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Students Engaging In Scientific and Mathematical Interdisciplinary Collaboration (NSF 164375), supports low-income, academically talented Scholars with multiple components including scholarships, paid undergraduate research, service learning, social science and humanities courses, and career development. Scholars will graduate in STEM at a rate of 95%, higher than the rate of eligible, non-participants (62%). High percentages of Scholars attribute increased understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of STEM and growth in on-campus support networks to programming. However, they report variation in the components to which they attribute those gains, with most participants acknowledging the importance of engagement with different program components over time. Scholars report differences in off-campus work, which may have been impacted by the Covid pandemic. While all Scholars starting at the onset of the Covid pandemic were retained in STEM, retention of eligible, non-participants fell from 70% to 38%, indicating the importance of financial and communal support during challenging times. 

A curricular approach to supporting low-income STEM Scholars is outlined and initial associations with retention, social and cultural capital, perception of science, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations are examined. Details are provided for the curricular support program based on interdisciplinary research, service learning, and an explicit examination of the interpretation of science based on culture and social location. We show that Scholars had increased retention and graduation within STEM majors compared to a control group. Further, Scholars self-report in surveys and interviews increased social and cultural capital, motivation, and related outcomes that they attribute to the interdisciplinary coursework that comprises the bulk of the program. 

SEISMIC, Bridgewater State University’s National Science Foundation S-STEM grant program, provides $6,000 scholarship for three years to rising sophomore students from diverse backgrounds. While the scholarships defray Scholar’s costs, annual program surveys and interviews reveal that many SEISMIC scholars continue to work off-campus jobs while in the program. In this poster presentation, we review quantitative and qualitative evidence collected during the first four years of the S-STEM grant to assess Scholar’s financial and work commitments. Preliminary analysis reveals that some students do not take off-campus jobs while in the program, but most do, with some working full-time hours. Analysis of interviews with students graduating the program reveal how Scholars weighed their commitment to the SEISMIC program and STEM education with their off-campus circumstances and responsibilities. 

Promoting Students Engaging In Scientific and Mathematical Interdisciplinary Collaborations (SEISMIC) requires careful thought. At Bridgewater State University, teams of SEISMIC Scholars are supported by an NSF S-STEM grant for low-income, academically talent STEM majors. SEISMIC Scholars engage throughout a three-year period in a series of humanities, social-science, service learning and STEM research courses that explicitly help Scholars frame their studies of Science and Mathematics as socially relevant and fundamentally interdisciplinary. This poster will report on the structure of the SEISMIC courses, providing examples of assignments and activities, all of which help to tie students together in a community that views Science as socially relevant and culturally informed.