| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 27, 2022 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 27, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 2221635 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Jeffrey Osborn
jeosborn@nsf.gov (703)292-2277 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2022 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2028 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,499,136.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,499,136.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4505 S MARYLAND PKWY LAS VEGAS NV US 89154-9900 (702)895-1357 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
4505 S. Maryland Parkway Las Vegas NV US 89154-4004 |
| 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
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 the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The University of Nevada Las Vegas is a Hispanic Serving Institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 43 unique full time students who are pursuing bachelor?s degrees in biological sciences. Fifteen first year students will receive up to 4 years of scholarship support, and 28 upperclassmen will receive scholarships for up to 2.5 years. This project aims to foster increased retention of students within the degree program through incorporation of learning skill development and motivational activities into the introductory biology courses. The project aims to foster increased graduation rates through peer and faculty mentorship, engagement in undergraduate research experiences and internships, exposure to career opportunities, and development of career readiness and professional identity through monthly professional development workshops. In addition to providing scholarship support for the focal cohort, project activities will impact the learning experience of more than 4,000 biology students across the duration of the project and approximately 1,000 students per semester thereafter. Because the University of Nevada Las Vegas has a large population of first-generation college students and of historically underrepresented students, this project has the potential to broaden participation in STEM fields. A central aim of the project is to advance understanding of how learning skill training materials can be integrated into courses and scaled to support diverse students in large enrollment settings.
The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Specific goals of the project include increasing first-year retention of students through incorporation of learning skill development and motivational activities into introductory biology courses, increasing graduation rates through exposure to career opportunities and participation in undergraduate research and internship opportunities, and studying the effectiveness of combinations of learning skill training materials delivered in different formats (i.e., multimedia or personalized versions). This project has the potential to advance understanding of how embedding brief digital learning skill trainings and motivational writing activities might benefit students? motivations, learning behaviors, performance, and academic success in their science programs. Evidence generated can be used to guide the broader adoption of these scalable, sustainable, and easily shared resources to broaden their impact by delivering them to the large audiences of STEM undergraduates that may benefit from enhanced skill and will to learn. This project will be evaluated using a culturally responsive evaluation framework. A mixed-methods convergent and objectives-based approach will be used to evaluate how effective the project is in meeting established goals and outcomes, using information from student participation in the embedded learning skill training and motivational support modules, scholar responses on scholarship program evaluation surveys, course retention rates, on-track graduation progress status, graduation rates, and documented information from students? research and internship engagement. Results of the project will be made available across a local to national scale through participation in regional teaching and learning conferences, national educational research conferences, and publication in journals focused on collegiate science education. 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.
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