| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | August 26, 2021 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 26, 2021 |
| Award Number: | 2130097 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Karen Crosby
kcrosby@nsf.gov (703)292-2124 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | January 1, 2022 |
| End Date: | December 31, 2027 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,400,294.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,400,294.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
520 N MAIN ST MEADVILLE PA US 16335-3902 (814)332-5380 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
520 North Main Street Meadville PA US 16335-3902 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Allegheny College, a four-year liberal arts college in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 24 full-time students pursuing a Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics, Neuroscience, and/or Physics. First-year students will receive up to eight semesters, four academic years, of scholarship support. The project aims to improve retention rates, enhance academic performance and engagement in STEM gateway courses, and bolster career readiness with robust activities centered on academic mentoring, early research integration, and professional development. Project teams and mentors will customize activities, plans, and opportunities to address each project participant?s academic, social, and career goals. These customized components will strategically develop a sustainable support network that students can access throughout their STEM education and career. Allegheny College is ranked among the top colleges and universities based on the number of its graduates who eventually earn Ph.D.s in STEM fields; thus, this project has the potential to increase the number of highly capable and diverse future scientists in a wide range of fields as well as to advance our understanding of how sustained support of intersecting identities can develop STEM leaders in an increasingly global and inclusive working environment.
The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. There are two specific aims: first, to improve first-to-second-year retention rates within STEM gateway courses, and second, to increase STEM capacities that affect personal, professional, and academic identities. Mentorship by STEM peer leaders and faculty increases students? sense of belonging, facilitating improvements in academic performance and engagement, which ultimately leads to higher persistence rates. Although several studies address STEM identity correlations, understanding how holistic academic and career mentoring paired with a sustainable and long-term support network affects low-income, high-achieving liberal arts graduates is still lacking. Thus, our project targets the time span before matriculation and two years after to foster STEM identity development at a residential liberal arts college. This project has the potential to advance understanding of the long-term effects of sustainable support networks on STEM identities and an inclusive workforce. Results of this project will be made available to regional colleges and the Great Lakes Colleges Association as well as at national educational conferences. This project is funded by NSF?s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.
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.
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
