| NSF Org: |
EES Div. of Equity for Excellence in STEM |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 26, 2014 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 30, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1438865 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Martha James
EES Div. of Equity for Excellence in STEM EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2014 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $399,989.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $480,834.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2015 = $19,600.00 FY 2016 = $61,245.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
601 S MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DR WINSTON SALEM NC US 27110-0003 (336)750-3019 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
601 M.L. King, Jr. Drive Winston-Salem State Univer NC US 27110-0001 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Hist Black Colleges and Univ |
| Primary Program Source: |
04001516DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04001617DB NSF Education & Human Resource |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Targeted Infusion Projects supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may pursue STEM graduate programs and/or careers. The project at Winston-Salem State University seeks to enhance the quality of the undergraduate research experience in the Chemistry undergraduate degree program by laying the foundation for effective research skills that will ultimately promote student success.
This project explores foundational research skill-building as an intervention to enhance learning and professional identification, which are two important determinants for increasing student retention and success in STEM fields. The mediation also seeks to incorporate high-impact practices to increase underrepresented student achievement in the chemical sciences, and thereby to promote student diversity in STEM.
Student retention and achievement will be assessed by adapting previously established evaluation tools. The project activities to support this goal are: (i) to implement two research foundation courses (Introduction to Research Methods and Computational Analysis Lab), and a capstone interdisciplinary research-oriented upper-level laboratory course; (ii) to adapt and infuse short guided research-oriented projects into laboratory courses; and (iii) to provide instrumentation to support the research-oriented laboratory experiments and research efforts toward preparing students to be more perceptive to modern instrumentation used in current scientific research and industry. Effective laboratory instruction and learning approaches will also be adapted or developed to motivate higher-level critical thinking skills and to improve student understanding of the research process.
The expected outcomes of this project are: (i) increased student retention and achievement in the chemistry degree program; (ii) improved preparation of undergraduate students for graduate programs and/or chemical careers; and (iii) increased undergraduate research presentation and publication with faculty. Measurable outcomes include: (i) an increase in student retention and achievement, including underrepresented students, in the chemistry program, and ii) a resultant increase in graduates who will enter advanced degree programs or join the workforce in research or industry. These expected project outcomes support WSSU's vision to produce graduates of distinction who will lead and compete successfully in the global economy. By integrating modern instrumentation into laboratory instruction and undergraduate research projects, it is anticipated that students will have hands-on experiences and training on state-of-the-art equipment that better prepares them for the workforce. The project activities and outcomes will be published in appropriate journals, disseminated at local and national meetings, and made available via websites to promote teaching, training, and learning.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The goal of this HBCU-UP targeted infusion project at Winston-Salem State University, a historically Black institution, is to enhance the quality of the undergraduate research experience in the Chemistry degree program by laying the foundation for effective research skills. The evident impact of undergraduate research on student success creates a need to lay the foundation for acquiring research skills and to help students navigate the challenges in research. This project goal support WSSU's Strategic Plan for Student Success and its mission of preparing diverse students for success in the 21st Century.
Some project activities that have been implemented to support the above goal include: (i) development and implementation of two research foundation courses (Introduction to Scientific Research, and Environmental Chemistry), and a capstone interdisciplinary research-oriented upper-level laboratory course; (ii) adaptation of some short guided research-oriented projects into some laboratory courses (Organic Chemistry Lab and Instrumental Analysis Lab); and (iii) acquisition and implementation of modern instrumentation (Pico-spin NMR, Agilent HPLC, Advion ESI mass spectrometry, and a FluoroMax spectrofluorometer) to support the research-oriented laboratory experiments and faculty-student research projects. Additionally, an international summer undergraduate research experience (iSURE) for students at two Malaysian research universities was implemented to farther enrich their research skills, and develop globally engaged graduates. This subproject supports WSSU's Strategic Plans for Internationalization to attain academic excellence by strengthening the general education curriculum through integration of global knowledge and skills for effective global citizenship.
Some project outcomes include:
1. Increased student retention and achievement in the chemistry degree program
- Overall student retention increased between 2014 and 2015. Retention data for two cohorts of chemistry pre-majors listed in fall 2014 showed a 53, 37, and 26% retention rate after one, two, and three years, respectively. A significant increase in retention was observed for the cohort listed in fall 2015, which showed a 67 and 47% retention rate after one and two years.
- Recent chemistry majors graduated with an average GPA of 3.13 in May 2018, an improvement compared to 2.85 reported for May 2015 graduates.
- During the final year of implementation, pre- and post-surveys show that students? science identity and research experience increased.
2. Improved preparation of students for graduate programs and/or chemical careers
- A significant proportion of students graduated from the Chemistry Department within 4 years or equivalent during TIP's implementation (at least 85% of graduates in 2015 and 2017).
- The percentage of chemistry graduates who attend graduate or professional schools or work in scientific careers is reported as 72.5, 85.4, 50, and 75% over the last four years. Most of these students gained acceptance into programs or secured employment within one year of graduation.
- Qualitative and quantitative results show students' preparation for a scientific career increased because of the capstone course. Students' level of agreement with "I am a scientist." increased very significantly.
- One of the underrepresented and minority student who participated in the iSURE project completed her Master's degree program and is currently in a Ph.D. program at the University of Mainz, Germany.
3. Increased undergraduate research presentation and publications with faculty
- An annual increase of student/faculty co-authored publications occurred between 2015 and 2017, from 50% to 100%.
- In general, undergraduate research presentations at local, regional, and national meetings also increased.
A broader impact of this project is the contribution toward one of NSF's core strategies in fulfilling its mission by broadening the participation of groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines.
The project team maintains the goal and objectives of this NSF funded TIP by active participation in a CUR Transformations project at WSSU (2018-2021). Course embedded undergraduate research experience (CURE) is systematically introduced into four general chemistry I and II, and organic chemistry I and II laboratory courses. Efforts will be made to infuse and scaffold research skills into existing chemistry laboratory courses to enrich the chemistry curriculum with this high impact educational practice.
Last Modified: 10/30/2018
Modified by: Maria Ngu-Schwemlein
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