| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 28, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 13, 2023 |
| Award Number: | 1833789 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Kalyn Owens
kowens@nsf.gov (703)292-4615 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $982,041.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,028,441.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2022 = $46,400.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
5600 CITY AVE PHILADELPHIA PA US 19131-1308 (215)879-7300 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
5600 City Avenue Philadelphia PA US 19131-1376 |
| 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: |
1300XXXXDB H-1B FUND, EDU, NSF |
| 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
Mentoring, Research, Leadership, and Community to Increase Graduation in STEM
With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, this project will support high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Saint Joseph's University. Throughout its five years of funding, this project will provide four-year scholarships to two cohorts of eight students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, or physics. The project will provide a suite of student support and engagement activities, including long-term research opportunities, structured faculty and peer mentoring, leadership skill development, and career advising. These activities are designed to increase recruitment, retention, and successful graduation in STEM fields of study. Through academic and social nurturing, this project aims to produce cohorts of graduates who can become intellectual leaders and role models in their respective disciplines and in the community.
The project will provide the following support components: aggressive recruitment and outreach to high schools with a high proportion of the targeted student population, intensive faculty mentoring, peer mentoring, undergraduate research and internship opportunities, leadership and community service programs, cohort building activities, and career development. The project will investigate variation in the effectiveness of mentoring interventions on retention and graduation rates of academically talented, low income students, with particular attention of the processes of faculty/student interaction. They will investigate what factors influence the effectiveness of these interactions. In assessing impacts of social interaction on identity, this research will generate insights that can be useful to similar programs for low-income students at similar institutions. Saint Joseph's University will develop recommendations based on their results and disseminate the recommendations to other programs seeking to increase the retention, interest, and career trajectory of STEM students from low-income backgrounds.
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.
Over the five years of the STEM2 (STEM squared) Project funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF), Saint Joseph's University provided two cohorts of undergraduate STEM majors students with academic guidance, mentoring, career support, and financial assistance.
The STEM2 program included scholarships, faculty and peer mentoring, career workshops, funded research opportunities, field trips, biweekly meetings, and structured assignments such as interviewing STEM faculty members.
The project was designed to focus on four objectives. 1) Recruit a diverse applicant pool that is inclusive of underrepresented groups in STEM; provide four-year scholarships for 16 low-income students with intent to major in STEM disciplines; 2) Improve retention rates of the STEM2 cohort by 15% from an average rate of 70% for STEM majors to 85%; 3) Improve graduation rates of the STEM2 cohort by 30% from an average rate of 45% for STEM majors to 75%; and 4) Contribute to knowledge base on effective mentoring, investigating variation in the effectiveness of mentoring interventions on retention and graduation rates of academically talented, low income students.
Results showed that through cohort participation, being mentored by faculty and peers, and being placed in the role of mentoring others, students had the opportunity to engage in solidarity-producing interactions centered around STEM. In surveys administered twice a year, students overall reported increased sense of confidence and competence in STEM and a strong sense of identity within their majors.
Findings included that students? sense of membership and retention in STEM majors were supported by distributed mentoring approaches and brokering, as they enabled students to seek advice from varied faculty members and university staff for different purposes, provided multiple opportunities for identity development, and mitigated challenges such as negative stereotype threat. The positive impacts of the program expanded outward, as students created study groups, connected each other with research and service opportunities, and drew on university resources to expand projects that were meaningful to them and had social impact.
Overall, during the life of this NSF-STEM Project at Saint Joseph's University, measurable objectives have been accomplished. Of the initial cohort of ten students, eight students continued as STEM majors. Of the second cohort of seven students, all of the students continued as STEM majors.
In summary, twenty students participated in the STEM2 program overall, and eighteen of them remained STEM majors (and in the STEM2 program), with a retention rate of 90%, thereby surpassing the goal of retention in STEM majors. Ten STEM2 students have graduated (first cohort) and all of the other students (second cohort) are on track to graduate, therefore the results will surpass the goal related to graduation rates. Of the students who graduated in spring of 2024, all have found positions that are related to STEM, or are attending graduate school in a STEM-related field. The NSF-STEM funded STEM2 program succeeded in facilitating strong connections, supporting students in developing their own goals within STEM fields, and countering views of STEM as isolating and overly competitive.
Last Modified: 12/21/2024
Modified by: Edwin Li
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