| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | April 9, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 24, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 1742282 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Eleanor Sayre
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | April 15, 2018 |
| End Date: | March 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $999,982.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $999,982.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
438 ACADEMY ST BOONE NC US 28608-0001 (828)262-7459 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
NC US 28608-2174 |
| 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): | S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| 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
With funding from the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, the "Appalachian High Achievers in STEM" project will support high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Appalachian State University. Throughout its five years, this project will fund scholarships for 42 undergraduate and graduate students who are pursuing degrees in chemistry, computer science, geology, mathematics, or physics. This S-STEM Track 2 project will establish a simulation- and visualization-focused framework for interdisciplinary collaboration among the participating disciplines. Simulation and visualization are essential for understanding the vast amounts of data available now in STEM and other fields. Students from all STEM disciplines will use computer applications to simulate abstract models of systems or to visualize numerical information mathematical models. Scholars will be immersed in a supportive community as they engage in interdisciplinary research projects, mentored by faculty. The research projects will draw from multiple STEM areas. The Appalachian High Achievers project aims to increase understanding of how these activities produce social and academic benefits, and increase professional and workforce preparation. It also has the potential to prepare students for the technology industries in the Appalachian region.
This project aims to prepare students for future careers in data rich environments. Recruiting efforts will emphasize students from the Appalachian Mountain counties that surround the university, where poverty rates are among the highest in North Carolina. Mentoring clusters, a STEM Seminar, and peer-led study halls will support student success. Cohort cohesion will be strengthened through informal activities such as sports, participation in a simulation and visualization project, and work to develop a skill set that spans multiple disciplines. Leadership training and certificates will be used to incentivize participation in project activities. Local companies have committed to provide speakers who can link students with potential careers. This speaker program will be coupled with alumni mentoring to strengthen the scholars' ties to the local workforce. The PIs aim to establish a learning environment that mimics an interdisciplinary real-world experience. Teams of scholars from chemistry, computer science, geology, mathematics, and physics will examine interdisciplinary topics and investigate research problems that involve simulation and visualization. This focus has the potential to increase student preparation for jobs or graduate studies in multiple fields. The program is expected to have a broad impact as it generates knowledge about effective approaches to improve the recruitment and retention of the students it serves, and to contribute to the economic development of North Carolina and the Appalachian region.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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 High-achievers in STEM Program at Appalachian State University supported 63 non-duplicated STEM majors over the duration of the project. Five STEM disciplines (Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences (CFS), Computer Science (CS), Geology and Environmental Sciences (GES), Mathematical Sciences (Math), and Physics and Astronomy (Phys) participated in our program.
The objectives of our S-STEM program were to:
- Increase opportunities for students from the Appalachia region to pursue undergraduate or graduate degrees in the five participating STEM disciplines. In our S-STEM program, 50% of the scholars are from nearby counties with high poverty rates.
- Increase the overall number of graduates in the five disciplines coming from low-income backgrounds. Our program’s overall retention rate was more than 88%. Our results are remarkable, given that a strong correlation exists between financial status (scholars have high financial need) and degree attainment.
- Increase the retention rate of students transferring into STEM majors. Only 27% of transfers into these majors are retained at App State. However, the retention rate for the transfer students in our S-STEM program was about 83.3%. More importantly, 100% of our transfer students who attended graduate programs at App State completed their degrees.
- Encourage students to seek advanced degrees. In our S-STEM program, 15 of the 60 (25%) scholars pursued a graduate degree after completion of their undergraduate degrees in the S-STEM program, and 7 (11.67%) joined the program as a graduate student upon admission. In addition, three CFS, two CS, five GES, three MAT, and three PHY majors joined graduate programs at App State or elsewhere after graduating from the S-STEM program.
- Improve the student support infrastructure available to all STEM students at App State. The Study Halls and STEM Seminar enabled by the program were available to all students. In addition to the S-STEM scholars, the program benefited scholars of the NSF LSAMP program, which increased underrepresented populations, and those of the privately funded ECRS programs, as they all participated in activities alongside S-STEM scholars.
- Build and strengthen partnerships with regional industries. We recruited alumni to serve as Alumni mentors. We also had guest speakers from the industry give talks at the STEM Seminar.
- Establish a learning environment that mimics an interdisciplinary “real world” experience. Teams of scholars from the five disciplines examined interdisciplinary topics and investigated research problems involving data science.
- Provided many opportunities to our scholars to see the application of Visualization, which was the theme of our program, in their own research project and the talks given by the experts in the STEM fields.
Other significant achievements by our program:
By the end of the Fall 2023 semester, the program had helped 63 non-duplicated students (20 more students than our initial target). Thirty-six bachelor’s degrees and 19 master’s degrees were awarded to scholars in this program; 86% stayed in NC after graduation. Ten scholars were in the program both as undergraduate and graduate students; seven completed both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. 44.4% of our scholars were non-white (17.46% African American, 4.76% Asian, 19.04% Latino/Hispanic, and 3.17% Native American), making the program significantly more racially diverse than the university overall. 39.1% of the participants were female. A little over 86% of the graduates from our S-STEM program have stayed in North Carolina to join the workforce or pursue graduate studies.
Last Modified: 04/01/2024
Modified by: Rahman Tashakkori
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