The objective of this project is to increase the opportunities for community college transfer students who are talented but have financial limitations to earn a baccalaureate degree in engineering at the university. These students are being provided academic, financial, and personal support necessary to allow them to earn their B.S. degrees in three years in an academic environment committed to their needs. The program targets low-income, underrepresented ethnic minority and women engineering students. The two cohorts of 6 students each are being supported for three years to complete B.S. degrees in mechanical, electrical, or industrial and systems engineering. The project builds on a student scholars program initiated by a previous NSF S-STEM project and current university programs. It introduces multiple student support activities specifically for these scholars including: Focused Introduction to Engineering Course, a Peer Tutoring and Mentoring Program, Professional Society Support, S-STEM Website, WebCT Cohort Session, Faculty Mentoring, Scholar Workshops for Transfer Students, and Transfer Scholar Social Events. These activities are designed to promote a sense of community among the scholars, support the scholars' academic progress and professional development, and enable them to serve as resources for each other. The outcome is a set of diverse and talented students who are graduating and being placed in either graduate programs or industry within 6 months.
Intellectual Merit: The recruitment, retention, and placement of the students into an integrated cohort for the program promote student success. The addition of well-prepared and diverse graduates to the workforce is an important contribution to the intellectual merit of the project. The project is an excellent opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying factors leading to the successful recruitment, enhanced retention, and graduation of community college transfer students at a private university.
Broader Impacts: Results from this project are being disseminated to the engineering education community at conferences such as American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) and Frontiers in Education (FIE), and publications in relevant journals such as the Journal of Engineering Education. A website that document program activities and results is accessible to the scholars and other institutions. The scholars are helping in outreach efforts to encourage girls in middle and high school to join science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The diverse backgrounds of scholars are particularly valuable for interacting with girls from diverse backgrounds who attend these programs.
