This project continues, builds upon, and significantly expands a previously successful NSF-CSEM Scholarship Program. This program (operating from 2001-2006) has already demonstrated significantly higher graduation (71%) and transfer (46%) rates in comparison to the average graduation (24%) and transfer (14%) rates at Suffolk County Community College (SCCC). Additional features being added include: enhanced counseling regarding financial aid, graduation, and transfers; more summer internships, research opportunities, and job shadowing opportunities; frequent on-site tours at partnering institutions; and additional faculty presentations, invited speakers, and non- (SCCC) mentors for SSTEM/CSEMS scholarship meetings.
The intellectual merits of this project include: (1) the implementation of a revised and improved version of the existing successful joint NSF-CSEMS and SCCC-CSEMS program by a team of project directors who possess diverse academic backgrounds in the sciences, engineering and technology; (2) two Co-PIs on the team who devote much of their time and efforts to recruiting women and underrepresented minorities into SCCC's science and engineering/technology programs (a current NSF-CSEMS Co-PI and engineering professor who designed, developed, and currently directs the college's first gender equity program for women pursuing nontraditional careers in engineering and technology, and a key administrator in the Office of Continuing Education, who directs numerous minority recruitment programs, including SCCC's Collegiate Science & Technology Education Program, Science & Technology Entry Program, and Liberty Partnerships Program); and (3) a unique combination of educational and research opportunities for the Scholars, offered in collaboration with Dowling Colleges, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University.
The broader impacts of the project include a greater emphasis on enhancing diversity within SCCC's current core group of NSF Scholars by collaborating with CSTEP to transition 10-15 low income and/or underrepresented students into the NSF-STEMS Program each year.
NSF S-STEM Outcomes and Impact at Suffolk County Community College In 2001, when Suffolk County Community College was awarded Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the goal was to provide need-based scholarships to students majoring in information technology, computer science, engineering/technology and mathematics. Today, the program has significantly expanded to increase the number and scope of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related educational and research opportunities for Suffolk County Community College's STEM scholars. The success of Suffolk County Community College’s NSF S-STEM program has been demonstrated by the significantly higher retention, graduation, and transfer rates of NSF scholars compared to those of other STEM students. Due to the scholarship money, support services, and program activities, the NSF scholars at Suffolk County Community College had a significantly higher GPA, on average, than their STEM peers who were not in the NSF S-STEM program (3.22 versus 2.58). The scholars also had a higher semester to semester retention rate than their STEM peers (85.9% versus 64.6%). As a result, the NSF scholars graduated at nearly three times the rate of their STEM peers who were not in the S-STEM program (48.6% versus 16.5%). Of the scholars involved in the Suffolk County Community College NSF S-STEM program, 94% have graduated and transferred to a 4-yr institution. Overall enrollment of STEM majors at Suffolk County Community College increased from 981 students in the fall of 2007 to 1,300 students in the fall of 2011 - an increase of +32.5%. The number of new enrollments in STEM majors increased from 267 in the fall of 2007 to 382 in the fall of 2011; an increase of +43.1%. Suffolk County Community College, the largest community college in the State University of New York system, has established itself as a leader in advancing the STEM disciplines, including increasing the number of female and underrepresented students pursuing STEM degrees. In fact, the institution has recently presented the results of its programmatic success at the Empire State STEM Education Initiative, the American Chemical Society National meeting, the National Alliances for Partnerships in Equity Conference, and the League for Innovation's STEM Tech and the Council on Undergraduate Research conferences. The NSF has awarded Suffolk County Community College a second S-STEM grant of $600,000 for 2011-2016 to provide scholarships and to expand their programmatic success and implement new innovations to recruit and mentor academically talented, financially needy students through to completion of their associate's degree in the STEM disciplines. The College has had three NSF grants to support scholarships for science and engineering undergraduate students since 2001, and is one of only a few community colleges in the SUNY system to have an NSF scholarship program funded continuously for more than 10 years. The College also had the largest number (8) of STEM scholars selected for research internships nationally in 2011 through the Community College Institute, with seven research internships at Brookhaven National Laboratory and a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship research scholar at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. The NSF S-STEM program at Suffolk County Community College has also partnered with the NY State CSTEP and STEP programs to provide additional inter-programmatic benefits and services to their complementary cohorts. With a national imperative for more STEM professionals if U.S. is to remain competitive, STEM academic programmatic design should encourage more of today's student body to pursue STEM careers. There is also growing evidence nationwide that a strong STEM education increases student success in competing for the highest quality jobs of today and the future. Students with STEM degrees are shown to enjoy higher earnings than their non-STEM colleagues. Community college students from traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM fields are more likely to pursue advanced STEM studies if they have undergraduate research experiences. There is a strong correlation between undergraduate research opportunities and persistence in science-related programs and careers. Since nearly 50% of university students begin their education at community colleges, undergraduate research experiences must become commonplace at community colleges. Since 2007, Suffolk County Community College’s NSF S STEM program has developed and sustained regional, statewide, and national networks of collaboration which have resulted in over 37 students obtaining summer research internship placements. Suffolk County Community College Research scholars have been selected to present their research posters at local, regional, and national conferences including the SUNY Undergraduate Research Symposium, Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM and the Council on Undergraduate Research. The potential to increase the number and diversity of undergraduate research opportunities that attract and retain community college students in the STEM fields crucial to the country's economic success and global competitiveness remains an area of focus in our current NSF S STEM grant.
