for these students were found to be significantly lower than their engineering peers, but the average number of anchor/mentors that were identified was 6.2. These 21 students are currently performing well and will be compared against other residential students for retention, performance, and graduation through their time at the institution. 

The National Science Foundation has funded this S-STEM program to collect support network information about low socioeconomic status (SES) students and to provide scholarships to assist those students in their quest to obtain a degree in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics discipline. The Rising Scholar program studied the methods of improving recruitment, retention, and graduation for these students. This paper will discuss a Web of Support characterization model which has shown success at a public, R1, Midwestern university. A prior paper on how these students were selected was presented in 2020. This paper will discuss the methodology of measuring and the intentional building of support networks that was used in the program to record the changing dynamics of these students’ support networks as they advanced at the university. The Web of Support methodology used in the Rising Scholar Program was developed to support the Indigenous People of Alaska, who had the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and suicide in the country at the time. It was found that youth who had five adult anchors could withstand peer pressure and succeed in bettering their lives. This successful program demonstrating the bettering of lives was the basis for developing this collegiate curriculum to assist low-SES students in earning the STEM degree that they desired. These students typically had no collegiate-based experiences within their preliminary support networks and were discouraged when they were not accepted directly into their major of choice. The Rising Scholar proscribed pathway through the university was designed to give these students opportunities to meet and get to know professional and staff members of the university community that could join their professional support networks. During their journey through the program, data were collected to quantify the strength of the students’ network. This paper will discuss the emergence and quantification of the students’ professional web of support as they worked in university laboratories, got to know various professors and graduate students, and learned to intentionally keep these individuals as support mentors. Both number and strength of their support networks were collected annually and sometimes twice a year. Each supporter had several potential ways to support their student. These students were encouraged to add professional mentors, while keeping their original pre-college network. Examples of these support anchors mentors assisting students will be provided. 

The Purdue University Rising Scholars program was established in 2016 by a NSF grant designed to examine the effect of adult mentor support networks on student performance. The first students began classes in the fall of 2017, and their performance and many aspects of the program have been reported in the literature. Unfortunately, during this same time period, the COVID-19 pandemic moved across the globe and dramatically changed collegiate education. The effects of the pandemic in education will be felt for some time following the eventual demise of the virus. Because of this NSF grant period, the research team was uniquely positioned with matched pair sets of matriculating students from the Rising Scholars program, engineering, and exploratory studies. This paper will compare the performance of these students and the general student population for GPA and retention between the pre-COVID period (< spring of 2020) and the COVID period (spring 2020 onward). It is commonly perceived among collegiate instructors that student performance has suffered during the pandemic. The Rising Scholar demographic has the potential to have increased adverse effects from the pandemic disruption, but they also have an established adult mentor support network. The researchers have looked at differential performance outcomes between the various groups and exposed a tendency toward diminished performance with thinner networked students. Sample sizes were too small for the evaluation of any meaningful statistical tests. 

In 2016, an NSF S-STEM grant was awarded to explore the connection between student support networks and success within collegiate STEM field majors. For this on-going diversity study, promising students with low socio-economic status were selected from a pool of low socio-economic status applicants that were denied admission straight into engineering, but given admission into the university. These Rising Scholars were invited into a scholarship program based upon the quality of their support networks and their readiness for higher education. Local research on institutional efficacy supported the concept that student success and satisfaction with the collegiate experience were directly related to how welcome and comfortable the student felt within their chosen academic field. The students need to feel that they are part of a larger community that values them and their contributions. Advocacy organizations and smaller engineering schools, like Agricultural & Biological Engineering, do a good job creating this welcoming climate for their students. The Rising Scholar program was designed to create a local, familial cultural reference point for the students and utilize existing successful elements of the local university environment. Multiple experiential elements, professional communication exercises, and social opportunities were provided to enhance student skills and contact networks. The students were provided numerous chances for interaction and were continually reminded about networking strategies. Initial retention and GPA data support the conclusion that these students can be very successful in a highly ranked, R1 institution when provided with sufficient mentoring and means to reduce the financial burden of attendance. 

The National Science Foundation awarded funds in 2016 through the Division of Undergraduate Engineering in an S-STEM program to investigate a connection between student support networks and success within STEM fields in higher education. A Web of Support characterization model, based upon work with indigenous populations, was modified using these ‘network’ predictors of success for discrimination at the collegiate matriculation point. Promising students with low socio-economic status that successfully passed screening by the modified admissions process were then interviewed by a committee of academic professionals. If selected for participation in the Rising Scholars program, students were provided with an annual $6,500 four-year scholarship. Students had to agree to follow the program guidelines and provide data to the researchers. The Rising Scholars program was designed to be a ‘high-touch’ path through the undergraduate academic world that incorporated several known best practices in higher education. Incoming Rising Scholar students were matched with students receiving both direct engineering admits and exploratory studies admits that had similar background and academic indicators that matched the Rising Scholar’s profile. First year retention for students in engineering and the Rising Scholars program was significantly better than for exploratory studies. Those trends remained in the second-year data. Rising Scholars have significantly better GPAs moving into their second year, compared to both engineers and exploratory studies students. The significance in GPA over engineering students continues into the second year. These positive results indicate that it would likely be advantageous to transition this program to a multi-university project to more effectively demonstrate the robustness of the process for Rising Scholar students. 

This paper is a work-in-progress, focused on the utilization of the Rising Scholars Program to introduce minority students to experiential engineering projects within Agricultural and Biological Engineering. 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 processes. The students underwent a pre-selection process to determine their eligibility. The overall experience was designed to enhance student connectivity within the collegiate environment. The Gallup-Purdue Index (2014) found that feeling supported and having learning experiences that illustrated learned principles produced a graduate who would be engaged in their work. The Rising Scholar (RS) program utilized a prescribed path through college designed to enhance these features. These positive experiences are exemplified by the Purdue Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) department and how they approach the overall educational process. Faculty are motivated in their teaching, research, and extension efforts by a focus on meeting the world’s grand challenges, in which most college students are also highly interested. The Rising Scholars Program utilized the Vertically Integrated Projects model to introduce their students to real-life projects at the freshman and sophomore level, which could potentially be continued on into graduate school. Several of the RS students have worked with the Purdue ABE Hog Cooling Pad Project and these students have conducted research, prototyping, and design modifications on the pad. They have participated in five experimental bench tests of the design and four consecutive live animal studies related to the pad performance. Within these experiments, Rising Scholars students were able to work on real-life projects, with real-world impact. The preliminary hypothesis question is: Are future graduates of the Rising Scholars Program more likely to thrive in all areas of well-being due to their collegiate experiences? 

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.